First of all, I’m a manly man. I don’t cry. Second of all, sometimes crying can’t be helped. I’m a sucker for a really good dramatic scene in a movie or TV show. And sometimes it’s from a book or something else I’ve read. My eyes get watery, there’s a lump in my throat and I’m just awash with emotion. Everybody knows the feeling. It’s fantastic. Writers and other creative sorts know what they’re doing, they know how to put together the right characters, play the absolute perfect music and bring down the house with pure emotion.

Here are 6 tearjerker moments for me. Warning though, there will be several spoilers for the TV shows Lost and Doctor Who, as well as some movies and comics. Anyway, let’s get to it.

6. The Doctor and the TARDIS say ‘Hello’

The Boy and His Box

Allow me a moment to explain Doctor Who, because the show inspired this list and actually has more than one entry. And like a lot of the entries on this list, it’s important to understand the context of the moment to understand why it’s so emotionally powerful to me. I doubt everyone is going to truly understand why I cried at these moments because it’s a very personal thing, but I’m going to try and explain the tears as best I can.

Doctor Who is a science fiction adventure show from Britain that first debuted in 1963. It ran for several years, had some reruns and movies over decades, and was finally revitalized in 2005 for new audiences. I’ve only seen the episodes from 2005 onwards, none of that really old stuff. The show follows the adventures of an enigmatic time traveler known only as The Doctor. He and his companions travel through time and space having adventures. The Doctor’s time machine is that big blue Police Box in the picture, called the TARDIS. It looks like a Police Box because it’s supposed to automatically blend in to whatever time period he visits…but it got stuck like that on one adventure.

Also, it’s bigger on the inside, so we’re not talking about some Bill and Ted thing where everybody’s crammed inside a little phone booth.

Hey Socrates, watch where you put your hand

The Doctor isn’t human, though his companions and sidekicks almost always are. He’s a Time Lord, an ancient and immortal race of time travelers. The original writers of the show came up with a very clever idea of how he can stay immortal for such a long running show. The Doctor regenerates. When the very first actor who played The Doctor wanted to leave the show, the writers decided that they wouldn’t just replace him and hope nobody noticed. They wrote the change of actors into the story. Every time The Doctor’s body physically dies, he simply regenerates into a new body. He has the same personality and memories, but he’ll have new quirks and a new sense of style. So far, there have been 11 Doctors over the course of the show.

All playing the same character

On the show, he and his companions travel to and from different time periods and planets. He can go back to hang out with William Shakespeare on Earth, or he can go to the planet Zalbraxicus in the year 5 Billion if he wanted. They fight werewolves, evil aliens, diabolical human dictators and everything in between. Their adventures can be funny or they can be quite serious. The Doctor is a pacifist, so he doesn’t use guns and isn’t an action hero. He uses his mind and his cleverness to save the day, so he’s a very fun character to watch.

But he’s also a very lonely character.

For you see, The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords. That’s why he has human companions, because he doesn’t want to go on adventures alone when he can make friends and bring them along. But over the years, he’s had dozens of companions. They come and go. He’s like Peter Pan in that way. He’s immortal, so he’ll always be around to have these adventures. But humans grow up, they fall in love, they find reasons to go back home or stay in a different time period. Humans move on, but The Doctor will just keep moving forward on his adventures.

The only constant in his life is the TARDIS.

Have you ever loved a car? Or known someone who has? That’s what it’s like for The Doctor and his TARDIS. It’s always there to take him to his next adventure. It’s his home and his transport; it’s his getaway driver and his accomplice. He calls it ‘Sexy’ when nobody else is around. How much would you love your time machine? The TARDIS always come through in the end. It’s his one true companion.

Which is why the episode where The Doctor got to actually meet the TARDIS was called ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ in Season 6. And it had me in tears by the end.

Written by the great Neil Gaiman, ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ was an episode from earlier this year in which The Doctor and his companions got trapped on a small junkyard planet. The twist was that the planet was alive. It could think and speak and had a mind of its own. The evil planet lured The Doctor there so that he could feed on The Doctor’s time traveling energy, and feed on the TARDIS. To facilitate this, the evil planet took the ‘heart’ of the TARDIS, basically its aura, and put it in the body of a woman who lived in the junkyard. There were only a few scraggly people living in the junkyard, with Idris being one of them.

