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Some good bits in this one, but it didn’t feel very original and that brings the score down for me.
I loved Sneed, the undertaker. Right from the start, with his “Gwyneth! We’ve got another one!” and “She was 86 – she can’t have gone far!” And later, when the Doctor tells him the aliens are from “Up there” – and he says, “Brecon???” Lovely character.
I liked Rose understanding why the Doctor can “never stay still” when he’s got all of space and time to choose from to visit.
I loved the first mention of the TARDIS's wardrobe and Rose’s outfit and hair – she looked beautiful. The shot of her stepping out of the TARDIS and making a footprint in the 1869 snow with her elegant stocking and shoe was wonderful.
I’m not really sure about Dickens. I remember squealing at them meeting Dickens, and Dickens being played by Simon Callow, all the way through on my first viewing, but this time I didn’t feel like squealing. I quite liked the idea of Dickens thinking he knew everything and discovering he didn’t, but the Scrooge-esque transformation at the end (and especially the final “God bless us, every one”) felt rather forced. I did like the Doctor being his No. 1 Fan, though. The Doctor’s done quite well in meeting his literary heroes the last couple of years, hasn’t he? Dickens, Shakespeare, plus a mention of J K Rowling…
I’m not too sure I like the aliens in the gas pipes/dead people part of the story either. It was quite neat trying to have a ghost story (in Victorian Cardiff with Charles Dickens around) and explain it in a sci-fi way, but zombies aren’t something I’m very interested in. I did like the twist that the Gelth were trying to invade, though.
I liked Christopher Eccleston more again this time. Especially the Doctor standing in the corner chuckling at Dicken’s disbelief and Rose’s attitude, and near the end his face when he thinks Rose is going to die because he brought her there.
Rose did her bonding with the servants thing again – yep, she’s the human! Nice scene with Gwyneth and I liked the gradual revelation that Gwyneth had the Sight. (Plus the first – I think – reference to the ‘Big Bad Wolf’.)
Nice touch that in the séance Gwyneth says the Gelth are the last of their kind. Yet another reference to the Doctor being the last of his, and a deliberate playing on his sympathies.
And a wonderful farewell gift the Doctor gives Dickens – “My books. Do they last?” “Oh yes.” “For how long?” “Forever.” Just about the best thing any author could hear.
Notes
I wonder if them arriving in Cardiff, 1869, instead of Naples, 1860, was really an accident or if the TARDIS is actually drawn to trouble in any nearby place/time. It was also interesting that the Doctor later said that time was in flux (because of the Time War?) and history can be rewritten. Maybe that’s why they were drawn there?
The undertaker’s house is apparently right on the Rift, the thinnest part being in the morgue. (This is why Gwyneth, who was taken in by Sneed when her parents died when she was twelve and had therefore grown up right on the Rift, had the Sight.) I wonder if this house – or at least, this site, as the house was blown up – is going to feature in Torchwood?
I just discovered that ‘Redpath’ (who must have been the old lady’s grandson who was mourning her and then got killed and transformed by her) was played by Huw Rhys who was Kite in Mayo! Might have to go back and have another look at that, because I did not recognise him!
Oh, and Zoe Thorne did the voice of the Gelth, and was also one of the voices of the spheres in The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords.
And how different does Eve Myles look here? The curly hair round her face makes her look like a completely different person – I don’t think I recognise her if it wasn’t for the gap in her teeth!
6.5/10
I loved Sneed, the undertaker. Right from the start, with his “Gwyneth! We’ve got another one!” and “She was 86 – she can’t have gone far!” And later, when the Doctor tells him the aliens are from “Up there” – and he says, “Brecon???” Lovely character.
I liked Rose understanding why the Doctor can “never stay still” when he’s got all of space and time to choose from to visit.
I loved the first mention of the TARDIS's wardrobe and Rose’s outfit and hair – she looked beautiful. The shot of her stepping out of the TARDIS and making a footprint in the 1869 snow with her elegant stocking and shoe was wonderful.
I’m not really sure about Dickens. I remember squealing at them meeting Dickens, and Dickens being played by Simon Callow, all the way through on my first viewing, but this time I didn’t feel like squealing. I quite liked the idea of Dickens thinking he knew everything and discovering he didn’t, but the Scrooge-esque transformation at the end (and especially the final “God bless us, every one”) felt rather forced. I did like the Doctor being his No. 1 Fan, though. The Doctor’s done quite well in meeting his literary heroes the last couple of years, hasn’t he? Dickens, Shakespeare, plus a mention of J K Rowling…
I’m not too sure I like the aliens in the gas pipes/dead people part of the story either. It was quite neat trying to have a ghost story (in Victorian Cardiff with Charles Dickens around) and explain it in a sci-fi way, but zombies aren’t something I’m very interested in. I did like the twist that the Gelth were trying to invade, though.
I liked Christopher Eccleston more again this time. Especially the Doctor standing in the corner chuckling at Dicken’s disbelief and Rose’s attitude, and near the end his face when he thinks Rose is going to die because he brought her there.
Rose did her bonding with the servants thing again – yep, she’s the human! Nice scene with Gwyneth and I liked the gradual revelation that Gwyneth had the Sight. (Plus the first – I think – reference to the ‘Big Bad Wolf’.)
Nice touch that in the séance Gwyneth says the Gelth are the last of their kind. Yet another reference to the Doctor being the last of his, and a deliberate playing on his sympathies.
And a wonderful farewell gift the Doctor gives Dickens – “My books. Do they last?” “Oh yes.” “For how long?” “Forever.” Just about the best thing any author could hear.
Notes
I wonder if them arriving in Cardiff, 1869, instead of Naples, 1860, was really an accident or if the TARDIS is actually drawn to trouble in any nearby place/time. It was also interesting that the Doctor later said that time was in flux (because of the Time War?) and history can be rewritten. Maybe that’s why they were drawn there?
The undertaker’s house is apparently right on the Rift, the thinnest part being in the morgue. (This is why Gwyneth, who was taken in by Sneed when her parents died when she was twelve and had therefore grown up right on the Rift, had the Sight.) I wonder if this house – or at least, this site, as the house was blown up – is going to feature in Torchwood?
I just discovered that ‘Redpath’ (who must have been the old lady’s grandson who was mourning her and then got killed and transformed by her) was played by Huw Rhys who was Kite in Mayo! Might have to go back and have another look at that, because I did not recognise him!
Oh, and Zoe Thorne did the voice of the Gelth, and was also one of the voices of the spheres in The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords.
And how different does Eve Myles look here? The curly hair round her face makes her look like a completely different person – I don’t think I recognise her if it wasn’t for the gap in her teeth!
6.5/10
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