So after going into the future in the previous episode, its
times to go into the past. I think that there is one thing that the BBC do well
and that is period drama and they showed in The Talons of Weng Chiang that they
can do it well and in 2005 this was still very much the case. The pre-title
sequence is a rather scary and amusing scene. An old woman is dead but comes to
life and there is a little bit of comedy from the undertaker who is trying to
close the coffin but is being stopped by the newly resurrected woman. The old
woman coming towards the camera is something that is still impressive no matter
how many times I have seen it in the last 10 years.
Mr Sneed (Alan David) is a rather amusing character and with
the subject of death being at the heart of the episode, the humour is needed.
David plays the character really well and its hard to dislike him even he has
put chloroform over Rose. Eve Myles appears in this episode as Gwyeth and
watching back then no one could have known just how much of a part of the
Doctor Who world Eve Myles would become. I like the character of Gwyenth and
think that she was the best of the supporting characters.
Charles Dickens is the first historical character to feature
in Doctor Who. Dickens is played by Simon Callow and it’s incredible to think
that someone of Callow’s calibre being in the show. Especially when there was
no guarantee that the show would be welcomed back. It’s a great performance
from Callow from start to finish. He brings a new side of the writer that I don’t
think I had seen before. He is rather sorry for himself and by the end of it he
has become a new man. When the Doctor tells him how his books will be received
it’s almost too much for him. The fact he gets to end the episode is a nice
touch as far I was concerned.
I love the scene where the Doctor realises that he is riding
in Charles Dickens’ carriage. He is pretty much tripping over his words. Things
get a bit awkward when the Doctor tells him to shut up. They make up a few
moments later where the Doctor seems to try and make Dickens feel a bit better
about himself.
Rose and Gwyneth form a nice friendship. It’s Gwyneth who
uses her ‘special gift’ to bring the first significant mention of Bad Wolf. It’s
fun when Gwyneth is describing what she can see in Rose’s head about modern day
London and it’s her reaction to how people are dressed really shocks her. The
Bad Wolf mention is what really effects Gwyneth and it’s from this moment that
her part of the story really becomes relevant.
A monster/creature living in gas form is something that
could have only worked in the new series. It would have been a rather poor CSO
had it been done before 2005. The effect of the girl that appears in the séance
is one of the highlights of this visual effect. The Gelth come across as first
as a race that have fallen on hard times and want to use the dead bodies as
vehicles which causes some conflict between Rose and the Doctor. Although as
was inevitable, they start to turn of the Doctor and the other when they get
into the human bodies. There’s a bit where all the dead are trying to get
through the cage door in a way that reminds me of countless scenes in The Walking
Dead. I like how its Charles Dickens and Gwyneth are the ones that save the
day. Gwyneth gives her life to stop the Gelth.
I did like this episode although I must confess that I haven’t
enjoyed it’s as much as I have done in the past. Three episodes in and the
reboot still feels like it’s in a honeymoon period. It’s a story that is
written with a nice mixture of humour and gothic and there will be more Gatiss
scripts but I don’t think that it will have the visual loveliness that this one
has. I am looking forward to the next episode because it’s the first two parter
of the new era.
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