Series four of Doctor Who premiered a week ago yesterday. The one thing I was worried about was the fact that the scheduled companion was Donna Noble. Donna Noble was last seen as the title character in “The Runaway Bride”, and to be honest… her character made the episode almost unwatchable. She was shrill, dense, selfish, and almost unlikeable. My friends Jeff and Malinda have since said they can’t even re-watch the episode. So, needless to say, when Donna was announced as a full-time companion, I was rather disappointed and apprehensive.
Or, as Jenn so appropriately put it, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Anyway, we’ve now seen two episodes with Donna, and I have to say… I’m relatively impressed.
I guess Russell T. Davies realized how unpopular she was as she was first portrayed. She’s still a bit shrill sometimes, but it’s obvious that within the story, she’s a lot less clueless and a lot less self-centered. It’s obvious her brief time with the Doctor changed her for the better. However, what impressed me most was a scene at the end of the second story. I realize this is a spoiler, and I do apologize, but when I saw Donna in “The Runaway Bride”, I would NEVER have imagined her in tears, begging the Doctor to save somebody, ANYBODY. She did in this story, and in my mind it redeemed her for her debut episode.
There’s still eleven episodes left in the season, so things can definitely change. In the meantime, though, the season’s off to a much better start than I had anticipated.