History Recap / DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Donna doesn't exactly make the best first impression, immediately bitching out the Doctor and assuming he's a creep and a kidnapper. Her mood does not improve when she sees Rose's jacket and assumes the worst. The two slowly become friends, however, as it becomes apparent that Donna's bluster is just that, and she does have a soft heart beneath the attitude.

A hidden wall panel slides aside and the voice of the spider-creature taunts them. Lance sneaks off while the Doctor comes in and finds a huge shaft drilled to the centre of the Earth. The Doctor taunts her into teleporting down, and the spider-creature arrives in the complex. The Doctor recognises her as the Empress of the Racnoss, the last of her kind. The Racnoss were carnivores from the "Dark Age" that consumed whole planets. Lance arrives with an axe and Donna tries to distract the Empress. Lance prepares to swing... then both he and the Empress laugh. Lance has been working with the Empress all along, and was dosing Donna with liquid particles in the coffee he gave her. The Doctor tries to get them to explain, but the Empress orders in her remaining roboforms to attack. However, the Doctor reverses the huon particle attraction and the TARDIS materialises around him and Donna as a shield. The Doctor then dematerialises the TARDIS and sets a course back to the beginning of Earth's creation. With Donna gone, the Empress orders her roboforms to grab Lance and uses him as an alternative.

The Empress is enraged as she exclaims "They murdered the Racnoss!" The Doctor simply responds, "I warned you... you did this," and holds out a few of the explosive Christmas ornaments ominously. The Empress realises she has gone too far and pleads for mercy, but it is MUCH too late — the Doctor throws the baubles into the air and uses the remote to control them like remote-controlled bombs to blow holes in the tunnel. Water from the Thames rushes in, swirling around the Empress and then reaching and travelling down the hole to the Earth's core, drowning the Racnoss within.

The Doctor stoically — coldly, even — watches as the water pours in, flames rush up and the Empress screams in anguish for her children. Donna's look grows horrified, as it seems as though the Doctor has no will to live without Rose. It takes Donna yelling out to snap him out of it, at which point a look of terror comes across his face as well as if he realises how close he came to permanent death. They escape up a ladder while the Empress teleports back to her ship, vowing to scorch the Earth out of spite. But the Doctor assures Donna that between her using up all her huon energy, and the Webstar's assault on London, the Empress is defenceless.

'''Donna:''' ''[reconsiders]'' ...no, he didn't.

-->"I warned you. You did this."

* TakeThatCritics: The 2005/6 seasons were criticised by some fans who complained about the number of stories set on contemporary Earth, wanted more exotic settings and SpaceOpera content, and got upset about the number of contemporary pop culture references. This episode features an unspeakably nasty, misanthropic, intellectually-snobbish human villain who turned out to be plotting with aliens to destroy the world just because they offered to show him the wonders of the universe, and who was given a long and unsympathetic speech mocking pop culture.

* AssholeVictim: Lance, who had spent months manipulating Donna and planned to hand her over to a carnivorous alien. He ends up suffering the very fate he had planned for Donna, and she says "he deserved it".

The Doctor and Donna try to get a taxi, but [[FailngATaxi the taxi drivers ignore them]], believing Donna is dressed for a fancy dress party, drunk, or a drag queen, in that order. The Doctor eventually gets one, however the driver kicks them out when he realizes that they don't have any money. Donna goes to a payphone, which the Doctor zaps with the sonic screwdriver to bypass the payment part. Donna calls her mother, telling her frantically where she is. However, her mother's cellphone is dead, and so Donna leaves a message.

The cloud of golden energy that was Donna shoots into outer space and enters the TARDIS, reassembling her inside the doors just as the Doctor finishes burning up a supernova to send a final goodbye message to Rose, resulting in a familiar scene.

The Doctor tries to get to the church in Chiswick, but accidentally lands the TARDIS near Oxford Street. Donna storms out of the TARDIS and is not happy with the misdirected landing. She then sees that the outside is smaller and, going into shock again, she rushes off. The Doctor follows her, however, she is too weirded out to want to return to the TARDIS.

The Doctor and Donna try to get a taxi, but the taxi drivers ignore them, believing Donna is dressed for a fancy dress party, drunk, or a drag queen, in that order. The Doctor eventually gets one, however the driver kicks them out when he realizes that they don't have any money. Donna goes to a payphone, which the Doctor zaps with the sonic screwdriver to bypass the payment part. Donna calls her mother, telling her frantically where she is. However, her mother's cellphone is dead, and so Donna leaves a message.

After we cue the intro, we find the Doctor increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, [[{{Bridezilla}} Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is]]. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots an old shirt of Rose's on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

As the cab enters the highway, Donna quickly realises her cab is not taking her to the church and, realizing just who her driver actually is, begins frantically trying to escape. The Doctor flies in on the TARDIS, latching on to the cab. After some hesitation, Donna jumps into the Doctor's arms and the TARDIS spins off into the sky, two children in a passing car cheering them off.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly admits he can't go back along someone's personal timeline without creating a paradox. [[NoodleIncident Apparently.]] As a precaution, the Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the scavengers from tracking her, and decides to ask her a bit more about herself so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). Donna discloses that she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. They went out for a while, and then Lance asked her to marry him. [[UnreliableNarrator As the flashbacks show, it was actually the other way around]]: ''Donna'' was the one constantly pestering Lance to marry her, until he caved.

The Doctor runs outside and sees the roboforms closing in on all the exits. They stop outside and one of them uses a remote to activate the ornaments on the Christmas trees. They start moving around... then attack the guests, exploding. All six of the roboforms enter and attack. The Doctor sends a sonic pulse over the loudspeakers, destroying them. Dissecting one of the scavengers, the Doctor finds they're being operated by remote control. Severing the head, he runs off to pursue the signal. He looks up to the sky, unaware that they're being observed by a shadowy spider-like figure in a floating spaceship, a webstar.

