The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

As a two-part story, ‘The Empty Child and ‘The Doctor Dances’ is a queer fish. More than any other segmented story, it really is a tale of two halves, with the first half being more horrifying and the second being very light-hearted in comparison. When watched as stand-alone Episodes, this jarred quite a lot, but how does it cope when regarded as one long adventure?

The first thing that struck me was how many tiny bits really stood out for me when I watched the Episodes as one story. Moments which were memorable, such as Rose and Captain Jack dancing on his Invisible Spaceship or the possessed Typewriter, still stand out, but several other smaller moments also prove themselves to be equally memorable; such moments include the TARDIS phone actually ringing like a normal telephone, Captain Jack contemplating his supposed oncoming death in his Spaceship and virtually every time Richard Wilson is on screen.

This tale of two halves still feels like just that- a story split into two pieces. The switch between backseat humour and forefront horror to forefront humour and backseat horror is very noticeable indeed, and if anything else smacks of greater disappointment. The transition is not slow, but very quick and perhaps if a scene had been included in-between, then the change would have been handled more smoothly. As it stands though, one cannot help but raise an eyebrow when the atmosphere changes so suddenly and unexpectedly.

One thing that did improve slightly, though still not enough for it to be forgiven, was the actual ending where the Doctor dances with Rose. The scene itself is beautifully lit and well-directed, with the TARDIS lights pulsing to the rhythm of ‘In The Mood’ in a way I wish my room did whenever I listen to a CD. Despite this, it still seems unnecessary and a bit embarrassing, but not as much as it was the first time I watched it. I guess that I was just prepared this time round, so I wasn’t as surprised by it.

The resolution of the two Episodes carefully toes the line between acceptable and cop-out. Certainly, if it were not for the Doctor’s back story and the high number of deaths seen elsewhere in Series One then the nanogene conclusion would come as a complete cop-out ending. As it stands, it still smacks slightly of cop-out but works fairly well nevertheless, and it is nice to see everyone smiling if nothing else. Steven Moffat could so easily have ruined this ending, but instead he makes it work by carefully never overstepping the boundaries into pure sugarcoated sentiment, preferring instead for the sugar to only shine dully.

The acting throughout the two Episodes is excellent too. From his very first moment, John Barrowman as Captain Jack impresses and you are firmly confident that nobody could have played the role better than him, nor would you like anybody to try to do so. The slow transition that his character undertakes is handled really well, and is by far one of the highlights of Steven Moffat’s script. When he is contemplating his death, he manages to sum up his character in a few short sentences, and you realise that despite his roguish exterior, deep down he is a nice person, and more than worthy to join the TARDIS crew, which, of course, he does.

As Nancy, Florence Hoath is a joy to watch and, again, the idea of anyone else getting even close to playing the role as good as she does is, to be honest, laughable. To put it simply, Hoath is perfect and well deserving of as much praise as she can possibly get.

Special mention must also go to Richard Wilson as Doctor Constantine, who rather impressively manages to make a long-lasting impression despite his relatively little screen time. This is certainly helped by the Gas Mask scene, though his delivery of certain lines is great too- when he painfully tells the Doctor that he wants his Mummy, it is horrifying and full credit must go to Wilson for making it so.

James Hawes’ Directing throughout both Episodes is excellent, and he shows that he is dab hand in any situation, be it the comedic aspects (The Doctor and Captain Jack arguing), or the scary aspects (the excellent scene where the Gas Mask breaks out of Doctor Constantine’s face in a very painful fashion), everything here is very nicely Directed, and Hawes is equally competent be he on location, or inside a house or a Jazz Lounge. There are some shots that stand out from the crowd, but my favourite probably has to be the slow pull-back from the interior of Captain Jack’s Spaceship into the TARDIS consol room, which is beautifully shot and lit.

Murray Gold’s incidental music is a subservient party throughout the two Episodes, instead allowing the period pieces to take centre-stage, though when his music is heard, he makes it count and really adds to the ambience being painstakingly created in ‘The Empty Child’. His music for ‘The Doctor Dances’ has the same position, yet here the score seems less imaginative with the ‘scary’ music not working as well and coming across as a bit clichéd, a lot like the ‘scary’ elements of that Episode itself.

In all, the two Episodes as one story works in its overall favour and yet also shows up its shortcomings even more than before. It is ‘The Doctor Dances’ which stops this two-part story from attaining the dizzy heights to which ‘The Empty Child’ is on its way towards and this is a real pity. When watched as a whole, this feeling of disappointment is slightly weaker though still undoubtedly present; parts such as the Doctor dancing shed their embarrassment slightly, though still prove themselves to be on the wrong side of discomfort.

The acting throughout is great; the Directing is brilliant; the Special Effects are exemplary; the script is fairly strong though at odds with itself and its own mood. The repeated use of “Are you my Mummy?” throughout is brilliant and remarkably creepy, so congratulations to Noah Johnson for delivering said line in such a superb way.

The rapid switch between the two very different atmospheres being generated in the two Episodes comes as a disappointment, and it is a severe pity that more could not have been done to keep up the horror content, though I suppose this would have made the nanogene solution seems like a total failure of the imagination.

I still feel that, as a two-part story, this lets the viewer down and that it ruins what it sets up by changing its ambience totally and without warning but the peaks, to be honest, just about outnumber the troughs and so what should be a crushing disappointment is relegated to a state of irritating.