Maureen Flynn - Author
Ah Gridlock, the intense traffic jam episode with bonus Face of Boe, how I’ve always enjoyed you! Really, this season is quite good!!! Fair warning re this review: Ben got a bit carried away with his write-up and was so enthusiastic, I let him dominate…
Wow, it took me an age to get started on reviewing this odd beast of a Christmas special in which plastic santas make a come back and Donna Noble makes her debut entrance. Every time I re-watch, I oscillate wildly between enjoying the experience and…
Well, what can I say? As an angst riddled teen I loved this finale. Then I re-watched in my uni years and found the whole thing irritating melodrama. Then, um, Ben and I re-watched and well, I kind of like, enjoyed this first part of the finale. Read on to find out why …
So what went down? Rose and The Doctor greet Jackie in her modern day London estate home, only to find out ghosts have been returning … only the footprints aren’t a boot and bam it’s another threat altogether. Plus bonus aggressive Torchwood (which feels oddly prescient on the topic of make Britain great again given Brexit) and non-Martha Freema Agyeman guest appearance episode.
The Pre-title Sequence
Ben: “Planet Earth – this is where I was born, and this is where I died.” What a dramatic way to open the first episode of this two-part finale! Although the number of humans who have died off earth you could probably count on one hand so like, Rose you’re not that special. Still, this recap was nice, and really adds to the inevitability of the tragedy about to unfold.
Maureen: Yep, I too was all, hello angstalicious Rose. But also, I love Billie. What an actress! So all is forgiven. But also, the below quote is stupid:
Rose: For the first nineteen years of my life, nothing happened at all. Nothing.
Enough with telling the viewer companions are nothing without The Doctor, RTD!
The Companions
Ben: Jackie was excellent in this season. I love how she’s developed as a character. She’s gone from flirting with The Doctor to stealing a kiss or two off him! And she’s pulling off double denim like the fashion icon she is. Apart from the few moments of ‘oh god she thinks her dead father is back from the dead is she going senile?’ Rose comments, Jackie is incredibly sharp this episode, calling out both The Doctor and Rose on their shenanigans. Rose gets the biggest smackdown, when Jackie says once she’s dead Rose will have nothing to return to earth for. The whole speech she gives describing this future version of Rose losing her humanity was pretty grim. But I get the feeling Rose would be fine with that outcome as long as she had The Doctor. And! Jackie gets to be the companion for a bit!
Ten: When Torchwood comes to write up my history, don’t mention I travelled with her mother.
Maureen: I love the transformation of Jackie Tyler. She started out as such an annoying whore style stereotype. I feel like the second half of this series has upped the characterisation stakes and made the core gang of The Doctor, Rose and Jackie all a lot more understandable in terms of motivation. I also liked the opening with Jackie where we see Rose wearing a back pack like she’s been travelling to another country rather than through space. Rose gifts Jackie a souvenir that tells the weather and Jackie doesn’t care because she’s too busy loving Rose so hard because she’s been worried. This felt like such a realistic little scene to me.
Ben: As to Rose, the Rose we get this episode is Rose at the peak of her companionship with the Doctor. Having not seen any of her run I imagine this is where Sarah Jane Smith was at when she was abandoned by The Doctor. Rose has learnt how to use the TARDIS’s equipment, investigate on her own, and thinks it’ll last forever. To be honest, in this first episode Jackie contributes more than Rose, but this is still an important part of her journey.
Maureen: I was struck by the great chemistry between Rose and The Doctor again. It’s not a ship that always works, but when it does, damn it’s a lot of fun. Billie and David have a lot of chemistry when the script doesn’t weigh them down with stupid jealousy sub-plots! I loved the Ghostbusters moment especially! I also enjoyed Rose having fun with psychic paper and having the whole thing backfire because Torchwood has training y’all. Also, lol at Rose thinking the ghosts could be Gelth related, The Doctor’s look and Rose’s subdued, cheeky smile as she says no.
Ben: Then this episode also introduces Yvonne of the fabulous hair – the leader of Torchwood and a woman who I imagine got on very well with Harriet Jones. Although her talk of British Empires and imperial tonnes was a bit concerning. Still, it’s nice to see a charismatic woman in power. Plus, it does take some nerve to call The Doctor out when he’s in his element, even if it is to tell him he’s gone left when he should have gone right. The Doctor does make some very valid points that you don’t need to poke every anomaly you find with a stick to see what happens, but this does come off as a bit sanctimonious and hypocritical when that’s exactly what The Doctor does on a regular basis.
