As of this writing, this two-part story seems to be the fan favorite from the Christopher Eccleston season, according to both the Doctor Who Dynamic Rankings page and this site’s own 2005 fan poll. I would not rate it quite so highly, but overall it is an extremely satisfying story, and my enthusiasm for it is dampened mostly by the issues raised by the introduction of Captain Jack Harkness, which I’ll deal with below.

But let’s get to the good bits first (and there are many). The story is well-plotted and quite spooky, delightfully in keeping with the traditions of the classic series. At its best, Doctor Who was always a mystery-horror show in a sort of sheer sci-fi drag, and this story combines the various genre elements in a harmonious way that many fans will find familiar and wonderful. The eerie dead child and its zombie offspring provide many chilling moments (of which the best probably comes when Dr. Constantine illustrates that the bodies in his ‘morgue’ are still very much alive), and of course Constantine’s own transformation is horrifying, and a wonderful throwback to the ‘body horror’ so often employed in the old series. The Blitzkrieg-era London locale is fairly well realized, historically, and more important it’s just so wonderfully British, a most fitting setting for this UK TV institution. Steven Moffat’s script might be the wittiest of the Eccleston season – “I don’t know whether it’s Marxism in action or a West End musical” is only one of many funny lines – and Eccleston’s Doctor is truly Doctorish most of the time. (His exchange with Jack about what happened to the weapons factory at Villengard is hilarious, and perfectly in character.) The action set pieces are scary and fun, and if Rose’s adventure on the rope is a little silly, and looks a little fakey, it is so in the grand style of what’s come before – replace the CGI with CSO and it could be Jo Grant up there. The revelation of Nancy’s true relationship to Jamie might ultimately be a bit easy to guess, but it’s nonetheless satisfying in terms of the overall drama. And the sci-fi resolution, too, works well . . . at first, the idea of medical nano-robots ‘repairing’ everything they encounter struck me as a little silly, but on reflection I think it’s actually a pretty nifty idea. (Maybe it was the Tinkerbell dust that *represents* the nanogenes that made it seem silly . . . .)

But the story isn’t only interested in this drama, of course – it also introduces the new companion. And John Barrowman is an immediate presence at Captain Jack – I confess, from hearing the character described before actually seeing the series, I was expecting much, much worse. There’s extremely little camp about Barrowman’s portrayal; the actor really does choose to play Jack straight, which may sound funny, but by that I don’t really mean ‘masculine,’ I mean unself-conscious. Jack may be written as boastful and cocky, but in Barrowman’s hands the lines become obvious jokes at his own expense – it’s very easy to see the ordinary guy behind all this ‘captain’s’ affected suaveness and bravado.

The problem is, Barrowman’s good acting doesn’t really make up for the way his character is used. (At least, it doesn’t here.) A sidebar: in this first series of the new Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies has truly created a new dynamic between the Doctor and his companion Rose. It is as close to a love relationship between Doctor and companion as the series ever got (possible exception: ‘The Movie’), and yet Davies opts not to consummate it. He seems to want to have it both ways: to play with sex, and yet never to develop the Doctor and Rose into an actual romantic/sexual couple, something which, while it would certainly outrage older fans, would at least make his winking and nudging pay off. And apart from a kiss that isn’t necessarily a kiss in ‘The Parting of the Ways’ (it’s in a non-sexual context, after all), Davies ultimately gives us nothing, remaining coy about the Doctor’s sexuality and his interest (or lack thereof) in his pretty blonde companion.

That’s all fine and dandy, and elsewhere I’ve written that the use of sex and sexuality in the new Doctor Who is actually quite understated anyway (and I meant it as a compliment). So what’s the problem, then? Only this: why the hell does Davies make us sit through so much unnecessary, intrusive love-triangle nonsense if he’s never going to actually *do* anything with it? And that’s where Jack comes in to this discussion – although Davies and Moffat happily give him a lot to do (and plenty of jokes), probably his main purpose in this story (as was the case with Adam Mitchell in ‘Dalek’) is to make the Doctor jealous when Rose expresses interest in him. Now, there are fans who have rationalized this as simply another example of the Doctor’s traditional selfishness, bringing up such examples as the First Doctor’s pouting in ‘The Chase’ when Ian and Barbara decide to leave him. But there’s more to it than that, given that Jack is introduced from the very outset as a sexualized character (ogling Rose’s bottom while patting Algy’s), and given the story’s rather forced and artificial focus on dancing. Jack is clearly presented as a sexual threat, and the Doctor responds, indeed, like a posturing punk watching somebody else flirt with his girl at a high school dance. Some fans don’t mind this, I choose to ignore it; either way, it’s an annoying distraction from the otherwise tense and dramatic plot. Not to mention the fact that it reduces Rose, who has made a most satisfyingly active companion to this point, to the status of a love object.

