Dr. Who: The Runaway Bride
In a word: Squeeeeee!
GALLIFREY! He said "Gallifrey". Out loud. On screeen. It does my Old School heart a world or two of good.
On to other matters: I think it was a great idea to have this transitional piece NOT introduce the new Companion, but to make it an adventure with a guest star/character who doesn't join the Doctor instead. I take it there were some worries about the actress, but since Teutonic me doesn't know her, I had no expectations one way or the other. Donna ended up as a fun character, and one I cared about; I appreciated that both actress and script made a point of her emotions being real, not cartoonish. She had a good rapport with the Doctor as well, both in the comedy scenes and the quiet, serious ones: you could feel the impact the killing-all-the-Rachna scene had on her - and watching the Doctor do this - before it got verbalized in the final scene. In which she was fabulous as well, and her decision not to take up the life of daily danger with a man who can and does what the Doctor did was all too understandable.
Sidenote: as I recall the most popular complaint re: the episode Tooth & Claw was that the Doctor and Rose were too lighthearted in front of people who had gone through terrible losses. I'm tempted to see Donna's earlier slapping the Doctor after asking him whether he's enjoying this as a repentant homage to this, especially since postTooth & Claw episodes of season 2 never made light of the guest star losses again (from Mrs. Moore to the Ood, they were all grieved for by one or both of our regular duo).
In terms of the overall story of the Doctor, I liked that the impact of the recent loss of Rose was there, but understated enough to be touching instead of anvilly, and not overweighing the overall adventure. David Tennant was in fine form, and I loved both his moments of Doctorish obliviousness ("nothing special about you") and compassion (when he tells Donna what Lance did to her). The showdown with the Empress of the Rachna (thinking of Arachne, I'm assuming that's how they are spelled) was a far cry from the hubristic one in The Christmas Invasion; I really appreciated that he did offer her genuine help first, and also that the script gave him several parallels (last of their kind, the Empress hooking Lance by offering him just what the Doctor offers each Companion) with the villain. And at the risk of repeating myself, the Gallifrey moment was just awesome.
Favourite scene overall, though: the Doctor and Donna watching the creation of Earth. There was a sense of wonder in this Christmas special which I found immensely appealing, and this scene encapsulated it.
GALLIFREY! He said "Gallifrey". Out loud. On screeen. It does my Old School heart a world or two of good.
On to other matters: I think it was a great idea to have this transitional piece NOT introduce the new Companion, but to make it an adventure with a guest star/character who doesn't join the Doctor instead. I take it there were some worries about the actress, but since Teutonic me doesn't know her, I had no expectations one way or the other. Donna ended up as a fun character, and one I cared about; I appreciated that both actress and script made a point of her emotions being real, not cartoonish. She had a good rapport with the Doctor as well, both in the comedy scenes and the quiet, serious ones: you could feel the impact the killing-all-the-Rachna scene had on her - and watching the Doctor do this - before it got verbalized in the final scene. In which she was fabulous as well, and her decision not to take up the life of daily danger with a man who can and does what the Doctor did was all too understandable.
Sidenote: as I recall the most popular complaint re: the episode Tooth & Claw was that the Doctor and Rose were too lighthearted in front of people who had gone through terrible losses. I'm tempted to see Donna's earlier slapping the Doctor after asking him whether he's enjoying this as a repentant homage to this, especially since postTooth & Claw episodes of season 2 never made light of the guest star losses again (from Mrs. Moore to the Ood, they were all grieved for by one or both of our regular duo).
In terms of the overall story of the Doctor, I liked that the impact of the recent loss of Rose was there, but understated enough to be touching instead of anvilly, and not overweighing the overall adventure. David Tennant was in fine form, and I loved both his moments of Doctorish obliviousness ("nothing special about you") and compassion (when he tells Donna what Lance did to her). The showdown with the Empress of the Rachna (thinking of Arachne, I'm assuming that's how they are spelled) was a far cry from the hubristic one in The Christmas Invasion; I really appreciated that he did offer her genuine help first, and also that the script gave him several parallels (last of their kind, the Empress hooking Lance by offering him just what the Doctor offers each Companion) with the villain. And at the risk of repeating myself, the Gallifrey moment was just awesome.
Favourite scene overall, though: the Doctor and Donna watching the creation of Earth. There was a sense of wonder in this Christmas special which I found immensely appealing, and this scene encapsulated it.