Idris and The Doctor

When we first meet Idris, she comes off as just a nutter. Nobody knows that she has the TARDIS’s soul inside of her because she looks human. All The Doctor knows is that the TARDIS has lost its power and he needs to fix it to get off the planet. So everyone spends most of the episode thinking Idris is just loopy. It’s only later, when The Doctor’s friends are in trouble, that Idris reveals the truth: she’s the TARDIS given human form. She’s his time machine, but now she can talk and think and feel. The Doctor has a once in a lifetime opportunity to actually communicate and connect with his time machine, his one true love and his constant companion.

Most of the episode is about the two of them teaming up to stop the evil planet and save The Doctor’s friends. They end up back inside the Police Box, which has been taken over by the evil planet. They want to get the TARDIS’ soul back into the Police Box while flushing out the evil planet; but to do so, of course, means the TARDIS can’t be Idris anymore. She has to go back to being a voiceless, inanimate Police Box again.

So the moment the made me weep was the last scene between The Doctor and Idris, when he realizes this is his last chance to tell her everything he’s ever wanted to tell her. To let the TARDIS know how much she means to him; and likewise the TARDIS can tell The Doctor how much she’s enjoyed going on these adventures with him. What would it be like if the car you loved so much could tell you that it loved you back? That it loved nothing more than cruising the open road with you behind the wheel? In this last moment together, rather than saying goodbye, the TARDIS decides to simply tell him, “Hello. Hello Doctor. It’s so very, very nice to meet you.”

Yes, tears...tears of joy!

5. The Death and Rebirth of Charlie Pace

Oh Lost, you were such an amazing show. So many twists and turns, so many mysteries and unanswered questions. Some people got annoyed with your labyrinthian plots, but not me. I loved you from beginning to end. But what TV executives never truly understood was that Lost wasn’t amazing because of the mysteries, it was amazing because of the characters. From the very first episode, Lost was a show about people and how they interact with one another. Forget the Smoke Monsters and Others and French women, Lost was about the castaways and how their lives were effected by that island.

And one of my favorite characters was musician and heroin addict Charlie Pace, played by Dominic Monaghan.

He's seen better days

Charlie was the little brother-type to the main characters. He was fun and funny, and was played by a Hobbit, so already he had geek cred. Charlie was one of several dozen survivors of a plane crash in the Pacific, a group that washed up on the shores of a mysterious island with no way to contact the outside world. They banded together and set up camp, then slowly began to discover that this was no mere island. There were other people living on the island, noises and whispers out in the jungle and a strange hatch hidden in the brush that seemed to lead underground.

But as all the mysteries and strangeness piled up, the show never failed to be about the characters and how they dealt with these problems. Each episode starred an individual character, and would feature flashbacks to that character’s past to tell a bit more of their story and background. Charlie was a rockstar back in the world, a member of the band Drive Shaft. But his best days were behind him, and he’d become a washed up heroin addict.

Junkie face

But there sure ain’t no heroin on a tropical island!

So for most of the first season, Charlie goes through heroin withdrawal and his new friends have to help him through it. We get to know him as a nice guy who’s just had some hard times and partied a little too hard. But now he’s cleaning up, he’s loyal to his friends and he even falls a little bit in love with a cute blonde girl named Claire. Theirs was a cute romance, with its ups and downs, made even cuter when Claire gave birth to her son Aaron. She was pregnant when the plan crashed, it’s not Charlie’s kid.

Blondes have more fun, even on mysterious and deadly islands

Lost was a master of emotional moments, and I’m sure there were a few times where I cried during the show. But the time that sticks out most to me is Charlie’s death. Characters died all the time on Lost. It was one of their most popular ratings grabs. The show runners knew the perfect music to use and really pulled on the viewers’ heartstrings. Most deaths were really powerful moments, and Charlie’s at the end of season 3 was he absolute saddest.

