Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
Donna Noble - Blog Posts
Rose made them bestie bracelets!!!
I will never shut up about their relationship it’s so perfect and comforting they care about each other so much 😭😭
Doctor Who - The Star Beast
You’re my friend and you matter, whether you remember me or not.
what if i never stopped crying huh?
Every time they hugged each other my heart sobbed violently
Donna Noble and 14th Doctor in "Wild Blue Yonder" 🫂
I swear I teared up every time I saw them on screen together in the new ep
Love love love how every single time Donna meets up with The Doctor again she's like "you're so fucking stupid biggest idiot in the universe wanna be platonic soulmates to the point where we're an extension of each other about it?"
As Donna would say - he's got Dad Shock.
(he's gonna crash out if they don't shut up)
Either 14 or 15 should offhandedly mention his wife like “my wife would have liked to see that” or something and the companion preset just stares at him before going “you had a wife?!”
Donna coming home from work to 14 sitting on the couch watching as a strange man teachers her daughter and grandad how to play dnd. 14 is just eating some obscure space food he went to get but got lost.
Meanwhile rogue is just trying to deal with the new situation.
Ties in with this
While I think we all agree 15 finding rouge would be great I think we've all missed the opertunity to have 14 be disobayig Donna and finding a strange man being chased by birds to witch he grabs Said
"hey I think I found a missing companion of yours do you wanna come get him"
"what? Ive only got one companion and she's with me"
"oh so is the handsome man currently playing dnd with rose and Donna anouther river situation or-"
"ROUGE!?"
And so 15 just drags ruby over to the nobles house and ends up back with his boyfriend
Also if anyone writes this please share I would love to read it
ten describing donna: i don’t even know where to start, she’s… she’s my best friend. most beautiful human i’ve ever met, she’s- got an amazing mind. she’s funny, she’s brilliant, she’s strong…..
donna describing ten:
Yet another series 4 recap, honestly the amount of gina linetti quotes you could recast with donna is staggering.
no doctor who moment will EVER top donna being completely fucking oblivious to the god-knows how many alien invasions and threats that cropped up on earth over the past like 5 years, the doctor is going through a dozen simultaneous aneurysms trying to comprehend how one woman has missed every single fuckin thing - sycorax and slitheen and robot santas and autons - and donna’s just like ‘i was busy.’
The Doctor and The Ponds
You can say all you want, but for me nothing beats The Doctor and The Ponds - the power of three
I know everyone loves the 10th Doctor and Donna, and I like them together too, but they gave off more of a "snarky roommates" vibe. They didn't really feel like a family. They enjoyed each other's company and loved spending time together (roasting one another from time to time) but they didn't connect on a deeper level. I mean, they were like college bffs. For me, at least.
As for the Ponds and the Doctor, or Amy in particular - they definitely felt like a family. Amy and The Doctor acted and treated each other like loving siblings - and, when their trips through time and spaces became rarer, they still needed to be together, to see each other from time to time - even if it didn't mean saving the universe. Hell, Doctor even stayed with them on Earth for a bit, which he had never done before. And it is just so cruel that when Doctor finally believed he had a home and people who were always there for him - the writers took them away. Painfully.
I'm looking forward to seeing Clara in the role of the Doctor's companion, but for me the golden trio will always take a special place iny heart
So I'm thinking about the Fourteenth Doctor, and the bi-generation, and how he may have come to an end. What happened to him after those years he spent with Donna and her family, and with so many other friends on Earth (oh, I am headcanon-ing, friends), existing day-to-day and beginning to heal? After he learned how to let himself be loved, and shown compassion, and forgiven—and, eventually, learned to love, forgive, and care for himself? What happened when, at the end of this journey, his regeneration energy (I assume?) traveled back (in some hand-wavey fashion) to become the Fifteenth Doctor, who is born out of that love and forgiveness and compassion and is ready to move forward in the universe?
Fourteen becomes Fifteen—but what about the TARDIS?
