DOCTOR WHO: THE STAR BEAST Ending Explained - What Happens To Donna When She's Reunited With The Doctor?

DOCTOR WHO: THE STAR BEAST Ending Explained - What Happens To Donna When She's Reunited With The Doctor?

Doctor Who returned last night with "The Star Beast," but what happened when Donna Noble was finally reunited with The Doctor? We're delving into what happened, but be warned that major spoilers follow...

By JoshWilding - Nov 26, 2023 02:11 PM EST
Filed Under: Doctor Who
Source: SFFGazette.com

Doctor Who returned on Saturday evening with "The Star Beast," the first of three 60th-anniversary specials heading our way from showrunner Russell T Davies. 

In that, we picked up with The Fourteenth Doctor (who, for reasons which have yet to be revealed, looks exactly like the Tenth Doctor) as he reunited with his former companion Donna Noble through a bizarre series of circumstances revolving around the secretly sinister - and oddly adorable - Beep the Meep. 

Way back in 2008, Donna made a heroic sacrifice by absorbing regeneration energy which gave her the knowledge of a Time Lord, all in a bid to save the universe. To save her, The Doctor had no other choice than to erase her memories, with it made clear that Donna remembering him would lead to her death. 

After fate reunites them, we reach a point where the only way to stop Meep is for the Time Lord knowledge in Donna's brain to be unlocked. To save her family, she agrees and armed with that, and her original memories, the old friends once again save the day. 

Sadly, after London is saved, she collapses to the floor and appears to die in The Doctor's arms.  

Hold off on grabbing the hankies, though, because she's very much alive! By giving birth to her daughter, Rose, that regeneration energy was shared between them. They both hold that Time Lord knowledge but choose to release it, ensuring they'll both live (and that Donna gets to keep her lost memories). 

As the episode wraps up, Donna enters the TARDIS to go and visit her grandfather Wilf only to drop her coffee on the new-look console, throwing the time machine into chaos and sending her and The Doctor to parts unknown!

Also below (via SFFGazette.com) are the show's new opening titles, a look inside the latest iteration of the TARDIS, and a glimpse at what's to come in the next special, "Wild Blue Yonder."

What did you think about Doctor Who's return and Donna finally being saved? 

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Origame
Origame - 11/26/2023, 2:11 PM
I prefer the oversaturated crystal dildo design they had before, thank you very much.
EarlChai
EarlChai - 11/26/2023, 11:25 PM
@Origame - That wasn't my fave since it was kind of hard to get a sense of the space, but--well, maybe it's my past trauma asserting itself, but this new interior feels cold and sterile, like an operating room.
Origame
Origame - 11/26/2023, 11:34 PM
@EarlChai - nah I'm joking. That interior was terrible. Really glad they're going back to the simpler design concept. It's basically a cleaner version of the 10th doctor's tardas.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/26/2023, 2:13 PM
Great episode, not without issues but a solid 4/5 for me and a fab start to arc and finding out what is realy going on with Tennant being the 14th AND 10th.
dracula
dracula - 11/26/2023, 2:15 PM
Sounds like a really cheap resolution

At least its better than the no explanation given when it looked like she was going to die in The End Of Time.

Got to love the new TARDIS, feels like they did for the classic Tardis what Star Trek 2009 did for the classic Enterprise Bridge

and yup feels like they are celebrating the 10th doctor, not doctor who
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/26/2023, 2:26 PM
@dracula - Fits to have all that stuff to run along for a Tennat incarnation too, I like it but not my favourite interior. Tend to prefer less bright ones, more steam punky style ones are more my thing but cool all the same.


Place bets now the big bad pulled strings, ie the coffee thing was no accident.
dracula
dracula - 11/26/2023, 2:34 PM
@Apophis71 - considering how much the Celestial Toy Maker was featured in the advertising and he was nowhere in the first story, yeah he is probably pulling the strings

guessing he will make is presence known at the end of the next special before being proper big bad of the final one
CerealKiller1
CerealKiller1 - 11/26/2023, 2:41 PM
@Apophis71 - I’d like to think it’s the big bad pulling strings, but they set up earlier in the episode that Donna lost her job because she spilled her coffee on something, so I have a feeling it was meant to be more of a joke at her expense

Saying that, some of the trailers made it seem like he puppeteers some things, so you could be right!
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 11/26/2023, 2:45 PM
@CerealKiller1 - True, was made to look like a callback to how she lost her job but just to me did not look like an accident but wouldn't be the first time I read to much into something with a show coughMephistocough
CerealKiller1
CerealKiller1 - 11/26/2023, 2:52 PM
@Apophis71 - Haha no to be honest the more I think about it now, the spill was SUPER theatrical and over the top, so I’m leaning more to your theory!
RealTurner
RealTurner - 11/26/2023, 9:07 PM
@dracula - That's just how New Who works. Whatever came before is irrelivant. The screwdriver making seemingly self-sustaining, mobile barriers is a power that would have been useful countless times before, and probably would be again, but it won't be entered into lore or even referenced apart maybe from a cute "oh yeah I forgot how to do that" when it becomes inconvienant. Just how Davis writes, in particular; long winded explanations for stuff that he seems very pleased with but are hardly organic, revealed with his classic "ooooh got'cha look how clever I am!" BS.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2023, 3:39 PM
It was f*ckin terrible, that's how they celebrate 60 years of Doctor Who.
InfraMan
InfraMan - 11/26/2023, 4:25 PM
This was the best episode in a very long time! I can imagine certain bits are going to make the usual suspects clutch their pearls, but whatevs… I thought it was a lot of fun.

The sonic screwdriver seems to have had some major upgrades this time around, lol. Then again, it’s always been kind of a blank check to do whatever. :P
Scarilian
Scarilian - 11/26/2023, 4:43 PM
With 5.08m overnight viewing figures, the lowest of any first episode with a new incarnation, I don't think it has enough of an invested audience to really warrant much discussion.

Sure, it'll last for the next five years or so because Disney have made a deal with the BBC to produce seasons - but in terms of cultural impact, the show's dropped off the radar for people.

Jodie's first episode garnered 8.20m overnight viewers in comparison and that was a controversial decision and not a special bringing back the most popular incarnation of the Doctor for the 60th anniversary of the show.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2023, 5:01 PM
@Scarilian - "The Message" was in full force with this episode, just watch it drop even more with the new episodes .
Scarilian
Scarilian - 11/26/2023, 5:31 PM
@marvel72 -
I did not watch the episode after the Davros controversy where RTD stated Davros was a problem and erased Davros' disability, iconography and legacy.

It's clear what those involved want to do with the show, using it as a platform for revisionist history and forced pandering to groups they do not understand or actually care about.

Due to the BBC's contract with Disney, they are going to do four or five seasons of this stuff - so it's best just to not watch it.

Let the viewership collapse and maybe it'll get cancelled as opposed to remaining a propaganda vehicle.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/26/2023, 6:15 PM
@Scarilian - Davros bullshit, this episode featured a woman in a wheelchair who was portrayed as one of the good guys.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 11/27/2023, 7:54 AM
@Scarilian - I was not expecting this special to pull in that many less viewers than Jodie's first episode. Glad people see this for what it is; a bait and switch gimmick. I had no plans to watch it, but after that Davros nonsense, I almost want to see it all fail at this point.
Masefield0325
Masefield0325 - 11/27/2023, 9:52 AM
@Scarilian - The 5.08 million overnight viewing figures for BBC One only. Viewing figures for catch up and Disney+ worldwide are yet to be released.
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