"Doctor Who" The Empty Child (2005)

Director:

James Hawes

Writer:

Steven Moffat (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

21 May 2005 (Season 1, Episode 9)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The emergency signal from an out-of-control timeship lands the Doctor and Rose in the middle of London in World War II...

Plot Keywords:

Gas Mask | Man With No Name | Renegade | Anti Hero | Telephone Box

Cast

Christopher Eccleston	...	Doctor Who
Billie Piper	...	Rose Tyler
Kate Harvey	...	Nightclub Singer
Albert Valentine	...	The Child
Florence Hoath	...	Nancy
Cheryl Fergison	...	Mrs. Lloyd
Damian Samuels	...	Mr. Lloyd
John Barrowman	...	Jack Harkness
Robert Hands	...	Algy
Joseph Tremain	...	Jim
Jordan Murphy	...	Ernie
Brandon Miller	...	Alf
Richard Wilson	...	Dr. Constantine
Noah Johnson	...	The Empty Child (voice)
Dian Perry	...	Computer (voice)

Runtime:

45 min | 45 min (50 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Barry Steam Railway, Plymouth Road, Barry Island, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Trivia:

When Captain Jack mocks the Doctor and Rose for their out-of-place outfits ("Flag Girl was bad enough - but U-boat captain?"), he is actually spot on - the Doctor's leather jacket is in fact a vintage 1938 German U-boat commander's jacket.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: There were no tape recorders - a major plot device on-screen - in the UK during the Blitz. Ironically, these had been introduced in Germany only at this time.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rose Tyler: What's the emergency?
The Doctor: It's mauve.
Rose Tyler: Mauve?
The Doctor: Universally recognised colour for danger.
Rose Tyler: What happened to red?
The Doctor: That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings! All those red alerts, all that dancing.

Movie Connections:

References "Star Trek" (1966)

Soundtrack:

Moonlight Serenade

Good Production Values But Not The Masterwork Claimed

It's impossible to mention this two part story without discussing its popularity within DOCTOR WHO fandom . This was the most popular story from season one and some fan forums included surveys that considered the Eccleston series as the twenty seventh season where The Empty Child /The Doctor Dances is considered one of the top three greatest Who stories to have been broadcast since the show's inception in 1963 . I have to disagree because it's nowhere that good

Looking at the good points you genuinely believe The Doctor and Rose have visited 1941 London . Imagine this being produced in the old series where we'd see a closed camera in close up trying and failing to convince us that the Tardis has travelled back in time ( Also watch Dalek invasion Of Earth and Frontier In Space for failed futuristic equivalents ) and the production team deserves much praise for the night filming . Can anyone else name a location based story that took place entirely at night ?

Where the story fails in some places can be attributed to writer Steven Moffat , a scriptwriter who has a large fan base but a writer who I have never warmed to . In every story this series there's a line which previous producers would never have got away with , in this one there's two lines , one where a young boy makes blatant assertions to have been abused by a paedophile while another insinuates that one of the supporting characters is gay . There's also a bit too many easy escapes for the heroes: " Go to your room ! "

All in all a fairly good story which casual viewers will remember as " The one during the Blitz " but for more hardcore fans it will be remembered as one of the high points of British television since its creation and I'm something at a loss to know why