Magic, absolute magic...

I had terrible forebodings about this one. As Steven Moffat was the writer, he of the nevertheless excellent "Coupling", I was expecting something lightweight and comic, and I feared the worst even after the excellent Empty Child. How wrong. This episode brought all the best elements of the new series to the boil, and how.

As mentioned in my Empty Child review I was concerned that Captain Jack might be an intrusive and OTT presence, but the interaction between the Doctor, Rose and Jack is excellent, skipping blithly over the occasional duff line knowing an excellent follow up is never far away. The exchanges between the Doctor and Jack regarding blasters and screwdrivers is simply a delight. Even the potentially stomach churning stuff at the end involving dancing works a treat. Don't remember much bisexual tension in the original series... plus ca change!

Speaking of the 'classic' series, one of the key elements was fear, and this two-parter wrung about as much as could be hoped for; even for someone way beyond his childhood years, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck both when our heroes realise the tape has run out and the child is actually in the room, and even more when Nancy points out that an invisible presence is working the typewriter. This is Doctor Who as I remember it, and more; thrilling, intelligent, emotionally involving, darkly comic and SCARY.

The climax, as Nancy admits her dark secret and the Doctor wills the nano-genes (is that the right spelling?) to recognise her DNA as she holds her son, is emotionally tense and thrilling, and what could have been sentimental and cloying is instead gripping and truly euphoric. And we the viewers get an extra bonus; following that fabulous climax, we get Captain Jack waiting for impending death having rescued everyone by removing the German bomb in his spaceship - a wonderful scene, deftly played by John Barrowman, who far from being the embarrassment I expected, makes one root for the character and add another delicious slice of last-minute tension to the mix.

Bit concerned about next week from the teaser... haven't been too impressed with RTD's writing contributions save the first two episodes, and can't see why they are resuscitating the Slitheen, of all the new characters introduced... but I'll wait and see.

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

This review is for both the Doctor Dances and The Empty Child.

All I can say is wow!!!

These episodes really took me back to the old days. It was spine tingling, dark, action packed, and ontop of that a fantastic story!

When I first heard that Steve Moffat was writing this episode I had mixed emotions, mainly because I had only known him to have written the Curse of Fatal Death, the Doctor Who spin off staring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor, which was very funny and just took the mickey out of the series, so I wasn't to sure whether these episodes were going to be any good. But I am so glad I was wrong.

What I love about these episodes is that the Empty Child gives us all these questions, what is the child? what kind of disease does this? etc and then the second part answers them beautifully. And for the first time this series we have a brilliant cliff hanger where for the first time we have no idea how the Doctor is going to get out of this one, whereas the other cliff hangers in the new series are very predictable, and very typical like in the Aliens of London where the Slitheen is walking up very slowly towards Mrs Tyler when it could've just run up and killed her. The direction for this episode was marvellous as well, so well done, as was the acting minus Captain Jack.

The idea for the Captain Jack character was a very good one, a character who tries to use his charm and good looks to win over Rose in an attempt to complete his mission. I just feel that John Barrowman played the character quite badly, there wasn't alot of dimension to the character, he seemed to be very 'plastic' in appearance and movement. I thought there could've been some better casting.

I do love the transformation scene though, when the gas mask appears on the actors faces, done beautifully, and really is quite incomfortable to watch. Just love it!

At the end however I would've liked to have seen Captain Jacks spaceship blow up, thought that would've been a good conclusion.

Now I have got nothing against homosexuals, however I think in this episode we have a few to many references to homosexuals in this episode. Firstly we had the officer who was always flirting with Jack, which I thought was probably not necessary, and quite annoying. And also the Doctor uncovered that the reason why a family received such generous proportions of meat from the butcher was because the father was in fact giving the butcher some extra meat if you know what I mean. I thought this was not necessary also, and may make the younger viewers confused.

Apart from this it was a really fantastic episode, great cliff hanger, great acting (minus John B), great directing, certainly one of the best episodes of the series so far (new series, not old) but still doesn't beat Dalek for me. I am glad however to see that the series has finally begun to establish itself, we have had some really fantastic stories recently and I do hope that we are not going to go back to stupidity with the next episode which happens to be an RTD episode.

Having really enjoyed В‘The Empty ChildВ’, I thought there was a danger that В‘the Doctor DancesВ’ might come as a let down. Thankfully my fears were unfounded as this was another stunning episode, and a fitting conclusion to the story, which made nice use of things set up in the last episode, such as the nanogenes. Also while the questions that were of most pressing importance to the story were answered, the episode raised some puzzles for future stories to address regarding JackВ’s back story to accompany another В‘Bad WolfВ’ reference.