Fourteen's TARDIS was created for the same reason Fourteen was: they needed to slow down, to be gentle. They needed to find a home that wasn't moving at the speed of light. So maybe this TARDIS is a little gentler, too. Maybe she's a little more careful of herself and her charges.
When Fourteen takes Rose to Mars, they land right where they're supposed to, and Rose sees wonders. Nothing bad happens, and they return home five minutes after they left.
When Shaun wants to see a football match from 1988, he opens the TARDIS door and she takes him right there, flying all by herself, to Fourteen's chagrin.
When Fourteen takes Mel to New York, they have adventures that don't involve running, or hiding, or screaming with anything but laughter. When Fourteen takes Jo, Ace, and Tegan to the Jurassic era, the only danger he faces is when he makes an age joke.
When, after Sarah Jane dies (yeeeears in the future, tyvm), Fourteen takes Luke, Maria, Clyde, and Rani to see Florana—the place he promised to take Sarah Jane all those years ago—the TARDIS chooses the safest, most beautiful moment in time for them to honor her memory.
When Donna and Martha and Yaz and Shirley sneak in for a joyride, they have the time of their lives, and the TARDIS covers for them. (Fourteen suspects, but can't prove it.)
When Fourteen is struggling, and chafing at life on Earth, and just needs to run, to fix things, to solve puzzles, to get away from the day-to-day of it all, the TARDIS lets him. She takes him so many places he's never been before, and they're all beautiful and wild and remind him what he loves about the universe.
(He tries, a few times, to go places that might bring him pain, and she gently refuses.)
And every now and then, someone will try to get in. This TARDIS doesn't have a key; she just opens to those in her care, and refuses entry to those she doesn't trust. She is safe, and so are they.
When Donna's in her eighties and can't get around as easily, the TARDIS takes her where she can manage. When Rose is overwhelmed with the pain of the world, the TARDIS takes her to places where none of that pain exists, and lets her stay as long as she needs to.
They live magnificent lives, and the TARDIS takes care of them. And then, at the end of it, Fourteen is ready for what comes next, and he becomes Fifteen. There's only one Doctor again.
But this TARDIS...
I think she stays, right in the corner of that yard. She leaves and then lands so precisely that roots and ivy grow over her. The Doctor is gone, and eventually Mel and Sarah Jane and Jo and Donna and Martha and everyone that traveled with the Doctor once upon a time in a different TARDIS are gone too.
But Rose is still there. Luke, Maria, Rani, and Clyde are still there. Their families, their kids. The TARDIS opens to them, and shows them the universe. She takes them only where she chooses to, and it's always exactly where they need to go.
She always takes them home, to the garden that once belonged to Donna Noble.
The Doctor finds new companions. Some of them come home to Earth after awhile, but they're not stuck dreaming of the universe. You showed me the furthest reaches of the galaxy, Sarah Jane said. You showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that? We get a taste of that splendor, but then we have to go back.
These new companions, they return to Earth and their lives there, but every now and then, they swing by that old house that the Noble family has lived in for generations. They say hello to this old/new box, and she invites them in.
They don't have to say goodbye to the universe. She's right there in Chiswick, waiting for them.
And sometimes—on rare occasions, when they need it, or when he (or she, or they) does—she takes them to the Doctor.
