New Who Review #10

The Doctor Dances

This episode was a nice conclusion to the story. The doctor rose & Jack are all together This time and fight off the Gas Mask Zombies. We get a shocking Reveal that Nancy is actually the mother to the empty Child or as his real name is Jamie. It has a good ending and for the first time Everybody Lives! 10/10

In direct opposition to the classic series, the historical stories from 2005 are firm fan favourites. Not boring and stuffy but an opportunity to tell us universal truths about humanity, to give us hefty emotional stories that make us consider the cultural differences between now and then. It makes sense as the BBC have always been good at period pieces, they look and feel more grounded and impactful. Plus it is Moffat, so there are a bunch of sex jokes. They're good sex jokes though.

The gas mask zombies push body horror further than show has ever experienced before, right up to the line, to scare children witless. There is great pathos as well, because you identify with the mother posing as a sister, the orphans and Dr Constantine. The horrific transformation of characters into insensible child-like beings, before having gas masks pushed out of their faces is an iconic visual seared into the imaginations of my generation.

Moffat is a very clever writer. The most amazing thing about this first script (discounting Curse of the Fatal Death) is that although there is a highly technical explanation to why this plague has spread, it all adds up and explains the events in a natural sounding way. It never jumps the shark as the explanation is seeded so successfully. You are given everything you need to know to work out the solution in part 1, yet it still comes as a satisfying surprise in part 2.

The nanogenes are a great creation. You get your monster of the week in the empty child, but then the driving force of the menace are miniature robots that have been designed to cure acting as a virus. Its a complete accident - there are no baddies.

The lack of bad guys leaves space for the charming and morally ambiguous Captain Jack to take centre stage with our leads. He is so appealing and bounces off/ gets in the way of The Doctor and Rose in a fascinating way. He couldn't be more different from both of them, but slots in beautifully.

Because its such a well known classic I think its easy to forget just how ground breaking and seminal this story is. It sets a high water mark for the rest of the new series to live up to - many series will go by without a story at this level.

📝10/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"The Doctor Dances: Moffat’s Bananas Blitz Brilliance"

Steven Moffat’s knack for clever wordplay shines through with the title of this episode, setting the tone for what’s to come later in his writing career.

The resolution to the previous episode’s cliffhanger is masterful and could only work with Christopher Eccleston’s distinctive portrayal of the Doctor. His sheer confidence and authority bring the moment to life.

The Doctor’s fury at Jack for exploiting the Blitz for personal gain is perfectly in line with this incarnation’s simmering disdain for human folly—though Jack, to his credit, proves more resourceful than most. The growing rapport between Nine and Jack, peppered with their playful banter and comparisons of gadgets, is a highlight of this episode.

It’s also the source of some of the show’s most iconic lines, like “Bananas are good!” and the wonderfully absurd “Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘Ooh, this could be a bit more sonic?’” Both Eccleston and John Barrowman deliver these lines with impeccable charm.

From start to finish, this episode is intense. While there’s room for the occasional sharp joke or tender moment, the overarching narrative remains an exhilarating fight for survival. A standout scene features Rose inviting the Doctor to dance while he’s busy “resonating concrete”—a delightful moment of levity that underscores their growing bond.

This episode’s script has become a treasure trove of quotable moments and memes over the years, cementing its reputation as the stronger half of this two-parter. The stakes continue to rise as the airborne contagion spreads, adding urgency and tension to the climax.

There’s a particularly touching exchange between Rose and Nancy when Rose reveals the Germans will lose the war, offering Nancy a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos. The revelation of the nanogenes as the source of the gas mask plague is a clever twist, transforming a benevolent technology into something terrifying due to a simple error. It’s an elegant example of Moffat’s ability to make the mundane unsettling.

The climactic moments are utterly gripping, culminating in the emotional payoff when the question “Are you my mummy?” is answered. What follows is arguably the Ninth Doctor’s finest hour: his unbridled joy as he exclaims, “Just this once, everybody lives!” It’s a rare and cathartic moment of unfiltered happiness that never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

The episode ends on a high note, saving Captain Jack so he can continue adventuring with the Doctor and Rose. The final scene, with the trio dancing in the TARDIS, is a perfect conclusion, tying the story back to its title and leaving us with a sense of hope and joy that feels well-earned.

