Rate and Discuss: The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances

[SiHart]

Are you my Mummy?

Steven Moffat joins the show with a WW2 epic 2 parter. Scary kids, dancing, bananas and the introduction of Captain Jack.

What are your thoughts on this series 1 two parter?

[J.R. Southall]

Quite simply brilliant. Almost perfect, in fact.

[SiHart]

It was good, but not great. Somehow all the great stuff- Nancy and her son, the "are you my Mummy" creepiness, Captain Jack, the great cliffhanger resolution is balanced out by the tedious and mostly unnecessary "dancing" subplot, where Rose suddenly acts out of character by wanting the Doctor to give her "some Spock" and have sex with her. (Oh come on, it's that's bloody blatant isn't it?)

So I don't rate it as highly as some do. It's a shame because what's right is incredibly right, but what's wrong spoils it.

Steven Moffat didn't write a Doctor Who I really liked until The Eleventh Hour. But then everyone knows that!

[Andrew Curnow]

I agree that it's over-rated - the sex thing is tedious, but what I really find a drag is that the story ends about ten minutes before the episode does, so the whole end of part 2 feels (to me) like treading water waiting for the title sequence.

On the other hand, there is some superb stuff in there - the Doctor/Constantine scene in part 1 ("Physical injury, as plague") and the brooding sense of terror are very well done. And on a personal note, watching it for the first time I remember feeling a real pang at how few Eccleston episodes there were left to come.

[SiHart]

("Physical injury, as plague")

I love that bit too- Richard Wilson's delivery is spot on. For some reason it's quoted in our house fairly often!

[Andrew Curnow]

Ours too, Si (at least by me). It's never at all relevant, it's just good to roll around the tongue!

[Mab]

I have to say, I ADORE the 1940s-style poster artwork from the BBC site.

[duncan]

I agree with those that say it's over rated.

[MacNimon]

I'd agree that it possibly is over-rated, but it's still an enjoyable story. It's maybe so highly regarded because it was in the middle of a run of (generally) strong stories after a rather patchy start to the season. Episode 1 also features one of my favourite scenes from the season...Rose's trip through London hanging from a barrage balloon. 7/10, overall.

[Rob McCow]

It's strange, because I couldn't tell you what was wrong with it if anything! I think it merely wasn't as exciting as some of the other stories in the first season. But then you've got Captain Jack, lots of spooky stuff going on, a brilliantly realised WWII setting, a base-under-siege and the sonic screwdriver fixing barbed wire. The Doctor 'dancing' at the end was a little embarassing, but it wasn't that awful.

The revelation about the relationship between the girl and the boy at the end was rather marvellous, I thought.

[J.R. Southall]

... and just this once, everybody lived!

Which at the time was rather marvellous.