Doctor Who, Donna, "End of Time," and series five theories

Last night my sister and i were asked to watch some kids during the choir's Christmas performance.  One of the father's thanked us for watching them, and i admitted to having none of my own, which led to him joking that i must watch kids so i won't want any of my own.  The opposite is actually the case, i do not like to babysit (despite the fact that i have a lot of experience doing so, as i'm the oldest of seven children) because it makes me want to have children even more acutely.  Well, because my sister Katie and i are totally obsessed about the fate of both Doctors, Rose, and Donna at the moment, this got our creative juices flowing.

One of the things that I hate the most about the fact that Donna got the mind wipe ending that she did is that we got to know so very little about her.  Martha hogged about a third of the season from her, which really irritates me (as you well know).  So what do we know about Donna?

1. She works as a temp (Super!Temp) and cannot (or will not) keep a steady job.
2. She likes to travel.
3. When we first met Donna, she was ignorant of all the alien activity that had been going on (attacks of the Slitheen, Daleks, Cybermen, etc.)... almost as if there was a part of her brain that was purposefully shutting out knowledge about aliens... which is, of course, where she ends up again at the end of series four.
   
4. In the beginning, Donna seems rather obtuse and slow, but meeting the Doctor seemed to unlock her brain.  After turning the Doctor down on his offer to make her his Companion, she spent a lot of time searching for him, having regret her choice.  She felt as if something was missing in her life and he was the answer.
5. Though outwardly very vocal and indignant, Donna is not very confident about her own worth despite the fact that the more Donna traveled with the Doctor, the smarter and more exceptional she became.
6. Donna has an almost illogical repulsion for the Doctor and all things alien at times ("You're not mating with me, sunshine!", "Martian", "Space man", etc.).  Because of this she does not even want to consider him as anything more than a friend ("We're not married", "So, so, not married."  "No, never").
7. Donna really wants to get married (She was throwing herself at Lance in "The Runaway Bride" and in "Turn Left" Sylvia claims that she only wants to work at H.C. Clements in order to find a husband).
8. Donna really wants to have kids (When she is "saved" in the library she and her husband immediately have twins:  when Miss Evangelista tells her that her children aren't real, she becomes very upset and terrified that her children are going to disappear).
9. Donna's mother is blonde and her father looked like he was as well.  I guess it's possible that she could still have red hair with blond parents, but it isn't very likely.
   
10. Donna always wears a certain black ring on her right hand (i have yet to rewatch all of the episodes from series four to confirm this, but i remember noticing the ring right away as it's fairly large and doesn't really seem to match Donna's style imo:  in fact, it rather reminds me of a beetle).
11. The Tardis is what pulls Donna to the Doctor upon their first meeting.  The Tardis also locks Donna in during "Journey's End."  During said episode Donna was inexplicably hearing heartbeats inside the Tardis.
    

i'm sure there are even more things we know about Donna, but these are the most important to my current point. "Journey's End" bothered me on several levels, for the first thing the Doctor left Rose behind.  I did not feel that the Doctor Clone was very probable, in fact i thought that it was more likely that the regeneration energy would leave Donna pregnant or cause her to regenerate.  Both those things being said, Davies decided to make a Doctor Clone, who is, theoretically speaking, more like Doctor 9 than Doctor 10 (even though he looks like Doctor 10), so the Clone should be happy with Rose and she should be happy with him.  On the other hand, now that Doctor 10 has chosen to leave Rose behind for good, there is never another chance for him to go back to Rose:  that door is closed, and she has a Clone for a consolation prize (which i suppose is a nice prize, seeing how she will now be able to marry and grow old with the man she loves).  This is incredibly sad for the Doctor, but leaves him open to finally pursue other relationships should he so choose (i cannot believe that i'm saying this, but two years was a very long time to still be hanging on to Rose, after all, and i'm sorry if i sound a little bit jaded about it, but the Doctor hasn't exactly been trying to get back to Rose, has he?).

So, back to Donna.  I am 90% sure that TPTB are not going to leave her knocked up with the Doctor's baby (incidentally, i find it rather odd that he seems to have no interest in trying to propagate the Gallifreyan species, which is odd since he is so sure that he is the last Time Lord:  i feel like he should be trying to [re]build a better Time Lord society, but this also has to do with my obsession about babies lol).  Where does this leave us?  We have several factors here that seem to have conveniently come together in order to indicate that Donna is a Time Lady.  For instance, she turns out to be even smarter than the Doctor and seems to know how to fix the Chameleon Circuit on the Tardis (like anyone wants that to be done at this point!), an object that as far as we know she's never even seen before... but this, of course, surreptitiously points us towards the Chameleon Arch idea.  Just why does Donna seem to be more than we originally thought?  There are numerous people that are prophesying about her and declaring that she is the most important woman in the universe.  Donna came back to Doctor Who immediately after the Master left.  In "Journey's End," she was hearing heartbeats, just as Yana was hearing the drums in "Utopia."  So could Donna be a Time Lady?  Could it be that the reason we know so little about Amy Pond and there were rumors that she is an alien is because she is a regenerated Donna? The new Companion is even ginger! So i am hope hope hoping that Donna isn't gone, that she's just going to be continuing in a new form in series five, and that Doctor 11 and she will be guarding Earth and righting the Last Great Time War as equals (assuming that the theory that Matt Smith is actually going to be Doctor 9, and his adventures will be set during the Time War, is not true: this would make Chris Doctor 10 and David Doctor 11! which means David could come back later if he so chooses. Yeah, my hopes aren't too high, but i also don't think anyone will be forgetting the incredible Mr. Tennant any time soon... he is far too popular for that, and one must realize that he hasn't had the opportunity to do any conventions yet and get exposed to his screaming fans in that way; after all, it knocked the socks off of everyone who was on Star Trek).

Which now begs the question:  if Donna is a Time Lady, has she (her real persona) been on the show before?  Well, we already know that the Rani will be returning (her name means She is singing / Queen, incidentally) and that Donna hates Christmas ("The Runaway Bride"). Donna's hatred for the "alien" could be seen as an interesting twist to Rani's hatred of humans. Could Rani be the person who picked up the Master's ring? Of course, it has been reported that Gillian Anderson is going to play her, so that kind of rules the Donna is Rani theory out (even if it did kind of fit and would be totally be mind blowing for her to suddenly be an enemy, not that i want that to happen).

Of course, what do i know, i haven't gotten that far in the original Doctor Who episodes yet. However, i think that the most likely candidate for Donna's identity is probably Romana, who was purportedly just as smart as the Doctor, driven, and a sometimes Companion to him. This is totally random, but the letters for "Donna" can be found in her full name, and her second incarnation was ginger as well.  i am much more likely to think that Donna is Romana than Christina (from "Planet of the Dead"). Another thing that's out there... where did Donna want to go first? Rome! (LOL yeah, way out of field and grasping at straws, i am) which is ironically how Karen Gillan came to be cast as the newest Companion.

So, this theory doesn't fit perfectly, and they probably didn't come up with the idea when originally casting Catherine Tate, but i definitely think that all signs point to this, even if she isn't Rani or Romana.  Incidentally, if Amy Pond is not Donna/Romana... (there are some letters for Donna in her name, too!), then my other guess is that she's a young River Song.  At any rate, i'm not willing to give up on Donna yet, and i am looking forward to watching the final specials more now that i have this new theory under my belt.  It's funny how i've suddenly become a Doctor/Donna shipper when i never would have considered it in the past, but if Donna is a Time Lady... then what's stopping the relationship?  Methinks they doth protest too much!  i might have to write a fanfic or two if The End of Time turns out to be a let down.