In the present, the Empress force feeds Lance the huon particles to make a new "key". He then acts as a magnet, drawing the TARDIS back. The Doctor grabs the extrapolator while Lance is hauled up into the Empress' web. The TARDIS materialises in her chamber but the Doctor is able to divert it to a nearby corridor. The Doctor tries to sneak past a security door, but Donna is dragged off by two of the roboforms without him noticing, and he opens the door to be faced by another.

It's another story for humanity, however. Challenger 2 tanks rumble through the streets, leveling their cannons at the Webstar. Once in position, they are given orders from [[ChekhovsGunman Mr. Saxon]] to fire at will. The cannons blast projectiles at the Webstar from multiple directions repeatedly until it explodes, killing the Empress and the Racnoss species with it. The Doctor and Donna emerge from a manhole just as the ship's remains begin plummeting to Earth. Catching their breath, Donna laughs hesitantly as she notices that they've also managed to drain the Thames.

After we cue the intro, we find the Doctor increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, [[{{Bridezilla}} Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is]]. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots an old jacket of Rose's on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

* DeathGlare: The Doctor gives a pretty scathing one to Donna after she asks about Rose's jacket in the TARDIS. It shuts her up (and also gives the first showing of Donna's nicer side).

* CryingLittleKid: There's one girl who's shown freezing up like a DeerInTheHeadlights as one of the Webstar's incredibly slow-moving electric bolts tears up the pavement, who has to be pushed out of the way just in the nick of time.

The one with the bad-tempered bride and lots and lots of hurled insults.

The Doctor is increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, [[{{Bridezilla}} Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is]]. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots an old jacket of Rose's on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

The Doctor stoically — coldly, even — watches as the water pours in, flames rush up and the Empress screams in anguish for her children. Donna's look grows horrified, and it takes her yelling out to the Doctor to snap him out of it, at which point a look of terror comes across his face as well as if he realises how much danger he is in. They escape up a ladder while the Empress teleports back to her ship, vowing to scorch the Earth out of spite. But the Doctor assures Donna that between her using up all her huon energy, and the Webstar's assault on London, the Empress is defenceless.

* TranquilFury: The Doctor, and it ''really'' freaks Donna out. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft Turn Left]]" reveals that he would've died along with the Racnoss if she hadn't snapped him out of it.

The cloud of golden energy that was Donna shoots into outer space and enters the TARDIS, reassembling her inside the doors just as the Doctor finishes burning up a supernova to send a final goodbye message to Rose.

* ContinuityNod: While the Doctor tries to figure out what's happened, he at one point asks Donna, "Are you sure [your husband]'s human? [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon He's not a bit overweight]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree with a zip round his forehead]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown is he?]]"

The Empress strings Donna up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft as food for her kids after disapproving of his treatment of Donna, then summons her Webstar, which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating lightning across London, ripping up streets and buildings, and sending late night shoppers scrambling for cover.

The Doctor enters the chamber disguised as a roboform, but the Empress instantly sees through him. He frees Donna, who swings to (almost) safety before hitting a wall. The Doctor offers the Empress the chance to go to a planet and exist peacefully, but she refuses and orders her roboforms to fire. The Doctor, anticipating her, overrides them with the remote control the roboforms used earlier. He then reveals that he is a Time Lord, the race that destroyed the Racnoss.

-->'''Donna:''' "I'm a pencil inside a mug?"

The cloud of golden energy that was Donna shoots into outer space and enters the TARDIS, which is orbiting a supernova. Inside the TARDIS, a tearful Doctor has just finished saying his farewell to Rose Tyler when he looks up to see Donna.

The Doctor is increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots an old jacket of Rose's on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

The Doctor tries to get to the church in Chiswick, but accidentally lands the TARDIS near Oxford Street. Donna storms out of the TARDIS and is not happy with the misdirected landing. She then sees that the outside is smaller and, going into shock again, she rushes off. The Doctor follows her, however, she is too weirded out to want to return to the TARDIS. The Doctor then notices that it's Christmas Eve, and wonders why she chose to get married today.

The Doctor goes to get Donna money for a cab. However, while waiting in line for the ATM and stuck behind a slow-moving customer, he notices familiar masked Santas playing nearby and recognizes them as the robotic scavengers from the previous year's Christmas that attacked Mickey and Rose before the Sycorax arrived. Not only that, but they've got their weapons disguised as band instruments pointed directly at him. And the cab that Donna has hailed while the Doctor's been tied up at the ATM is [[NotMyDriver being driven by another of the scavengers]]. He distracts the ones on the street by using his sonic screwdriver on the ATM to make it spit out money, causing a crazed rush from the nearby crowd, then races back to the TARDIS to give chase.

* LargeHam: The Empress of Racnoss is an enormous piece of Spider-Ham. "''KIIIIILL'' THIS LITTLE CHATTERING DOCTOR-MAN!"
* LoudOfWar: The Doctor creates powerful sonic blasts by combining his sonic screwdriver with a sound system.

* PhlebotinumAnalogy: "I'm a pencil inside a mug?"

* RunningGag: The Racnoss Empress is the first person to call the Doctor and Donna a couple. She will not be the last.
* SayMyName: The Doctor shouts "Donna!" at least 5 times.

** Donna's comment about dinosaurs at the centre of the Earth that she saw in a movie. She probably saw ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth''.

* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The Doctor listens to the song "Love Don't Roam" at a wedding reception while flashbacks of Rose appear onscreen.
* SympathyForTheDevil: Donna feels bad for the Racnoss Empress as she screams horribly for her children the Doctor killed.

