Doctor Donna and the Girl who Forgot

So I thought I would do a blog post about Donna Noble. Just because Donna is so sassy and smart without even trying to be. (Okay maybe she is trying to be sassy, which is totally cool). And I recently watched the episode where she Uh.. Leaves.

 The first time I watched The Runaway Bride, Donna's first episode, I was more than a little skeptical. Of course I was still reeling from the blow of losing Rose. I loved Rose Tyler as much as the Doctor did and did not want to see her go. Like my first Doctor she was the first companion I saw and learned to grow attached to. No one warned me that the Doctor has had more than just one companion and that in the end, all companions leave in someway or another. I was traumatized, I admit.
   And then there was Donna.

Yes, my reaction was just like the Doctor's when Donna Noble suddenly appeared in the TARDIS. I was like please! Let the Doctor cry, let him try to deal with his grief! And then this random person in her wedding dress suddenly shows up in the TARDIS.

"What?! What?... Wha.. What?!"

Let the sass begin!

I admit, it took a while to get used to Donna. She didn't mind yelling and snarking the Doctor at every single opportunity and was generally hostile for the first half of the episode. That is, until the Doctor starting saving her life. And in the end, Donna saved him.
I was sure that she would be the new companion and at the end of Donna's first episode I realized that I wanted her to be, still feeling slightly guilty that I got over Rose so quick. Donna helped the Doctor defeat the creepy spider lady and saved him from being drowned. I thought everything was perfect. They were going to travel in the TARDIS together and we'd have another awesome few seasons with Ten. But no. When the Doctor asked Donna to come with him she said no, and he said no to a Christmas dinner. Of course he did, stupid alien! (sorry, not you. The Doctor was a stupid alien, I mean. You're probably a very smart alien).
   And so we began again, this time with Martha Jones.

   Don't get me wrong. I'm not hating on Martha. She's caring and brave but there was a tension between her and the Doctor that the Doctor didn't even know about til she was walking out the TARDIS door. She loved him and he could not tell. In the end, it was better for her to leave. Our little fandom brains just couldn't handle the tension any longer.

And so we were left alone again, in the dark. No one was there for the Doctor. Something had to be done!

And then Donna came in again, like us, searching for the Doctor and wondering what he was up to. Adipose. Remember them? Yeah, me neither. We were also introduced to Donna's grandfather Wilfred Mott, one of the most important characters in ten's regeneration.
The Doctor and Donna were reunited and this time she said yes, and may I say that they got along famously together.
Causing Vesuvius to erupt, saving the Ood, defeating the Sontarans and accidentally taking Martha along for another adventure in The Doctor's Daughter. The Doctor's Daughter was one of my favorite episodes. It showed Donna helping the Doctor to except Jenny and in turn the Doctor showed Jenny that she could be so much more than a soldier.
">(shhhhhh! Jenny's alive!) Spoilers.
">Not to mention meeting Agatha Christie, defeating a giant wasp and running into River Song in Silence in the Library.

Jenny: And Time Lords, what are they for? 
The Doctor: For? They're not for anything.
Jenny: So what do we do?
The Doctor: I travel. Through time and space. 
Donna Noble: He saves worlds, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures and runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved. 
The Doctor: [opens hidden door] Got it! 
[shouts echo] 
The Doctor: Now, what were you saying about running? 

Donna Noble: How about you, are you alright? 
The Doctor: Oh, I'm always all right. 
Donna Noble: Is "All right" special time-lord code for... not really all right at all? 
The Doctor: Why? 
Donna Noble: Because I'm alright too. 

Donna Noble: Oy! And you be careful, all right? 
The Doctor: Ahh, taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?


Donna Noble: Yeah but think about it. There's a murder, a mystery, and Agatha Christie.
The Doctor: So? Happens to me all the time. 
Donna Noble: No, but isn't that a bit weird? Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders, not really. I mean that's like meeting Charles Dickens, and he's surrounded by ghosts, at Christmas. 

Donna: What did you do? 
The Doctor: Guess what I've got Donna. 
The Doctor: Pockets. 
Donna: How did they fit in there? 
The Doctor: They're bigger on the inside. 

Lucius: Who are you? 
The Doctor: I am... Spartacus. 
Donna Noble: And so am I. 
Lucius: Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus? 
The Doctor: Oh, no no no, we're not married. 
Donna Noble: [overlapping the Doctor] We're not together. 
Lucius: Oh, brother and sister? Yes, of course, you look very much alike. 
The Doctor, Donna Noble: [looking at each other; surprised and a bit disgruntled] Really? 

But then there began to be foreshadowing of Donna's demise. Starting with "The Fires of Pompeii".  

"There's something on your back."

And the Ood also confirmed that Donna Noble would soon be leaving.  I began hoping that she would leave like Martha, because she wanted to. Wishful thinking of course, I mean come on. This is Doctor Who we are talking about! Plus Donna kept insisting that she would  never leave and would always travel with the Doctor. Yeah, Rose said the same thing. And if you think about it, there were many many things leading up to Donna's ending her travels with the Doctor. She could not remember who the Doctor was or any of her adventures in "Forest of the Dead"   .
Also in Turn Left anything memory she had ever had with the Doctor was completely gone. She had to rely on trusting Rose to get things back to normal. Turn Left made it clear that Donna was no ordinary person like she claimed to be. Time was changing around her. And she was the most important person in the whole wide universe. Whatever that meant, I knew that it could not be good for her in the end.

I breathed a long sigh of relief when Donna woke up again after she sacrificed herself in the alternate universe. Honestly I didn't think she would make it. But she did, at least for that episode. And so did the Doctor.
But then she had to go and say it didn't she?

"Bad Wolf."

 When she created a clone of the Doctor she not only saved the entire universe but also created a happy ending for Rose Tyler and the Doctor. But not for her. For Donna it was the end of her time traveling in the TARDIS.

In the end, Donna Noble was the sassiest most important girl who forgot. And she will always be one of my favorite Who companions.

                signing off