Maureen: I loved the Torchwood stuff. Great call back to Queen Vic and of course she would have left instructions about The Doctor that were less than flattering! The scene were Yvonne and Torchwood lackeys cheer on The Doctor were so disconcerting and Ten was off-kilter completely. Yvonne was such a powerhouse CEO type, who genuinely believed she was doing the right thing for her country. I hated her morals, but she remained oddly likeable throughout the episode.
Ben: Finally, Mickey returns! I don’t know how he got through to this reality/got through early enough to get a position at Torchwood and work his way up the ranks to be working at what I would guess is one of their higher-level projects. He also felt more like Ricky than Mickey, and of course in his first sentence to Rose he calls her babe. Eww. Also, he barely even looks at Rose! War against the cybermen has changed him, and not necessarily for the better. He’s become like Rachel from Animorphs (which is a bit of an obscure reference these days, I know), a soldier who loves war. Also, how the hell did Mickey hide such a huge gun in what is supposedly such a secure building?
Maureen: I thought the point of Mickey replacing Rickey in the parallel universe was to give him a chance to become that stronger, more confident version of himself. ‘My name is Mickey. Mickey Smith. Defending the earth.’ I didn’t begrudge him his moment of limelight or think too hard about hows and wherefore’s, though I agree the babe was a bit much.
The Doctor
Ben: Another episode where The Doctor’s nowhere to be seen when something starts to go awry on Earth! Maybe Harriet Jones was onto something …
Maureen: Yes, this is why I really dug the Series Three finale back in the day. The Doctor was given some big consequences for his Harriet Jones holier-than-thou-even-tho-I’m-clearly-wrong actions.
Ben: Still, his “a footprint doesn’t look like a boot’ response to Jackie saying the ghosts look human was memorable.
Maureen: I thought it was rather poignant when Jackie describes the smell of her Dad and The Doctor and Rose reveal they can’t smell a thing. She’s wished her father onto the image of the ghost, which is deeply sad to me.
Ben: Anywho, we get some general Doctoring as Ten investigates the ghosts, paired with the usual technobabble. And then we get the debut of both allons-y and the usage of 3D glasses as he discovers the source of the ghosts! Now for a Bad Wolf reference and we’ll have bingo.
Maureen: I very much enjoyed Ten with his allons-y and 3d glasses and huge ass technology to trap ghosts with this episode. Holy shit, he be growing on me!
Ben: The Doctor’s demonstration at Torchwood Tower of what happened to the fabric of reality when the Void Ship came through was impressive, because even though I knew the glass was going to shatter I was still holding on to every word he said. Ten really does have a commanding charisma.
Maureen: I don’t always agree, but this second half of the series, Tennant has been superb. I thought he was pitch perfect in the scene you describe.
Ben: To nobody’s surprise it all goes to hell and there’s nothing The Doctor can do about it because this is part one of a finale. And we end the episode with The Doctor surrounded by cybermen! Not the best position to turn things around from!
The Alien of the Week
Ben: Ghosts! RTD really got the foreshadowing right this week, with the man on the television talking about the ‘military parade’ of ghosts at Westminster. I did love the little scene of Team TARDIS changing through the tv channels with ghost mania taking hold of the planet. I’m not sure how this psychic link is pulling the ghosts through, if they have that link then why the particle accelerators in Torchwood Tower?
Maureen: Damn it, Ben! I didn’t even think that plot hole through to know it was one. Why must you always pick up on these things?
Ben: Speaking of Torchwood Tower, the IM flirting between Not-Martha and Gareth was pretty cringeworthy. It definitely brought back memories of talking to people on MSN Messenger.
Maureen: It was very Renee Zellweger/Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones Diary!
Ben: But the payoff was worth it as we got the reveal of the real alien of the week – the cybermen are back!
Maureen: How cool was the Freema scream as she faced off a cyberman. That must have been so fun to act, and just so iconic too.
Ben: How no one noticed Not-Martha and Gareth were looking like total douchebags with ear pieces in both ears is beyond me. The dramatic music that played every time they did something cybermen related was a bit heavy handed – I kept having to turn my headphones down whenever it played.
Maureen: Ah yes, the beginning of Murry Gold being played up to eleven every time something dramatic is happening because we idiotic audience members won’t know it’s dramatic UNLESS THE MUSIC IS VERY LOUD DUM DUM DUM.
