The Heartbreak of Donna — Doctor Who

One of my favorite science fiction television shows is Doctor Who. I was thrilled by Christopher Eccleston’s portrayal as soon as the modern episodes came out in 2005. But the person who stole the show for me was his companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper).

The companions serve two primary purposes:

• to provide continuity between regenerations, and
• to give the Doctor a human anchor

I admit that as a kid most of the world building elements of Doctor Who were completely lost on me. I didn’t understand why Tom Baker was suddenly being played by Peter Davison (although I found his looks more appealing to my teenage sensibilities). And the companions were background characters to the show with strange pepper-pot aliens screaming “Externinate!”

So watching Rose transform the Doctor from a moody, self-absorbed depressive into a moody, self-absorbed, slightly happier person was amazing to me. I can listen to the Doctor yelling,

“Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives!” —The Doctor

Doctor Who season 1, episode 10: “The Doctor Dances”

a million times and never tire of the joy in his face and voice.

I abruptly understood why humans followed this strange alien time lord around the galaxy. It wasn’t just because he showed them amazing sights or introduced them to aliens. No, they showed me, the viewer, the depths of despair of the last Time Lord, as well as the heights of joy when, for a change, everyone lives.

Donna Noble was a Challenging Companion for Me to Watch

When I watched her the first time, I was still mourning the loss of Rose and frustrated that Martha Jones (Freema Ayeman) had left him. I found Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) to be too average, too ordinary, too boring to be a true companion to him. I wasn’t surprised when she left after her debut in “The Runaway Bride.” She felt like a one-shot companion at best. No big loss.

“I’m a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you.” — Donna Noble.

Doctor Who season 4, episode 12: “The Stolen Earth”

Watching her later episodes for the first time, I was living my own average, ordinary, boring life. While I enjoyed how brash and abrasive she could be, she was fighting with others to avoid seeing her own shortcomings. And they were a little too close to my own feelings about myself for me to like her as a companion.

But I’m Older Now

Most of the Doctor’s companions start out ordinary human beings living their lives. He brings them on an adventure or ten and they come away changed. Their lives are enhanced and they have this amazing experience to look back on.

In many ways, their life with the Doctor is like my year as an exchange student. I lived in another country (Australia), in a rural area, when I’d grown up in a large metropolitan center. While I spoke the language, I struggled with the slang (to this day, I laugh uncomfortably when someone says they “root for” a sports team). And while I had a lot of great experiences, there were scary ones too (like when the common brown snake was living under the house). My life was enhanced, I came away changed, and I have an amazing experience to look back on.

Donna is the Exception, Among the Companions

She starts out an average, thirty-something woman, working a temp job, and pretending that her life is exciting and amazing. She has low self-esteem, but she hides it with braggadocio and mouthiness. (I love it when she yells, “Oy!” at the Doctor (David Tennant) when he’s being rude to her.)

In her travels with the Doctor, she grows in experience and confidence. She is still loud and doesn’t hesitate to call people on their shit. But by the end of her time, she is calling them on how they treat others because she doesn’t need to protect herself as stringently. She knows she’s strong enough.

But…

With most of the companions, when they stop traveling with the Doctor, their lives are improved. Martha becomes a doctor and heads up the UNIT medical team. Captain Jack is a powerful Torchwood agent. Rose gets to live out her life in an alternate universe with her love—the Doctor (or at least his clone). And Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) returns to our universe to fight the Cybermen. Even Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) goes back to her son and her satisfying life.

At first, Donna appeared to outshine every other companion.

The Doctor experiences a partial regeneration, and she uses his cloned hand and those energies to build a clone. In the process, she is infected with Time Lord essence, which expands her capacities beyond human. She becomes the Doctor Donna. She combines his knowledge and her creativity and human ingenuity and mad typing skills (she’s the best temp, after all) to become the most extraordinary companion the Doctor has ever had.

But, if left unchecked, it would kill her. Her human brain was not made to handle the knowledge of a Time Lord. So, to save her, the Doctor erases himself from her mind and her memories of everything she did and everything that happened to her with him. He stresses to her mother and grandfather that they can never speak to her of him. If they do, his repairs could come undone and it would kill her.

Donna is left living the same average, ordinary, boring life. Exactly who she was when she appeared on the TARDIS on her wedding day.

And she has no idea what she has lost.

In a subsequent episode, the Doctor is asked why he has no traveling companions. He answers:

“They leave… Because they should or they find someone else. And some of them… some of them… forget me. I suppose in the end, they break my heart.” —The Doctor

Doctor Who season 4, episode 14: “The Next Doctor”

Donna broke my heart, as well.

I watched The Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant episodes on AppleTV, but you can also get them on DVD from Amazon (affiliate link)

Featured image by sinepax from Pixabay

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