Although by definition a Christmas special should be standalones, The Runaway Bride includes a lot of set-up for season 3, as well as some genuinely chilling moments.
True, the action tends to get a bit comical at times, and Catherine Tate is extremely annoying for the first 1/3 of the episode, until she gets a chance to calm down; her final scenes are wonderful. Since Donna was never intended to be a permanent companion, it's hard to judge whether she would have passed muster. Maybe when the time comes for Martha Jones to leave the TARDIS, Donna Noble and Catherine Tate might be given another go.
What got me about this episode was how it went from comical to action-packed to pitch black in tone within the space of minutes. The use of one name -- the Doctor's home planet, mentioned by name for the first time since the 1996 TV movie -- turned the episode into one of the darkest episodes of the new Doctor Who, while the use of another name gave it one of the new series' most poignant moments.
On first viewing, The Runaway Bride is somewhat off-putting. Watch it a couple of times, though, and the layers begin to reveal themselves.
True, the action tends to get a bit comical at times, and Catherine Tate is extremely annoying for the first 1/3 of the episode, until she gets a chance to calm down; her final scenes are wonderful. Since Donna was never intended to be a permanent companion, it's hard to judge whether she would have passed muster. Maybe when the time comes for Martha Jones to leave the TARDIS, Donna Noble and Catherine Tate might be given another go.
What got me about this episode was how it went from comical to action-packed to pitch black in tone within the space of minutes. The use of one name -- the Doctor's home planet, mentioned by name for the first time since the 1996 TV movie -- turned the episode into one of the darkest episodes of the new Doctor Who, while the use of another name gave it one of the new series' most poignant moments.
On first viewing, The Runaway Bride is somewhat off-putting. Watch it a couple of times, though, and the layers begin to reveal themselves.