Steven Moffatt's script is briskly paced and suitably atmospheric. Again, as
with "The Unquiet Dead", there's a level of maturity balanced by the more
frivolous aspects to the story - as when Rose meets American time-traveller
Jack Harkness. Hopefully, Harkness's role in the story will be sufficiently
explained in part two, as here it comes across as a little at odds with the
main story's sinister tone. Moffatt provides some genuine chills in the form
of the titular Empty Child, a gas-mask wearing youngster with a dangerous
touch who's stalking London's homeless kids.
Christopher Eccleston looks right at home with the tone of the story –
which deftly introduces moments of light comedy (writer Moffatt is more
famous for his sitcoms than sci-fi horror) and again gives The Doctor a
lightness of touch, yet without compromising his serious side. Eccleston
is, basically, settling into the role perfectly now – it's just a shame he's
four episodes away from his swansong...
Billie Piper is somewhat pushed into the background, thanks to being handed
the silly end of the two plot-strands, but performs competently enough. John
Barrowman is given a somewhat clichéd all-American hero character to sink
his teeth into, and decides to underplay the character to good effect. It
will be interesting to see his Captain Harkness clash with The Doctor,
hopefully, particularly over the affections, and admiration, of Rose...
The supporting cast are also to be commended, particularly all the child
actors – but in particular Florence Hoath as Nancy, the motherly teen who
cares for street kids by feeding them leftover meals belonging to families
cowering in their air-raid shelter. Likewise, an all too brief appearance by
Richard Wilson as Dr Constantine is quite memorable – as is his eventual
fate...
The visual effects are generally very strong throughout the episode; with
moments of London being bombed by German planes a particular highlight. The
blue-screen effects during Rose's trip via barrage balloon, or her encounter
with Harkness near Big Ben, don't quite work however - but those sequences
are thankfully quite brief. The production design and costuming is, as
already mentioned, beyond reproach and truly sells the episode to the
viewer.
Overall, another very strong episode of Doctor Who that ranks alongside "The
Unquiet Dead" for its measured and layered approach to storytelling. Events
build very neatly throughout, and there are some genuinely unnerving moments
(mournful cries of "Mummy... mummy...Are you my mummy?" will be haunting
the nation's kids tonight!)
Hopefully part two will live up to the high benchmark set here...
Next Week: The adventure continues in The Doctor Dances with Captain
Harkness helping The Doctor and Rose to solve the mystery of The Empty
Child...
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Christopher Eccleston looks right at home with the tone of the story –
which deftly introduces moments of light comedy (writer Moffatt is more
famous for his sitcoms than sci-fi horror) and again gives The Doctor a
lightness of touch, yet without compromising his serious side. Eccleston
is, basically, settling into the role perfectly now – it's just a shame he's
four episodes away from his swansong...