The Doctor tries to get to the church in Chiswick, but accidentally lands the TARDIS near Oxford Street. Donna calls him a Martian, then storms out of the TARDIS. She then sees that the outside is smaller and, going into shock again, she rushes off. The Doctor follows her, however, she is too weirded out to want to return to the TARDIS. The Doctor then notices that it's Christmas Eve, and wonders why she chose to get married today.

The Doctor and Donna try to get a taxi, but the taxi drivers ignore them, believing Donna is dressed for a fancy dress party, drunk, or a drag queen, in that order. The Doctor eventually gets one, however the driver kicks them out when he realizes that they don't have any money. Donna goes to a payphone, which the Doctor zaps with the sonic screwdriver to work. Donna calls her mother, telling her frantically where she is. However, her mother's cellphone is dead, and so Donna leaves a message.

The Doctor goes to get Donna money for a cab. However, while waiting in line for the ATM and stuck behind a slow-moving customer, he notices familiar masked Santas playing nearby and recognizes them as the robotic scavengers from the previous year's Christmas, levelling their weapons disguised as band instruments at him. Not only that, but Donna is taking off in a cab [[NotMyDriver being driven by another of the scavengers]]. He distracts the ones on the street by using his sonic screwdriver on the ATM to make it spit out money, causing a crazed rush from the nearby crowd, then races back to the TARDIS to give chase.

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor is momentarily distracted when he notices Nerys, who is wearing a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guest's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that H.C. Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years... [[ExplainExplainOhCrap and can't be masked by a bio-damper]].

The Empress strings Donna up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft as food for her kids after disapproving of his treatment of Donna, then summons her Webstar, which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating lightning across London, ripping up streets and buildings, and sending late night shoppers scrambling for shelter.

The Doctor stoically — coldly, even — watches as the water pours in, flames rush up and the Empress screams in anguish for her children. Donna's look grows horrified, and it takes her yelling out to the Doctor to snap him out of it, at which point a look of terror comes across his face as well as if he realises what he has done. They escape up a ladder while the Empress teleports back to her ship, vowing to scorch the Earth out of spite. But the Doctor assures Donna that between her using up all her huon energy, and the Webstar's assault on London, the Empress is defenceless.

* FiveRoundsRapid: In what may be a television first, the Empress of the Racnoss' attempts to lift off from London without enough power to activate her energy shield defenses — and is taken out by a barrage of cannon blasts from a British Army tank! Even TV series set in World War II (''Combat'' and ''Rat Patrol'', for example) traditionally avoid spending money on tanks.

The Doctor is increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots Rose's discarded shirt on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

Donna tries to get a taxi, but the taxi drivers believe that she is dressed for a fancy dress party, drunk, or a drag queen, in that order. The Doctor eventually gets one, however the driver kicks them out when he realizes that they don't have any money. She goes to a payphone, which the Doctor zaps with the sonic screwdriver to work. Donna calls her mother, telling her frantically where she is. However, her mother's cellphone is dead, and so Donna leaves a message.

The Doctor goes to get Donna money for a cab. However, while waiting in line for the ATM, he notices familiar masked Santas playing nearby and recognizes them as the robotic scavengers from the previous year's Christmas, levelling their weapons disguised as band instruments at him. Not only that, but Donna is taking off in a cab [[NotMyDriver being driven by another of the scavengers]]. He distracts the ones on the street by using his sonic screwdriver on the ATM to make it spit out money, causing a crazed rush from the nearby crowd, then races back to the TARDIS to give chase.

As the cab enters the highway, Donna quickly realises her cab is not taking her to the church and begins frantically trying to escape. The Doctor flies in on the TARDIS, latching on to the cab. After some hesitation, Donna jumps into the Doctor's arms and the TARDIS spins off into the sky, two children in a passing car cheering them off.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly admits he can't go back along someone's personal timeline without creating a paradox. [[NoodleIncident Apparently.]] As a precaution, the Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the scavengers from tracking her, and decides to ask her a bit more about herself so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). Donna discloses that she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. They went out for a while, and then Lance asked her to marry him. [[UnreliableNarrator As the flashbacks show, though, it was the other way around]]: ''Donna'' was the one constantly pestering Lance to marry her, until he caved.

The Doctor takes Donna to her reception, which is going on in full swing, and where Lance is dancing with Nerys. Donna is shocked and furious that her friends and family are having the wedding reception without her; Nerys points out that it was already paid for, so they didn't want to waste it, which doesn't satisfy Donna. Sylvia, Donna's mother, demands to know about her bizarre phone call and how she pulled off that disappearing act. The amount of attention she's getting causes Donna to break down in fake tears to get them to shut up.

The Doctor goes to H.C. Clements with Lance and Donna and discovers there's a secret floor. He takes the lift down and Donna insists on going with him, bringing a reluctant Lance with them. The spider-figure is pleased, wanting "the Bride" to come further in.

A hidden wall panel slides aside and the voice of the spider-creature taunts them. Lance sneaks off while the Doctor comes in and finds a huge shaft drilled to the centre of the Earth. The Doctor taunts her into teleporting down, and the spider-creature arrives in the complex. The Doctor recognises her as the Empress of the Racnoss, the last of her kind. The Racnoss were carnivores from the "Dark Age" that consumed whole planets. Lance arrives with an axe and Donna tries to distract the Empress. Lance prepares to swing... then both he and the Empress laugh. Lance has been working with the Empress all along, and was dosing Donna with liquid particles in the coffee he gave her. The Doctor tries to get them to explain, but the Empress orders in her remaining roboforms to attack. However, the Doctor reverses the huon particle attraction and the TARDIS materialises around him and Donna as a shield. The Doctor then dematerialises the ship and sets a course back to the beginning of Earth's creation. With Donna gone, the Empress orders her roboforms to grab Lance and uses him as an alternative.