It's that one picture of them
The girls!! plus some more miscellaneous sketch book pages
and a little bit of doctor who for the soul :]
Day Twenty-Four: Two new who companion outifits that I like
For New Who, I choose Jack's outfit from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Donna's outfit from this poster of Series 4 (I don't remember what episode she uses it)
Doctor Who Daily Challenge
(Remember when everyone was obsessed with these like 10 years ago?xD - I'mma do this, and I implore you to do so... And tag me in it so I can be nosy? Probably reblog them too lol)
Preferably Pictured Answers :)
Day One: Favourite Classic Doctor
Day Two: Favourite New Who Doctor
Day Three: Favourite Classic Story
Day Four: Favourite New Who Episode
Day Five: Favourite Writer
Day Six: Favourite Male Companion
Day Seven: Favourite Female Companion
Day Eight: Favourite piece of music
Day Nine: Saddest Moment
Day Ten: Favourite Spin Off
Day Eleven: Favourite Dalek Story
Day Twelve: Favourite Monster (Not villian, so any monster goes)
Day Thirteen: Favourite Villain
Day Fourteen: Favourite Master
Day Fifteen: Favourite Cyberman story
Day Sixteen: Favourite Friendship
Day Seventeen: Favourite Tardis Team
Day Eighteen: Favourite One Time Character
Day Nineteen: Favourite Quote
Day Twenty: Favourite Tardis interior
Day Twenty One: Write 'Doctor Who' in your handwriting and post it
Day Twenty Two: Scariest Moment
Day Twenty Three: Two Classic companion outfits you love
Day Twenty Four: Two New Who companion outfits you love
Day Twenty Five: What is your favourite regeneration
Day Twenty Six: Favourite planet
Day Twenty Seven: Your favourite sonic screwdriver
Day Twenty Eight: Favourite Christmas episode
Day Twenty Nine: Favourite companion's family member
Day Thirty: An episode/story you don't think is spoken about enough
(Enjoy)
Day Seven: Favourite Female Companion
Another difficult choice, but today I'll choose Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate. She was a companion during the 2006 Christmas Special (The Runaway Bride) and Series 4 (2008).
Later, she amade a brief return as a side character in the 2009 Christmas Special and the 2010 New Year Special (The End of Time Parts 1 & 2), and return as a main character in The 60th Anniversary Specials (2023).
Doctor Who Daily Challenge
(Remember when everyone was obsessed with these like 10 years ago?xD - I'mma do this, and I implore you to do so... And tag me in it so I can be nosy? Probably reblog them too lol)
Preferably Pictured Answers :)
Day One: Favourite Classic Doctor
Day Two: Favourite New Who Doctor
Day Three: Favourite Classic Story
Day Four: Favourite New Who Episode
Day Five: Favourite Writer
Day Six: Favourite Male Companion
Day Seven: Favourite Female Companion
Day Eight: Favourite piece of music
Day Nine: Saddest Moment
Day Ten: Favourite Spin Off
Day Eleven: Favourite Dalek Story
Day Twelve: Favourite Monster (Not villian, so any monster goes)
Day Thirteen: Favourite Villain
Day Fourteen: Favourite Master
Day Fifteen: Favourite Cyberman story
Day Sixteen: Favourite Friendship
Day Seventeen: Favourite Tardis Team
Day Eighteen: Favourite One Time Character
Day Nineteen: Favourite Quote
Day Twenty: Favourite Tardis interior
Day Twenty One: Write 'Doctor Who' in your handwriting and post it
Day Twenty Two: Scariest Moment
Day Twenty Three: Two Classic companion outfits you love
Day Twenty Four: Two New Who companion outfits you love
Day Twenty Five: What is your favourite regeneration
Day Twenty Six: Favourite planet
Day Twenty Seven: Your favourite sonic screwdriver
Day Twenty Eight: Favourite Christmas episode
Day Twenty Nine: Favourite companion's family member
Day Thirty: An episode/story you don't think is spoken about enough
(Enjoy)
Like Giants
Humans, Gods, and the Timelord caught between them:
AKA the beautifully optimistic view of humanity by a Time Lord
Nine says he would make a very bad God. Ten says a Time Lord with too much power would become vengeful.
They’re both right.
Time Lords are alluded to as very uncaring, very aloof people. By the Time War, they are apparently just as bad as the Daleks. The Doctor runs from them for a reason.
Because when they are Gods they are terrifying. But the Doctor’s terror always stems from too much emotion rather than too little. The end of Dalek is Nine’s darkest moment. He holds a gun on Rose while she is showing mercy because of the traumatic loss of Gallifrey.
Loss makes Ten in particular…frightening. After losing Rose he nearly commits genocide again in the Runaway Bride.