But ultimately, the story is entertaining and worthwhile despite these objections, and, as I said, the love angle hasn’t really played out into anything significant – yet.

Abbey Road. My mother’s pasta. My girlfriend Ellen. Amelie. The colour blue. Freesias. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Any film score by Thomas Newman. Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody. And now, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. What do these things have in common, you ask? They are all things that, to me, make life worth living. Proof that, sometimes, God just gets things exactly right.

Mauve alert. Yes, mauve. We are in the presence of greatness. From the opening moments of The Doctor Dances, it’s clear that a lot of care has been taken with this story. The script is immediately funny, and we’re excited by the chase through the vortex that accompanies the familiar ‘sting’. When the TARDIS materialises, Rose finally makes reference to the fact that they’re always landing on Earth. With this and her comments about ‘scanning for alien tech’, Steven Moffat is just continuing the digs in the ribs that he started with The Curse of Fatal Death, his brilliant little Comic Relief effort that dragged me firmly back into the world of Who five years ago.

This warm, fuzzy feeling continues when the Doctor jumps up on a stage in a crowded nightclub and makes everyone laugh, while Rose follows a weird boy in a gasmask and is dragged up into the sky by a rope attached to a barrage balloon. (Why did she even grab the rope before looking up to see what it was attached to? Hang on, who cares?) So she’s hanging in the air, and we get a stunning view of the London skyline as it transforms into something far more sinister… and strangely familiar. Oh dear. This is a London air raid. A beautiful one. And I mean beautiful. Never have I been so impressed by the art direction on this show. It looks like a painting – a masterpiece – but at the same time feels deadly realistic.

Er… until she’s beamed up into an invisible spaceship. Oh well. Who cares about realism when we’ve got a ship like this? And the delightful John Barrowman as “Captain” Jack Harkness? I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to like Jack at all, especially considering all the bad publicity the character has had. But what can I say? The guy’s all charm. John Barrowman really knows how to carry off this role, and it’s actually refreshing to hear an American accent, just like it was in Dalek. The guy looks great too, in his WWII uniform.

Meanwhile, the Doctor talks to a cat, a voice on an unconnected phone, and a mysterious woman who vanishes. When that TARDIS phone rang, I got more chills than those “phone ringing” scenes in The Matrix or Scream. And isn’t this dialogue all terrific? I laughed when the Doctor picked up the phone and said, “Hello?” Then I laughed harder when he said “This is the Doctor speaking.” And even harder with “How may I help you?” Okay, this series has already had its fair share of laughs so far, but this is the first time a comedy writer has had his hand at it. And he’s just done so well. This stuff is funnier than Buffy. And it also tugs at your heart-strings, in every scene with Nancy and her homeless kids. There’s so much affection here, it’s easy to just believe they’re all real people. Florence Hoath is terrific as Nancy – I wish she’d been my nanny.

Up in the air, Jack and Rose are having champagne next to Big Ben. And this is just so beautifully shot, especially when Jack does his “flash” move and lights the clock-face up. Who wouldn’t be swept off their feet by this guy, with his ship, his gadgets, his uniform, his Glenn Miller, and his tendency to “scan for alien tech”? But things are getting more serious now, with this mysterious child in the gasmask following people and crying for his mummy. This stuff is scarier than Hinchcliffe. Via Nancy, the Doctor searches out Doctor Constantine, a brilliant turn by Richard Wilson, who at no point I expected to cry out that he didn’t believe it. Testament, really, to Wilson’s acting ability.