Donna is crying over Lance's deceit as they arrive at the formation of the Earth to learn why the Empress has dug into the core of the planet. He tempts the distraught Donna into looking, and they notice a Racnoss spaceship arriving to hide from being exterminated by the Fledgling Empires. The Doctor fast-forwards time outside the TARDIS, observing that the Earth is forming around the ship. The Doctor realises that the ship is the actual core of the Earth; that's why the Empress needs Huon particles, to awaken her "children". If that happens, the Racnoss will eat everything and everyone on Earth; worse, they'll likely destroy the planet to free their ship.

The Empress strings Donna up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft to feed her awakening children after disapproving of his treatment of Donna, then summons her Webstar, which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating lightning across London, ripping up streets and buildings.

It's another story for humanity, however. Challenger 2 tanks rumble through the streets, leveling their cannons at the Webstar. Once in position, they are given orders from [[ChekhovsGunman Mr. Saxon]] to fire at will. The cannons blast projectiles at the Webstar from multiple directions repeatedly until it explodes, killing the Empress and the Racnoss species with it.

We open with a familiar AstronomicZoom that we had in "Rose" and "The Christmas Invasion", but rather than zoom in on the Powell Estate, we zoom in on a church in Chiswick, where a Christmas Eve wedding is underway. Bride-to-be [[Creator/CatherineTate Donna Noble]] is escorted down the aisle by her father to her waiting groom, Lance Bennett. Halfway down the aisle, she is surrounded by a mysterious golden glow. Screaming in horror, Donna dissolves into a cloud of energy that goes flying up through the ceiling. The guests are left baffled. Was Donna just abducted?

-->'''The Doctor:''' What...?\\

The Doctor is increasingly flabbergasted as to how Donna ended up in the TARDIS while it's in flight. As he tries to figure out what is happening, Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to where she is. She accuses the Doctor of stealing her from her wedding and even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor still cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, but can't get any answers out of Donna, who slaps him and demands that he return her to the church (giving him very detailed information as to where it is, thinking the Doctor's thick-headed). Moments later, she spots Rose's discarded jacket on one of the railings in the console room and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone", and Donna sobers up, realizing her faux pas.

The Doctor tries to get to the church in Chiswick, but accidentally lands the TARDIS near Oxford Street. Donna calls him a Martian, then storms out of the TARDIS. She then sees that the outside is smaller and, going into shock again, she rushes off. The Doctor rushes after her, however, she is too weirded out to want to return to the TARDIS. The Doctor then notices that it's Christmas Eve, and wonders why she chose to get married today.

As the cab enters the highway, Donna quickly realises her cab is not taking her to the church and begins frantically trying to escape. The Doctor flies in on the TARDIS, latching on to the cab. After some hesitation, Donna jumps into the Doctor's arms and the TARDIS spins off into the sky with some passing motorists cheering them off.

The TARDIS lands on a roof. Donna sits on the ledge, as the Doctor uses a fire extinguisher to extinguish flames inside the control room; all that excitement has put too much strain on the TARDIS and she needs to rest (he notes it ironic that for a spaceship, it doesn't really do too well when it comes to flying). Seeing Donna is cold, the Doctor lends her his jacket. She jokes that he is way too skinny as the coat wouldn't fit an average-sized man. The Doctor asks if he missed her wedding, to which she confirms; he tells her that she still has the honeymoon, which Donna passes off as just a holiday now.

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor momentarily is distracted when he notices Nerys, who is wearing a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guest's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that H.C. Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years... [[ExplainExplainOhCrap and can't be masked by a bio-damper]].

** Donna calls the Doctor a Martian, which is initially a throwaway gag...until it leads to the Empress of the Racnoss underestimating him.

* CryingLittleKid: There's one girl who's shown freezing up like a DeerInTheHeadlights as one of the Webstar's incredibly slow-moving electric bolt tears up the pavement, who has to be pushed out of the way just in the nick of time.

-->'''Donna:''' Thanks...for nothing!

* FiveRoundsRapid: In what may be a television first, the Empress of the Racnoss' attempts to lift off from London without enough power to activate her energy shield defenses—and is taken out by a barrage of cannon blasts from a British Army tank! Even TV series set in World War II (''Combat'' and ''Rat Patrol'', for example) traditionally avoid spending money on tanks.

Bride-to-be Donna Noble is escorted down the aisle by her father to her waiting groom, Lance Bennett, at her Christmas Eve wedding. Halfway down the aisle, she is surrounded by a mysterious golden glow. Screaming in horror, Donna dissolves into a cloud of energy that goes flying up through the ceiling. The guests are left baffled. Was Donna just abducted?

In outer space, the TARDIS is orbiting a supernova; the golden energy enters the time machine. Inside, a tearful Doctor has just finished saying his farewell to Rose Tyler when he looks up to see Donna; she is shocked to find herself in the odd location. He is flabbergasted as to how she ended up in the TARDIS. While the Doctor gets increasingly confused as to how she somehow got inside while the TARDIS was in flight, Donna becomes equally angry and confused as to what's going on.

Donna is irate at being stolen from her wedding and blames the Doctor, demanding answers; she even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank... until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, and Donna demands that he return her to the church. She gives very detailed information as to where it is, since the Doctor is an alien. At one point, she spots Rose's jacket and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone".

Donna tries to get a taxi, but the taxi drivers believe that she is dressed for a fancy dress party, drunk, or a drag queen, in that order. The Doctor eventually gets one, however the driver lets them out when he realizes that they don't have any money. She goes to a payphone, which the Doctor zaps with the sonic screwdriver to work. Donna calls her mother, telling her frantically where she is. However, her mother's cellphone is dead, and so Donna leaves a message.

As the cab enters the M25, Donna quickly realises her cab is not taking her to the church and begins frantically trying to escape. The Doctor flies in on the TARDIS, latching on to the cab. After some hesitation, Donna jumps into the Doctor's arms and the TARDIS spins off into the sky with some passing motorists cheering them off.

