I am – Hercules!!
SciFi is rolling out the new “Doctor Who” episodes the BBC broadcast about a year ago in Britain. Many Britishers reviewed it back in the day. Read their views now!
“Ravensgate” says:
Hi there...I'm in Liverpool, England. This is the first time I've sent anything here so call me 'Ravensgate'
As an old fan of the show I must admit I've been largely disappointed with this renewed vision for Dr Who. It's been over-camp and tries too hard to capture the 'cheesey charm' of shows past by being silly.
But with this latest episode, for the first time, the New Dr Who show has resembled the old. Delightfully so.
Plot. The Tardis appears in a small Cardiff town in 1870 just as the dead are rising from a morgue to walk the streets again. The Doctor, together with Charles Dickens investigate why these night terrors are happening.
VERDICT. This episode invoked the mood of John Pertwee's episode. The tone was very supernatural with Zombies, Seonces, telepathy and etherial spirits flying round. With it's candle lit sets the episode worked very well.
The Doctor, while still managing to do his silly routine at the beginning, quickly sobres up as the story intensifies and for the first time our hero faces up to a real threat.
It's hardly Dawn of the Dead, but when the story is good enough it doesn't have to be.
The best so far.
“Ravensgate’s” rating for “Doctor Who” 27.3?
***
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins
“Zoe F” says:
Hey
Just seen episode 3 of this fabulous series. Dr Who with Zombies! What more could a girl want.
It's set in Cardiff (wales a slightly inbred part of the UK) in 1869 and features Charles Dickens and a possesed funeral home. Unsurprisingly for this programme the ghosts turn out to be aliens trapped without bodies after the 'Time War' which is i guess when Dr Who's planet was destroyed. Anyways they need to use the rift in space and time that centres around the funeral home to come to earth and take control of dead bodies so they can be corporeal again. As Dr Who describes it 'recycling'. Lovely. A servant with 'The Sight' who works at the funeral home agrees to be their bridge to this world. And all ends happily ever after...........well they turn out to be evil gelfs (spelling?) intent on taking over the world (very cool special effects abound here), kill the servant but get blown up by Dr Who and Charles Dickens, match made in heaven methinks. Lot's of bitching about Cardiff (capital of Wales) which probably didnt go down well with the Welsh fans (Dr Who was filmed in Cardiff btw). I thought it deserved shedloads of stars. Great episode - next week Big Ben destroyed by a spaceship crash landing.
Havent ever emailed you guys before just thought I'd prove that girls can be geeks too.
“Doctor Dan” says:
What’s it called?
Who’s it by?
What’s it about?
What’s the verdict?
The series has always worked best when set in the past, usually due to budgetary limitations when trying to create believable futuristic worlds. As we all know, Britain’s rich history means recreating the past on-screen is far more within the BBC’s abilities – and the production team excel themselves with engrossing scenery and set-design that wouldn’t look out of place in a lavish period drama such as “Pride & Prejudice”.
An inspired decision to involve Charles Dickens into proceedings immediately elevates the entire episode to the realm of pulp fantasy, and with a plot that uses Victorian ghost stories, 19th-Century séances and alien zombies, you really do have an immensely enjoyable spectacle. The only real complain is that the “Doctor Who” of yesteryear could have allowed the story to breathe over a four-part serial, but the new Who is far more interested in quick, breathless action beats. By and large, I prefer the new direction, but does mean that (yet again) some elements of the story are somewhat brushed over.
Billie Piper seems to be having great fun, and it’s obvious she’s becoming more relaxed with the role. Likewise, Christopher Ecclestone manages a more mannered approach to the material and leaves The Doctor’s incessant grinning behind, thanks primarily to the fact there’s some meaty dialogue to get stuck into. Mark Gatiss’ script is littered with witty lines and choice moments – particularly The Doctor’s star-struck discussion with Dickens in the back of a coach.
The special-effects are wonderful throughout, with ghostly apparitions brought to life with well-implemented CGI, and some good make-up for the titular unquiet dead of the funeral home. It’s refreshing to see an episode play to the show’s strengths and careful construct a decent story and characters around visuals. In previous episodes the plots have been pedestrian and the effects patchy at best – but “The Unquiet Dead” corrects this unbalance.
Overall, this was a genuinely entertaining episode that is the current benchmark for future instalments. There was barely a duff note during the entire 45-minutes, and it was also intriguing to see a “Time War” mentioned – obviously pushing the show’s new mythology that the Time Lords have been destroyed and The Doctor is the last of his kind. Hopefully, we’ll begin to unearth more on this promising facet to the series in the weeks to come…
The Good
The Bad
“Doctor Dan’s” rating for “Doctor Who” 27.3? **** The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
Next week, The Doctor and Rose return to present day London to find that a UFO has crashed into The Houses Of Parliament in “Aliens Of London”…
What’s it called?
Who’s it by?
What does the Radio Times say?
Review?