Ben: It’s a bit of a nit-picky point, but I also found the dramatic scene with the levers rather annoying – the idea of having physical levers to activate something is so that if something goes wrong software wise you still have a way of shutting things off. There shouldn’t be a way for the levers to be moving by themselves! But maybe there’s cybermen shenanigans involved in that somehow. Also, Torchwood doesn’t have any armed guards in this room, the room containing their most important project? Or any meaningful fail safes?
Maureen: I didn’t think about this at the time, but maybe it’s a sign of the Torchwood hubris at play. Yvonne and Co. are so cocksure of themselves and their ability to fend off invasions and things going wrong, they figure they don’t need extra security and fail safes because no one could ever get that far.
Ben: Hmm, another thing I don’t understand is the random cut to the tv channels discussing the increase in ghost activity after the cybermen activate the ghost shift. There was a police chief there! Those kind of press conferences don’t just happen instantaneously. And the time it took for the ghosts to appear/manifest as cybermen wasn’t that long a time.
Maureen: Eh, I’m not sure I follow you here. I thought the reason for the news stations and the chief of police was because there was an unusual increase in ghost activity. The police commissioner was on air to reassure the public everything was fine, but then the cybermen attack and it’s obvious things aren’t fine. I kind of enjoyed these scenes and the scenes of cybermen mayhem. If I’d been a little kid, this would have been hide behind my sofa scary!
Ben: And then we have the mysterious sphere in the basement of Torchwood Tower, that gets in your head and doesn’t seem to exist. Of course, The Doctor knows what it is instantly – it’s a Void Ship. A ship that exists outside of time and space. So, kinda like a TARDIS but not. And surprise, surprise, it’s packed full of Daleks! It doesn’t do much this episode but loom threateningly over everyone, but it was a great B-plot.
Maureen: And now Rose, Mickey and random Torchwood lackey are trapped in a sealed room with hundreds of Daleks! How will they escape??? What an old school, classic cliff hanger. Love it.
Ten: It’s not an invasion. It’s too late for that. It’s a victory.
Final Thoughts
Ben: I absolutely loved this episode. I don’t know what else to say beyond what I’ve already written. I’m giving this episode a 9/10.
Maureen: Aside from Mickey’s ‘babe’ moment and The Doctor sniping at Jackie in a rather ageist way, I enjoyed this immensely. Enough that I didn’t notice half of the plot holes Ben has pointed out in this review! I’m giving this 9 outta 10 inky stars too and am mad keen for next week.
This is weird. My memory told me Love and Monsters and this episode were the two worst Doctor Who episodes of the RTD era. My memory has lied in a happy accident. Or maybe it’s just I really am not feeling the Thirteenth Doc so…
Before I get into this review a quick note on why no episode by episode reviews of Series 11 starring the thirteenth Doctor. Here’s the honest truth: I love Jodie, I don’t mind the visuals or the almost X Files vibe the show has going…
Just a quick note before this review to let people know I’m overseas for a month so will a) miss the first female Doctor’s debut and won’t be able to live blog my reaction and b) The series two re-watch stops till I get back (obviously). Anyway, onwards to this two-parter. Back in the day I loved this one. Luckily, I still do. So what happens? Rose and The Tenth Doctor have their first ‘stuck on a spaceship with everyone bumped off one by one’ episode and face off the devil.
The Pre-Titles
Ben: So many two parters this season! This one opened with Rose being funny, ominous ancient writing the TARDIS can’t translate, and then creepy betentacled aliens repeating ‘we must feed’ over and over. Creepy!
Maureen: I found it pretty terrifying when Rose said ‘welcome to hell’ and The Doctor doesn’t laugh. What an odd, yet fascinating two-parter this was.
The Companion/s
Ben: Rose doesn’t do a whole lot in The Impossible Planet, except to be occasionally funny and stand up for the Ood. Oh, and get mysterious messages from an unknown spooky person. She did have some romantic moments with The Doctor though which was nice. The kissing of The Doctor’s helmet before he went down into the pit was a new evolution of their relationship, one the Doctor continues when he asks Ida to pass a message onto Rose before falling into the pit.
Maureen: I did enjoy Rose’s Ood puns! Also, I liked the return of Rose giving a shit about the under-trodden again. When a crew member says Rose should be part of an Ood freedom movement, my response was, HA SHE WOULD.
The Ood: There is nothing.
Rose: Yeah. I used to think that way.