The TARDIS lands on a roof. Donna sits on the ledge, as the Doctor uses a fire extinguisher to extinguish flames inside the control room; all that excitement has put too much strain on the TARDIS. He tells Donna that the TARDIS needs some rest before she can be used again; he then notes playfully that for a spaceship, it doesn't really do too well when it comes to flying. Seeing Donna is cold, the Doctor lends her his jacket. She jokes that he is way too skinny as the coat wouldn't fit an average-sized man. The Doctor asks if he missed her wedding, to which she confirms; he tells her that she still has the honeymoon, which Donna passes off as just a holiday now.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly admits it would be impossible due to the laws of time; he can't go back along someone's personal timeline without creating a paradox. Apparently. As a precaution, the Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the scavengers from tracking her, and decides to ask her a bit more about herself so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). Donna discloses that she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. Donna says they went out for a while and Lance asked her to marry him. ([[UnreliableNarrator The flashbacks show a different story, where Donna was the one constantly pestering him to get married; he eventually gave in.]])

The Doctor takes Donna to her reception, where Lance is dancing with Nerys. Donna is shocked and furious that her friends and family are having the wedding reception without her; Nerys points out that it was already paid for, so they didn't want to waste it, which doesn't satisfy Donna. Sylvia, Donna's mother, demands to know about her bizarre phone call and how she pulled off that disappearing act. The amount of attention she's getting causes Donna to break down in fake tears to get them to shut up.

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor momentarily is distracted when he notices a blonde woman with a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guest's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that H.C. Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years... [[ExplainExplainOhCrap and can't be masked by a bio-damper]].

The Empress strings Donna up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft to feed her awakening children after disapproving of his treatment of Donna, then summons her Webstar, which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating energy across London, ripping up streets and buildings.

The Doctor enters the chamber disguised as a roboform, but the Empress quickly recognises him. He frees Donna, who swings to (almost) safety before hitting a wall. The Doctor offers the Empress the chance to go to a planet and exist peacefully, but she refuses and orders her roboforms to fire. The Doctor, anticipating her, overrides them with the remote control the roboforms used earlier. He then reveals that he is a Time Lord, the race that destroyed the Racnoss.

The Doctor stoically — coldly, even — watches as the water pours in, flames rush up and the Empress screams in anguish for her children. Donna's look grows horrified, and it takes her yelling out to the Doctor to snap him out of it, at which point a look of terror comes across his face as well as if he realises what he has done. They escape into the TARDIS while the Empress teleports back to her ship, vowing to scorch the Earth if out of spite. But the Doctor assures Donna that between the opening of the Secret Heart and the Webstar's assault on London, the Empress is defenceless. Humanity isn't, however. Up above, Challenger 2 tanks rumble through the streets, leveling their cannons at the Webstar. On the orders of [[ChekhovsGunman Mr. Saxon]], they open fire with their cannons from multiple directions. The ship explodes, killing the Empress and the Racnoss species with it.

* AstronomicZoom: The zoom-in intro is carried over from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose Rose]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion The Christmas Invasion]]", except here, it zooms in on a church instead of the Powell Estate.

** Donna calls the Doctor a Martian, which seems like a throwaway gag but leads to the Empress of the Racnoss underestimating him.

* CrocodileTears: Donna starts fake-crying to get everyone at the wedding reception to shut up after they start demanding to know where she was and how she disappeared from the ceremony.
* CryingLittleKid: There's one girl who's shown freezing up like a DeerInTheHeadlights at an incredibly slow-moving electric bolt tearing up the pavement, who has to be pushed out of the way just in the nick of time.

* DressingAsTheEnemy: {{Subverted}}; the Doctor steals a guard's uniform and uses it to infiltrate a secret chamber — but the enemies aren't fooled for a second.

** There is also Donna's story about how Lance gave her a cup of coffee when they first met, because later it's revealed that the huon particles are being stored in water.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: A rare aversion. The roboforms are pretty spot on when shooting the Doctor: something just gets in their way first.

* OrSoIHeard: After the Doctor rescues Donna from being kidnapped by an evil robot Santa, she laments that they've missed her wedding service, and says she wishes he had a time machine so they could go back and change things. The Doctor mumbles that even if he did, he couldn't go back along someone's personal timeline — "apparently".

* SpiderPeople: The Empress of the Racnoss, who even has a web motif going on for her spaceship. Full spider below, but human upper torso and semi-human head (the actress wore a prosthesis with a big frill on it).

* TwistedChristmas: The Doctor has to face an ancient menace called the Racnoss whose offspring wished to gorge on life across the cosmos. Their web-shaped ship was mistaken for a giant decorative Christmas star by Londoners until it started zapping the city with bolts of electricity. This adventure immediately follows the loss of one of the Doctor's dearest companions and features an especially dark moment for him in which he kills a ton of alien babies and almost lets himself die along with them. Oh, and the Thames is drained.

* UnreliableVoiceover: Donna's description of how she and Lance got engaged. ''She'' was the one who proposed after six months of acquaintance and nagged until it was accepted, not the other way around as she tells it.

In the present, the Empress force feeds Lance the huon particles to make a new "key". He then acts as a magnet, drawing the TARDIS back. The Doctor grabs the extrapolator while Lance is hauled up into the Empress' web. The TARDIS materialises in her chamber but the Doctor is able to divert it to a nearby corridor. The Doctor tries to sneak past a security door, but Donna gets captured is dragged off by two of the roboforms without his noticing, and he opens the door to be faced by another.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly admits it would be impossible due to the laws of time; he can't go back along someone's personal timeline without creating a paradox. Apparently. As a precaution, the Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the scavengers from tracking her, and decides to ask her a bit more about herself so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). Donna discloses that she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. Donna says they went out for a while and Lance asked her to marry him. ([[UnreliableNarrator The flashbacks show a different story, where Donna was the one constantly pestering him to get married; he eventually gave in]])

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor momentarily is distracted when he notices a blonde woman with a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guest's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that HC Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years... [[ExplainExplainOhCrap and can't be masked by a bio-damper.]]