What are these creatures in the gasmasks? Not dead? Physical injuries as plague? You can just tell the explanation – when it eventually comes – will be brilliant. Perhaps not in the hands of a lesser writer, but I trust Moffat. First of all, though, Constantine is taken by the plague himself, in what I believe to be the scariest moment in the history of this programme. I’m twenty-three years old, and when his face distorted into the shape of a gasmask, I wanted to rush and hide behind the sofa. Thankfully, Rose and Jack showed up and the Doctor began to ruminate. “DNA is being rewritten,” he mutters, “by an idiot.” Told you. The explanation is already intriguing. And of course Jack is a con-man – who didn’t figure this one out? Anyway, we’re now up to our obligatory cliffhanger. True, it’s another “surrounded by monsters” cliffhanger, but really, how many others are there? Scary ones, anyway? And it just gets scarier, when we reach Room 802, and hear that chilling recording from the child. The child that’s right behind them.

Right, cue a runaround in the hospital. Fantastic! And throw in some great jokes about the sonic screwdriver, and you’ve got a perfect chase. Too bad that git Jack is able to beam out of there… sometimes you just can’t adore a guy who’s got all the answers. But once he’s out of the picture, we’re left – finally – with the Doctor and Rose again. I discovered at this point how much I enjoyed seeing these two together. It was sad to know they were soon to be parted, especially when Rose teased the Doctor about… ahem, dancing. Should’ve expected stuff like this, really, from the writer of Coupling. And surprisingly, I didn’t mind any of it. It was subtle enough, and obvious enough, if you get my meaning.

Finally we’re out of the hospital, and we’re at the crash site. This for some reason feels like a UNIT story, or even a Troughton story. Nothing wrong with that. When Rose is captured, and we see that scar on her guard’s hand, we know what’s about to come. The soldier’s transformation isn’t as shocking as the first one, but it’s still pretty gruesome. After a little while, things are getting sorted out – via a bit of bickering from the Doctor and Jack, and some musings from Nancy about the Earth’s future. She didn’t know we’d won the war, but her comments did make me think about how war had changed us as a people. But never mind that, this is Doctor Who, remember? Back to the action. The Doctor gives us plenty of Doctor-ish exposition about nanogenes – shades of Red Dwarf – and just as they’re surrounded by “empties” again, Nancy steps forward and faces the truth. The child isn’t her brother, he’s her son. So the nanogenes must learn. Thankfully, they eventually do. And as the Doctor says, just this once, everybody lives! Fantastic!

I’m so glad James Hawes is returning to helm the second series, and that Steven Moffat is contributing The Girl in The Fireplace. I can’t wait for these episodes, on the merit of this two-parter, which comes dangerously close to being the best Doctor Who story of all time. Everything in this story just fell into place perfectly. Acting, script, direction, plot, pacing, humour, horror, suspense, music, lighting, art direction… like I said at the beginning, this time, God got it right.

Just this once.

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 clichйd, 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.

Coupled with the initial chapter, "The Empty Child", this has been, for my money at least, the strongest story of the series so far.

To give a little background, I am someone who enjoyed Doctor Who as a child (excluding the McCoy era) but am not well versed in the 'expanded universe' of books, audio stories etc. So my review is based purely on one factor - enjoyment.

My first comment is how well paced the whole story was. "Aliens of London" and "World War 3", as the series' first two-parter, seemed to sag in places and was padded out with a lot of unneccesary Slitheen self-congratulation - not to mention fart gags. Don't get me wrong, I love fart gags, but not in Doctor Who. I digress however. The new two parter didn't let up for a second, the script was lean but detailed and the direction was spot on. As we have come to expect with this series, the characterisation was excellent, but never overplayed as it was, at least in my opinion, in "Father's Day".

Visually this two-parter was hard to fault, from the Nanogenes through to Captain Jack's cloaked ship, everything looked perfect, and the central character of "The Empty Child" played brilliantly on the strange alien qualities of the WWII gas mask. The child himself was the stuff of nightmares, his incessant "Are you my mummy?" put me in mind of "Red rum" from The Shining, along with various other horror movie stalwarts.

