Doctor Who Secretly Set Up Donna Noble’s Daughter As A Trans Character 15 Years Ago
Though it took 15 years to come to fruition, Doctor Who secretly set up Donna Noble's daughter, Rose, as a trans character in Doctor Who season 4.
Donna Noble’s original exit secretly set up her daughter Rose’s trans identity 15 years before the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary special.
Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi series on television, which is no surprise given the wonderful elements of the show. The series is known for its titular main character, zany storylines, and creative aliens. What the show doesn’t get enough credit for is its writing. Doctor Who has created a number of complex storylines that don’t pay off for years or even decades. However, the showrunners and writers know how to weave this in without making it abundantly obvious.
A great example of this is found in the Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, episode one, “The Star Beast.” This episode revisits the character of Donna Noble and her family after the metacrisis. It’s revealed that Donna has a non-binary daughter named Rose Noble, who feels compassion towards outsiders, leading to her involvement with Beep the Meep. At the end of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, the Doctor discovers that Rose’s nonbinary identity is somewhat influenced by the fact that she has Time Lord energy inside of her. Interestingly, this storyline was teased 15 years earlier.
Doctor Who seasons 1 to 13 are available on Max, and the 60th anniversary specials will come out on Disney+ every Saturday between Nov. 25 and Dec. 9.
Donna’s “Binary” Line Foreshadowed Rose In Doctor Who’s 2023 Specials
The Connection to Donna’s Original Exit From Doctor Who
In Doctor Who season 4, episode 13, “Journey’s End,” Donna turns into a hybrid of a Time Lord and the companion. As she accesses her Time Lord knowledge, she gets stuck on the word “binary,” repeating it like a skipping CD track. At face value, this shows that the knowledge is too immense and fast for Donna’s brain to process correctly. As the Doctor points out, the metacrisis will kill her human brain if she continues to access her Time Lord memories. However, reflecting on it 15 years later, Donna’s “binary” line served as foreshadowing for Rose’s gender identity in the 2023 Doctor Who special.
A binary system is built into Doctor Donna in Doctor Who because both the Time Lord and the human sides exist inside her, but one typically overpowers the other. This could be why her brain got stuck on the word when speaking. The Doctor removes her memories, but that doesn’t change what’s now a part of her biology. If Donna ever had a child, that child would seemingly have to be non-binary because that child would receive genes from both parts of Donna, neither of which would dominate over the other. Instead, the Time Lord and human parts would intermingle to make an entirely new third entity.
It’s unclear whether this was planned back in Doctor Who season 4 or not. Regardless of the answer, the foreshadowing comes across as clever and well-thought-out. Donna’s non-binary daughter, Rose, seems like the right outcome for a mind-wiped Doctor Donna. It helps strengthen the inclusivity that Doctor Who strives towards. Moreover, the storyline also provided the perfect opportunity to explore the Doctor’s pronouns and gender after Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration.
How “The Star Beast” Hints At Doctor Who’s Big Rose Twist
The Foreshadowing in Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Special, Episode 1, “The Star Beast”
In addition to the foreshadowing in Donna’s original exit, Doctor Who‘s 60th-anniversary special, “The Star Beast,” provides numerous hints that point to the Rose Noble metacrisis reveal. The first sign that Rose may have a connection to the Doctor is the fact that her chosen name comes from one of Doctor Who‘s best companions, Rose Tyler. While it would be noteworthy on its own, it’s even more significant because the Metacrisis Doctor, who is Donna’s counterpart, left to grow old with Rose. It’s almost like the metacrisis part of Rose knew on some level that another part of her existed with this companion.
Additionally, Rose makes toys based on the aliens that Donna and the Doctor experienced without even realizing what she’s doing. The character thinks she’s creating these odd-shaped monster stuffies, but she’s actually accessing bits and pieces of buried memories. The most clearly recognizable toy she makes is the Adipose, but the full list of alien stuffed animals includes the following:
- Adipose
- Alpha Centauri
- Cyberman
- Dalek
- Judoon
- Karvanista
- Ood
- The Beast
Lastly, Rose spends most of her time in a rectangular shed which mirrors the shape of the TARDIS in Doctor Who. Presumably, Rose wouldn’t have access to the Memory TARDIS from Doctor Who: Tales of the TARDIS since she wasn’t a companion of the Doctor. As such, her shed brings the latent, metacrisis side the same kind of comfort and peace given to the other Doctor Who companions. Rose’s Time Lord side can relive her time on the TARDIS without breaking the memory block.
