Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead
Apr. 10th, 2005 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayIt's so much fun having a show that I can squee over :-)
The first thing to say is that, IMHO, this is the best episode yet. Atmospheric, intriguing, some lovely character moments and thoroughly absorbing.
I've always been a fan of Doctor Who historical adventures. Space-ships and futuristic stuff? Cool, but often not provoking as much emotion in me. Contemporary stuff? Always fun, often more emotional resonance for me, but still not that different from other shows. Historical settings with sci-fi elements? Very, very cool.
Doctor Who is probably the only show where I can accept backwards time-travel without getting irritated by the theoretical physics behind it.
So a historical adventure set in the 1860s with aid from Charles Dickens was something that I was looking forward to. And I'm glad to say that it worked. Victorian era is always good to do ghost stories in. I'm not sure why, but there's something about the people, clothing and atmosphere that lends itself well to ghosts. The script was great. Yes, maybe if I'd been analysing as I went then I might have guessed that the Gelf would turn out to be evil. But I honestly wasn't watching it that way. I had a feeling that Gwynneth wouldn't survive - it may be a new rule that anyone Rose befriends will meet a sticky end - but didn't put it together until the final scenes.
The idea of the Gelf, the gas and the rift worked well. It explained the goings-on, the zombies and Gwynneth's increasing psychic powers. Maybe it wouldn't hold up if I worked too hard at unravelling it, but I'm not going to so :-p~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Callow as Charles Dickens was just brilliant. He's always great to watch and he threw himself into that role. Loved it :-)
Gwynneth was another great character. I liked her observations of our world from Rose's memories. Her comment about Rose seeing her as 'stupid' made a lot of sense and added something to both of their characterisations. I was genuinely sad that the Doctor couldn't save her, even though I couldn't see how she could carry on in her time and place with the knowledge that she had gained.
Hopefully the zombies were scary enough to terrify the kids. They had me a little worried (not a big zombie fan) and looked pretty darned creepy. This was the kind of episode that seemed geared to scaring the kids and evoking the old 'hide behind the sofa' response that Doctor Who is famous for. Not every DW episode was scary - many were just fun adventures - but I can remember having some scared moments as a kid. 'The Curse of Fenric', 'Survival' and 'Vengence on Varos' stand out in my mind and I still can't quite bring myself to watch 'Survival'. I've got 'The Curse of Fenric' on my list with Amazon rentals - it should be arriving next week and I'll find out where it's still scary for me.
Rose and the Doctor have, sadly, got chemistry in buckets. Damn. I'm going to be working hard to resist the shipper instinct with them. Absolutely adored the Doctor's admission that she's beautiful 'for a human' - perfect delivery there :-) And the dying together moment was great, too. Damn those writers giving us a sexy Doctor who has chemistry with his attractive assistant.
Rose is growing on me a lot. She's very human in her responses to everything, but you get the sense that the Doctor sees the potential for more in her. She also grounds the Doctor and tries to force him to remember that her morals are different from his. Her enthusiasm for their adventures is lovely and she doesn't take crap from anyone, even the Doctor.
And she looks great in Victorian get-up *g*
I'm also becoming a huge fan of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. The combination of manic enthusiasm and moments of solemnity, even deep sadness, gives him a personality of his own as well as a reference to previous incarnations.
We now have a title for this mysterious war: the Time War. The hints are just enough to leave me itching to know more without overwhelming the stories. I know that it's going to be revealed gradually over the remaining weeks and I can't wait to find out what it all means. My opinion has changed from "not sure about where I want understanding of canon to be tampered with" to "give me more, now, now, now". I'm such an easy target for this stuff :-)
I'm sure there are other things that I wanted to pick out, but right now I'm drawing a blank. Except to repeat that I loved this episode :-)
I've just discovered a new cure for headaches: coffee and a bag of marshmallows. Who knew?
Icon post will appear later. When I've finished them *g*
The first thing to say is that, IMHO, this is the best episode yet. Atmospheric, intriguing, some lovely character moments and thoroughly absorbing.
I've always been a fan of Doctor Who historical adventures. Space-ships and futuristic stuff? Cool, but often not provoking as much emotion in me. Contemporary stuff? Always fun, often more emotional resonance for me, but still not that different from other shows. Historical settings with sci-fi elements? Very, very cool.
Doctor Who is probably the only show where I can accept backwards time-travel without getting irritated by the theoretical physics behind it.
So a historical adventure set in the 1860s with aid from Charles Dickens was something that I was looking forward to. And I'm glad to say that it worked. Victorian era is always good to do ghost stories in. I'm not sure why, but there's something about the people, clothing and atmosphere that lends itself well to ghosts. The script was great. Yes, maybe if I'd been analysing as I went then I might have guessed that the Gelf would turn out to be evil. But I honestly wasn't watching it that way. I had a feeling that Gwynneth wouldn't survive - it may be a new rule that anyone Rose befriends will meet a sticky end - but didn't put it together until the final scenes.
