In the second Doctor Who Christmas special, just second after bidding Rose Tyler goodbye, bride-to-be Donna Noble materializes on board the TARDIS. In a frantic quest to return her to her wedding, the Doctor has to travel all the way back to the beginning of the universe. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what just happened?
I’m not sure I understand most of this episode at all. I liked parts of it, other parts were confusing, and other parts had me groaning with distaste. I’ve come to accept that the main story arcs will punch me in the face with awesome and some of those in the middle will wow me with emotional, evocative stories.
Coming off of “Doomsday,” this special is a bit of a let down, I might say.
There’s a lot to like, though, and I think it’s fair to say that, at heart, Russell T Davies came up with a fascinating idea for an episode.
Firstly, I was ecstatic that Catherine Tate would be on Doctor Who. I’ve seen large parts of The Catherine Tate Show and I find her quite hilarious. Immediately upon arriving in the TARDIS, it’s clear she’s not Rose, nor is she a replacement for her. It was great seeing someone interact with the Doctor and have no seeming desire to stick around him. Additionally, it provided a great contrast to the quiet devastation of the Doctor, who had just lost Rose to a parallel universe.
I feel like I wanted more of that. “Doomsday” was a monumental story for Doctor Who and losing Rose was clearly painful for the Doctor. It’s not that this episode ignores that, as it certainly does address it, but this episode is loud and fast and lacking in some of the more quiet moments that the writers, including Davies, are particularly good at. There was some fantastic moments of depressing introspection in the second half of the Christmas specials. Having Donna’s fiance, Lance, be the person who betrayed her was GUTTING. 100% DID NOT EXPECT. (His speech about what a terrible person she is was FUCKED UP. I wanted to hug her.)
Even more shocking was Donna’s persistent begging towards the Doctor to stop drowning the Racnoss. I guess I’d never thought how easy it is for the Doctor to destroy other creatures. They’re always the “bad” guys and we accept their deaths as part of what needs to happen. Donna’s character, then, is the first real foil we’ve seen to that, and I really love that Davies has introduced her as someone who would normally be uninterested in the world around her and suddenly feel such extreme sympathy.
Maybe I just misunderstand the nature of these Christmas specials. It’s jarring to go from “Doomsday” to this Benny Hill-esque episode. (Seriously, re-watch any number of these scenes to the theme music from that show and it’ll make complete sense.) However, I do have to understand that MONTHS went by before this episode aired and that it was meant to be on Christmas. There’s nothing that says Doctor Who can’t be fun, right?
Too much of this episode, however, didn’t seem that fun to me. I flat out do not understand the Santa robots. If, according to the last Christmas special, they were used by the Sycorax, why on earth does the lone remaining Racnoss have them? I thought the spinning Christmas tree was delightfully silly the first time, but repeating the theme of deadly Christmas imagery isn’t all that interesting the second time around.
I was also slightly horrified that a group of people who just watched the bride evaporate while screaming right in front of them DECIDED TO GO FORWARD WITH THE RECEPTION OF THE WEDDING ANYWAY. Either Davies intended to portray both sides of this wedding as utterly vacant, self-centered wankers or THIS IS THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE PLOT OF ALL FUCKING TIME.
Look, I can suspend my disbelief rather easily. I grew up reading H.P. Lovecraft and seriously, that shit is unbelievable. (And fantastic. Oh god, so fantastic.) But this? No, I cannot imagine anyone doing something as heartless and crass as this. SURELY YOU WOULD GO TO THE POLICE AND NOT THROW A PARTY WHILE SHE’S MISSING? I don’t get it. I DON’T GET IT.
I love the idea of the Racnoss and certainly appreciate the make-up and prosthetics used here in “The Runaway Bride.” Traveling to the beginning of the universe was wonderful and I loved how creepy it was that the Racnoss ship managed to get stuck in the core of earth as it formed. (Why did Torchwood drill down that deep, by the way?) It’s absolutely terrifying to think that an army of arachnoid aliens would ascend out of the core of the earth and destroy mankind.
Guess what ruined that? The over-the-top performance of the Empress of the Racnoss. You’ve been floating in a ship for billions of billions of years. WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO TALK LIKE THAT? Oh my god, it was so distracting. I don’t think it was Sarah Parish’s fault necessarily. She did a great job portraying the character that way, but I am curious if Davies intended for the Empress to be the most evil-monologuing character I’ve ever seen. She literally narrated almost every little thing she did. TOO MUCH. Looked freaking’ sweet, but seriously. Too much.
This was an ok episode. Not my favorite and I don’t think I’ll watch it ever again. I was shocked that Donna turned down the Doctor’s offer to travel with him; I’ve seen so many GIFs and images of Catherine Tate with Tennant, so I just assumed this was her season to be his companion. OH. OOPS. I WAS WRONG. Has anyone ever turned down the Doctor before? (You can answer that if it’s in the past.) WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT IT’S DAVID TENNANT
THOUGHTS
- I want a sonic screwdriver so I can make money fly out of an ATM. 🙁
- The TARDIS giving chase over a motorway: NO. Just no. I like that this show doesn’t hide the Doctor in the shadows. He does most of his shenanigans out in the open, but how is that ever explained?
- UM HOW ARE THEY GOING TO REFILL THE RIVER THAMES. I FEEL LIKE THAT IS A HUGE PLOT POINT TO IGNORE.