Good old Rose comparing her chip-serving boredom to the Ood serving her slop.
What I liked a lot about this two-parter was the amount of quiet talky scenes that played out. Rose and Ten and Ten and Ida get the lion’s share of them (but more on Ida later). It’s ominously sad when Rose reveals that her phone has no signal and the dialogue below leading into the idea of Rose/Ten living together is one of the only times I’ve bought Ten/Rose.
Ten: Me? Living in a house?
Rose: You’d have to get a mortgage.
Ten: No. Me? Getting a mortgage? Now that’s terrifying.
Ten: I’ll catch ya later.
Rose: Not if I catch you later.
Ben: We at least get more good Rose scenes in The Satan Pit though. For starters, she stands up to Jefferson when he goes to kill Toby, then gets a gutload of foreshadowing – the thing in the pit thinks she’s going to die in battle and soon! She recovers from that pretty quickly though, taking charge of the team and getting them to think through the problems at hand. This is the kind of Rose action that I love: she’s away from The Doctor, thinking on her feet, and trying her very best to save the day. And save the day she does! Not only was she essential in getting the team to stop the Ood, she saves the survivors from The Beast possessed Toby. What a badass! And she gets her Doctor in the end, who she was so determined to wait for. Careful Rose, or you’ll end up waiting for a long time, just like Sarah Jane did. Still, all’s well that ends well, hey?
Maureen: Rose shows her idealism in a big way in The Satan Pit. She says if any crew member is shot, she has to be too. And I too love that she begs her fellow crew members to think for themselves and that she shows real bravery when she enters the Ood complex knowing the air supply is shot. We also got equal opportunity butt jokes! Also the below:
The Devil: I shall never die. Nothing shall ever defeat me.
Rose: Go to hell! (And she shoots).
Ben: I also liked how each of the team members gets a proper introduction and each gets a good chunk of screen time. Plus, good storylines! Toby gets a good horror storyline and is featured in some seriously scary scenes. The ‘don’t turn around’ scene, for starters. It’s typical possession stuff, but done well. The scene at the end of The Impossible Planet reminded me a lot of the séance scene from Penny Dreadful. Being able to spout intensely personal secrets about people is never going to end well, but it sure makes for a tense, dramatic scene. Poor Scooti died early on, but on the bright side it wasn’t because she was a dumb blonde in a horror movie.
Maureen: Yes, and I thought the scene where we see her floating through space was strangely beautiful cinematography. It’s also one of the first times I’ve really noticed just how perfect Murry Gold’s score can be for New Who.
Ben: Ida got the best scenes of the team, but that’s mostly because she spent a lot of time with the Doctor. The actress did an excellent job and I’d love to see her come back for another adventure one day.
Maureen: Yes, I had my fingers crossed for most of the two-parter that Ida wouldn’t die. I couldn’t figure out where I’d seen Ida before, but it turns out she played an older prostitute in Ashes to Ashes in another great part. Ida reminded me a bit of a proto-type River Song and I loved her intelligence, heart and leadership qualities, even in the face of extreme fear.
Ben: The Captain, Zach, was cool, calm, and collected initially, but does fall apart a bit when the going gets tough. The main thing is, he rises to the occasion, working together with the rest of the team to make an escape in The Satan Pit. Plus, it was refreshing to see a capable black man in a position of power.
Maureen: Yay for black representation and the black guy not being hated on by the story! *cough* Mickey *cough*
Ben: Danny, the Ood keeper doesn’t do a great deal except panic, but he does figure out a way to stop the Ood in The Satan Pit. The actor maybe committed a bit of overacting at times, but that could also be seen as the incredible panic he was experiencing. I did find Mr Jefferson to be a bit of a ridiculous character, but that could be because of the weird special effects they used for gunfire. Plus what kind of head of security can only kill one Ood after unloading a whole magazine of bullets? He is stormtrooper levels of bad at shooting.
Maureen: I liked the ambiguity of the Mr Jefferson character. The way The Devil played on his insecurities about his wife was bitterly sad. I cared, really cared, about every single crew member. I’m not sure any other New Who episode involving a big crew has ever managed to make me care for the crew so deeply.
Ben: Yes, overall, every one of the named characters was able to contribute substantially to the episode in one way or another, which was pleasing. I was invested in these characters and their fight to survive.
[about Zack]
The Beast: The captain, so scared of command.
[about Jefferson]
The Beast: The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife.