This was also a storyline (and there haven't been many) where the Doctor himself had a chance to shine. It has been disappointing in previous episodes to see him unable to act in the face of danger, but at the start of "The Doctor Dances" he undid all that by acting very decisively and sending the child to it's room. And it didn't end there - his deductions were impressive right until the end, where the seemingly confused strands of plot suddenly, and rather cleverly, were all tied very neatly together. And although I had my doubts about "Captain Jack" at the start, his purpose in the end made perfect sense - a rogue, a conman and an idiot. Everything the Doctor isn't, and the perfect anti-hero to set the Doctor against.

Rose took less centre-stage this time and it was nice to see. Previous episodes have been quite Rose-heavy, and although I have nothing against her, let's face it, the program is called "Doctor Who" and that's who we have switched on the television to see.

All in all, I have enjoyed the series thus far and it seems to keep on improving. I would like to see some more writing from Mark Gatiss - I was a big fan of League of Gentlemen, and I think their warped sensibility is perfect for the new Doctor. In a world of shows like Stargate SG-1 and Enterprise, Doctor Who has to compete on the quality of it's writing and it's English quirks - it's managing to do so admiribly so far, so I hope they keep their collective feet firmly on the gas pedal.

Teenage pregnancy, bisexuality ... 'The Doctor Dances' certainly proves the Doctor's been updated for the 21st Century! The concluding part of the two-parter dials down the tension (though that typewriter was eerie) & adds a good splash of humour (my gizmo's bigger than yours, the two executioners, and of course the leg at the end). Though the plot held few surprises, it was a joy watching the Doctor put the pieces together.

I'm glad Nancy proved key to the puzzle -- not to mention managed to survive being a female bit part around the Doctor. (The foreshadowing of the blond kid in the house removing his gas mask was cool.) With her mix of grief, stoicism & calm courage, she's reminiscent of the Doctor himself. I loved the way she didn't bat an eyelid when Jack's spaceship swooped overhead!

I'm really warming to Eccleston's performance now. His exuberant joy at the end might have seemed a touch over-the-top earlier in the season, but here it feels a perfect response in someone teetering on the edge. At this rate, he's going to be my One True Doctor right about the closing credits of episode 13...

Captain Jack grated less this time round: he's a much more pleasant character when he's not trying to be nice. With his calm response to certain death I suspect it's going to remain the woman's job to do the screaming. I remain intrigued by the three-way situation that's been established. I really don't know how far they can push things, given the audience they're aiming for -- but it's got me at the edge of my seat!

Hmm... Bad bits. Given how well the plot had been set up in the first part, I rather missed the creepy atmosphere of 'The Empty Child', but the most annoying bit was the obtrusive score.

Concluding episodes never quite make the grade of the original, and 'The Doctor Dances' was no exception. Nevertheless, a solid episode.

Wow! Just watched 'The Doctor Dances' and thought it was brilliant. It had me in tears, made my heart swoon and had me laughin in pure joy. This is what the new Doctor Who series about- progressive, spunky and scary all at the same time....I few of my mates who were non DW fans watched the first one and didn’t think too much of it but I'm sure that this episode would have won them back.

Anyway I loved it and thought it was thought provoking and interesting. I was worried that the Sister/mother would have to sacrifice herself or something to that effect and that would have made it too much like the other characters who have had to kill themselves in order to save the universe. Seeing the mother united with her child, Jamie filled me with such joy which was manifold in the Doctor's dance of joy too.

I loved the sexual tension between the characters and it was great fun to see them 'dance' in their respective attractiveness to each other and the viewer. I was also amazed that on national TV there was a sexual ambiguous character such as Jack or maybe not so much that it was on TV but it was on Doctor Who. Being a gay man myself I loved the interaction between Jack and the Doctor and Rose. John Barrowman has movie star cinematic looks and is just perfect as Jack. He will cause both the husbands and wives, daughters and gay men to desire him.

The special effects were also fabulous and Jack's ship was beautiful to look at although I thought that an explosion at the end would have been good. Thought they skimped abit there but it was a good ending and left me grinning from ear to ear.

Also saw the preview to 'Boomtown' and that looks fabulous too with a welcome return of an old foe...but I am not telling....I don't want to get under your skin...