Leave Well Enough Alone? Part 3: Donna Noble

Guest contributor James Kirkland continues looking at companions’ departures and their returns.

• See part one of this article examining Rose Tyler here.
• See part two of this article examining Martha Jones here.

Donna Noble is considered by many to be the best companion in all of New Who. Many people fell in love with her for her strong, snarky attitude and her tragic story about a woman who didn’t think she mattered finding out she mattered more than anyone. Combine that with her thirst for adventure, and lack of romantic feelings for the Doctor, and you had a winning character.

Donna’s story first came to a close in the Series 4 finale, Journey’s End. After becoming a Human-Time Lord Meta-Crisis and defeating Davros and the Daleks. But the Time Lord mind inside her body was proving too much and threatened to kill her. So the Doctor was forced to erase her memories of him and all their adventures to save her. That became the tragedy of Donna Noble. The woman who never thought she was important became the most important person to have ever lived, the woman who saved all reality from annihilation. But, her greatest triumph led to her greatest downfall. Even though there are countless people who will always remember her and what she did for all of time and space, she never could. The Doctor warned her mother and grandfather that if she were ever to remember anything about their time together, her mind would burn up and she would die. And so, the savior of all reality and all the growth she saw died that day and Donna Noble once again became the woman she was before all of her adventures, a mere shadow of the greatness she had become. She was now doomed to lead a normal, mundane life for the rest of her days never knowing of the wonderful things she had seen and done.

Donna returned once again in The End of Time. She was still leading her re-found normal life and was engaged to a man named Shaun Temple. But, when the Master replaced all of humanity with duplicates of himself, Donna found herself not only immune, but remembering her life with the Doctor. As the memories began to overwhelm her and the Master clones moved in, a surge of energy burst forth from Donna and rendered her and the Master clones unconscious. It turns out the Doctor had apparently put up a mental defense mechanism in Donna’s mind so that if she ever started to remember, it would protect her and prevent her death. She was later found by her fiance and returned home. Later, on her wedding day to Shaun, the Doctor returned to give her a lottery ticket, heavily implied to be worth millions of dollars.

Should well enough have been left alone with Donna? I believe it should have. Donna’s initial ending was not only tragic because of the death of who she had become, it was tragic because the audience was told that remembering anything would result in her death. The Doctor explicitly told that to her mother and grandfather. But, with the defense mechanism that appeared in The End of Time, much of that tragedy is lost, and the Doctor’s dire warning comes across as unnecessary. Plus, the defense mechanism is never really explained. Was it a one time thing? Is it always there and anytime she starts to remember anything it will once again render her unconscious? It is never said, which also detracts from the dire circumstances Donna was living her life under. We are left not knowing if she will always be defended, or if that threat returned. Another aspect of Donna’s first ending that was tragic was the fact that she now had to return to a normal, uneventful and mundane life. But, with the gift of a lottery ticket likely worth millions, the normality of her life was going to disappear. Instead of living the life she wanted desperately to escape with the Doctor, she would find herself with the money to go where she wanted and do what she wanted.

So, much like Rose, I think her second ending is at fault for hurting the incredible tragedy that was her first ending. The way Donna’s story truly ends in The End of Time: Part 2 does nothing but undermine or damage the far superior ending that came before it. Those warnings from the Doctor about her remembering either come across as needlessly threatening, or make the defense mechanism seem like a story idea that was thought up on the spot as a convenient deus ex machina to save Donna. And her being forced back into her old life loses much of its power when we know that she will soon find herself with more than enough money to leave that mundane life behind.

Donna’s story was that of someone escaping a life of monotony and finding out how truly important and special they are only to be doomed to never know of their triumphs again, under the threat of death, and be thrown back into the old life she was tired of living. But, when the threat is removed and the boring old life becomes anything but, you are left with a second ending that stripped the first of everything that made it so tragic to behold in the first place.

Verdict: So, in the case of Donna Noble, I believe her Journey’s End ending should have remained her final appearance. Well enough should have been left alone.

Join us next time for The Ponds.