Like many viewers, I was left feeling mixed about the end to series 4 of Doctor Who. While it had exciting graphics of grandeur scale, I was left unsure about the farce it descended into when Doctor Donna rescued the day. Daleks being pushed around in a comical sense and Davros is bleating on.
Moreover, I didn’t like how the Doctor wiped out Donna’s memory to save her life. Apparently, her mind couldn’t cope with the TimeLord Consciousness as there has been a TimeLord/Human metacrisis. Donna knew that but she was begging the Doctor not to return her to a boring life of temping. The Doctor cleaned away all memories of the adventures they had together. Real tragic.
It has confirmed Catherine Tate is not returning to Doctor Who for the Christmas special, nor the holiday specials. Despite this, I think she’ll be back.
I strongly think Donna Noble was a TimeLord before the “TimeLord/Human” metacrisis. Take note of the following points.
- Thrice in the series, Donna stares into the distance and you hear a heart beating. Very like the scene from last episode when a professor became the Master after hearing the drums.
- Trapped in the Crucible, the Doctor and co are instructed to leave the Tardis. Hearing the heart beat, Donna looks back at the Tardis’ Console. That’s when the door closed on her. I think that’s the Tardis’ doing. It recognised Donna as a TimeLord and kept her in hoping she could save the day.
- When the Tardis is thrown into the Cruicible Core, the Dalek is heard to say the Last Child of Gailfrey is powerless. This line was said The Doctor looked at the Tardis (with Donna in it) being swamped by the Core. I admit this could be ambiguous. Not sure if it referred to the Doctor or Donna.
- While in the Core, Donna was being thrown about in the Tardis. She hears the heart beating again. Donna looks over to the Hand in the Jar. That tells me she has some kind of telepathy. What drove her to touch it?
- Donna tells the Clone Doctor that she heard a heart beating. The Clone Doctor dismisses her. He is not really listening and gave a feeble excuse that it was his heart she was listening to, not hers. A ripple effect from a complex timeline. Weak excuse at best.
- A couple of times, we see her ring being shown in a prominent way. Last year, when the Doctor wiped his own memory, he had a fob holding his real memories. I wonder if Donna’s ring is the equivalent of the fob watch. The ring could hold Donna’s real memories of being a TimeLord.
I hope that was interesting for you. I still wished the Doctor never wiped her memories.
When Catherine Tate came on board for Doctor Who, I was really unsure she was the right woman for a Doctor Who’s assistant. I’ve grown to like her. Catherine’s acting was first class when she pleaded with the Doctor not to wipe her memories.