Simon Callow is superb as a Dickens nearing the end of his life, concerned about his legacy. Have his efforts been worthwhile or will his fame not last beyond his lifetime? His doubts are brought out all the more vividly by Callow showing a man whose great gift - his imagination - is beginning to fade. The Doctor's time-travel brings a real pathos to this since, for most people, Christmas Eve 1869 will only ever happen once. This time, this world, Dickens himself are just moments in time before they fade away and are gone forever - like tears in rain.... erm, sorry, wrong story. It's Rose who highlights the philosophical implications of bringing these moments back so that they remain eternal. And Callow really does add a lot to this and his is a performance to savour.
The rest of the cast are also on top form. The psychic parlour maid has a genuinely sweet nature which only adds to her sadness. Billie Piper has her best performance yet as she makes an emotional connection with this girl. And Christopher Eccleston is adding a harder edge to the Doctor, which does not detract from his moments of pain. His joyful "that's more like it" as screams erupt across the street is something that I'm not going to get tired of anytime soon.
The problems that the first two episodes had with pacing are overcome in this episode. A real story with characters we care about are crammed into 45 minutes and it works a treat. Nothing seems rushed and there is room for humour, chills and thoughtful moments. Even the music, which I detested so much before, works here. It much more subtle and subdued, fitting with the drama perfectly. I even detected the influence of the Six Feet Under music, fittingly enough as this is also set in a funeral parlour. And I love that the Tardis is talked about as having much more to it that the Control Room, but I am disappointed that we did not even see the corridor that Rose ran off down to find her Victorian attire. I really would like to see how much more is inside the Tardis! My only concern is that this is the only episode written by Mark Gatiss, so I hope that this quality can be maintained by other writers.
The 'spirits' themselves present an interesting moral dilemma - the corpses of our dead aren't actually being used by anyone, so if they could save the lives of beings from another world should we allow it? The Doctor doesn't hesitate, whereas Rose brings what the Doctor sees as squeamishness. And the spirits also reveal a **SPOILER**:
All in all a great episode and the teaser for next week was fantastic too! London prepares for alien invasion as a spaceship almost demolishes Big Ben. Spaceships, destruction and soldiers in full battle gear on the streets. All in a 2-parter. Bring it on, I say.
“SuperToysLast’s” rating for “Doctor Who” 27.3? ***** The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
All in all a great episode and the teaser for next week was fantastic too! London prepares for alien invasion as a spaceship almost demolishes Big Ben. Spaceships, destruction and soldiers in full battle gear on the streets. All in a 2-parter. Bring it on, I say.
“The Unquiet Dead.”
Mark Gatiss (The League Of Gentlemen)
The Doctor takes Rose back through time to Cardiff, circa 1869, to find that the dead are walking and they have to enlist the help of Charles Dickens to restore order to a local funeral home…
Well, three episodes into the new series and “Doctor Who” finally manages a strong episode. This is fundamentally down to Mark Gatiss, writer and performer with The League Of Gentleman, whose lifelong interest in Who and the Victorian era pays dividends with a story that is full of pace and peppered with good dialogue.
Simon Callow’s brilliant portrayal of Dickens.
Christopher Ecclestone’s more assured performance.
Excellent effects, make-up and design.
The witty dialogue.
Mention of a “Time War” by the aliens.
The hidden gem where The Doctor was apparently unaffected by a morgue full of gas.
The fact the TARDIS has CCTV mounted above the door (apparently!)
Constraints of the new show’s format limited a more expansive story (i.e., it wasn’t longer!)
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins “SuperToysLast” says:
“The Unquiet Dead.”
Mark Gatiss
The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, who's brought welcome sex appeal to the role) and his companion Rose (Billie Piper) land in Cardiff at Christmas 1869. At a theatre, Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) is on stage, holding an audience rapt with A Christmas Carol. But at an undertaker's, corpses are coming back to life, and later, Dickens is interrupted by some scary spectres. Something ethereal and troubled is on the loose, and it's up to the Doctor, Rose and Mr Dickens to find out what it is, and what it wants.
Oh yes - now this is more like it. I enjoyed the first two episodes and they were damn good fun, but I had my doubts because they were somewhat lacking. Something just didn't completely gel, but this worked perfectly. The tone was by turns creepy and bring-a-grin-to-your-face fun. The fact that the pre-credits sequence teaser wasn't in the Tardis but introduced the story from the point of view of the Dickensian characters helped enormously. It really built up a convincing world and brought the audience into the story. The supporting characters in previous stories may have been thinly drawn, but these were really fleshed-out. Which brings us to the star of this episode - Charles Dickens.
The spirits are a race whose physical forms have been destroyed in "The Time War". "Lower" species haven't noticed the war, but "higher" species have been wiped out. Which presumably accounts for Gallifrey's fate.
***** better than we deserve
**** better than most motion pictures
*** actually worth your valuable time
** as horrible as most stuff on TV
* makes you quietly pray for bulletins 9 p.m. Friday. SciFi.
just went half-off -- $24.96 new!! 