For once everybody wins in this story, to the DoctorВ’s obvious delight. This is important because it a)shows us how much the Doctor really cares about the people he tries to help and b) it gives Christopher Eccleston a chance to act what will be remembered as one of the Ninth Doctors defining moments. Indeed there are several lovely scenes in this episode: Nancy confidently blackmailing Mr Lloyd, Dr Constantine being confronted by a woman demanding to know why her leg has grown back,- which is comical, but thankfully not played for laughs- and best of all the scene where the TARDIS crew are listening to the recording of the childВ’s voice, but suddenly notice that the tape has long stoppedВ…

Again the cast all produce sound performances, with Eccleston stealing the show. In addition to the scene of his excitement on saving the day, we see his DoctorВ’s ability to calmly take charge of a situation when he orders the zombies to go to their room. There is also nice interplay between him and Rose regarding his dancing. Also excellent was
Florence Hoath who gave a totally believable performance as Nancy, and John Barrowman and Billie Piper put in solid efforts as well.

The special effects and design for the story were also of a high standard. Indeed all aspects of the production were fine, although the incidental music for this episode, and indeed the series as a whole is nowhere near as good as in the 1970s or early 1980s. Also some of the dialogue about the sonic devices was approaching the border with silliness, but thankfully did not cross that boundary.

Otherwise this is close to being a faultless production.

Yup. This is my favourite story of the whole season. I'm beginning to think that two parters are best really. It was the way Doctor Who was meant to be. I've seen very few examples so far of the 45 minute format working comfortably with the Doctor Who world.

But I digress.

The Doctor Dances, while not as scary as the previous episode, was brilliant. In places such as the typewriter and when the tape ran out, it was still scary. And the characters were fleshed out very well, especially Nancy, whom I took a shine too and I don't feel guilty about it as she's "older than she looks". She was played superbly and was a complex character, tortured by being a young single mother during the Blitz which would have been shocking to Britain back then even more so. Think how shockign it is now!

I was hoping for some evil genius to be behind this, so I was a little dissappointed at the climax in the first instance. However, it works well like a neat little package when you think about it. The nanogenes are the problem and the solution and I couldn't help but feel the Doctor's enthusiasm when he saw everybody living. That was great. Very Paul McGann.

The Doctor telling Nancy to tell all was a perfect scene and I really had a lump in my throat. Also seeing the Doctor a little vexed at not being seen as the dancing type was quite nice, and when he did eventually dance at the end to a more jazzy tune, I couldn't help but get up myself and dance.

What a programme! Well done Sydney Newman but today we thank Steven Moffat! Best so far.

There haven’t been many episodes this year that I feel would have slotted into the old series very comfortably and this is primarily due to the essential elements that have been crucial to making the new series such a success. The soap opera-ish elements, the fast pace, the kinder budget…had the End of the World been made during JNTs reign I suspect we would be horrified at how embarrassingly cheap and camp it is. The only episode I would happily shift back would be The Unquiet Dead as it was clearly written by a man who wanted to bridge the old and new series with his favourite genre from the Doctor Who’s hey day, the pseudo historical. Well now we have a second episode which I feel encapsulates everything I personally love about the old series, strong witty dialogue, good character interaction, a sense of romance about science-fiction, a fascinating setting and scenes that just would not appear in any other series. And despite all this it also includes so much of what makes RTDs Doctor Who so wonderful too, the sexual tension, amazing effects and the sense of realism that sells the story to you.

This has been my favourite episode of the year so far and I’m glad it came along when it did. After feeling disappointed with Dalek, bored by The Long Game and pissed off with Father’s Day this was something to really sit back and enjoy. I cheered, I whooped, I laughed and I hide behind a pillow…I haven’t enjoyed anything on TV this much since World War Three.

I’d like to get my superficiality out of the way first and talk about Captain Jack. What a babe. Is it just me or is there something extremely attractive about a handsome rogue? John Barrowman plays the right exactly right, charming his way into Rose’s good books so he can pull the wool over her eyes and con her out of a lot of money. Whilst I understand there is some controversy over Jack being bisexual (it’s the end of civilisation as we know it!) and suggesting that RTD has some kind of agenda (hmm, I believe there are some bisexual people about but we cannot possibly have them in Doctor Who because it’s making a statement! Which of course having a straight companion who has a black boyfriend is not! So there!) what I think people should be more worried about is his wedging between the Doctor and Rose. She is clearly head over heels infatuated with Jack and I forsee some glorious tension between the three of them ahead. But for now this dashing, quick witted criminal is a fine innovation for the series, the primary difference between a male lead that does not work (the gorgeous Bruno Langley) and one that does (the gorgeous John Barrowman) is that Barrowman gets to play somebody with an engaging character and a purpose. I know who I feel in love with!