Due to another character having visions, Charlie knew his death was coming, and he’d accepted it with courage. The visions told him that Charlie’s death would ensure that Claire and Aaron got off the island safely. Though he didn’t tell anyone that he was going to die. The show gave Charlie a grand send off in the episode ‘Greatest Hits’, in which Charlie made a list of the greatest moments of his life and flashed back to them, including the first time he heard his band’s song on the radio, the time he saved a woman from some muggers and, of course, meeting Claire.

Hooray for picnics on the beach!

But Charlie finally met his end in the season 3 finale ‘Through the Looking Glass’. The castaways find out that there’s a boat near the island, and they think it belongs to a woman named Penny, who is looking to save them. They want to contact the boat, but the Others, the bad guys who live on the island, are blocking all communications. So the castaways split into two teams. The majority go to a radio tower on the island, while Charlie and a few others travel to the communications hub in order to stop the jamming. The hub is in an underwater bunker, so Charlie and his pal Desmond swim down and have to fight their way through some guards.

In the end, Charlie makes it to the computer hub and is able to turn off the jamming signal. He gets in touch with Penny over the radio to ask her about the boat – but she doesn’t know anything about it! The boat actually belongs to the bad guys! Charlie realizes that he has to warn the others before they radio the boat. But before he can get away, the Others sabotage the underwater bunker. They blow a hole in the side, and Charlie only has enough time to close the door to the computer hub before the ocean flows in and drowns everyone in the bunker. Desmond rushes to the door, but it’s too late. Charlie is able to pass one last message to Desmond through the porthole before he drowns.

He should have written 'Open the Door'

Once again, Lost made a masterpiece out of a character’s death. The music was brilliant, the moment was touching and Charlie’s sacrifice had meaning. He got a warning to his friends and he went out like a hero. Charlie knew he was dying for a reason. The entire episode was fantastic and full of excitement, and it ended in tears. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ was a game-changer for the show, and it all came down to Charlie’s noble, selfless death.

Charlie returned in the series finale at the end of Season 6. I won’t go into all the complicated details, but suffice to say, Lost used its final season and especially its final episode to give all of the characters one last moment to shine. Everyone got to experience a moment where all their memories of the island came flooding back to them, and the viewer is treated to montages of the characters on the show. Charlie and Claire had their moments together, and the show flashed on everything they’d been through, the fun of the characters and the emotional attachments they’d made to one another and to the viewers. The moment was like a rebirth for the characters, sort of. It was a powerful moment in a very awesome episode, and I teared up again reliving Charlie’s greatness.

4. Cassie may be stuck as a butterfly in Animorphs

Most of you probably have no idea what the heck this entry is about. But when I conceived this list and started thinking of moments when I got all weepy, this one stood out. And as this list came together, I realized that they were so obscure and so varied that I just had to include them all It wasn’t just television that made me cry, with its perfect music and cinematography. Sometimes it was just the written word.

Animorphs was a young-adult book series that I read back in middle and high schools. I was a voracious reader back then, and Animorphs was my favorite. The series told the story of a group of 5 teen-agers who learn about a secret alien invasion of Earth, and it’s up to them to stop it. The aliens, the Yeerks, are slimy little slugs that crawl into people’s brains and take control of their bodies. Then they go around pretending to that person as they keep spreading to more and more people, eventually worming their way into positions of power as they prepare for a full-on invasion.

Which is why the kids can’t tell the police, because the Yeerks are the police. And they can’t tell their parents, because any hint that these kids or their parents know about the invasion and the Yeerks will simply take over their minds. They have to fight back in secret. To do so, a dying good guy alien gives them the super power to turn into animals. With this power, the Animorphs disrupt the Yeerks’ plans, free some of the enslaved people and do whatever they can to stop or delay the full-scale invasion.

Animals versus aliens would make a fun TV show

Now there’s a whole process to the morphing, which is where the sad part of this story comes in. The kids first have to touch an animal to acquire its DNA, then they can only transform for two hours, otherwise they’ll be trapped forever. Such is fictional, alien Science!