The Doctor goes to get Donna money for a cab. However, while waiting in line for the ATM, he notices familiar masked Santas playing nearby and recognizes them as the robotic scavengers from the previous year's Christmas, levelling their weapons disguised as band instruments at him. He distracts them by using his sonic screwdriver on the ATM to make it spit out money, causing a crazed rush from the nearby crowd.

He goes off in search of Donna and finds her taking off in a cab, its driver yet another of the robotic Santas. Donna quickly realises her cab is not taking her to the church and finds the Doctor has engaged the TARDIS in pursuit of the cab on the highway, watched by two astonished children in the back of a car. The Doctor urges Donna to jump from the taxi to the TARDIS. After some hesitation, Donna jumps into the Doctor's arms and the TARDIS spins off into the sky with the children cheering it off.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly says it would be impossible due to the laws of time; he can't go back along someone's personal timeline. Apparently. The Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the Santas tracking her; he asks Donna to talk about herself, so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). He then learns she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met her husband-to-be, Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. Donna says they went out for a while and Lance asked her to marry him. (However, as the flashbacks show, Donna was the one constantly pestering him to get married; he eventually gave in.)

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor momentarily is distracted when he notices a blonde woman with a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guest's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that HC Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years... and can't be masked by a bio-damper.

Realising that the bio-damper won't conceal huon particles, the Doctor runs outside and sees the roboforms closing in on all the exits. They stop outside and one of them uses a remote to activate the ornaments on the Christmas trees. They start moving around... then attack the guests, exploding. All six of the roboforms enter and the Doctor sends a sonic pulse over the loudspeakers, destroying them. The Doctor determines that the roboforms were operated by remote control, then takes one of their heads and runs off to pursue the signal. He looks up to the sky, unaware that they're being observed by a shadowy spider-like figure in a floating spaceship, a webstar.

A hidden wall panel slides aside and the voice of the spider-creature taunts them. Lance sneaks off while the Doctor comes in and finds a huge shaft drilled to the centre of the Earth. The Doctor taunts her into teleporting down, and the spider-creature arrives in the complex. The Doctor recognises her as the Empress of the Racnoss and realises she is the last of her kind. The Racnoss were carnivores from the "Dark Age" that consumed whole planets. Lance arrives with an axe and Donna tries to distract the Empress. Lance prepares to swing... then both he and the Empress laugh. Lance has been working with the Empress all along, and was dosing Donna with liquid particles in the coffee he gave her. The Doctor tries to get them to explain, but the Empress orders in her remaining roboforms to attack. However, the Doctor reverses the huon particle attraction and the TARDIS materialises around them as a shield. The Doctor then dematerialises the ship and sets a course back to the beginning of Earth's creation. With Donna gone, the Empress orders her roboforms to grab Lance.

In the present, the Empress force feeds Lance the huon particles to make a new "key". He then acts as a magnet, drawing the TARDIS back. The Doctor grabs the extrapolator while Lance is hauled up into the Empress' wife. The TARDIS materialises in her chamber but the Doctor redirects it to a nearby corridor. The Doctor tries to sneak past a security door, but Donna is dragged off by two of the roboforms without his noticing, and he opens the door to be faced by another.

The Empress strings Donna up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft to feed her awakening children after disapproving of his treatment of Donna, then summons her Webstar, which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating energy across the city.

The Doctor stoically — coldly, even — watches as the water pours in, flames rush up and the Empress screams in anguish for her children. Donna's look grows horrified, and it takes her yelling out to the Doctor to snap him out of it, at which point a look of terror comes across his face as well as if he realises what he has done. They escape into the TARDIS while the Empress teleports back to her ship, vowing to scorch the Earth; the Doctor replies that the opening of the Secret Heart and the Webstar's assault on London has drained its energy and left it defenceless. Humanity isn't, however, and the powerless Webstar is blown out of the sky by Challenger 2 tanks under orders of Mr. Saxon, destroying the Empress and the Racnoss species with it.

* ChristmasEpisode: The pilot fish pretend to be Santa so the BigBad can eat humanity. [[AnAssKickingChristmas The Doctor kicks their ass down the drain.]]

* CryingLittleKid: The screaming girl stands in front of an incredibly slow-moving electricity weapon and is pushed out of the way just in the nick of time.

* FiveRoundsRapid: In what may be a television first, the Empress of the Racnoss' attempts to lift off from London without enough power to activate her energy shield defenses—and is taken out by a single round from a British Army tank! Even TV series set in World War II (''Combat'' and ''Rat Patrol'', for example) traditionally avoid spending money on tanks.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Most of the Racnoss' laser beams whip around quickly — except for one heading towards a little girl, which moves ''sloooooowly'' enough for someone to grab her and run to safety.

* ItsAlwaysSpring: It's supposed to be Christmas, but the episode was filmed in warm weather, as evidenced by the green trees seen during the car chase on the highway. Also, despite being famous for cold weather, Donna doesn't even shiver at running around London with only a sleeveless wedding dress.

