It just occurred to me how weird it is that none of the companions were allowed to stay with the Doctor for the rest of their lives?
We see Martha make the decision to leave the Doctor and Amy and Rory talk about being aware that one day they’ll have to choose to leave too, and of course Ryan and Graham come to the same conclusion (and get to pick when to leave, like Martha), but none of the other companions from New Who wanted to leave the Doctor. I don’t recall Bill or Clara talking about seeing an end to their travels, and Rose and Donna talk explicitly about how they want to spend the rest of their lives travelling with Ten.
Now, I understand why they can’t keep an actor in the show forever, but they could easily give a character a happy ending where they spend the rest of their lives travelling with the Doctor until they die in their old age, whether by the danger inherent in their travels or by failing health in their advanced age, all they’d have to do is put the chosen companion in FX make-up to show they’re older (like they did with Clara in Last Christmas) or even mention that this is what happened. I’d love the closure of seeing a much older companion say goodbye when they know they don’t have much time left (maybe even seeing their last trip together?) but this wouldn’t be strictly necessary, they could just tell us it happened off-screen.
(How cool would it be to have an 90-year-old companion who’s travelled with the Doctor since their 20s sacrificing themselves to, say, save a whole galaxy and having a monologue where they thank the Doctor for the adventure of a lifetime? Reminiscing about their time together and about how much they mean to each other? How much they learned travelling time and space together? How they helped each other be better, do better?)
The Doctor is so old and lives for such long periods of time that it’s weird that most of his companions only stay with him for 1-3 years before the narrative tears them apart. This could be meant as commentary on how life with the Doctor isn’t survivable for long to humans, but that seems off-brand for DW.
I think it’s more likely that they keep having to write the characters off the show and they’re trying to come up with these great endings for their arcs and missed the obvious: they can give them their happy ending and then promptly move on to the next season/companion(s). The Doctor doesn’t age like a normal human, jumping forward 60-ish years in their personal history wouldn’t even necessitate them looking any different so why not take advantage of that and finally allow both them and a companion the chance to stay together as long as human biology allows? They don’t even have to show it, they could just tell us that’s what happened.
Anyway, this post isn’t specifically about how Donna Noble deserved better but it also is actually exactly about how Donna Noble deserved better.
