Well, the preceeding two Doctor-lite episodes (Love and Monsters and Blink) tended to be companion-lite as well.
The ending would have been just as busy without Donna's face on the info robot, I think, and would have been far more tense if all we'd seen was her disappearing from the Tardis.
Anyway, since you seem so insistent on claiming Donna is the greatest companion of the new series...
Rose - Slightly grating personality and voice, frequent trips to Mary Sue-dom. Grade B-
Adam - Bland and Boring. Only lasted two episodes and that was probably an episode too long. Grade F
Jack - It's always nice to see someone who isn't quite as clueless as the average extra. I'd prefer a little less in the way of indiscriminite flirting - there's a difference between omnisexual and sex-obsessed - but overall, not the greatest of quibbles. At least not during his Doctor Who episodes, by all accounts this sort of thing can get quite excessive over in Torchwood. Grade B+
Mickey - Actually promising towards the end of Rose's run on the show. He didn't know what he was doing in other time periods but damn was he trying. I would have dearly loved to see Mickey stick around the Tardis a little longer - he seemed to have the most unrealised potential of any of the companions. Grade: B
Martha - Spent a good portion of the first half of her season strangled by the memory of Blondie Sue from the seasons before. Coming a little more into her own as the seaon went on, but left before she could really stamp herself on the role. Like Mickey, she had more potential as a character then she actually realised. Grade B
Donna - Supports the Doctor without stealing the spotlight quite so much. Has never tried to get by on her looks and has never requested the tone shift to something more Star-Trek-Esque. All plusses. Her contributions all seem to be appropriate to the character - about my only niggle is that she occasionally shows a tendancy to slip towards pantomime acting... and a characterisation flaw. Her Empathy for beings in need and new and different ways of doing things stretches about as far as Rubber Forehead Aliens but no further than that: Any time she comes across something more outlandish, it's typically disbelief or shock. I mean, she *chose* to go out and explore the universe. Is it too much to ask that someone does this understanding that *not everything is done the way it's done on earth*? Now much as it pains me to say it... Donna, Grade A-.
I actually agree with Bert. I typed out the above just to be sure... *sigh* It's a poor, poor argument when noone's taking a contrarian opinion. Perhaps Valium or PHJ would care to play Devil's advocate?
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