The moment of Godlike arrogance in “Christmas Invasion” where he changes the known future of Harriet Jones’ tenure has devastating consequences, allowing the Master to come to power. It’s a great reminder of what happens when the Doctor is given too much power.
The Time Lord Victorious is terrifying because it is the Doctor losing everything over and over after rebuilding himself twice.
For the first time, the Doctor feels like he is owed something.
But what is also terrifying is just how human the selfishness is.
—————
Of course there are moments when they are presented as Godlike that are purely heroic.
Ten’s in particular stand out against his almost unnerving humanity.
I love his “I’m the Doctor” speech in Voyage of the Damned. It’s clearly him doing the equivalent of psyching himself up before a game, because nothing he says is going to mean anything to the people he’s protecting. It’s a short, simple moment holding so much weight.
Nine has a wonderful way of pointing out the best of humanity to help Rose discover space to find empowerment, just as Ten does for Donna. Nine does it for the couple in Father’s Day. There’s a wistful, non-malicious envy in his reaction to the magically mundane story of how the couple in the church met.
Ten takes this wistfulness and runs with it. There’s something so beautiful and so deeply tragic that he is the Doctor who chooses shoes meant specifically for running.
There’s this sense with Ten that he not only loves humanity, but desires to be human. From embracing certain forms of domesticity, to the devastating way he processes grief.
Obviously, he knows when he is weird, he also just doesn’t care about social niceties. However, he might be a genius, but he doesn’t understand every intricate detail of human experience.
Although it’s usually called out for comedy, it’s best utilized for drama.
Nine has that beautiful “It was scared!” moment.
Sometimes it’s given less focus, and simply slipped into dialogue.
Nine calls humans stupid apes in high stress situations, and apparently he insults species when he’s upset. Even Ten, who is known to love humanity, also pretty regularly disparages them. In his first appearance he calls us monsters. He makes one-off comments disparaging humans in Rise of the Cyberman, Army of Ghosts, 42, Human Nature. and the Poison Sky.
Planet of the Ood is one of the rarer times that he goes out of his way to highlight human cruelty to Donna.
————
Series 3 has lot of interesting moments.
In “Smith and Jones” he has a long scene which he (intentionally) pretends to be human. He creates this domestic fantasy where he’s got a wife and a home where he brings people round for dinner. Even more interesting is that this is his suggestion to “help” the villain appear more human.
In Human Nature we see the Doctor literally become a human. He falls in love and allows himself to be a product of the times. His moments of heroism are supposed to be the Doctor leaking through, but are passed over off as “ordinary humans being capable of extraordinary things”. He also allows himself to be swept up by the environment as opposed to standing against it as the Doctor would. John Smith’s incredibly horrible treatment of Martha being the prime example.*
His stoic and remorseless punishment of the Family contrasts with his mostly sweet human persona. He tries to convince Joan that he’s capable of the same love and compassion but she disagrees. I agree with her, I think John Smith and The Doctor both want to be in love, John just didn’t have all the emotional inhibitions that the Doctor does.
She also points out the Doctor’s failure to account for possible casualties just so he doesn’t have to have more death on his conscious. Once again, I agree, this was a massive oversight on his part.
————
Midnight. This episode is genius for so many reasons. It is the Doctor’s most dire misunderstanding of humanity, as well as the Doctor’s most personal look at being on the receiving end of humanity’s worse impulses. He begins socializing like a normal, if enthusiastic person. But once the mystery begins…it is the best, most subtle example of the Doctor’s pathological need to understand things and his tendency to assume authority over others. Only this time he goes too far. His leadership turns to hubris. So many times, he goads people into risking their life to sate his curiosity. He knows humans are curious and takes advantage.
He keeps talking to the entity but declares no one else should. Part of it is that human bit, curious and wanting to help a possessed Skye who he bonded with earlier by talking about missing Rose. The rules keep changing though, and even he is scared. They call him out for his hubris, while growing increasingly paranoid, especially when discovering he’s not human. He gets frustrated at the descent into the worst of humanity and without thinking, he snaps “because I’m clever!”
