Top Five Favorite Doctor Who Send-Offs

Every single Whovian knows nothing stays the same with Doctor Who. The actors, the writers, the producers, even the viewers, all sometimes bade goodbye to the magical show that features a strange man in a blue box. Whovians also know that when a Doctor or Companion leaves, there's bound to be tears, if not from the main characters, from us the viewers. So here's my slightly depressing list of favorite send-offs from the recent Who years (I haven't seen many Classic-Companion farewells, and I haven't seen all of the Doctor's regeneration, so I can't do an accurate post on that).



 5.
Raggedy Man, Goodbye

After the Doctor dropped them off at their house in the Series Six episode, The God Complex, Whovians questioned what would become of the Ponds. They made a small appearance at the end of The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe, as the Doctor stopped by for Christmas dinner. Later, they returned due to being kidnapped by the Daleks, and were in the midst of a divorce, however that was later fixed thanks to a trick done on the Doctor's part. The Doctor then would treat his in-laws with occasional trips in the TARDIS, before Brian (Rory's father) convinced them to travel with him fully, and save as many worlds as they could. During one picnic at Central Park, in which the Doctor was reading the book 'Melody Malone', Rory was touched by a Weeping Angel and was sent into the past. There, Rory was reunited with his daughter, River Song, who turned out to be Melody Malone. Meanwhile, back in 2012, the Doctor and Amy found this out by reading the Melody Malone book, which was written by River Song as a guide to their adventure.  After a long battle with the Angels, and Rory witnessing his own future, he and Amy sacrificed themselves in order to cause a paradox and change the future. Later, they woke up in a graveyard, back in 2012, and the Ponds, River, and the Doctor were about to embark on a family outing when Rory noticed a gravestone with his name on it. In a devastatingly quick and swift instant, Rory disappeared, touched by an Angel and sent back in time and away from Amy. After a few moments of the Doctor pleading with her, Amy told her daughter to watch out for the Doctor, and bade goodbye to her friend, before allowing the Angel to touch her, and sent her back into the past.
  This send-off was not particularly tragic, as Amy and Rory got to spend the rest of their life together, adopted a son whom they named Anthony, Rory becoming a major-player in the Medical business, and Amy became a successful author. The fact that Steven Moffat chose to send them back in time gave us real hope that Amy and Rory ended up finding Melody Pond, their long lost daughter, in the streets of sixties New York, the same time period and city Amy and Rory were in, and according to the interview with Amy at the end of Summer Falls and Other Stories, they did indeed go looking for their daughter. The only thing really tragic about this send-off is how much the Doctor was affected. So much so that he ended up parking the TARDIS on a cloud and swore off helping people at all, until he met Clara.
  The fact that this send-off is so low on the list is because I didn't cry at all the first time I watched it, nor the second time I watched it. It was only on the fourth time that I watched it that I cried, but it's one of the happier endings for a companion send off (Martha's being the other one).


4.
Goodbye, Sweetie

The Name of the Doctor brought back River Song, last seen in The Angels Take Manhattan. The episode used a creative way to bring back River, in the way that it brought in the conference call between the Posternoster Gang, Clara and River. After the Whispermen (henchmen for the Great Intelligence) attacked the Posternoster Gang, Clara was awoken from the conference call. However River kept the connection up between the two, and for the duration of the episode, it was suspected by Clara, River and the audience that no one but us could see River, but at the end of the episode it was revealed that the Doctor could always see her, and was too afraid to say goodbye. However, finally he told her goodbye, and River Song disappeared with the words 'Goodbye, Sweetie', a play on her infamous catchphrase 'Hello, Sweetie'.
 One of the saddest things about this scene for me is not the actual goodbye, but how River disappears. She fades away, like Amy and Rory did when the Angel touched them. And if you remember what the Doctor said in The Power of Three, "Before they flare and fade forever' adds real meaning to this. However, the Doctor/River story was always tragic, as they both knew each other's fate (she knew that he was destined to go to Lake Silencio, he knew she would be destined to go to the Library). This scene, I believe, gives a definitive answer as rather or not River would return. She could, because their timeline is so....wibbly wobbly, she could always return, but I feel as if that would take away from the goodbye.


