The Doctor Dances

As a continuation of the previous episode Empty Child, this was all about maintaining the excellence that was displayed then. I had rarely enjoyed any single episode of Doctor Who as much as Empty Child В– and I was expecting the same kind of atmosphere, the same kind of excellent period detail, the same kind of imaginative SFX, and the same kind of wonderful character interplay. Especially between the 3 leading wonderful characters В– the 9th Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack.

Thankfully and brilliantly The Doctor Dances was as good as The Empty Child, and in quite a few ways better. Everything about Empty Child that I liked В– Characters, WW2 atmosphere, dark Blitz streets, creepy Hospitals В– were all here again.

3 things distinguish it though:-

Captain Jack and the Doctor interaction.
Stories magnificent resolution.
The Doctors joyous final scenes.

The Doctor was always going to be suspicious of Captain Jack. The obvious attraction from Rose towards Jack would have stirred things up plenty, but with Jack also being a fellow Time Traveller В– well, thatВ’s going to impact on the Doctor too. Thankfully thereВ’s no excessive childish jealousy exhibited by the Doctor В– and Rose is sensitive enough to deal with both the men in her life in this story. Captain Jack is a very good character, charmingly played by John Barrowman. ThereВ’s plenty to like about him, whatever age or sexuality you are.

The story is brilliant from Steven Moffatt. If ever there was a story this season that you wanted to spend more time with, that deserved to be fleshed out, it was this. The episodes were magnificent, with sparkling dialogue throughout. But it is that scene with the Doctor, the child and Nancy at the end that epitomized the excellence present here. Christopher Eccleston has never been as good as he was right there. The sheer joy of his solving of the puzzle. The sheer happiness when it all turned out wonderfully. It was hearwarming, and I felt like punching the air in delight.

It wasnВ’t only this scene that brought the episode into the upper realms though. The one that followed it, with the Doctor, Rose and Jack in the TARDIS almost equalled it in boldness and love of life. Has there ever been a Doctor/Companion team so suited to one another as the 9th Doctor and Rose? They will have a wonderful season together soon, and it has been a tremendous friendship. Yes, it would have been nice for it to continue, but what we have is great.

IВ’m beginning to feel rather sad that things are coming to close. We now have only 3 shows left. There are all by Russell T Davies, and the next 2 episodes donВ’t sound nowhere near as exciting as this Blitz story. It will be wonderful to look back on the season as a whole, and I am looking forward to resolutions of certain story arcs. But personally I virtually always prefer these kind of isolated stories. ItВ’s wonderful that Steven Moffatt has already been confirmed for the 2nd Series.

The sheer excellence of this 2 parter, and the previous Historical of the Season Unquiet Dead, proves beyond doubt that Doctor Who works better in the past, with futuristic elements. I love the diversity of the season, with its past present and future storylines В– but it is the Past that I adore on DW. More please next season.

It occurred to me the other day that we are missing something with new DW В– books. DW was always just as much about enjoying the books, as enjoying the TV. The same stories in both, and I enjoyed them both too. ThereВ’s no sign of books for the new TV series, apart from original novels. ThatВ’s pretty good, for the first time original books featuring the characters currently on TV. And in this day of DVDs, well past Videos even, novelizations of TV episodes probably arenВ’t as relevant. Personally though I would love to see them В– especially this 2 parter В– how brilliant it would be to go into great detail about the Doctors adventure in the Blitz.

I really didnВ’t think the 1st episode (Empty Child) could be topped В– but the season has done it yet again. Better, bolder, more inventive В– brilliant Doctor Who. 10/10