He knows what he’s done so impulsively: thrown away the last bit of goodwill he had. He can’t talk his way out anymore.
And this is the most alone and most afraid the Doctor has ever been. It’s the most horrific near-death encounter for him: his inability to be enough like the humans he loves brings the absolute worst out of them.
—————
The Doctor says that it something human to believe two contradictory things at once.
The Doctor, ironically enough, believes two contradictory things about humans.
He believes, at least when disappointed in them or in his lowest points, that humans are monsters. (It’s the reason Fourteen gives that randomly cynical speech in The Giggle. It isn’t all humanity he believes this of. He’s talking to himself because he’s mid breakdown. He’s not 10, he’s softer and more splintered).
But he doesn’t believe that. Not really.
“I was made homeless…and there was the Earth.” - Voyage of the Damned
There’s a reason that the Doctor who has all of time and space always returns to Earth.
In the End of Time, Ten and Wilf have a scene where they sit and talk about their relationship and war and Time Lords.
And the Doctor tells Wilf he’d be proud to be his son.
It’s the Doctor’s most intensely vulnerable moment. He is so terrified that he agrees to carry a gun. (He also does this to make Wilf feel better. This is the last era that I feel understands how The Doctor feels about guns. It makes sense to the character and the arc he’s on at this point and this point only. He doesn’t even use it and ultimately won’t do anything against the enemies he’s facing).
This scene strips down the Doctor like no other scene. And it’s in this scene that the Doctor tells us the only thing you need to know in the end about how he sees humans. How for all he says otherwise, humans are the beings he sees as aspirational, the ones he, a Time Lord, looks up to.
Wilf says, “We must look like insects to you.”
Ten smiles tearful but genuine. He shakes his head slightly. And he says:
“I think you’re like giants.”
Absolutely (Not) the Same Man
Regeneration and Identity
I really l like way Christmas Invasion presents regeneration and how Rose and Ten in-universe seem to understand.
Harriet Jones says that Ten is “absolutely the same man”. Rose does not agree despite being in the scene.
She agrees that 10 is the Doctor, but…not the same. She still loves him and sees the fundamental values being retained but she sees them as different.
She unequivocally says “you’re so different”. She’s beaming when she says it, clearly not missing Nine but rather mystified by Ten. It’s so subtle, (and a lot comes from Billie’s delivery) but even after accepting it, there is something alien about the process lingering.
It’s why I don’t fault her for being upset by the potential regeneration in Journey’s End, it’s the same reason we all are sad to see a Doctor go.
Because the fundamental character traits that we love will be there (you know…hopefully) but everything else will change. Their personalities and the ways they interact with the universe and the way they see themselves all changes. All the quirks and eccentricities that make up the characterization specific to one incarnation of the Doctor as a character, which are what we latch onto change.
We may like who gets tagged, whoever is now ‘it’. But there’s still a friend we’ll miss.
This Doctor wears pinstripes and trainers, instead of leather and combat boots. He willingly wears a paper crown.
He is domestic in a way Nine would never be. He doesn’t tempt Rose from a family dinner, he joins her at one of his own volition, then relishes in it while wearing a paper crown.
I do think this works particularly well here, because it feels like a character arc. It helps Ten feel like an actual extension of Nine. I think this why that it works for them to have the same TARDIS and first companion. It makes the change easier.
Nine was reminded of the beauty of living through Rose and humanity, and reminded ordinary humans that there was no such thing. I love the moment he has with the couple in Father’s Day for this reason.
Ten, in concept and practice, takes this love for humanity and runs with it. (Sometimes way too far depending on the writer. But that’s another meta). He’s more open with his feelings while still being deeply, deeply repressed.
Arguably, I think there’s a moment he tries to learn from his mistakes with Rose. He tries to relay the happy memory of Christmas dinner to Donna before it becomes something else he’s lost. All of her other attempts at connection are shut down.
Later, he’s able to find some respite with Donna in series 4. He’s able to live with his grief and heal for a bit. And he gives Donna a chance to realize that there’s no such thing as an ordinary human.
