Death and the Queen

The Tenth Doctor Adventures #1.3

Released: 16 May 2016

Listened: 11/19/22

In which Donna finally gets to be treated like royalty. Landing on the French Riviera in the late 1800s, Donna attracts the attention of Prince Rudolph of Goritania, which the Doctor has never heard of. Turns out he was basically out in the world to locate a bride, which means this story is about the same as “The Auntie Matter,” but without the Wodehouse parody. The Doctor is a profoundly annoying gooseberry during that part of the story, mostly told in flashbacks. It seems he’s rather afraid of losing yet another companion to falling in love. So when he turns up on the day of the wedding, and then horrible invaders follow close behind, he goes into Doctory high gear trying to figure out what’s going on. He’s actually wrong an unusual number of times in this story, while at the same time proclaiming how clever he is. Beth Chalmers appears as a remarkably capable maid who’d make a perfect companion, a fact the Doctor keeps mentioning. Ultimately, Donna gets a large chunk of the big save, which is nice, but the whole thing has a fairy-tale feel that just sort of vanishes once it’s over. On the whole, I don’t think the first boxed set quite settled into the groove of the Doctor/Donna relationship. It’s close, but not as accurate as later stories.