The Doctor enters the chamber disguised as a RoboForm, but the Empress quickly recognises him. He frees Donna, who swings to (almost) safety before hitting a wall. The Doctor offers the Empress the chance to go to a planet and exist peacefully, but she refuses and orders her roboforms to fire. The Doctor, anticipating her, overrides them with the remote control the roboforms used earlier. He then reveals that he is a Time Lord, the race that destroyed the Racnoss.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: When the Doctor realizes Donna is laced with Huon particles.
-->"Huon energy doesn’t exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that… ''[looks at Donna]'' …it can’t be hidden by a bio-damper! ''[runs to a window and finds the robotic scavengers approaching]''

-->"Huon energy doesn’t exist anymore, not for billions of years. So old that…''[looks at Donna]'' …it can’t be hidden by a bio-damper! ''[runs to a window and finds the robotic scavengers approaching]''

Donna is irate at being stolen from her wedding and blames the Doctor, demanding answers; she even threatens to sue him. She thinks her friend Nerys got her back with an elaborate prank...until she yanks open the doors and finds herself staring out into deep space. Shocked back to her senses, she realises the Doctor is an alien and what she is seeing is real. The Doctor cannot figure out how she gained entrance to the TARDIS, and Donna demands that he return her to the church. She gives very detailed information as to where it is, since the Doctor is an alien. At one point, she spots Rose's jacket and accuses him of having abducted other women. The Doctor gloomily admits that "she's gone".

The TARDIS lands on a roof. Donna sits on the ledge, as the Doctor uses a fire extinguisher to extinguish flames inside the control room; all that excitement has put too much strain on the TARDIS. He tells Donna that the TARDIS needs some rest before she can be used again; he then notes playfully that for a spaceship, it doesn't really do too well when it comes to flying. Seeing Donna is cold, the Doctor lends her his jacket. She jokes that he is way too skinny as the coat wouldn't fit an average-sized man. The Doctor asks if he missed her wedding, to which she confirms; he tells her that she still has the honeymoon, which Donna passes off as just a holiday.

Donna laughs that it's too bad the Doctor doesn't have a time machine; then they could just go back to when she vanished. Not wanting to disturb her more, the Doctor subtly says it would be impossible due to the laws of time; he can't go back along someone's personal timeline. The Doctor gives Donna a bio-damper ring to stop the Santas tracking her; he asks Donna to talk about herself, so he can figure out why she's being targeted. To the Doctor's surprise, Donna missed the Sycorax's attempted invasion the previous Christmas (she was asleep with a hangover). He then learns she works at a security firm called H.C. Clements, where she met her husband-to-be, Lance; she was interested in him because as head of H.R., Donna found it odd he would bother to get coffee for a temp. Donna says they went out for a while and Lance asked her to marry him. (However, as the flashbacks show, Donna was the one constantly pestering him to get married; he eventually gave in.)

The Doctor takes Donna to her reception, where Lance is dancing with Nerys. Donna is shocked and furious that her friends and family are having the wedding reception without her; Nerys points out that it was already paid for, so they didn't want to waste it, which doesn't satisfy Donna. Sylvia , Donna's mother, demands to know about her bizarre phone call and how she pulled off that disappearing act. The amount of attention she's getting causes Donna to break down in fake tears to get them to shut up.

The party continues, and during the dancing, the Doctor momentarily is distracted when he notices a blonde woman with a dress that reminds him of Rose during their time on New Earth. He then borrows a guet's phone to look up H.C. Clements. He's stunned to find that HC Clements is, or rather was, a contractor for the Torchwood Institute. The Doctor catches sight of the wedding photographer showing someone his camera and goes to see what's so interesting. The Doctor sees the footage of Donna vanishing in golden light, asking for a replay; to his shock, Donna was infused with Huon particles, a source of energy that hasn't existed for billions of years...and can't be masked by a bio-damper.

Realising that the bio-damper won't conceal huon particles, the Doctor runs outside and sees the roboforms closing in on all the exits. They stop outside and one of them uses a remote to activate the ornaments on the Christmas tree. They start moving around... then attack the guests, exploding. All six of the roboforms enter and the Doctor sends a sonic pulse over the loudspeakers, destroying them. The Doctor determines that the roboforms were operated by remote control, then takes one of their heads and runs off to pursue the signal. He looks up to the sky, unaware that they're being observed by a shadowy spider-like figure in a floating spaceship, a webstar.

The Doctor goes to HC Clements with Lance and Donna and discovers there's a secret floor. He takes the lift down and Donna insists on going with him, bringing a reluctant Lance with them. The spider-figure is pleased, wanting "the Bride" to come further in.

The Doctor, Lance, and Donna explore the tunnels underneath the building. The Doctor climbs up a shaft while Lance tries to convince Donna to leave, without success. The Doctor determines that they are in a base beneath the Thames Flood Barrier, and Torchwood secretly built it. They then discover a huon distillation facility, where Torchwood have put huon particles into liquid form, which were then put into Donna. The particles are inert and need to catalyse inside a living form, and the wedding accelerated Donna's endorphin production, making her the perfect "host" for the huon particles. Donna realises that the particles are dangerous and the Doctor promises to cure her.

A hidden wall panel slides aside and the voice of the spider-creature taunts them. Lance sneaks off while the Doctor comes in and finds a huge shaft drilled to the centre of the Earth. The Doctor taunts her into teleporting down and the spider-creature arrives in the complex. The Doctor recognises her as the Empress of Racnoss and realises she is the last of her kind. The Racnoss were carnivores from the "Dark Age" that consumed whole planets. Lance arrives with an axe and Donna tries to distract the Empress. Lance prepares to swing... then both he and the Empress laugh. Lance has been working with the Empress all along and has been dosing Donna with liquid particles in the coffee he gave her. The Doctor tries to get them to explain but the Empress orders in her remaining roboforms to attack. However, the Doctor reverses the huon particle attraction and the TARDIS materialises around them as a shield. The Doctor then dematerialises the ship and sets a course back to the beginning of Earth's creation. With Donna gone, the Empress orders her roboforms to grab Lance.

