NuWho Review: 2006 Christmas Special "The Runaway Bride"

By: Russell T. Davies

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

          This episode starts out the same way as Rose and The Christmas Invasion with a camera zoom-in from outer space to a specific point on Earth – in this case, the wedding of Donna Noble. We see her walking down the aisle, escorted by her father and exchanging excited smiles with her groom. But the magic of the day quickly takes on a new meaning when a cloud of frankly beautiful golden sparkles gathers around the beaming bride and whisks her away, leaving all of the guests and family looking on in shock.

          I am a big fan of the scene where Donna appears in The Doctor’s TARDIS – though I do wish that it had been left off of the end of Doomsday – and I find that the dynamic between Tennant and Tate works beautifully on the screen. It's just so funny that The Doctor is so bewildered and so shocked out of his slump and I always take quite a bit of pleasure in hearing Donna take him to task for "How many women have you abducted?"

        In this episode we are also introduced to Sylvia, Donna’s mother, who is quite rude and abrasive. She is constantly haranguing those about her, finding faults with all and sundry, and is just a very unpleasant person to be around even whenever she is trying to be nice. When you look at a woman like Sylvia (and listen to her) it is quite obvious where Donna’s loud, rather abrasive personality comes from. If you had to live with Sylvia Noble you would develop a brash attitude because you would never get a word in edgewise if you didn’t. Same with the rather thick shallowness that Donna exhibits, despite the fact that there are clues telling us she’s really smarter than she acts. She has lived her entire life being told that she’s not quite making the cut (thanks to her mother) and you get the impression that she’s used to being either ignored or used by the men she dates. No wonder she has so many rough edges! It’s a coping mechanism created by years in the school of hard knocks.


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- The Doctor agrees to take Donna back to the church (she gives him very specific directions - going so far as to include 'The Solar System') but instead the queasy TARDIS drops them off several districts away from Chiswick. In the dash to catch a cab (a sequence that contains some of the most hilarious dialogue I have ever seen outside of a Moffat minisode) Donna ends up in a cab driven by one of the robosantas from The Christmas Invasion and The Doctor notices too late to do anything. 

- In his defence, though, he was rather busy robbing a bank.

- What then ensues is something you don't see on Doctor Who everyday: a car chase involving a cab and the TARDIS on one of the major motorway's. The comedic and dramatic timing is perfect here. The effects look great and the music raises the sense of humour and tension perfectly. This is easily one of my favourite Doctor Who scenes because it is both unique and beautifully executed. It is corny, yes, but the way they handle it is so obviously tongue-in-cheek that it makes the chase fun to watch rather than groan-inducing.

-  It is also rather funny to see the TARDIS throw a tantrum and take The Doctor to task for the rather reckless and inconsiderate way he way driving her down the motorway. She lands on the roof of a hospital and all but throws her two passengers out of her smoking door. Even The Doctor says that he needs to give her some time alone to recover. 

- Poor TARDIS...first she was feeling queasy and then she is sent racing down a high-traffic road to rescue a runaway bride, bobbing and weaving among the vehicles as her Time Lord manically drives her with his screwdriver and a piece of string. No wonder she needed to vent her feelings!

- I'll be the first to admit that this earlier incarnation of Donna could be both brash and grating, not to mention a bit stupid, but in a way that only makes me like her all the more because it means that she had one amazing character arc. And this rooftop conversation with The Doctor is where we get our first glimpse of the quieter, more human side of Donna. There are two ways you can look at the way she describes her relationship with Lance. One school of thought says that the fact that she basically bullied Lance into marrying her sets feminism back a few decades and turns Donna into a shrew. The other side of the argument (and the one that I, as a woman myself, subscribe to) points out the fact that the whole conversation is played for a bit of dramatic irony exposition and perfectly fits with Donna's overall persona. Think about it. She's a woman who is fast approaching middle age and who has probably watched all of her friends get married and start a family. Her mother is constantly nagging her and from what we've seen we can probably deduce that Sylvia compares Donna negatively to those friends. And Donna herself would be very aware that her biological clock is ticking while life leaves her behind. So of course whenever a handsome, charming coworker seems to take interest in her Donna would jump at the chance because she sees it as an escape from her meaningless existence - a ticket out of her lonely life. While it is played for laughs, this sequence is not so much a slam against Donna and women in general as it is an insightful look into one lonely woman's psyche.