3.
The Most Important Woman in the Universe

I remember the first time I watched The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. It featured the return of Captain Jack, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, Jackie Tyler, and Sarah Jane Smith all in one story. There were spoilers that one of the characters would die, but even still, I was shocked that Donna was the one to leave, however no one actually died. I remember wondering what was going to happen, and being shocked about The Stolen Earth's cliffhanger (that would later be referenced in The Time of the Doctor as actually being a proper thing). I think that Donna's farewell is one of the most tragic ones because she forgot everything she ever did with the Doctor, and forgot that she even met him, and if she did her mind would burn up. Though the scene didn't make me cry, I still consider it one of the most sad farewells since the show came back.
(Note: I haven't watched this episode in a really long time, which is why I don't mention what happened in the episode).

2.
Rose Tyler-

After the Daleks and Cybermen had declared war against each other, the Doctor had to come up with a clever way to stop them, and figured that he could send them back out the way they got in: through the void. The only problem was that he, Rose, Mickey, Pete and Jake had all been through the void and therefore would also be sucked through like the Daleks and Cybermen. Pete, Jackie, Mickey and Jake are all ready to go to Pete's World, but Rose refuses to go. The Doctor then puts one of the transporters on Rose, and she, along with her family, is sent to the parallel world, but Rose sends herself back. After a few moments of convincing the Doctor, the plan begins.
      However, when the plan to send the Daleks and Cybermen back into the void starts to work, one of the levers that controls the void begins to fall, and Rose attempts to fix it and does, but loses her grip and falls toward the void. Luckily, Pete arrives in time to grab her, and goes back to his world, leaving the Doctor and Rose on separate universes. Eventually, Rose has a dream, and she and her family head to a beach in Norway-I can't spell the name-and Rose sees a projection of the Doctor, sent from the Doctor by burning up a sun 'just to say goodbye'. Rose admits that she loves him, but before he could reply (and he was), the projection cut short, leaving the two more devastated than before.
The first time I watched The Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, my Dad told me it was the last episode with Rose in it. I watched it and cried when Rose and the Doctor were separated by fate. This is the second saddest send-off for me, and is the one that makes me cry every time.


1.
Raggedy Man, Goodnight

The Doctor finds himself back at Trenzalore, this time it is surrounded by every single species, all gathered because of a message no one can translate. As the Doctor deals with this, Clara enters the fray because of a Christmas dinner problem (and the audience learns this isn't the first time Clara uses the TARDIS for personal emergencies: missed birthdays, missed television shows, ect.), and she and the Doctor end up being sent to Trenzalore. However, they learn that there is a crack in the Church Tower of the small town called Christmas, and the Time Lords are trying to return through that, but can only return if the Doctor says his name. And so, the Doctor sends Clara back home in order to protect her. Due to the fact that if the Time Lords were to return, the Time War would begin again, The Doctor decides to stay in Christmas to protect the planet from his enemies. Clara later returns due to pulling a 'Captain Jack' and hanging outside the TARDIS, and reunites with the Doctor. However, after losing Handles (the Cybermen head the Doctor was friends with), and finding out that Tasha Lem had been attacked by the Daleks, the Doctor and Clara head back to Earth. And though he promises not to leave her again, he sees Barnable (the small boy who promised to wait for the Doctor to return) on the TARDIS scanner, waiting, the Doctor goes back to Christmas to protect the town again (I personally think Tasha's words about the Doctor abandoning them also helped with this decision, and the fact that he found a home), leaving Clara back on Earth again. However, Tasha Lem manages to get Clara to come back to Trenzalore, so the Doctor will not have to die alone. However, as the Doctor walks to his death, Clara convinces the Time Lords to help him, and the Time Lords give the Doctor a new regeneration, and the Doctor takes out the remaining Daleks (the last race left against Trenzalore) with the regeneration energy. As the town and Clara head to a nearby building for safety, the Doctor sneaks away to the TARDIS. Later, (no one really knows how much time it was between then and the goodbye) Clara finds the Doctor in the TARDIS, young again, and looking healthy, and in his usual purple outfit, and a bowl of fish custard on the counsel. After comforting Clara, the Doctor hallucinates that Amy is there, and says goodbye to her before turning back to Clara and regenerating into the Twelfth Doctor.
What else could it be number one other than the regeneration of my favorite Doctor, the Eleventh? I was worried that Eleven wouldn't bow out heroically and bravely, but I got my wish. This is the first episode ever to have me balling my eyes out through the whole thing. Like the previous episode to feature Trenzalore, Time of the Doctor starts off light-hearted enough, then turns into a bittersweet episode, and a sob-inducing one at that. This is my favorite send-off because it's wonderful, devastating, and a perfect farewell to the Eleventh Doctor.

What's your favorite send-off from Doctor Who? What's your top favorite ones? Comment below!

-Tegan