[about Ida]
The Beast: The scientist, still running from Daddy.
[about Danny]
The Beast: The little boy who lied.
[about Toby]
The Beast: The virgin.
The Doctor
Ben: The Doctor takes a while to get down to business in The Impossible Planet, performing general doctoring until discovering the TARDIS is gone in the section collapse. We get a cool tidbit about the TARDIS though. They’re grown not built. Although, in The Doctor’s Wife he does build a franken-tardis, but I guess that was out of old TARDIS bits. The Doctor realising he’ll have to go and live a normal life was kinda cute, plus him and Rose got to be awkwardly romantic for a few seconds. It was a nice scene. But the good stuff doesn’t really start happening until he gets to the centre of the planet, point zero.
Maureen: I’m with Ben on this one too. Ida/Ten is where things are really at. Also, a lot of the speeches and stand-alone lines are gorgeous. In some ways this is a classic horror two-parter. We are afraid because the protagonist, who is normally unflappable, is scared too.
Ida Scott: We should go down. I’d go. What about you?
The Doctor: Oh, oh in a second! But then again… That’s so human. Where angels fear to tread… Even now, standing on the edge, it’s that feeling you get, yea? Right at the back of your head. That impulse… That strange little impulse… That mad little voice saying, “Go on! Go on! Go on!… Go over! Go on!…” Maybe it’s relying on that… For once in my life, Officer Scott, I’m going to say… retreat. Ugh, now I know I’m getting old.
Watching The Doctor descend into an entirely black, silent pit was even scarier!
Ben: The Doctor’s first confrontation with the Beast goes fairly well. After it gets into the minds of Rose and the gang he’s able to bring them back to sanity. The scenes of him discovering the mind games the Beast and his jailers have set up for him were actually kinda funny, to be honest. Him shouting “oh!” repeatedly and giving the same speech from different angles was some unexpected comedic relief.
The Doctor: [the Doctor has realized that, if he releases the Beast and destroys it, both he and Rose will die] So that’s the trap, the great test, the final judgement, I dunno. But if I kill you, I kill her. But that implies, in this big grand scheme of gods and devils, that she’s just a victim. Well, I’ve seen a lot of this universe. I’ve seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods. I’ve had the whole pantheon. But if I believe in one thing… just one thing… I believe in her!
And of course the TARDIS had to reappear by means of some form of deus ex machina, meaning the Doctor could rescue Rose and the rest of the team and save the day. Although I was a bit annoyed at him not saving the Ood. Not enough time? You’re in a time machine!
The Alien of the Week
Ben: The Impossible Planet doesn’t feature much of the main baddie, focusing on the Ood being weird and Toby’s possession storyline. It’s horror 101, but it’s done quite well. The foreshadowing set up with the computer system and the Ood delivering ominous lines was unnerving, and while I didn’t know what was going on with the telepathic field getting stronger, I knew it meant Bad Things. Then comes the Beast and tell you what though, that guy sure knows how to give a good baddie speech. Although if he was chained there before time, before this universe was created, did the black hole even exist yet? It’s a big grand gesture to say you’ve been trapped there since before the beginning of, well, everything, but practically I dunno how it holds up.
Maureen: I didn’t think too hard about the how and the why of the Beast. I think the story is meant to be an ambiguous philosophical experiment. Because the Beast exists and has become an idea the devil exists across all of time and space in every culture, the Devil exists.
The Beast: [in the possesed body of Toby Zed] I am the rage and the vile and the voracity. I am the Prince and the Fallen. I am the Enemy, I am the Sin and the fear and darkness. I shall never die. The thought of me is forever; in the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsecrate and lust.
The Doctor: You get representations of the horned Beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos… The Kaled god of war, the same image, over and over again. Maybe, that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through, a thought of every sentient mind…
Ida Scott: Originating from here?
The Doctor: Could be.
Ida Scott: But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil?
The Doctor: Well, if that’s what you want to believe. Maybe that’s what the Devil is, in the end. An idea.
Ben: Be that as it may, I found the possessed Ood and Toby to be scarier than the Beast as it was unveiled, but that could be because the Beast was almost beyond the scope of human comprehension. The Beast is the truth behind the ultimate evil of every religion ever? And has existed since before things could exist? I prefer my Doctor Who baddies to be a bit smaller scale, but this story did well by having both the small scale and big scale, with Toby and the Ood paired with the Beast to make a formidable horror offering. I did feel like the method of defeat was a bit of a cop out, but I’m not quite sure how else you’re supposed to defeat an enemy that’s basically on the Lovecraftian scale of elder ones.