- Her loneliness is starkly shown to us whenever, as she finally arrives at her own wedding reception, she finds that not only have her family and friends gone on with the festivities without her (simply because they had already paid for them) but her beloved beau and the man of her dreams is dancing happily with her rival. That scene just kicks me in the gut every time. It is akin to the moment from Aliens of London whenever Rose realizes that she has been gone for twelve months rather than twelve years and we see what that time has done to poor Jackie. It hurts!

- In fact this entire portion of the episode is just one big long feels fest. There is the sickening feeling whenever you see what Donna's wedding party did to her, then there is amusement whenever she gets back at them by faking tears (clearly shown whenever she winks at The Doctor...who looks rather like he wants to laugh), and then there is the beautifully thought-out and realized scene where all of the guests are joyously dancing and The Doctor is remembering Rose as all the while a song about a lonesome, traveling man with no home plays in the background. 


- Eek! I'm no Rose Tyler fan but that one hit me right in the heart. I hate to think what it's like for those fans who love her...

- Up to this point the episode is a very enjoyable, well-grounded story that - while it doesn't quite live up to the scale of The Christmas Invasion still manages to hold its own by creating a new feel and atmosphere that is unique to itself...but then the creature responsible for all of these strange happenings rears her ugly head and much of the good of the story is sucked right down the drain. Between her over emotive voice work and the stupid reveal of Lance's real loyalties - I would have quickly lost interest in the entire thing were it not for the interactions between Donna and The Doctor. It reminds me of Boom Town which was the Eccleston episode that had a wonderful premise that seemed like it was going to delve into The Doctor's moral psyche a bit and really ask some tough questions...but so quickly did a lame about-face in the last twenty minutes that all sense of dignity was leached away. That is what happens here as soon as the Empress Racnoss opens her hissing, scenery-chewing mouth. In fact, she is the only thing I don't like about this episode. Unfortunately she plays a rather large part so she is inescapable.

-  It is right about this point (the reveal of the Racnoss and Lance) that the episode begins to break apart. Words fail me to describe how stupid the whole plot of the Racnoss ship being the center of the Earth, let alone the extreme coincidence of Torchwood just happening to construct a drill to reach down to it, is. 

- I think it would have been a bit more bearable, though, without the hammy scenery chewing of the Empress. Granted it can't be easy to act in all those (admittedly excellent) prosthetic and false teeth - but I still feel that she could have benefited from a bit of subtlety.  Her screeches and hissings are more reminiscent of the Smeagol-Gollum arguments from The Two Towers than of anything truly threatening. She doesn't even have the creep appeal of Gollum working in her favor. It's just a bad situation all around.

- I am a fan, however, of the way things quickly shift from a comedic mood to surprisingly dark and disturbing once The Doctor breaks the Thames loose. It is emotional whiplash but, for the purposes of this part in his timeline, it works. As Donna says, he needs someone to stop him. 

- Even the increasingly grating screams of "My Chiiillldreeeeennnn!" from the Empress only serves to heighten the chaotic horror of this scene. The Doctor has reverted back to the way Nine was whenever we first met him. He is dark and vengeful and full of cold wrath. It is in scenes like this that we see a glimpse of what he must have been like during the Time War. Thank God Donna was there to shake him out of it before he went too far.

 So how is The Runaway Bride overall? Well - for about the first half it is a very solid episode; very different in tone from The Christmas Invasion, but that can only be a good thing because it is nigh impossible to duplicate a win like that. But then the Racnoss show up and ruin much of the ride. Still there is a lot to like about this episode between the character interactions and some of the more impressive practical effects - so these good points will help carry you through the bad. I give this episode a 3/5 because the story is solid (if a bit lame in places) and the characters are a joy to watch!




What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?