Thinking of a Doctor Who fic... and I'm wondering...

I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a suethor. But is a sue so objectional when sues and deus ex machinas are the name of the game? (following Russel T. Davis's line of writing- he does that sort of thing a lot.)

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Yes, god damn it. It's annoying enough when RTD does it, and he has the advantage of being an experienced professional writer and knowing what he's doing.

Even longer answer: Sues are always a bad idea. DEMs are somewhat acceptable if the story's high on metaphor and what's actually on screen isn't as important as what it means, but you have to be good enough to bring the reader along for the ride. You can decide for yourself which of RTD's finales have managed this and which ones haven't.

Note that I said 'acceptable'. You have the advantage of not having a deadline -- if you find that you have a DEM ending and a passing mention half-way through the story of whatever aspect of the DEM the Doctor grabs onto to get it working, thread the DEM into the story so that it doesn't seem so disconnected from the situation it was written to solve. It won't be much of a DEM by the time you've finished, but you never wanted one of those anyway.