Maureen: Look Ben, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I loved the Beast as a representation of an idea. It was all very Pratchett. I think the point of this two-parter is that there are some things that are beyond comprehension, some things that we shouldn’t try to understand. Somethings, even for The Doctor, aren’t worth the knowledge or the adventure. Sure, the Beast’s CGI was dodgy, but it was the early 2000s so I can forgive the production team that.
Final Thoughts
Ben: Okay, so I have some issues with the science around the black hole in these episodes. For starters, it’s not impossible to have a planet orbiting a black hole. Sure, it’s unlikely, but if you replaced the Sun with a black hole of equal mass Earth would be just fine. Well, we’d all die because of the no sunlight deal, but it’s not getting sucked into the black hole or anything. Yes, everything gets pulled in once you pass the event horizon, but beyond that a stable orbit is achievable. So, unless the planet is orbiting within the event horizon, which they don’t specify, there’s some bad science going on. Plus, the whole gravity field thing? I dunno. I don’t mind sciency technobabble, but when they reference established science is it too much to ask for some research? I dunno how big this black hole is, but to pull in whole solar systems from who knows where and consume them in a matter of seconds. It’s just not realistic. Anywho, other than a few science-based critiques, I actually really enjoyed these two episodes. I did struggle to review it because I found it to be a unique Doctor Who adventure, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of these episodes. I’m going to give it an 8/10
Maureen: Science scmience. I am one of those annoying viewers who doesn’t give a shit about science logic if I care about the characters and the themes of a Who episode. I loved this two-parter to bits. I loved the spaceship crew and how they all developed, especially Ida, I loved the cinematography and the score, I loved The Doctor facing off an idea personified, I loved the ambiguity of the ending. Sure, there was some weird plot mcguffins, like the black hole and the TARDIS magically re-materializing and the hand wave for why The Doctor couldn’t save The Ood but he could save Ida, BUT I DIDN’T CARE. These episodes are odd and beautiful with the ephemeral lunacy of a dream. I’m giving this one 10/10 inky stars.
Ah, Mark Gatiss. What variable episodes you write. I always like his period piece Who episodes best, and back in the day I loathed The Idiot’s Lantern. Maybe it was just that the previous two-parter was so, so terrible, but this time around I didn’t…
Oh, man. Warning to all: I loved this two-parter as a teen when the show first aired, but oh my how the suck fairy visited this two-parter in Ben’s and my re-watch. I was so disappointed by how much I disliked this. On the plus…
The second Moffat story for New Who! In which all of his later series themes are laid out for us. Plus bonus The Time Traveller’s Wife riff, a great historical fiction revisionist slant on Madame de Pompadour and the chick who played Beth in Spooks. What’s not to love?
Image by Tom Newsom (I think).
The pre-title sequence
Maureen: Wow this episode is visually beautiful. Versailles, France, is wonderfully brought to life and we’re back into horror fairy story territory with Reinette telling us her clock on the mantle is broken as she calls for help from The Doctor.
Ben: This episode really opens with a bang doesn’t it! We get screams, panic, talk of love, duty, and a beautiful woman pleading for The Doctor to come and save the day! You gotta hand it to him, Moffat sure knows how to write an intro.
Maureen: Yes, I’ve always admired Moffat for his combination of rug-pulling against expectation and intriguing hooks to his episode openings.
The Companion/s
Ben: Rose and Mickey are definitely on the backburner this episode, but you can really see the formings of Rory and Amy in their pairing. Or at least, Rose and Mickey gave me strong Amy and Rory vibes.
Maureen: I’ll talk about this again later, but I definitely see The Girl in the Fireplace as Moffat’s thesis for his entire approach to New Who. Having said that, I didn’t get an Amy/Rory vibe from Rose/Mickey so much as I got a Reinette being the precurser to Amy vibe. Reinette waits many times for The Doctor, just as Amy did with, ‘you said five minutes.’ I wonder if anyone has written the Reinette/Amy fan fic. I’m there! There are elements of River Song’s relationship with The Doctor in Reinette too. Both pairings love is doomed to tragedy. And the fairy story visuals are here too. But back to Ben …
Ben: I love Rose’s makeup and hair this episode.
Maureen: I liked Rose and Mickey toting guns around.
Ben: I also loved Mickey’s shock that the TARDIS can even translate French.
