Yesterday I presented 10 - 7 of the most tear inducing moments of Doctor Who (since 2005). Today I return with another 4 and they are sadder than ever. Warning you may need tissues, also it should go without saying but in case it doesn't, there are spoilers in this blog.
Don't forget to read part one here.
Number 6: The Doctor
meets The Tardis
“The Doctor’s Wife” (6.4)
In this Neil Gaiman penned ep the
Doctor receives a message from what he thinks is a fellow Time Lord but after
investigating he finds himself trapped on an asteroid outside of the universe.
But this is no ordinary asteroid, this asteroid (called “House”) is alive and
it has a taste for Tardis’s. In order to digest the Tardis, House has his handy
servants, Uncle and Auntie trap the Tardis’s matrix (basically its personality)
inside a young woman named Idris. When the Doctor informs House that there are
no more Tardis’s left, the asteroid decides to use the Doctor’s ship (with Amy
and Rory trapped on board) to travel into our universe. It’s OK though because
the Doctor has the help of his trusty Tardis, aka Sexy, so victory is pretty
much assured but that doesn’t stop the journey from being incredibly
heartbreaking.
This episode it tear jerking on a
couple of different levels... you’ve got my favourite - the Doctor being given
hope that he is not alone only to have torn away from him. Then of course there
is one of the famous Rory deaths (there might be another one on this list you
never know) but bar far the most traumatic part of this episode is the short,
emotional life of the Tardis in human form. Because there is nothing sad about
being alive... until it’s over.
Number 5: The Master
has the last word
“Last of the Time Lords” (3.13)
In the 3 part season finale of Season
3, the Master has returned, made his way to earth, been elected Prime Minister
and taken over the world with metal balls that are the future humanity, oh also
he’s captured the Doctor forcing him to age so he now looks like a creepy old
man baby. It’s up to Martha to save the world, as well as the Doctor, and you
know what she does a pretty bad ass job of it - if this was a list of badass
companion moments I would keep talking about that but it’s not so we’ll move
on. The tears come after the battle is won, the Doctor has used the thoughts of
the people to regain his power (and his good looks) and he uses this power (and
good looks) to forgive his long-time nemesis the Master. The Doctor is
preparing to settle down in order to take care of his new companion when the
Master is shot by his crazy beard wife. When the Master refuses to
regenerate the Doctor can do nothing but watch as the last remaining link to
his home die in his arms.
It’s a return to a recurring theme, which
is the Doctor losing this last piece of hope, over and over again. This is one
is super sad because the Master is just so damaged, he is one of those villains
that you can’t help but love because maybe, just maybe, if he listened to the
Doctor, he could be saved. It’s horribly sad.
Number 4: The tenth
Doctor doesn’t want to go
“The End of Time: Part Two" (4.18)
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The most unique part of this show is
that they are able to constantly recast the main character, and somehow everyone is
totally cool with it. It’s exciting when we get a new Doctor and it’s not like
the Doctor is actually dead of course but that doesn’t stop it from hurting
like hell. This one is particularly bad because David Tennant was just such an
amazing Doctor and I mean, how could you not love him?
The Doctor knew he was going to die, he
was told that the one who kills him would knock four times, which suggest that
it’s going to be the Master and his crazy four beat drumming. It seems that
these suspicions are confirmed when the Master is brought back by some crazy
minions. The master turns the human race into “the Master” race (duplicate
versions of himself) but that’s just the beginning of the Doctor’s troubles
because it turns out that the Master is part of a plan to pull the Time Lord’s
out of the time lock along with their planet, Gallifrey, knocking the earth off
its axis, which is not great for its inhabitants. Also the Time Lords are not
all that great themselves. Thank goodness the Doctor, with the help of Donna’s
grandfather Wilfred Mott, is able to save earth and the human race. When the
Time Lords are defeated and the Master lost, the Doctor is surprised (and
happy) to find that he is still alive... until he hears four knocks. It seems
that Wilfred has gotten himself in an isolation chamber which is about to flood
with radiation. The only way to save him is for the Doctor to sacrifice
himself.
Just to make things more traumatic, the
Doctor has enough time to take one last trip to visit all of his companions,
starting with Martha and culminating with Rose. I am crying just thinking about
it. The absolute worst part is that as he is regenerating, alone in the Tardis,
his last words are “I don’t want to go” - I can’t even... I mean damn you
Davies that was not fair.
Number 3: Donna loses
everything
“Journey’s End” (4.13)
There are quite a few finals on this
list and there is a reason for that, they are always emotion packed epics, and
as the season 4 finale is the most epic of all the finales it should be no
surprise to find it on this list. It’s full of heartbreaking moments but there
is none more tear inducing than watching Donna lose her memory of the Doctor,
and everything she had become since meeting him.
For those of you that don’t remember,
“Journey’s End” was the mother of all season finals when Earth was stolen by
the Daleks (and Davros) it will take more than one companion to save the day in
fact it takes all of them... at least the ones seen since the 2005 reboot. Not
only do we get an overload of companions but we also get an overload of Doctors
when the arm that has been hanging out like Chekhov's gun for a couple of
seasons suddenly, with some help from Donna turns into a full grown David Tennant
shaped Doctor. But this Doctor’s a little different, he’s part human, more
importantly part Donna. When it seems all but lost Donna comes out of nowhere
and saves the day with her typing skills because it turns out it wasn’t just a
one way transfer, the new Doctor is part Donna and now Donna is part Doctor.
It’s pretty amazing when Donna gets to save the world because she honestly
never thought she could do it which just makes what happens next even worse.
Donna is given the secrets of the
universe, her and the Doctor have an amazing friendship based on equality and
trust and for once in her life she believes in herself. Basically everything is
wonderful and nothing hurts until the Doctor is forced to make Donna forget
because her human brain can’t handle all the Time Lord knowledge. Of all the
companions, Donna is the one who changes the most (and for the better) during
her time with the Doctor, and to take that away from her is somehow worse than
if she had died. The image of Donna begging the Doctor not to take her memories
away is etched into my mind and it will never fail to insight a flood of tears.
Oh wow, that's enough sad for me today... If this is what's happening to me today, I can't imagine what it's going to be like for the final two. Speaking of which, who do you think is going to be number one? Or maybe your number one is already on the list. Let me know in the comments and check back tomorrow for the final part of this heart-wrenching list.
Read part 3 here.
Read part 3 here.