- Ah, so the TARDIS is made from Huon particles. Well, at least the heart of it. Interesting.
- I think that was the first time I’ve heard the new Doctors mention the planet he was from!
Thanks, guys.
You are SO right. She does grow on you 🙂
To be quite honest, I'm kind of indifferent on all the Christmas specials, with the exception of one.
Also, I really fucking hate the Racnoss.
I'm overly bothered with how many legs Racnoss has. Cause it's 10. She's got 10 legs. That's too many legs. I watch her and it bothers me so much that I just go, "10 legs! 10 legs! They could have just put 6 on the main body and it would have been fine, but they didn't even give it any thought, did they?"
But perhaps I am a bit silly.
I am not a huge fan of this episode, but it is not terrible.
I like your attention to detail!
Well, she's not /actually/ a spider. An alien which looks like a spider, maybe, but not an actual arachnid.
If you know something is a spoiler, why the hell do you post it anyway. Come on.
It's still not a good idea to talk about stuff that's going to happen. I mean, Mark knows that Ten gets replaced by Eleven at some point, but that doesn't mean I'm going to talk about when/where/how it happens. It's just safer to avoid any kind of spoiler altogether. It might seem silly, but that's the rules on this blog.
Every other person that commented on this episode did so without mentioning anything concrete about Donna because we were all waiting for the right time. Did you not notice that no one responded to Mark's statement about this being her season to be the companion?
Not my favourite episode by far, but it has two things I love.
Donna Noble. I adore Donna. There are literally no words to express how much I utterly love her and everything about her. You are going to love her, Mark, absolutely LOVE her.
And possibly one of my favourite moments ever: Sonic screwdriver. Sound system. Mwahahahahaha.
Yeah, I'd say all the downvotes are probably for the spoilers.
I didn't much like Donna initially, so I don't think you're alone in that.
<img src=http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Chritter710/kijinnmaru_inconceivable.jpg>
Ugh the Empress' scenery-chewing.
I think Donna's family/friends say that they thought it was just another one of her silly tricks or something. They probably fully expected her to make a grand entrance at any moment.
I loved how fresh and different Donna was. Rose was so in love with the Doctor and with being with him that I think it was good for us fans (and the Doctor himself) to see that no, not everyone is going to fall all over themselves just to be near him. I was disappointed when Donna turned down his invitation because I think she would have been good for him, and the fact that she recognized "sometimes you need someone to stop you" after only knowing him so short a time shows incredible perception on her part and, again, that would be good for the Doctor to have around, someone who doesn't just get distracted by the "ooh, I'm traveling in time and space!" (as, I'll admit, I would probably be) and acts as a bit of superego to his rampant id.
EPIC.
I too at first didn't love this episode or Donna Noble. Trying not to give anything away, I will say that later on I appreciate this episode much more.
"Either Davies intended to portray both sides of this wedding as utterly vacant, self-centered wankers…"
i always just thought they were this….
i thought Donna was going to come along also after this episode, but OH HOW I WAS SURPRISED.
In all fairness, what would a set of people do if it looked like the bride had done a runner. The expensive reception was booked and paid for, the food cooked. I suspect that they would all eventually go and at least eat the food and drink the drinks. Of course, Lance's enthusiasm at the dancing (rather than moping miserably at the edge of the room, morosely telling people to enjoy the party as it was paid for) might have been a big clue that he wasn't as keen on the wedding as all that!
The first time I read your review of this episode, this was pretty much my face:
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v495/Kaci2005/GIFs/O_O.gif">
Then I started thinking about it, remembering what it was like when I first saw the episode, and I realized…I didn't like it, either. In fact, I hated Donna with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. When we found out she was going to be a full blown companion later (which from your review, I gather you do know she eventually is one, so I'm hoping this doesn't count as a spoiler) I groaned and resolved to keep my head down and just wait it out because eventually, we'd get a new one.
And oh, how I fell in love with her slowly. I think that's what's brilliant about Donna. They start her off as this utterly unlikeable person–yelling and screaming and totally self-centered–and then they let her grow into a truly amazing human being. So I can't blame you for not liking the episode or her because I had the same reaction. Luckily, she doesn't stay that same self-centered screamer we first met on the TARDIS.
I was adressing NeonProdigy in this case, not Mark. 🙂
"…I flat out do not understand the Santa robots. If, according to the last Christmas special, they were used by the Sycorax, why on earth does the lone remaining Racnoss have them?"
As I understand it, the Santa robots from the previous Christmas special were advance scouts working for the Racnoss in preparation for the events of The Runaway Bride. I don't think they were anything to do with the Sycorax – they're just planted as a detail make it look as though the Racnoss plan has been going on for ages.
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I don't really like the "choice" he gave the Empress. "What happens next is of your doing"? No, what happened next was of the Doctor's doing. He made the Empress choose before giving her all the information (telling her he's from Gallifrey). It seems like if she had known that he was the Doctor she would have been terrified of him and more willing to take his offer – she was certainly pleading with him at the end. instead, he makes her choose before demonstrating that he actually had the power to do something deadly to the Racnoss. Why would she accept his terms if he made it seem like he was making an empty threat? It just seems like he posed the question in a way to ensure that she would refuse and then he could justify genocide.