| TOOTH AND CLAW by Russell T Davies |
| Story 13 Synopsis: The Doctor offers Rose a choice of destinations - she chooses Sheffield in 1979. They emerge from the TARDIS to find themselves in the Highlands on 1879, where they meet Queen Victoria's carriage. They are welcomed along on her journey, stopping in at Torchwood House. The Queen's guards are drugged, and Rose is kidnapped, finding herself with the servants, imprisoned with a man in a cage. The Doctor and Queen Victoria realise that monks from the Order of St Catherine have taken over, awaiting the full moon. The man in the cage reacts to the moonlight, turning into a werewolf. Rose rallies the servants to break their chains. The Doctor comes along, urging them all to run. The servants are left safe to try and escape, whilst the Doctor and Rose protect Queen Victoria. Holed up in a library, the Doctor tries to work out how to stop the werewolf from biting the Queen. He realises that the House has been set up as a trap - but not for the Queen, for the werewolf. By using a huge telescope, and the Koh-I-Noor diamond that the Queen carries with her, he focuses the moonlight to zap the werewolf to nothing. A grateful Queen knights the Doctor, but then banishes him and Rose from the Empire. She decides to build an Institute at Torchwood to counter alien threats, such as the Doctor. |
| Review:- So once again, famous historical figure meets supernatural horror... but it's far from a retread of The Unquiet Dead, despite the similarities. RTD has spoken that Queen Victoria is a worthier historical person to meet on the show because people already know what she looks like. Rubbish, of course, but credit is due for casting Pauline Collins in the role, who brings her character to life. The secluded castle setting is by-the-book stuff, but it works very well, and the simple narrative impulse to avoid being caught by the wolf creates a tremendous sense of drama. With no obvious weapons, the Doctor has to piece together the clues to find a way to save the day... The action starts with a pre-credit sequence that doesn't feature the Doctor, but does set up the takeover of the estate. When the Doctor and Rose appear, it seems time has passed since New Earth, so presumably (and given events started here) there is a gap for the TDAs there, as well as any other stories fans might want to write. Very considerate. They seem to be expecting Sheffield, 1979, and find themselves accidentally off course. These errors would be more explicable if the Doctor didn't spend 95% of the time being sure he'll get to places, and being right to be so confident. The occasional lapse looks like the exception, not the rule. Then they meet Queen Victoria, and begin a subplot about talking Scottish, and a bet to make Her Majesty say "we are not amused". This childishness does at least lead to a worthwhile pay-off. When the Royal guards are drugged, and Rose is then placed with the servants together with the mysterious Host, the drama begins to escalate. Talk of werewolves piques the Doctor's interest, unsurprisingly, and he realises trouble is afoot. Luckily, Rose has already rallied the other prisoners to break their chain, just in time for the moonlight to do its magic. And then, the chase is on! The pace is frenetic, but that helps create a sense of pace, of panic, of drama. When trapped in the library, there are questions for the Doctor, puzzles to solve, riddles to crack. Always on the move, physically or mentally. The Order of St Catherine, the trap within the trap, the diamond and the faulty telescope, all the pieces given, and then put together by the only person who knows how - it's easy to see why this story has received a lot of praise. But it's not all good. The cursory criticism of royalty at the end seems rather too much like a writer making a point for themselves, as did the attacks on belief systems. And the whole subplot of making Queen Victoria say "we are not amused" is not funny even once. Having said that, this is only a judgement from the story on its own merits. There seems a suspicion that the cocky attitude of the Doctor and Rose will come back to haunt them later in the series, so it would make more sense if that were true. The sledgehammer-subtle references to the spin-off series Torchwood is more overt scene-setting. But time will have to tell. On the whole, this is a pretty exciting story, worth seeing. |
| Disclaimer: I have watched this story. |