The Animorphs are Jake the leader; Marco the jokester; Rachel the fighter; Tobias the loner; and Cassie, the caring nurturer. My favorite character was Ax, one of the good guy aliens who came and joined the team and could also turn into animals. But this entry is about Cassie, the kindest, most empathetic of the Animorphs. Cassie was the daughter of farmers, and she had a kindred connection with animals. She was sweet, nice and tended to mother the group. Cassie was also never very comfortable with killing the evil aliens and sometimes the people they controlled.

Which is why in the beginning of Animorphs #19, Cassie quits the team after a fight goes bad.

The rest of the team is upset with her, but Cassie sticks with it and goes off on her own to be alone with her thoughts. Out in the woods, she finds a young girl being chased by a bear. Cassie rushes to help, but gets knocked out and falls into a river. When she wakes up, she finds herself lost in the woods with the young girl – who is actually one of the Yeerks! The two must work together to get out of the woods and survive further attacks by wild animals. Cassie is forced to reveal her powers to the Yeerk. While they walk and work together, they discuss the alien invasion and the rights of the enslaved. The Yeerk, named Afran, insists that the Yeerks should have the right to see the world as humans or the other aliens they have enslaved. Otherwise they’re slimy little worms, with no eyes or ears of their own, living in murky pools. With their ability to take over other bodies, they can finally see and run and live.

But, of course, it comes at the cost of enslavement.

This was a great book in that it tried to help the reader identify with the villainous Yeerks. They weren’t just cartoon super-villains, they were characters of their own with real thoughts and feelings. In the end, Cassie convinces the Yeerk that enslaving people is wrong. But the Yeerk convinces Cassie to try life as a blind, helpless bug. Cassie morphs into a caterpillar and stays that way past the 2 hour time limit, trapping her as a caterpillar forever! This was incredibly sad to read as a kid. Some characters had already been trapped as animals before, so it was a possibility here as well. The writing was just beautiful as Cassie’s friends found her and learned what had happened. These kids, who I’d gotten to know so well, now had to deal with the fact that they’d lost their friend, possibly forever.

Maybe turning into an elephant would help

Cassie chose to turn into a caterpillar in order to defend her beliefs, to prove a point that war has a cost and that both sides have a point. This was powerful stuff as a kid. But then Animorphs always had a strong mythology and fully rounded characters.

There is a happy ending. Cassie spends several days as a caterpillar and everyone makes their peace with her gone – though the Animorphs still can’t tell her parents where she is. Then Cassie builds a cocoon and transforms into a butterfly, which somehow resets the 2 hour time limit. Cassie can change back and rejoin the team!

Science!

3. Galactus can’t save the Silver Surfer from dying

If you saw the movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, you may be familiar with the character and his master, Galactus. Or maybe you’re just awesome enough to know all about them anyway. Silver Surfer was my favorite superhero when I was a kid. He just looked cool and has an amazing story. I even recommended the tale of the Silver Surfer as the next movie Marvel should make, as long as its made by Pixar.

He is the Silver Surfer, the Sentinel of the Spaceways, the lonely alien. And once upon a time, he died.

And once upon a time, he visited New York City

The Silver Surfer, whose real name is Norrin Radd, is an alien humanoid from the planet Zenn-La. There he had a nice life and the love of a good woman, Shalla-Bal. Then one day, Zenn-La came under attack from Galactus, Devourer of Worlds! Galactus is a cosmic entity who survives on the sustenance of entire planets. But he’s not a bad guy, he’s a force of nature. Galactus is no more villainous than a hurricane. He’s like a hunter who thins the herd of deer, or a gardener who clears out the weeds and the dead plants. Not that any of that is a comfort to the people who live on the planets that Galactus eats.

When Galactus came to eat Zenn-La, Norrin Radd stepped up to stop him. Norrin was just a man, and there wasn’t much he could do – but Galactus had an idea. He would turn Norrin into his herald, and then Norrin could fly through the universe and find planets for Galactus to eat. That way, Norrin could find uninhabited planets, or planets that nobody would miss. He could pick and choose and help Galactus be more selective in his meals. So in order to save Zenn-La, Norrin Radd agreed to become Galactus’ herald.

