{"id":122,"date":"2011-01-25T12:24:15","date_gmt":"2011-01-25T20:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=122"},"modified":"2011-01-25T12:24:15","modified_gmt":"2011-01-25T20:24:15","slug":"mark-watches-doctor-who-the-runaway-bride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2011\/01\/mark-watches-doctor-who-the-runaway-bride\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: The Runaway Bride"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second Doctor Who<\/em> 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what just happened?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Coming off of “Doomsday,” this special is a bit of a let down, I might say.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Firstly, I was ecstatic that Catherine Tate would be on Doctor Who<\/em>. I’ve seen large parts of The Catherine Tate Show<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

I feel like I wanted more of that. “Doomsday” was a monumental story for Doctor Who<\/em> 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.)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Maybe I just misunderstand the nature of these Christmas specials. It’s jarring to go from “Doomsday” to this Benny Hill<\/em>-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<\/em> can’t be fun, right?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/strong>. Either Davies intended to portray both sides of this wedding as utterly vacant, self-centered wankers or THIS IS THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE PLOT <\/em>OF ALL FUCKING TIME<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Look, I can suspend my disbelief rather easily. I grew up reading H.P. Lovecraft and seriously, that shit is unbelievable<\/em>. (And fantastic. Oh god, so fantastic.) But this? No, I cannot imagine anyone<\/em> doing something as heartless and crass as this. SURELY YOU WOULD GO TO THE POLICE AND NOT THROW A PARTY WHILE SHE’S MISSING?<\/em> I don’t get it. I DON’T GET IT.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/p>\n

THOUGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n