The Runaway Bride
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DVD NTSC
Region 1
14-episode
box set
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DVD PAL
Region 2
14-episode
box set
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DVD PAL
Region 2
1-episode volume
with Confidential "Music & Monsters" Special
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(Doctor Who Story No. 182, starring David Tennant)
- written by Russell T. Davies
- directed by Euros Lyn
- produced by Phil Collinson
- music by Murray Gold
- 1 episode @ 60 minutes
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Story: Bride-to-be Donna Noble was in the middle
of walking down the aisle on Christmas Eve when she suddenly
found herself aboard the TARDIS in orbit around a super nova.
The Doctor investigates the mysterious cause of this
"impossible" incident while trying to get her back
to the church on time, and uncovers a deadly alien
plot underneath the Thames.
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DVD Extras (box sets only) include:
- Audio commentary by actor David Tennant (the Doctor),
and executive producer Julie Gardner.
- Doctor Who Confidential special: Music and Monsters (58 min,
includes Runaway Bride Behind-the-Scenes segment)
- David Tennant's Video Diaries - interviews with
Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) and
Sarah Parish (Racnoss Empress)
- Out-Takes & Bloopers
- Deleted Scenes
In-Depth Analysis Review
by Martin Izsak
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WARNING: This review contains "SPOILERS", and is intended for
those who have already seen the program.
To avoid the spoilers,
read the Buyers' Guide version instead.
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Apparently Christmas specials are now going to be an annual event
for Doctor Who. While last year's entry
"The Christmas Invasion" (story no. 171)
could largely survive its ill-conceived domestication and time-slot
parameters by introducing us to the best Doctor we've had since
Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor),
"The Runaway Bride" is really just treading water by comparison
while getting mired in most of the same faults as its predecessor.
After being far too Earth-bound over the past two years, Doctor Who
now has a clear chance to break new ground, yet we find ourselves right
back on present-day Earth again, bogged down with the predictability of
both Christmas and wedding traditions. Particularly when getting a first
view of this story from the Season 29 box set, it's no secret that
Catherine Tate's guest character is not meant to continue on as the
companion for the season, which seriously brings into question the whole
point of the adventure and makes it feel like a cartoon that one is
forced to sit through before the main feature begins.
Since we already saw Donna's first meeting with the Doctor from the
Doctor's point of view at the end of
"Doomsday" (story no. 181),
it's nice that "The Runaway Bride" starts off from Donna's point of view,
and gives viewers a spectaular establishing shot of the TARDIS orbiting
the super nova. Viewers who know nothing of this show will be able to
discover the Doctor, his vehicle, and his lifestyle from this story alone.
Just as it should be.
The one caveat here seems to be the length of time it takes before showing
a proper normal materialization for the TARDIS. As he has been doing since
"The End of the World" (story no. 162),
director Euros Lyn doesn't seem to care how many obvious opportunities
for this he throws away. This time around, the production crew seem much
more interested in showing the machine literally flying through the air
instead, undoubtedly filling new viewers' heads with the wrong idea.
Thankfully there's enough TARDIS movement in this story to get a few
normal trick-dissolves with the right sound effects in later on, and a
decent materialization is hastily thrown into this mix. Not quite enough
to overpower the goofier flight sequences though.
Comedienne?
Despite this being the first thing I'd ever seen Catherine Tate do,
and the fact that I avoid spoilers for each new season of Doctor Who like
the plague, her reputation for being a comedienne had leaked through.
Which made me wonder why this story was so unfunny, when it so clearly
wanted to score humourous points with the Doctor and Donna's banter.
I think most of the attempted humour falls flat here
for the same reason it did back in the televised version of 1965's
"The Myth Makers" (story no. 20),
which I was very strongly reminded of.
A load of simple nagging and whining isn't enough on its own to be funny,
and is a dangerously unpleasant thing to be injecting into a script anyway.
It isn't really made to work here. I much prefer Tom Baker and Mary Tamm
in "The Ribos Operation" (story no. 98)
any day.
To be fair, better levels of charisma do develop between the Doctor and
Donna as the adventure progresses. One sequence that works very well
is that of Donna's flashback of meeting her future husband Lance - not only
is the humour very well done during this section, but Catherine Tate
also gets to trade in the less-than-flattering wedding dress that was
hastily thrown to her at the end of last season and give us a greater
glimpse of what she might normally be like. And by the time she has her
last few scenes with Tennant, her character actually seems to have become
somewhat likeable.