So was born the Silver Surfer.

Surf's up, dudes!

People may ask why this alien creature is flying around on a surfboard. Well the answer is quite simple. Galactus gave the Surfer part of his power, turning him indestructible. The Surfer’s body is encased in cosmic silver. He can’t get hurt, doesn’t bruise, doesn’t need to eat or breath and therefore he doesn’t need the life-support systems of a full spaceship. So Galactus gave him the simplest possible mode of transportation: a flat board. The Surfer can fly at faster than light speeds, and there is nothing to block his view of the cosmos if all he’s doing is standing on a simple board. What better way to experience the grand cosmos than to immerse yourself in it without any barriers in the way?

I love the Silver Surfer. I love the enigmatic majesty of his journey through the cosmos. I love his noble spirit, his desire for peace in a galaxy of war. He’s a bleeding heart, but honorably so. Even the vilest of his enemies have to have some respect for him. And Galactus is equally as awesome. This powerful, monstrous being is  also honorable. Together they are just such a brilliant concept, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Funny story, Surfer was never in the original plan. Lee and Kirby created Galactus as a villain for the Fantastic Four, but when Stan sent the story to be drawn by Jack, Jack just decided to add in this new character to act as Galactus’ herald. Soon Stan Lee fell in love with the Surfer and his nobility.

What's not to love?

So eventually, the Silver Surfer finds the planet Earth and leads Galactus to it. But after he spends some time on Earth, he comes to like humans and the Surfer betrays his master. Surfer joins with the superheroes the Fantastic Four and repels Galactus’ attempts to devour the Earth. Galactus leaves to go eat some other planet, but imprisons the Surfer on Earth. There he plays superhero for awhile, being a noble and honorable man who doesn’t understand Earthly politics or prejudices. The Silver Surfer was real popular in the 70s.

The Surfer eventually gets free of his Earthly imprisonment and returns to space. He became a heroic figure, helping the helpless and fighting the good fight in the cosmos. He becomes a mythical figure of sorts. Basically, he’s just a pretty awesome space-bound superhero.

The story that got me to cry was Silver Surfer: Requiem, the hypothetical last voyage of the Silver Surfer.

In this story, the Silver Surfer flies too close to a supernova and he develops a black spot on his silver body. The spot is never explained, but it starts spreading like a cancer. He’s dying. It’s a four issue mini-series, and in the first issue the Surfer goes back to Earth to say his goodbyes to the Fantastic Four. Not even their skills can save them. In the second issue, he meets Spider-Man, who gives the Surfer a pep talk about life, death and the human race. In the third issue, the Surfer meets two alien races locked in war, and he imparts his message of peace upon them. All very good issues, very moving stuff by writer J. Michael Straczynski.

In the fourth and final issue, Silver Surfer returns home to Zenn-La to be with his people and with Shalla-Bal before he dies. The black cancer has spread to most of his body, and the silver ‘flesh’ is almost entirely gone. He’s weak and can barely stand, and in fact crashes on the planet. His people treat him with reverence, and everyone comes from miles around to see Norrin Radd on his death bed. This was the man who volunteered his life to spare their planet, after all.

Then Norrin gets one final visitor before he dies: Galactus.

Fearful that Galactus has come to finally eat the planet, Norrin gets up from his death bed to confront him. Norrin fears that, since he is dying, Galactus might consider that the end of their deal and devour Zenn-La. Galactus calls to him, and the Surfer goes forth. But Galactus’ visit is not what the Surfer expected.

Click to enlarge

I absolutely lost it in that moment.

I just couldn’t hold back the tears. It was so moving, so powerful. The entire series had this flowery, flowing narration, and this moment clinched it for me. Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, humbling himself for such a seemingly insignificant being as the Silver Surfer. Galactus goes on to tell him not to worry about Zenn-La.

“I know your mind and be at ease. I will never harm Zenn-La, or allow it to be harmed by others. I would never allow anyone to harm the world that was the heart and soul of the most honorable being I have ever known.”

