Time and Space: A Doctor Who Journey

Series 1, Episode 8 : The Empty Child
Written By : Steven Moffat
Directed By : James Hawes
Villian : The Child
Synopsis: Rose and the Doctor find themselves in London during the height of the London Blitz in 1941 trying to solve the mystery of an aliens spaceship that has crash landed.  A group of homeless children are chased by a mysterious and frightening child and Rose meets the infamous Captain Jack Harkness.

One of the best and most frightening episodes ever conceived!  I still get chills anytime I hear a child say "Mummy".  This was the episode that really hooked me on this show.  There is so much going on in it and yet it flows so well.  It is jam packed full of great characters, witty lines, geeky references and things you never even knew creeped you out (like kids in gas masks).




I love Captain Jack.  Not only is John Barrowman and incredibly attractive man, he does a great job at capturing the charisma of Jack.  From the first moment we meet him, you can tell there's something special about him.  I think one of the best decisions they have made is making him a recurring character and eventually giving this character his own show with the spin off Torchwood.

Rose and the Doctor both really grow as this story unfolds.  We see elements of the Doctors wit and learn a little bit more about his past with his passing remarks.  Rose really starts to stand on her own two feet by dealing with the mysterious Jack in such a way as to not reveal too much information about who she and the Doctor truly are even though Jack sweeps her off her feet.

The character of Nancy is fabulous.  She is strong in a way that you have to admire.  The way she looks after all the other homeless kids and still makes them mind their manners and chew their food makes me smile.  I can't imagine being in her position.  She makes you think about the real kids that went through the Blitz without any adult to look after them and yet they managed to survive.

Anytime I recommend Doctor Who to someone, I always tell them to keep watching until this episode and by the time you finish part 2 (The Doctor Dances), you will be totally hooked.  There is really nothing bad in this episode.  The dialogue is smart, the pacing is quick, the bad guy is creepy and the story stays with you for a very long time afterward. This is one of my all time favorite episodes and by far my favorite of Christopher Eccelston's Doctor.


Rating: 10 out of 10

Interesting Details:

• Mauve is the universal color for danger.
• Red is the universal color for "camp" leading to many misunderstandings between humans and aliens in the future. "All those red alerts, all that dancing"
• The ship they are following jumps time tracks
• This is the first time the Doctor uses the alias of John Smith in the new series
• Rose makes a Star Trek reference
• This is the third time we see through the villains eyes. (Previously the Dalek and the Reapers)
• The Doctor makes his debut as a stand up comedian without even realizing it.
• The fake phone on the TARDIS rings, surprising the Doctor
• We see Jack's attitude towards equal opportunity "dancing" before we even know his name.
• Cell phones interfere with Chula spaceship instruments
• The "west end musical" the Doctor refers to is Oliver, in which one of the main characters is Nancy, the big sister type to the homeless kids.
• Captain Jack also uses psychic paper
• When Rose hands the psychic paper to Jack it says she has a boyfriend called Mickey, but she considers herself available
• Jack doesn't know who Spock is
• Nancy jokes about the Doctors nose and ears being big
• Jack and Rose dance to "Moonlight Serenade" by The Glen Miller Band
• The Doctor goes to Albion hospital, which is the same hospital they took the pig creature to in Aliens of London
• The injuries all the victims have are massive head trauma to the left, partial collapse of the chest to the right, scarring on the back of the hand and a gas mask fused to the face.
• Before the war, Doctor Constantine says he was a father and a grandfather but now he is neither.  The Doctor responds that he knows the feeling showing that he too had a family (kids and grandkids) before the Time War
• You can hear Doctor Constantine's skull crack when the gas mask emerges
• Rose tells Jack that they are Time Agents and that the Doctor is named Mr. Spock
• The Chula war ship was an ambulance and Jack was scamming them
• There is one reference to the Title in this episode
• There is one passing reference to the Time War
• There are no Bad Wolf references

Series 1, Episode 8 : Father's Day
Written By : Paul Cornell
Directed By : Joe Ahearne
Villians : The Reapers
Synopsis :  The Doctor takes Rose back in time to witness the day her father is killed but when Rose saves her father's life, the Reaper's are unleashed on the world and begin to destroy everything.

And just as things were improving, we take another backslide.  Once again, this episode sets up many things to come, including introducing Rose's father Pete and showing why changing your own past is a very bad idea.  The story overall, however, is a little weak and forced at times.  The Reapers are not frightening in the least.  Some of the other characters are annoying.  Rose drives me crazy with her tantrums and stupidity.  While I can understand what she did and why (let's face it, we would all be tempted by that) I still find it hard to get to involved in this episode.

The best part of this episode is by far Pete.  I love that his character is deeply flawed and not at all what Rose expects.  I love flawed characters.  They are real.  I also really enjoy that despite Pete's flaws and daft schemes, he's very caring and incredibly smart.  He figures out what is going on with very little prompting and shows a strength of character that reflects in Rose.

It really seems like this whole episode is just one great big set up to a quick resolution at the end.  Pete makes a sacrifice, Rose get her chance to be there for him, and Jackie gets some closure.  The Doctor teaches everyone a lesson not to question his decisions and we move on and almost forget any of this ever even happened.

Over all, this episode is ok.  Not very memorable, not the best, but still not the worst...and no Sliteen.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Interesting Details:

• Pete Tyler died Nov. 7, 1987
• Pete gets Jackie's name wrong at their wedding
• There are the words Bad Wolf on a poster on the wall near where Pete is supposed to die
• The Doctor gives Rose a death glare
• Pete Tyler invented a health drink called Vitex
• Rose and the Doctor being in the same point in time creates a weak point in time, perhaps this is why the Doctor states he can't cross his own timeline in future episodes.
• An Ordinary man is the most important thing in creation
• The Doctor talks about going back in time to save his own people, but in future episodes he reveals that this wouldn't be possible because the war is time locked in order to prevent such things from happening
• The Tardis becomes an ordinary Police Box
• Rose's phone plays the first phone call in history instead of her messages
• Jackie and Pete have some serious marital problems
• The older something is the stronger it is
• Pete proves he is a pretty smart guy when he figures everything out on his own
• Mickey hugs Rose around the waist they same way he did in the first episode when he didn't want her to leave.
• Touching your past self creates a paradox
• The Time Lords would have cleaned up this mess were they still around.  They enforced time laws
• Pete pieces together what the Doctor knew all along.  His death would put everything right.
• Rose does change the past.  She changed the time and location of her father's death, held him while he died and the driver stopped.
• There is no reference to the title in this episode, although it was originally title "A Wound in Time" which is a line.
• There is one mention of the Time War, but it is not actually named