Then he has to take it all away. All of the edges Donna had softened out, the self-confidence she built up so she didn’t need to scream at the world to feel heard. Gone.
His best friend, just like the love of his life. Gone. And this time it’s like never happened at all.
It’s the last important arc before Time Lord Victorious for a reason.
(it’s honestly more thematically satisfying to go straight to Waters of Mars after series 4)
It’s why he comes to see regeneration as dying.
It’s how we get from “All I did was change” in Born Again, to “It’s like dying.” in the of End of Time
He just watched the identity of his best friend be ripped from her. Plus he feels emotions with more humanity than any incarnation. He feels the fear of identity loss like a human fears mortality.
(This was also before the Doctor had been given more regenerations, and post-war he was burning through them, and was over half through them, so there’s an added layer there)
I never for a second felt he was “throwing a tantrum” in Journey’s End.
I hate when people, including the in universe 11th doctor, say that Ten is vain.
I mean he is. Sometimes it’s done for laughs, but he is arrogant too. Usually it’s well-meaning. He does have more knowledge than anyone and wants to use that to help.
He might be a genius, but he doesn’t understand every intricate detail of human experience. And to be fair, 11 is talking about the metacrisis, but even before Donna’s fate, Ten has begun to project the human fear of death he’s adopted along with all the other emotions onto regeneration.
Journey’s End is the end of a vanity trip. He is stripped down and deeply, deeply scared. And he is allowed to be. And he can react in an intense, emotional way.
There is no hesitation between the knocks and the resignation falling across his face.
There is no doubt what he’s going to sacrifice for Wilf no matter how afraid he is.
Because as intensely as Ten feels fear, it is nothing to how much he loves.
I will forever choose to believe that the metacrisis lets Donna and Rose Noble stay immortal with Fourteen forever.
This has no impact on anything. They still have family dinners and forever take low-key trips through time and space.
No more angst. Just family and magic and happiness and the Doctor in the Tardis with his best friend and his niece.
God I love Donna Noble, the one true GirlBoss™️
so much tv and yet nothing else will top "I just want a mate" "you just want to mate?!?!" exchange from doctor who
real reason donna lost her memories is bc if she had been in the end of time she would have taken one look at the doctor master weirdness and locked them in a room until they actually figured out their issues
I'm convinced Donna did and does watch trash TV and she'll ask the doctor if he wants to sit down and watch with her and he'll make a face and be like, "nah... I'm good, thanks."
And then he'll show up 15 minutes later with a mug of tea in hand just staring at the TV and be like, "I'm sorry, but there is no way he's the father."
Some thoughts about The Wild Blue Yonder (spoilers, obviously):
Star Beast was goofy. The story was a little but clunky, you can definitely tell the trans stuff was written by a cis man, and the ending was for sure a cop-out, but I didn't care. The good outweighed the bad for me. I was just having fun watching these characters I love again. THIS EPISODE THOUGH??? Even better than the last one. The scene where Donna and the Doctor both think they're just talking to each other and we don't know exactly what's going on? Genius. I was so intrigued. The "my arms are too long" line? Terrifying. Fucking chills down my spine. The uncanny valley Donna and The Doctor were so freaky. Catherine and David's acting??? TOP TIER!! I actually thought the Doctor might have left with fake Donna for a second. They fucking got me with that twist. WILFRED'S FACE WHEN HE SAW THE DOCTOR??? Priceless. I had tears in my eyes. I can't wait to see what's next!!
After watching the Chris Chibnall era of Doctor Who, after going through so many fine but kind of boring episodes of TV, the Star Beast FUCKING MIRACULOUS!! I genuinely haven't had this much fun watching Doctor Who in years!! The Meep is so fun, Donna and the Doctor still have such wonderful chemistry, Rose is such a wonderful trans character who I really connected with, and there's this perfect blend of funny and emotional moments that is classic Doctor Who. Thank God Russell T Davis is back. I can't wait to see more.