They may just be fictional characters, but that was powerful stuff to me. I want to be a writer for moments like this.

2. It’s River Tam’s Turn

Firefly is one of the greatest television shows of all time. Anyone who disagrees will not understand this entry and should probably leave right now. It’s brilliant television. It’s exciting, emotional and full of more character than five seasons worth of the usual crap that the networks put on TV. It’s the story of a crew of space pirates and smugglers set sometime in the future, when humanity has colonized a whole solar system of planets. It’s a combination of outer space and the wild west, when some planets are rich and powerful while others are out on the fringes of the galaxy, rural and rustic like the frontier.

The name of their ship is the Serenity.

There is no more beautiful a spaceship

Captained by the noble yet gruff Mal Reynolds, the crew of the Serenity travels from planet to planet doing whatever jobs come their way. Sometimes they’re smugglers, sometimes they’re salvagers and sometimes they just transport passengers. Whatever it takes to keep gas in the tanks and food on the table. Mal and his crew live free and play by their own rules. They always try to stay off the radar of the galaxy’s ruling body, The Alliance. They’re a family of ruffians and kind-hearted folk. Firefly is the best example of ensemble acting I have ever seen. You will find no better group of characters in all of pop culture.

The show ran for one very mishandled season on Fox. Episodes were shown out of order, even though the story flows from one episode to the next. Fox refused to air the pilot at the beginning and then they pulled the show off the air before all the episodes had been shown. Such an act has been regarded as the greatest crime committed against a television show ever.

Just ask anyone on the Internet.

Eventually Firefly got a movie, which was called Serenity. It was moderately successful, though I loved it. The full show also came out on DVD, with all the episodes in order. It’s amazing. I was literally angry after watching the DVD since I knew there’d never be any more episodes.

One of the main characters of both Firefly and Serenity was River Tam.

Don't look at where she's pointing

River is introduced in the series as a scared and odd young woman who seems to be a little touched in the head. As the series progressed, and then into the movie, we learn that she was actually experimented on throughout childhood by The Alliance. River is a prodigy. She’s super smart, even by futuristic space standards. The Alliance took her from her family under false pretenses and then experimented on her, boosting her intelligence and messing with her mind to turn her into a acrobatic, telepathic assassin. But River was able to get word back to her family, and she was saved by her brother Simon.

Why is he looking at us like that?

Simon and River come from a rich family, and Simon was a prominent doctor on one of The Alliance’s central planets. But when he found out his sister was being used as a lab rat, he gave it all up to rescue her. The two became wanted fugitives and ended up aboard the Serenity, the  perfect place to hide. They fell in among Mal Reynold’s crew of smugglers and n’er-do-wells. Simon’s uppity, rich person nature often clashed with Mal’s more scounndrelesque ways. And River being crazy and prone to fits was always a problem. But they were part of the family now, and Mal took care of them. And Simon took care of River at every turn. Simon stood up to everyone, including Mal, whenever he had to keep River safe.

They were my favorite characters in the show. Simon’s kind of a dork, so he’s my kind of hero. And River is just cool.

Which brings us to Serenity, the movie.

The TV show Firefly gave us bits and pieces about River’s back story and what The Alliance wanted with her. The movie Serenity lays all the cards on the table. Not only were The Alliance turning River into a telepathic assassin, but this mind-reading allowed her to learn the truth about a group of savages called the Reavers. Seems The Alliance was experimenting with personality and anger control drugs, trying to pacify people and keep them happy. Well the drugs backfired, and on the planet Miranda, they turned a lot of people into mindless, murderous cannibal savages! The Reavers became feared throughout the galaxy…and River alone knew the truth about their origins. That’s why The Alliance was always hunting her down, to protect their cover-up.

At the end of the movie, Mal’s crew are going to broadcast the truth about the Reavers to the entire galaxy. They’re hold up in a large broadcasting facility, but both The Alliance and the Reavers are sieging the facility. So while Mal goes downstairs to reach the computer, the others hold the line. Some of them have already died, and the rest are tired and wounded. They fight off wave after wave of Reavers. We’re at the height of the movie’s action-packed climax. And then everything slams to a halt – Simon’s been shot.

