Synopsis
In a Victorian funeral home, a man stands over the body of his dead grandmother. She suddenly reaches up and chokes him before leaving the house.
Mr Sneed the undertaker and his servant Gwyneth set off after her. Gwyneth uses a psychic ability to trace the dead woman, and learns that before she died she had planned to attend a recitation by Charles Dickens that night.
Dickens is in the middle of his performance when some sort of gaseous form escapes from the dead woman and starts flying around the room. The audience exit in a panic.
The Doctor and Rose arrive in this time period, which they discover is Cardiff, Christmas 1869, despite the Doctor aiming for Naples in 1860. They hear the screams from Dickens’ recitation and investigate further.
Rose sees Sneed and Gwyneth loading the dead woman’s body into a hearse and tries to stop them. Sneed knocks her out and bundles Rose into the hearse as well and they return to the funeral home, followed by the Doctor who has commandeered Dickens’ carriage.
Rose is locked in a room with two corpses, who come alive and start moving towards her. By this time, the Doctor and Dickens have arrived at the funeral home and rescue her. One of the corpses asks for help, saying that the rift must be opened.
The Doctor explains that a rift is a weak point in space and time which enables a connection between two different places. Upon learning about Gwyneth’s psychic ability, he says that it’s the result of her growing up on top of the rift and he asks her to hold a séance.
At the séance, Gwyneth makes contact with the beings inhabiting the dead bodies who reveal that they are a race known as the Gelth. They lost their physical bodies in a war and the only way of surviving is to make use of human corpses.
Gwyneth agrees to help, and they all gather in the weak spot in the rift, which is in the morgue. Gwyneth makes contact, and the Gelth begin to come through the rift.
Things take a turn for the worse when the Gelth announce that there are actually a few billion of them and that they intend to take over the Earth. The reanimated bodies attack their would-be saviours, killing Sneed.
Dickens manages to escape and, after seeing one of the Gelth seek refuge inside a gas lamp, realises what to do. He begins filling the house with gas from the mains, in order to draw the Gelth out of the bodies.
Gwyneth is unable to send the Gelth back through the rift, so she instructs everybody to leave and then lights a match. The gas ignites, and the house goes up in flames.
The Doctor and Rose say goodbye to Dickens and return to the TARDIS. After seeing it disappear, Dickens walks off, wishing a passerby a merry Christmas.
Comments
When Doctor Who was created back in the 60s, the idea was to alternate science fiction stories with historical ones. This would give the show an educational aspect and was probably a budget-saving mechanism, as costumes and sets from BBC period dramas could be reused.
It didn’t take long before it was discovered that the science fiction stories had a greater appeal than the historical ones, both with the viewers and those working on the show. As a result, purely historical stories were dropped, and any stories set in the past would now have some science fiction elements.
The first historical episode of the revival is no exception, with the Doctor and Rose taking a trip to Victorian era Cardiff, where they encounter Charles Dickens. I don’t know if previous episodes have featured historical personages, but the third season of the new Doctor Who sees William Shakespeare making an appearance.
One interesting thing about this episode is that the Doctor doesn’t actually do much. It was Dickens who realized that they could use the gas, and it was Gwyneth who ultimately destroyed the Gelth.
I don’t know what it was like in the past (although I suspect it was similar), but this is a trend throughout the new Doctor Who – it’s not always the Doctor who saves the day. While he may be responsible for events alone the way, often it’s someone else who provides the final touches.
This may be as a result of it being a British show. If Doctor Who were an American creation, I suspect we’d see him being responsible for most of the events that occur.
Sometimes episodes of TV shows can touch on interesting points of discussion, although they may not be the main focus of the episode. Here the issue is the fate of the dead bodies.
Obviously, we should treat people with respect while they’re alive, but should that same courtesy extend to their bodies once they’re dead? When you think about it, a dead body is one of the most useless things around and is there any reason to treat it any differently from another inanimate object.
Personally, I don’t really care what happens to my body once I’m dead, as it’s not as if I’m going to make use of it again. But I guess that there are some people who may feel differently.
Anyway, back to the episode and the regular check on the Bad Wolf. Hopefully you were paying attention to Gwyneth and Rose’s conversation, in particular when Gwyneth said that Rose had seen the “Big Bad Wolf”.
The other, less cryptic, bit of information was that the Gelth were affected by the Time War. Given that the Time Lords were involved in a war, there’s a good chance that it was that one.
Could the Doctor’s involvement in the war mean that he is more willing than normal to help the survivors of the war? Would he have acted any differently if he hadn’t been involved in the war that devastated the Gelth?
Ah, what fun it is speculating the motives of fictional characters.
Quotes
The Doctor: Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, it's the fifth door on your left.
The Doctor: Fan! Number One Fan, that's me.
Dickens: How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?
The Doctor: No, it means 'Fanatic', devoted to. Mind you, I've gotta say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what was that about?! Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit.
Dickens: I thought you said you were my fan.
The Doctor: Ah, well, if you can't take criticism...
Gwyneth: I'm sorry, sir, we're closed.
Dickens: Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule.
Dickens: What the Shakespeare is going on?
Dickens: This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.
The Doctor: Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium.
The Doctor: This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?
Sneed: That would be the Morgue.
Rose: No chance you were gonna say 'gazebo', was there?