Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this episode
Review
More about Doctor Who
More about this episode
This episode was first broadcast on 25 December 2006. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor rescues the girl, but he doesn't get her to the church in time.
The best thing about this episode is the interaction between the tenth Doctor and the bride. He's dark and brooding, she's mad as hell and not taking it anymore, but during the episode you see them slowly starting to open up to each other. It's well-written and well-performed, and though what we have here isn't yet the great chemistry that would develop between the two characters in the 2008 season, the beginnings are already apparent.
The most disappointing thing about this episode is the villain, a ranting-monster-in-prostethics complete with evil-villain MWUAHAHAHA! laugh whose performance wouldn't have seemed out of place in one of the weaker 'classic' serials. Also, though the monster looks great, it would have been nice if it had actually moved around a bit.
The other disappointment is that the story seems to be there mostly as a means to get all the cool stuff to happen in the episode. (A bride appears in the Tardis! And she slaps the Doctor! Twice! Robot Santas! New and improved killer Christmas tree! The Tardis chasing a car and the Doctor rescuing the girl! Draining the Thames!) All the cool stuff is indeed cool, but after watching the episode once or twice it starts to get old.
There's a lot about the plot that still puzzles me (and if you want to avoid spoilers or gratuitous nitpicking, you'd better skip the rest of this paragraph). When the earth came into existence, a Racknoss spaceship with a load of Racknoss babies on board became the planet's core. Let's assume that for a moment, and let's also assume that the Racknoss spaceship with the Racknoss babies wasn't crushed by the pressure exerted on it during the earth's formation, and that the babies are still alive. That still doesn't explain why Torchwood would be drilling a great, big hole in their basement. Were they looking for the Racknoss spaceship? If so, what did they plan to do with it once they found it? And wouldn't they have encountered a lot of hot lava before even getting near the earth's core? Who hired the evil Santas, and who took over the company after Torchwood withdrew? If it was the Racknoss Empress, where did she get the money? (Like the bride, she didn't appear to have any pockets on her person.) Did she use human emissaries to make the purchase? If so, how and where did she get them? How did she turn Lance? How did Lance get the authority and the means to continue drilling the great big hole in the basement, something that directors of HR usually aren't empowered to do? What did the Empress need a human 'key' for, and why did this human need to be filled up to the gills with Huon Particles? What are Huon particles, anyway? Where did the water from the Thames go? Is the earth actually hollow, and is it now partially filled with water? Am I over-thinking this, and does that make me a nerd?
My verdict:
A less than great start of a beautiful friendship.
An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction
More "quite good, actually" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: quite good, actually
More Doctor Who with David Tennant:
Doctor Who reviews: 2005 - now
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BBC Episode guide
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Outpost Gallifrey
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