Aaaagh!

Simon falls and River rushes to his side. The others barricade the door and they all have a moment of peace as Simon looks up at his sister and tells her that he’s sorry. My eyes are watering. There’s a lump in my throat. River clutches his hand. Everyone looks on as Simon tries to choke out his last words…But River has other ideas:

“You take care of me Simon. You’ve always taken care of me. My turn.”

And suddenly River’s entire storyline comes to fruition. The Alliance was making the ultimate assassin, remember? Well with her brother shot, something inside River’s fractured mind suddenly falls into place. All the experiments, all the training, all the love from her brother and the crew suddenly fits together perfectly. She rushes past the barricade, locks the door behind her and takes on the entire Reaver army all by herself! And River kicks ass!

She's all out of bubble gum

1. The tragic fate of Donna Noble

Back to Doctor Who for the number ones saddest moment I can remember, one that truly had me in tears. This one is at the top of the list because the show makes us relive the sadness twice. Donna Noble’s adventures with The Doctor come to an end in one episode…and then a few episodes later they remind us all about the sadness and really twist the knife. As I mentioned in the first entry on this list, The Doctor goes on his adventures with a companion. This is pretty much always a female companion, though sometimes they had a few more. But it’s typically always The Doctor and his female companion. And they’re always cute, spunky, young women. Since 2005, The Doctor has had Rose Tyler, Martha Jones and Amy Pond.

Blonde, black-haired and redhead; all cute, all adorable

And then there was Donna Noble.

Not as cute and adorable

Donna was everything you wouldn’t expect in a female sidekick. She was frumpy, rude, bitchy, opinionated, a little cowardly and had no problem calling The Doctor an idiot. No romantic tension at all, unlike his other companions. But like anybody, she jumped at the chance to join him on wild and awesome adventures in time and space. Wouldn’t you go for it? That’s why she’s my favorite of The Doctor’s companions. She defied expectations! She was unique!

We first meet Donna at the end of the second season, in a one-off episode called ‘The Runaway Bride’. For complciated reasons I won’t get into, The Doctor had to leave Rose Tyler behind. Rose was the blonde one, and had been The Doctor’s companion for the first two seasons, from the start of the new show in 2005. The fans loved her…but she had to stay behind. The Doctor was once again alone on his adventures.

Enter Donna in full bridal gown.

Suddenly she appeared inside the TARDIS. This isn’t supposed to happen, since the TARDIS was traveling through time when Donna suddenly appeared inside. Curious, The Doctor investigates and finds out that Donna and her wedding are part of some wicked alien plot. Donna’s being used as a pawn. But she’s freaking out! She can’t really handle the idea of The Doctor, she lacks that youthful excitement of the other companions. She’s a real bitch to The Doctor, mostly because she’s upset that her wedding has been ruined. She’s selfish too. But The Doctor’s a nice guy and helps her out, and Donna helps him in the end so that the day is saved.

But Donna’s a little freaked out and she doesn’t want to go with The Doctor at the end.

Awesome adventures through time and space? No thanks, not for me

So at the start of the third season, The Doctor meets Martha Jones, the black girl. She’s everything you’d expect. Young, spunky, tough and super nice. In other words, boring. I can’t remember anything about Martha Jones. She only lasts one season before she chooses to stay behind. So once again, The Doctor is alone.

Then at the start of the fourth season, he bumps into Donna Noble again. Turns out, Donna’s had a bit of remorse that she passed on the adventure of a lifetime. And she’s been looking for The Doctor, hoping his offer to join him is still on the table. It is, because without Martha, The Doctor’s lonely again. So he figures ‘what the heck’ and brings Donna along. She’s older than his normal companions, but she’s eager for the chance to see the stars and have adventures. Unfortunately for Donna, her first few adventures are kind of rough. She visits Pompeii on the day Mount Vesuvius erupts and nearly gets killed in the lava. She visits an alien planet, but it’s a horrible place full of slavery.

