(717) The Idiots Lantern

The Idiots Lantern is the second story from Mark Gatiss and having been impressed with The Unquiet Dead, I watched this in 2006 wanting this story to be just as good. The story sees the Doctor and Rose arrive in 1953 just in time for the Queen’s coronation. At first they think they are in New York to see Elvis but it wouldn’t be Doctor Who if things went smoothly and I’m sure even in 2006, the budget wouldn’t stretch to filming in New York. Despite just being a face on a TV screen, Maureen Lipman is a fantastic villain. She performs in a way which is quite chilling and disturbing. Not many people would be able to pull this off but credit to Maureen Lipman for being one of the best villains in the series (behind the Cybermen and John Lumic) so far.

I love how the Doctor has fun at Eddie Connolly when Eddie thinks that his wife should be putting up the bunting and the Doctor replies by asking him if he thinks the Queen should be putting up the bunting. The Connolly family is quite interesting and Mark Gatiss deserves credit for this. Eddie is the breadwinner of the family yet treats his family in a less than ideal way and by the end of the episode he has been chucked out of the house.

I am quite impressed that they have managed to make the streets look like 1950’s London instead of 2006 Cardiff. They pulled this off in The Talons of Weng-Chiang but most of that was at night whereas in this story it’s mostly in the daytime. Another that is impressive is the effects of creating faces without any features.

There’s a bit towards the end where the Doctor is trying to stop Magpie and the Wire from finishing their plan and he has to climb the TV antennae and you would have thought that he would have known better considering how his fourth incarnation ended. That said having watched Doctor Who Confidential, I saw how this scene was filmed and it does mean that some shots look less impressive as a result.

This doesn’t quite have the same quality as The Unquiet Dead but there are things in this story that I liked. I thought that the fun factor returned between the Doctor and Rose and the idea of the TV taking people’s faces is one that works brilliantly. After the dark tone of the previous story, this episode brought a lot more humour and brightness that was needed. Gatiss has written a story that uses a historical event and manages to make a story fit around it. Euros Lyn does a lovely job in directing. There are a lot of shots filmed at an angle and I quite like this.

Now that I am around the halfway mark of David Tennant’s first series, I can say with confidence that I like David Tennant’s performance as the Doctor. It’s confident and Tennant has the ability to switch between funny and serious easily and is believable in both. Billie Piper has gone down in my estimation as she has become far too indulgent. The character of Rose wants the Doctor to herself but wants to have Mickey at her beck and call. The issue with the series has been that there haven’t been many standout episodes. The Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel two parter is the best story of this series with Tooth and Claw being the best single episode of this series. The rest of the series has been good to watch but lacks that spark that the previous series had.