Doctor Who 3.X: The Runaway Bride

[sir_guinglain]

There was an episode that came through in the end but took a long time to get there, and seemed perhaps the most misanthropic of the Doctor's adventures over the last two years. Maybe the brandy wasn't of the best, or there was a particularly dull This Morning showing when Russell wrote it.

I'd long defended the casting of Catherine Tate, but thought that she overplayed Donna for the first half of the episode; yes, the script made the character unlikeable, and the direction and colourscheme for the episode were both a bit too gaudy for the subject matter of the story, surely the demolition of a person's ambitions, even if they are replaced by something better at the end.

I suspect that were I a television viewer without an ingrained affection for the series I would think that the jury was still out on whether Doctor Who could survive without Billie Piper, though this episode didn't seek to answer that question. Where the references to the ninth Doctor were cut to the minimum before the transmission of 'The Christmas Invasion', here we had a few intercuts of Billie Piper from, I think, 'New Earth' (The cat person in the trailer seemed to be in a ship similar to Captain Jack's, BTW...) and, at the last, a mention of Rose herself, presaging further references in the new series, it appears.

I haven't looked at Outpost Gallifrey yet, but I expect that forumgoers are enthusing about the first mention of Gallifrey by name since the series returned, invested with significance that reflects that the Doctor was acknowledging a part of his identity he's put to one side; he can't rely on Rose and the Tylers to provide an anchor any more, and as Donna recognises has to look for a new one. Whatever the message of the Face of Boe proves to be, the memory of Gallifrey is not enough; after all, he left it in the first place.

Not all that convinced by the Empress of Racnoss, I'm afraid; simpler concepts seem to be the more effective in this series. The Christmasness seemed more self-conscious this year, and I'd suggest another approach to the season next year. Speaking of which, this year's trailer was much better than last year, and confirmed the survival, it seems, of our friend Dalek Sek; I imagine that we'll meet 'Mr Saxon', presumably the new prime minister, who was giving the tank troops their orders.