NuWho Rewatch: The Runaway Bride
Jan. 14th, 2015 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatThe Runaway Bride is better if you watch it after you've decided Donna is great. Back in 2006 I was simply "Catherine Who?" and I found Donna rather over-the-top and irritating (NB. Tame Layman still considers Donna over-the-top and irritating. There was no way we were getting him to rewatch this with us). Since she dominates the story, if you haven't warmed to her you are never going to get much out of it.
Rewatching, I can see that it is actually quite carefully constructed. Once Donna accepts that something has happened then she moves on remarkably quickly with very little rancour. We get lots of opportunities to see beneath her surface bluster, if you are looking for them. You can see why the Doctor comes to like her (OK, given Tame Layman, I can see why the Doctor comes to like her).
The scene on the segways is, I think, the key turning point. Donna is laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing while Lance is bemused, irritated and anxious. It's like a litmus test for who would make a good companion. As an aside, given an equally ridiculous segway scene in Waters of Mars, I'm given to wondering exactly what Davies thought was so great about segways.
NLSS Child, who has google and Youtube (mostly Youtube, tbh) at her fingertips, informs me that Donna Noble translates as "Time Lady". That's not quite correct - it's more Noble Lady or Gentlewoman, perhaps - but it is still an interesting coincidence given I'm sure Donna's arc wasn't even a glimmer in Davies' eye at this point.
It's a better Christmas special than The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor is awake, for a start, and Donna is such a breath of fresh air as a companion and, even if you don't like her, a useful contrast to Rose. Catherine Tate, apparently effortlessly, conveys both her brashness and her decency and vulnerability. The story is also more self-contained than The Christmas Invasion which was trying to introduce Torchwood as well as tie into Rose's backstory and family while The Runaway Bride is expecting to be standalone.
I really enjoyed rewatching this, though, of course, I had been converted to a Donna fan since seeing it first time around.
*I think, anyway, Tame Layman notwithstanding.
Rewatching, I can see that it is actually quite carefully constructed. Once Donna accepts that something has happened then she moves on remarkably quickly with very little rancour. We get lots of opportunities to see beneath her surface bluster, if you are looking for them. You can see why the Doctor comes to like her (OK, given Tame Layman, I can see why the Doctor comes to like her).
The scene on the segways is, I think, the key turning point. Donna is laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing while Lance is bemused, irritated and anxious. It's like a litmus test for who would make a good companion. As an aside, given an equally ridiculous segway scene in Waters of Mars, I'm given to wondering exactly what Davies thought was so great about segways.
NLSS Child, who has google and Youtube (mostly Youtube, tbh) at her fingertips, informs me that Donna Noble translates as "Time Lady". That's not quite correct - it's more Noble Lady or Gentlewoman, perhaps - but it is still an interesting coincidence given I'm sure Donna's arc wasn't even a glimmer in Davies' eye at this point.
It's a better Christmas special than The Christmas Invasion. The Doctor is awake, for a start, and Donna is such a breath of fresh air as a companion and, even if you don't like her, a useful contrast to Rose. Catherine Tate, apparently effortlessly, conveys both her brashness and her decency and vulnerability. The story is also more self-contained than The Christmas Invasion which was trying to introduce Torchwood as well as tie into Rose's backstory and family while The Runaway Bride is expecting to be standalone.
I really enjoyed rewatching this, though, of course, I had been converted to a Donna fan since seeing it first time around.
*I think, anyway, Tame Layman notwithstanding.