But the frightened Donna pushes through. She saves a family from the lava and she helps out the alien slaves. They even sing a song of her out among the stars. Once she gets more comfortable traveling with The Doctor, she starts having more fun and enjoying herself. That’s the appeal of hanging out with The Doctor. You may be in danger, but you’re having the time of your life!

Another great thing about Donna is her family, especially her grandfather Wilfred.

You'll find out why Wilfred is sad in a moment

The companions’ families are always a big part of the show, because The Doctor can’t just take these girls away from home without nobody caring. Rose Tyler’s mother was constantly worried about her, and Rose’s boyfriend was very jealous of The Doctor. Martha Jones’ family was completely against her going with The Doctor, and were used as pawns against him in the end. But Donna’s family is awesome. Her mom doesn’t really approve, but her mom is a small character. The true gem is Wilfred. He loves the idea of Donna going out and having such awesome adventures. He wishes he could go and join The Doctor too. Wilfred thinks its fantastic.

So Donna’s adventures with The Doctor are a lot of fun. She’s such a brash but awesome character.

Such a great team!

But then it all comes to an end.

At the end of the fourth season, Donna’s season, she and The Doctor team up with all of the other companions and friends to defeat the latest big bad guy. The episode is called ‘Journey’s End’, and the bad guys threaten the entire universe. But the combined Doctor team saves the day, with Donna playing a key role in the victory. She does this by sort of merging with The Doctor. She gets all of his Time Lord knowledge and power, and uses it to outwit the villain and save the universe. Hooray good guys!

It’s the end of the season and The Doctor says goodbye to all of his old friends, who all go back to their normal lives. Everything is back to normal, and Donna is ready to continue her adventures with The Doctor…but something’s wrong. Her human body can’t handle the Time Lord power that she absorbed. She’s going to burn out, she’s going to die. She starts having a melt down, and The Doctor explains to her and the viewer what’s happening. It’s heart-breaking.

Then the worst: the only way to save Donna is to take away all of her memories about The Doctor.

She’s not going to die. She’s not going to go home like the other companions. The Doctor has to wipe her mind. All of the adventures she went on. All of the planets she visits. All the times she saved the day or battled evil aliens. All of the personal growth she experienced.

The Doctor has to take it all away.

The Doctor takes Donna back to her family. She’s forgotten everything. He’s locked it all away in some part of her mind. She’s back to being the frumpy, flippant, bitchy woman she used to be with no memory of all the amazing adventures she had with The Doctor. He explains to her grandfather and mother that they can never tell her. Because if Donna remembers The Doctor and the TARDIS for even one second, it will all come rushing back and she’ll die because her body cannot contain the Time Lord power.

And it’s just so sad. For the whole sequence I had to blow my nose and wipe my eyes. It was just too much.

Then they do it to us again.

A few episodes later, The Doctor is once again battling for the fate of the universe. This time, he actually does bring Wilfred along on the adventure. Or at least Wilfred gets caught up in it somehow. Of course, the team of The Doctor and Wilfred save the day. And at the very end of the episode, The Doctor decides to visit all of his old friends. There’s a new actor taking over as The Doctor, and a new head writer as well for the show. So to give the actor a proper send off, he silently revisits with all of his old friends in an extended farewell sequence. He doesn’t meet with them, just appears to give them a nod or a wave. It’s a sad enough sequence as it is, because the actor, David Tennant, had been phenomenal as The Doctor.

But, of course, they twist the knife when it comes to The Doctor visiting Donna. Because he can’t even wave goodbye, lest she remember him and die.

So he instead goes to check in on her life and finds out that she’s getting married again. She’s found a life back home, a nice ordinary life without any memory of The Doctor. He appears outside her wedding and watches her come out of the chapel, happy and surrounded by friends and family. The Doctor meets with Wilfred and Donna’s mother for a quiet moment as they say goodbye on Donna’s behalf. The Doctor even gives Donna a wedding present. But it’s just so sad again, because they know The Doctor is dying, and it’s a very sad goodbye.

I was in tears all over again.

I’m just a big wuss, I guess.