Donna is crying over Lance's deceit as they arrive at the beginning of Earth's creation to learn why the Empress has dug into the core of the planet. He tempts the distraught Donna into looking, and they notice a Racnoss spaceship arriving to hide from being exterminated by the Fledgling Empires. The Doctor fast-forwards time outside the ship, observing that the Earth is forming around the ship. The Doctor realises that the ship is the actual core of the Earth; that's why the Empress needs Huon particles, to awaken her "children". If that happens, the Racnoss will eat everything and everyone on Earth; worse, they'll likely destroy the planet to free their ship.

In the present, the Empress force feeds Lance the huon particles to make a new "key." He then acts as a magnet, drawing the TARDIS back. The Doctor grabs the extrapolator while Lance is hauled up into the Empress' wife. The TARDIS materialises in her chamber but the Doctor redirects it to a nearby corridor. The Doctor tries to sneak past a security door but Donna wanders off and he opens the door to face an armed roboform.

The Empress captures Donna and strung her up in the web next to Lance. She then directs the huon particles down the shaft to awaken the Racnoss ship and all of her children... reborn to feast on human flesh. The Empress drops Lance into the shaft to feed her awakening children, then summons her webstar which takes up position over London. She activates its weaponry and it fires beams of devastating energy across the city.

The Doctor enters the chamber disguised as a roboform but the Empress quickly recognises him. He frees Donna, who swings to (almost) safety before hitting a wall. The Doctor offers the Empress the chance to go to a planet and exist peacefully, but she refuses and orders her roboforms to fire. The Doctor, anticipating her, overrides them with the remote control the roboforms used earlier. He then reveals that he is a Time Lord, the race that destroyed the Racnoss.

The Empress is enraged as she exclaims, "They murdered the Racnoss!" The Doctor simply responds, "I warned you... you did this," and holds out a few of the explosive Christmas ornaments ominously. The Empress realises she has gone too far and pleads for mercy, but it is MUCH too late — the Doctor throws the baubles into the air and uses the remote to control them like remote-controlled bombs to blow holes in the tunnel. Water from the Thames rushes in, swirling around the Empress and then reaching and travelling down the hole to the Earth's core, drowning the Racnoss within.

* ArcWords: Series/{{Torchwood}} and orders from "Mr Saxon".

* AssholeVictim: Lance, who had spent months manipulating Donna and planned to hand her over to a carnivorous alien. He ends up suffering the very fate he had planned for Donna, which she said "he deserved it".

* GenocideDilemma: The Doctor even had to go through with it ''again''. It's a split second decision and he ''gives'' the Empress of the Racnoss a chance to drop the VillainBall… but in the end the Doctor decides to drown the last offspring of an extinct species to save the Earth.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: A rare aversion. The Roboforms are pretty spot on when shooting the Doctor: something just gets in their way first.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Most of the Racnoss's laser beams whip around quickly — except for one heading towards a little girl, which moves ''sloooooowly'' enough for someone to grab her and run to safety.

... just as the Doctor had finished his last goodbye to Rose in the previous episode, [[Creator/CatherineTate some random broad]] pops up in the TARDIS. ([[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS1E1BloodOfTheDaleksPartOne Again.]]) Neither of them was expecting this. And she's wearing a wedding dress.

This is Donna Noble, of Chiswick — who demands to be put back on Earth ''right now, damn it.'' She's getting married! Unfortunately, our old friends [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion the RoboSantas]] have come back to help the MonsterOfTheWeek by kidnapping Donna. Fortunately, the Doctor convinces her to jump into his TARDIS out of a speeding car. Which is quite an accomplishment, seeing as the Doctor just told Donna that his last companion girl is now "gone" and she found Rose's jacket in the TARDIS, meaning she's pretty convinced that the Doctor is a deranged serial killer [[RunningGag from Mars]]. The pilot fish, still in their Santa disguises, also crash the wedding reception, which is being held without Donna, who is rather indignant upon discovering this.

She and her fiancé, Lance, go along with the Doctor to help find out what's going on. They avoid the "pilot fish" and find a Racnoss nest under the Thames Flood Barrier, in the basement of the company where Donna temps. Which, unbeknownst to Donna, turns out to be part of Torchwood.

Turns out Donna's fiancé was actually the consort of the [[LargeHam Racnoss Empress]], who truly makes EvilIsHammy into an art form. Lance had been feeding Donna huon particles in order to make her a catalyst and trigger a ship. That ship will carry a whole nest of Racnoss babies in the Earth's core up to the surface of the Earth. And, in the Empress' words, "Racnoss are born starving!" That's right: they would eat everything on Earth.

The Doctor uses huon particle trickery to save his and Donna's lives, and they rush off to work on defeating this new menace. He also shows Donna the beginning of the formation of Earth, which turns out to have formed around the gravitational field of an ancient Racnoss nest. The Empress decides that she'll need a new "key" — and lucky her, she has Lance right there! One of the pilot fish grabs Donna and drags her away.

The Doctor realizes a bit too late that Donna's awfully quiet, and next thing we know, she and Lance are tied up in a web over the tunnel to the ship. The Empress messes with them for a bit, before she decides that she doesn't approve of Lance's treatment of Donna. So, like any sane, rational alien lady, she cuts him down — dropping him into the pit for her children. She monologues a bit, before turning and revealing one of the pilot fish as a masked Doctor, who gets Donna down from the web. Guess what? The Doctor has [[RunningGag pockets]]! The Doctor gives the Empress one last chance, but turns out to be ''very'' firm on his new "one chance only" rule he instated earlier this series. He kills the entire nest of Racnoss by flooding it [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill and setting everything on fire at the same time]], completely horrifying Donna. Oh, and draining the Thames. She tells him to ''stop and get out'', and ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft as we learn much later]]) does the universe a huge favour in the process.

Donna tries to come to terms with the fact that her fiancé was just using her for her huon-particle-catalysing body. She goes home, turning down the Doctor's offer of travelling with him and leaving him alone (at least [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime for now]]). But not before telling him he should find someone, because occasionally, he needs somebody to ''stop'' him.