This episode is fun but not fantastic. I get why some people don't like it, and the comedy can be a little lacklustre along with the special effects, but it is a very strong performance piece that introduces us to our first little taste of Ten and Donna. I do think it is a much-needed cool-down episode after all the drama of Doomsday. The light-hearted nature of The Runaway Bride is welcome in that regard, even if I wasn't laughing *that* much along the way.

I also really like the Racnoss as a plot point, showing the more interesting aspects of the Doctor's darkness growing within this character at the time and I am especially here for that. I think that particular angle on the character is our main draw for an otherwise pretty mediocre production otherwise. It's also really neat to introduce Donna here only to have her return later in such a major way (and return she would a few times now, which is cool too!).

As much as I love what is going on with the Doctor and Donna when dealing with the Racnoss, the aliens aren't really the best looking of this era and that holds things back a bit because of it. I also found Sarah Palish a little too over the top, even if that was intentional in her performance. It's fine, but definitely worth watching, even with a good amount of unnecessary choices like the evil Christmas trees returning. For that matter, this really didn't feel like it needed to be a Christmas episode at all. It also gets incredibly overstimulating and overwhelming at times.