Jack brings out a side in Rose that we have never seen before, that giggling girlie we always try to surpress but unleash when somebody charismatic and charming starts chasing you. And while I can see why the producers would want to make Rose a strong, sensible woman and they have certainly spent enough time dealing with the complexities of being a time traveller AND a daughter/girlfriend but it is now time to let her have some fun. Billie Piper captured my reaction to this episode perfectly in Rose, whipped up in the giddying sights of blitzed out London, swept off her feet by a charming conman, showing a newfound sense of confidence against the Doctor…she really has come into her own. Her scenes outside Big Ben are fantastic, not just because it is audaciously imaginative of itself but because we can see Rose growing up and enjoying her adventures. When Jack lit up Big Ben (probably not the greatest idea in an air raid mate!) I was clapping but playing Glen Miller whilst negotiating and dancing in front of the clock face with German planes whooshing around was inspirational. Could any other series have the confidence and style to even attempt this?

There was a wonderful noir-ish sense to the direction of this episode which helped give it another mask and the return of some graphic imagery in Doctor Who is long overdue. The Autons were not as scary as they once were, the corpses in The Unquiet Dead were counter pointed by some ridiculous characters, the Reapers got on my nerves (because they weren’t adequately explained)…what we need was some truly horrific monsters to get those bed sheets soaked again! And the sight of gas masked victims of the war closing in on the Doctor, Rose and Jack certainly qualifies as some of the freakiest imagery in the series. It is that sense of the unknown again and the loss of any recognisable features, like the mummies and the robots from Tom Baker’s era, these blank staring masks contain something evil and mysterious beneath them that sends the shivers up the spine. Plus capitalising on the Poltergeist horror of the scary child was a stroke of genius, and the constant, begging “Muum-mmmy” emanating from the masks was very scary indeed. You should also take into consideration how well filmed these masked people were, shots such as the tilted close up on the gas masked shadow outside the front door or the close up on eyes of the mask at the climax with no features beneath it, and you have the first successfully shit your pants scary monsters in the new series. And I am glad they took the skull cracking sound effect away from Dr Constantine’s terrifying morph into a gas mask, thanks to the incredible performance by Richard Wilson and the flawless special effects, it was already disturbing beyond belief. The kids must have been terrified!

Talking of the special effects I have to congratulate the Mill for their excellent work in this episode. I have been reading threads of people moaning about how fake war torn London looked in this episode but I have to disagree, for the amount of time and money the FX team have they have done an incredible job of realising the Blitz with a sense of scale and spectacle. Because there is such a sense of romance and excitement to the scenes where Rose is hanging from the balloon I could swallow some blurry matte paintings because it was all so ridiculously entertaining and the bangs and flashes, planes shooting past and dizzying sense of height generated by the special effects only heightened the breathlessness of it all. Perhaps the series should not be glamourising the War so much but when a setting is as vivid and rich as this I shant complain. Thanks to some stunning period detail (including musical numbers which sweep you back to the 1940’s effortlessly), convincing performances and excellent dialogue (“Don’t you eat!” one man cries at the German planes as the they soar overhead at tea time!) I was no longer in 2005 watching the telly but afforded a visit into wartime London.

It was how the episode switched tone so invisibly that reminded me of Buffy during at its peak; how one scene can scare the hell out of you (the POV through the gas mask watching the homeless kids on the street) and next can warm your heart (Nancy feeding the children on stolen food and still reminding them of their manners) and the next a gob smacking visual stomach-flop (Rose standing atop an invisible spaceship in the middle of an air raid). Not only does this keep the episode interesting but it shows what a fascinating mix of genres it can cope with, not just in one series but one episode.

Steven Moffatt should be very proud of this script which is full to bursting with excellent dialogue, the quality of which (ie making me laugh and gasp!) I haven’t heard since World War Three. He allows the Doctor much more Doctor-ish lines than ever before I genuinely got the sense that this was the real ninth Doctor, the one who followed all the others. His chat with the cat in the alley was cute (Hasn’t every Doctor had one of these moments? Despairing at the ability of his companion to wander off!) and there were numerous wonderful scenes with Nancy (especially his romantic summary of the British resistance to German oppression) and his quick fire dialogue with Rose has rarely been better (“Are you sure about that T-shirt?”). Jack and Nancy are afforded real personalities and engaged me immediately and even Dr Constantine, who is barely in two scenes, emerges a strong, sinister character.

However this is still part one of two which is both a curse and a blessing. Everything is fairly frightening at the moment because all we have is the empty child wandering the streets infecting people without an explanation to spoil the mysteriousness of it. Next week will have to try even harder to give me the willies as I fear there may be some disappointing scientific explanation behind everything. This episode definitely has the ‘first episode’ feel that the old series used to capitalise on, without having to please the viewer with answer it can concentrate on setting the scene and going BOO! And with scenes as in your face scary as the gas masked victim jumping up at Rose and the toy monkey coming to life, it succeeds admirably.

Brilliant direction, writing and performances (isn’t Christopher Eccleston’s comedian moment at the microphone wonderful?), this is sharp telly and no mistake. It is episodes like this we will be pointing at in the future when we talk about Doctor Who being re-invented with a BANG!

As I told a good friend, almost orgasmically good.