The mystery of how Donna appeared in the TARDIS is answered fairly
strongly by the narrative, but many other necessary logical connections
between the story's various elements are only barely held together by
single lines of dialogue that are easily missed on both first and subsequent
viewings.
What purpose do robot Santa's serve when one thinks past the mundane
"trying-to-scare-average-Londoners-with-everyday-objects-turned-nasty"
level, and tries to understand what the villain is getting out of it?
What purpose is served by exploding remote-controlled Christmas ball grenades
at the reception? Why must Donna's magic be carefully prepared over
six months, while Lance is done in six minutes? (There's a line of
technobabble to cover this last question; don't blink or you'll miss it.
Not that it makes any sense anyway.) And why does a lock exist in the
first place motivating our villain to find a key?
Oh well. This is not a thinking man's story. This is a woman's
domestic-traditions-interrupted-by-monster-traditions story. Those of
you looking for some half-decent sci-fi have to wait until the second half,
where we at least get some secret laboratories, scientific concepts,
new territories and culture to explore, and meaningful confrontation between
fairly interesting characters. A small outer-space sequence with
terrific visuals is one of the highlights of this section of the story,
but the Earth really seems over-used for wierd concepts in Doctor Who
by now. "Underworld" (story no. 96) seems
more believable with virtually the same concept by doing it
"way out there" with celestial bodies entirely created by the writers.
Russell T. Davies stole from a source too obvious to this show's fans,
and like most other things, unnecessarily domesticated the idea once more.
Arrgghh.
Sarah Parish does a very good turn as the Empress, breathing life
and even charm into a prosthetic character that isn't necessarily very
interesting on the page. Her character's complicated physical design
works fairly well, particularly the eyes in combination with her
performance. The mouth-only shots are nowhere near as interesting,
and could be dropped in favour of limb or claw shots. Parish proves
equally entertaining behind-the-scenes in her get-up as well.
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Murray Gold puts a lot of energy and playfulness into this particular
score, but as lively and complicated as the music is, it never quite
settles on or creates a strong anchor to any particular emotion. Perhaps
this appropriately reflects Donna's character - loud and begging for
attention, but providing little substance. The much touted cue
"The Runaway Bride" recorded during the concert documented on the
"Music and Monsters" extra fits this category fairly well.
However, those who listen with a truly keen ear will notice some
of the major themes of the season beginning to take shape embryonically,
such as "The Doctor Forever", and the up-and-down minor-thirds hook of
"All the Strange, Strange Creatures", not to mention differently
arranged wisps of prior pieces like "Doomsday" returning at appropriate
moments. Nice job.
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Music by Murray Gold
"Donna's Theme",
"The Runaway Bride", "After the Chase",
an alternate version of "The Doctor Forever",
and a more fully developed version of
"All the Strange, Strange Creatures"
are available on:
"Love Don't Roam",
and an alternate version of
"Doomsday"
are available on:
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The story's conclusion is not particularly brilliant or exciting,
but does remain an enjoyable emotional ride and gives the Doctor his due
as the main character. A very good coda follows, which seems to go on
just a bit too much longer than it should, in the style of
"The Unquiet Dead" (story no. 163).
Julie Gardner builds up the scene quite a lot on the commentary.
I must disagree with her about the last line of the show;
I think it's cheesy - too rooted in a past that I never cared to
invest in.
So while "The Runaway Bride" isn't perfect, largely because of
the "Christmas Special" and Earthly-rebound-companion constraints
needlessly imposed on it that
you can spot a mile away, it remains a pleasant and enjoyable piece
of entertainment that is fairly well executed. Personally I think
one would need to be putting the wedding or holiday traditions of
an alien culture on the screen to make the exercise worthwhile as
an episode of this show, so it will have to suffer some minus points
for its lack of imagination and scope. So not bad, but if they
want to make truly worthy classic Doctor Who stories, they'll have
to aim higher, and start taking the show across the galaxy. London
has now officially been overdone.
This story has become available on DVD.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you
for pricing and availability:
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DVD NTSC Region 1
14-episode boxed set
for the North American market:
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DVD PAL Region 2
14-episode boxed set
for the U.K.
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DVD PAL Region 2
1-episode volume
with Confidential "Music & Monsters" Special
U.K. format only
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Note: The full season sets
contain commentaries, behind-the-scenes
featurettes, and other extras.
The smaller volume only features the plain episode
plus the "Music & Monsters" special.
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