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1.9 The Empty Child (1) Review by Paul Kelly Rose: "Not very Spock, is it? Just asking." Well, Rose finally got to meet her Spock. And kind of went to pieces over him. I'm not gay, but I suspect that if I were (or a woman for that matter), I'd probably go to pieces over him too. Captain Jack Harkness (played by the impossibly handsome John Barrowman) is clearly one fine looking individual. And he's everything the Doctor's not. For a start, he has a sexy space ship... better (not to mention bigger) sonic equipment... in fact, he has all the trappings of a intergalactic hero. Even the way he wears his criminality is charming. The man's damn near perfect. Of course, shame on Rose for falling for him. What is it with her and her wandering eye? Initially she left boyfriend Mickey for the Doctor, a man with whom she has a currently undetermined fascination. Then, in "Dalek," she got all down and flirty with pretty boy Adam. And now, here she is falling for Captain Jack's rather smooth spiel and getting all breathless and panty in the process. I guess geniuses (or maybe genii - do we really care?) and spacemen are Rose's thing. A very atmospheric tale tonight, with some genuinely eerie moments. War-torn London looked pretty spectacular and I enjoyed Rose's barrage balloon antics. But what on earth was she thinking, climbing up some random rope that just happened to be hanging from the sky? And are barrage balloons seriously tethered with just rope? I thought they used big steel cables? Likewise, why did she go after that spooky bemasked child without the Doctor? If I'd seen what Rose has seen these past few weeks I'd be viewing every situation with extreme caution. Nothing is ever as it seems. A lot was said when this season first aired about Russell T. Davies and his supposedly gay agenda. Which makes it kind of amusing that this episode, which introduces us to the overtly bi-sexual Captain Jack, was actually written by Steven Moffat (who at the time of writing this review, is signed up to take over from Russell T. Davies as head writer of Who from 2010 onwards... hurrah!). I don't recall anyone saying that he has a gay agenda. But that's probably because he's not gay. It's amazing how gay writers who write about gay characters have a gay agenda, yet straight writers who write about gay characters are just talented writers. Go figure! Richard Wilson put in a sterling performance too as Dr Constantine. Richard's in just about everything these days. Older British viewers with recognize him as cantankerous old fart Victor Meldrew from One Foot in the Grave, and some of our younger viewers will no doubt recognise him from the current BBC series Merlin... or from new ITV show Demons (where he plays Father Simeon). And I did NOT expect that gas mask to come out of his face! That really wasn't nice at all. Some pretty kewl special effects there. I thought Eccleston made a decent effort too of the comedy in tonight's episode. I'll be honest, I laugh more at his facial expressions than I do his delivery. But his "thanks Miss" quip around the dinner table was both unexpected and jolly. And it was clever of Moffat to include a few digs at Eccleston's facial characteristics ("Do your ears have special powers too?"). That made me feel a little less guilty about laughing at Eccleston's, shall we say, somewhat unusual features. Bits and Pieces: -- The Doctor's response of "I know the feeling" to Constantine's comment about once being a father and a grandfather, is, I'm guessing, a reference to his granddaughter Susan Foreman. She was the Doctor's first companion. -- I probably don't have to mention the significance of the Spock reference. So, in not doing so, I just did. -- The name Chula comes from a restaurant in Hammersmith, where the writers used to congregate to discuss scripts. Billie says... Yes, I'm going to gush about Captain Jack. Because I love him. I'm not at all surprised that the producers of this show fell over themselves creating a spinoff series for him. John Barrowman is one of those actors that just jumps off the screen; he's as charismatic as he is beautiful, and he's remarkably beautiful. A friend of mine described him as a bombshell. And yes, unfortunately, Captain Jack did make the Doctor seem stodgy and older. I wasn't surprised that Rose was literally swept off her feet. Loved the flirtatious psychic paper scene in Captain Jack's ship. I also loved Rose asking Jack for the time while they were suspended in air a couple of feet from Big Ben. Captain Jack was established as bisexual in his first sixty seconds onscreen. Has to be a new world record. And it just works for the character. "Are you my mummy?" started out creepy but quickly got annoying, although the gas mask being fused to the skin managed to get even creepier as it turned out to be catching. I thought it was a great World War II-related way to make people look alien without an actual bug-eyed monster mask or make-up. I also liked Rose in a Union Jack tee shirt hanging from a barrage balloon in London in the middle of the blitz, as improbable as it was. Hey, it was fun. And there was something appealing about those homeless kids stealing a sit-down meal as the bombs were falling. All in all, a great part one that made me more than ready for part two. Quotes: Rose: "What's the emergency?" Doctor: "It's mauve." Rose: "Mauve?" Doctor: "Universally recognised colour for danger." Rose: "What happened to red?" Doctor: "That's just humans. By everyone elses's standards, red's camp." Doctor: "Know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" Rose: "Five days? Or is that when we're out of milk?" Rose: "I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock for once. Would it kill you?" Captain Jack: "Can you switch off your cell phone? No, seriously. It interferes with my instruments." Rose: "No one ever believes that." Nancy: "Something wrong with that?" Doctor: "Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." Doctor: "I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean, a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." Rose: "Okay, you have an invisible spaceship." Captain Jack: "Yeah." Rose: "Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason." Captain Jack: "First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." Dr Constantine: "Before this war began, I was both a father and a grandfather. Now I'm neither. But I'm still a doctor." Doctor: "Yeah. I know the feeling." Captain Jack: "It's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr Spock." (leaves) Doctor: "Mr Spock?" Rose: "What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of 'doctor'? Doctor who?" Doctor: "Nine centuries in, I'm coping." View all comments or post a comment. |
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