The idea of the Gelf, the gas and the rift worked well. It explained the goings-on, the zombies and Gwynneth's increasing psychic powers. Maybe it wouldn't hold up if I worked too hard at unravelling it, but I'm not going to so :-p~~~~~~~~~~~
Simon Callow as Charles Dickens was just brilliant. He's always great to watch and he threw himself into that role. Loved it :-)
Gwynneth was another great character. I liked her observations of our world from Rose's memories. Her comment about Rose seeing her as 'stupid' made a lot of sense and added something to both of their characterisations. I was genuinely sad that the Doctor couldn't save her, even though I couldn't see how she could carry on in her time and place with the knowledge that she had gained.
Hopefully the zombies were scary enough to terrify the kids. They had me a little worried (not a big zombie fan) and looked pretty darned creepy. This was the kind of episode that seemed geared to scaring the kids and evoking the old 'hide behind the sofa' response that Doctor Who is famous for. Not every DW episode was scary - many were just fun adventures - but I can remember having some scared moments as a kid. 'The Curse of Fenric', 'Survival' and 'Vengence on Varos' stand out in my mind and I still can't quite bring myself to watch 'Survival'. I've got 'The Curse of Fenric' on my list with Amazon rentals - it should be arriving next week and I'll find out where it's still scary for me.
Rose and the Doctor have, sadly, got chemistry in buckets. Damn. I'm going to be working hard to resist the shipper instinct with them. Absolutely adored the Doctor's admission that she's beautiful 'for a human' - perfect delivery there :-) And the dying together moment was great, too. Damn those writers giving us a sexy Doctor who has chemistry with his attractive assistant.
Rose is growing on me a lot. She's very human in her responses to everything, but you get the sense that the Doctor sees the potential for more in her. She also grounds the Doctor and tries to force him to remember that her morals are different from his. Her enthusiasm for their adventures is lovely and she doesn't take crap from anyone, even the Doctor.
And she looks great in Victorian get-up *g*
I'm also becoming a huge fan of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor. The combination of manic enthusiasm and moments of solemnity, even deep sadness, gives him a personality of his own as well as a reference to previous incarnations.
We now have a title for this mysterious war: the Time War. The hints are just enough to leave me itching to know more without overwhelming the stories. I know that it's going to be revealed gradually over the remaining weeks and I can't wait to find out what it all means. My opinion has changed from "not sure about where I want understanding of canon to be tampered with" to "give me more, now, now, now". I'm such an easy target for this stuff :-)
I'm sure there are other things that I wanted to pick out, but right now I'm drawing a blank. Except to repeat that I loved this episode :-)
I've just discovered a new cure for headaches: coffee and a bag of marshmallows. Who knew?
Icon post will appear later. When I've finished them *g*
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 09:24 pm (UTC)I don't think I ever found that one scary - just "interesting" to watch, probably for the wrong reasons eg Colin Baker's over the tope acting, Jason Connery being more wooden than a tree.
It's the only Doctor Who story I have on video or DVD - okay I have it on both formats.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-11 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-11 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-11 03:33 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to next week's, though. The trailer looked thoroughly intriguing - my comment after it was "why isn't it next week already?" It's very frustrating to see those trailers, get very interested in the episode and have to wait for a whole week to see it. Maybe that's the new equivelant of using the cliff-hanger ending to torment us. Although I understand that next week we get both...
I'm going to be hell to live with after that episode :-)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-22 12:55 pm (UTC)Only things I couldn't work out was how the Doctor knew they were called gelf before they were in the morgue saying 'pity the gelf'. And how filling the room with gas made them come out of the bodies.
I'm liking the chemistry between the Doctor and Rose because it makes it interesting. I kind of get the impression that he's lonely as he's now the only timelord and she was bored with her life. So he's enjoying showing her new things because he can experience them through her eyes.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-23 03:11 pm (UTC)*g* This is still my favourite episode so far :-)
Only things I couldn't work out was how the Doctor knew they were called gelf before they were in the morgue saying 'pity the gelf'.
Um, must rewatch but I think they may have mentioned their identity during the seance. Possibly.
And how filling the room with gas made them come out of the bodies.
You've got me there. But then I usually stay away from understanding the science in Doctor Who 'cos many episodes would drive me insane if I tried.
So he's enjoying showing her new things because he can experience them through her eyes.
*g* That's one of the things that I've been seeing, two. The Doctor seems to get as much glee out of watching Rose's reactions to things as he does from interfering. Their relationship is one of the most interesting things in the show - quite different from the older episodes!
no subject
Date: 2005-04-24 02:13 pm (UTC)I was wondering that, but I thought you might have noticed.
But then I usually stay away from understanding the science in Doctor Who
Ah, fair enough. Works for me.