Maureen: I love Mickey’s TARDIS joy.
Mickey: I got a spaceship on my first go.
Rose: Mickey Smith. Meet the universe.
Ben: Rose and Mickey are really good together, quietly exploring the ship, even if they do find some pretty horrible facts out. And Rose get’s to do something of substance! Her scene with Reinette was particularly sweet. If anyone can relate to what Reinette is going through, it’s Rose.
Reinette: I’m very afraid, but you and I both know Rose … The Doctor is worth the monsters.
Maureen: I liked that we got a Series One Rose this time around too who knows to ask the pertinent question/s. This time, why the aliens want Reinette in particular.
Ben: Onwards to Reinette who really is at this episode’s heart as a companion who never was. The inquisitive child was a great way to introduce this character, in my opinion. Kids and the Doctor in general do well. They can accept things that shouldn’t be much better than adults can. The child actress playing her did a pretty good job, and was suitably terrified at the monster The Doctor found under her bed.
Maureen: Talk about an The Eleventh Hour parallel. Instead of a crack in a child’s wall, it’s a clockwork creature.
Ben: Yep, next time we meet Reinette she’s an adult.
Maureen: Yep, just like Amy …
Ben: And boy does she know how to sweep a Doctor off her feet. What a brain she has too! You can practically see the sparks flying between the two as she steals a kiss from The Doctor. And then we find out her true identity! Madame de Pompadour, future Mistress to the King of France and all around overachiever. It’s hard to imagine who would be the more formidable in that pairing.
Maureen: I’d love some Big Finish spin-off, but what if Reinette met River Song? Also, I googled Madame de Pompadour after viewing this episode and what an interesting woman in real life!
Ben: We get to see snippets of Reinette’s life like her strolling through some magnificent gardens and such. Then, the clockwork robots made another appearance, and we get some more information: the clockwork robots need her, specifically her 37 year old brain, to repair their ship. The Doctor looks through her memories to try and find the answer, and in doing so opens the door for Reinette to look through The Doctor’s memories.
Reinette: Such a lonely boy. Lonely then and lonely now. Dance with me … Doctor who? It’s more than just a secret.
Maureen: I may have killed this episode a little by re-watching it so very much, but it has some beautiful scenes and quotes and the one you mention Ben, was definitely one of them. The scene also reveals another Moffat interest, the real identity of The Doctor and the metaphor of his name. It became a central theme in Series Six and Seven under Moffat. I also loved the throwback to Series One and The Doctor Dances with:
Ten: What did you see?
Reinette: That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every little boy must learn to dance.
I don’t think she was talking just dancing, either!
Ben: At the final clockwork confrontation, Reinette is as fiery as ever, commanding silence of her audience.
Reinette (to the crowd of panicking noblemen and women): Kindly remember that this is Versailles and we are French.
The Doctor saves the day magnificently, but then Reinette goes and saves The Doctor! What an excellent twist.
Maureen: Yes. There was such quiet beauty in Reinette when she tells Ten:
Reinette: So here you are. My lonely angel. Stuck on the slow path with me.
Even now she knows he has a way out and she loves him too much to stop him from going.
Ben: She really is his equal, which makes me all the sadder that in the end she dies before getting to travel with The Doctor. Her final letter absolutely ripped my heart out. I’m not used to this level of tragedy from Doctor Who!
Maureen: Yes, even having viewed this episode many a time, I still felt emotional. *I’m not crying, it’s raining on my face*. And the Rose/Ten exchange killed me too.
Rose: You all right?
Ten: I’m always all right.
What a terribly sad lie!
The Doctor
Ben: The Doctor really gets into things quickly this episode! General Doctoring is dispensed with in the first few minutes, consoles are poked at and the scene is set on a spaceship AND on Versailles. And then appears our Girl in the Fireplace! I actually looked up the reference about August of 1727 and there’s nothing of significance that happened, that we know of at least. Maybe it really was just awful weather that month. Then we get to the first amazingly creepy scene of the episode, when the Doctor notices the ticking noise that shouldn’t be. This scene really reminded me of a scene or two with Mr Are You My Mummy back in season one and is really scary stuff. I loved the quick exchange he and Reinette had before the end of the scene. She might have nightmares with monsters in them, but monsters have nightmares with him in them. That’s the kind of imaginary friend you want as a 7 year old.
Maureen: I also found The Doctor’s response to the clockwork creature interesting. He acknowledges its alien beauty even as some of Nine’s anger shines through, showing that Moffat at least, hasn’t forgotten about The Doctor’s bitter past.
Ten: You’re beautiful. I mean it. You’re gorgeous. It would be a crime to dissemble you, but that won’t stop me.
And then I just loved the scene after The Doctor and Reinette ‘danced’ where Rose and Mickey are surrounded by clockwork aliens with Rose about to get sliced up and a drunk Doctor turns up going on about inventing banana daiquiris early and defeating the clockwork alien by pouring wine into its parts. This version of Ten is one I can really get behind!
Ben: It’s not often the Doctor encounters someone who can hold their own against him and really sweep him off his feet in that way. The measures The Doctor goes to to save Reinette’s life are, I think, a testament to the feelings The Doctor has for her, even though he’s only known her for half an hour. Plus his smarmy “oh yeah? Well I’m the lord of Time” response when introduced to the King of France said a lot. Anywho, breaking the time window was a hell of a way to defeat the clockwork robots, but it came at a cost – there’s no way back. Plus, Rose and Mickey are stuck on the ship, unable to fly the TARDIS without him. Whoops.
Maureen: I personally found Ten riding a horse through a wall into the royal court of Versailles a bit full on, but having said that, it was a bombastic and brash moment that had probably been earnt by the quality of the rest of the episode. I loved The Doctor’s manic expressions as he realised Reinette’s fireplace could return him to his TARDIS and it’s telling that he’d forgotten all about his relationship with Rose in the presence of Reinette.
Ten: Pick a star. Any star.
Alas, he came back for Reinette too late. Time was the boss of him and he’d just missed her death carriage. Ten’s expression as he read Reinette’s letter was truly sad. All of that guilt and loneliness and love was locked up tight, and not even Rose could get Ten to confide in her of his secret pain.
The Alien of the Week
Ben: Clockwork robots! What an excellent concept. The French costumes just add to their terror, quite frankly. And then we get to the real horror when we discover the ship The Doctor and his crew are on is running on human body parts mixed with machinery! A human eye in a surveillance camera, a human heart in the midst of some circuitry. And then the central mystery: why has this spaceship 3000 years in the future punched so many holes in space and time to follow the life of Madame de Pompadour? The grand reveal? The spaceship was damaged, these clockwork robots are repairbots and they used the crew to repair the ship. And Reinette is the last part!
Maureen: In RTD era Who, Moffat doesn’t do straight evil villains. In his Series One two-parter, the aliens were also repairbots of a kind, albeit little microbes that healed all they came in contact with even if their understanding of what was and wasn’t healthy was impaired. Similarly, the clockwork aliens are just trying to make sure their spaceship continues on. Programmed to repair, when they ran out of parts they had to make do with what materials they had available to them … too bad that was their human crew.
Ben: The clockwork aliens meet something of an ignoble end, separated from their ship with no way to wind up their gears again. Scary as they were, it’s hard not to feel sorry for them in the end. And that final moment of the episode when the camera zooms out and you see the name of the ship? The Madame de Pompadour? Why, that’s the cherry on the top of this episode. In the end, just as the clockwork robots had claimed all along, Reinette and the robots were indeed linked.
Maureen: Yes, that was such a clever touch! The ship was named Madame de Pompadour so for fix-it alien types, it made sense that they thought Reinette’s brain could re-boot the ship.
Final Thoughts
Ben: This episode was both wondrous and wondrously sad by the end. Moffat really is incomparable in writing these standalone episodes. This combination of whimsy and horror with a little dash of steampunk is exactly the kind of episode I love from Doctor Who. It’s about as close to a perfect episode as you can get, in my opinion. I’m giving it a 10/10.
Maureen: I’ve re-watched this episode more times than I can count and as a result, its lustre has worn off a little over time. It’s probably my least favourite Moffat episode of RTD era Who. Which given how good his other episodes are, isn’t saying much. I kept teetering between a 9 and a 10, but if I’m honest, this is a pretty wonderful Who episode and the first time someone saw it, I can really see how they’d be blown away. I’m sitting with 10/10 inky stars for now.
YAY!!! THE SARAH-JANE SMITH MEETS BUFFY GILES EPISODE. IN A SCHOOL. I wonder where Clara and Class got it from? Also, K9. Oh, and Mickey and Rose are somewhere in the episode. Don’t forget them! The Pre-title Sequence Ben: It’s what’s his face from BBC…