Disclaimer: This Review is the exact same, as with my Review on the Episode "The Empty Child". This is because I consider this Two-Parter not only ONE Story, but also consistent in its Quality, which is why I didn't see the Need to write two separate Reviews.

Honestly, is there anything i can add to this? It’s such a perfect story, when I revisited series 1 last year in order, I was fairly bumped out by the first couple of episodes, but episodes like this make this series easily one of the best of the revival (and I say that who tends to prefer classic in many ways). This two parter is wonderful, as many pointed out Florence Hoath who played Nancy was such a good guest star in this “serial”. The Doctor and Rose might have some of their biggest dynamic in here and the addition of jack is lovely (I haven’t seen much of Torchwood yet, but this might just be my favorite use of jack so far).

The ending with 9 embracing the fact that everybody lives in such a time is just stunning, easily my favorite moment of his Doctor. For me nothing can beat “Dalek”, it’s just sooo good, but this is a very close call. Yet another showcase why Eccelston, even through he may seem like a major departure from the previous actors who played the part, still is and always will be an excellent choice. There is a lot I just love about it, really I have a hard time of thinking any negative I have with that Story, just so good!

Series 1 in a lot of ways hasn't aged well, particularly it's first few episodes, but Dalek was when the show started to hit it's stride and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is really where the show begins to demonstrate it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of Classic Who. Carrying on from the cliffhanger ending to The Empty Child we get one of the cleverest and funniest cliffhanger resolutions and it just never loses its momentum. The second half of the overall story is just clever twist after clever twist with some of Moffat's wittiest dialogue and some great back and forth between the two leads and their new ally Captain Jack. This character was a very welcome, albeit short-lived, addition to the team. I've mentioned before that the Child itself is a fantastic villain but I also couldn't help noticing how eerily similar it is to the villain from The Holy Terror, similar idea, similar motive and even the ending itself is a less tragic version of the ending of The Holy Terror. Doesn't take away from my enjoyment, far from it, before the phrase "everybody lives!" would be abused to the point where death means nothing in the show anymore, Moffat gives us one of the show's most feel good climaxes with Eccleston putting in one of his best performances as the Doctor and marks a significant leap in his recovery from the Time War. People debate whether Dalek or this two parter is Series 1's best, while Dalek is utterly brilliant I have to give the edge to this story, it's a complete package of everything I love about Doctor Who and Moffat's earliest writing

Just this once, everybody lives!

A great second part for this story, Rose and The Doctor are reunited and their stories from the previous episode come together to solve this problem. The Doctor and Jack have a lot of fun back and forth, Jack realizes his wrongs and makes the ultimate sacrifice (though he is rescued).

The mystery of the empty child has a satisfying conclusion and in the end everybody who was infected gets to live, a happy ending for all

2025 Rewatch (Post the same review for all parts)

• This story is still a classic, even after 20 years. It's such a high-concept horror thrillride
• Moffatisms galore. You can hear him in his scripts, and I dare say they become a little distracting
• The simplistic use of the gas mask is such a brilliant idea, weaponising something already creepy to make it worse
• Jack seems much rougher around the edges under SM's writing, and I dare say more likable. There's a better twinkle in his eye. It's a shame SM never wrote for him again
• That old woman with the regrown leg is an absolute icon

“Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, everybody lives!”

Has Doctor Who ever had a more triumphant climax to one of it's stories? Honestly, yeah it probably has (there's been an awful lot of Doctor Who stories) but whilst watching this episode it's hard to think of anything more triumphant than Christopher Eccleston, with his big, wide-eyed grin, ecstatically declaring that "Everybody lives!". The Doctor has certainly had bigger triumphs overcoming greater threats, but I'm hard pressed to think of many stories where he manages to save literally everyone. For this Doctor especially, a Doctor so heavily defined by his guilt over the Time War, the people he lost and the lives he took. This triumphant climax not only feels deserved, but genuinely cathartic and maybe even redemptive.

If the rest of this story wasn't up to scratch, that ending alone would likely still make this a beloved episode. But fortunately, the rest of the episode is also great. Which makes this story an undeniable all-time classic.

What's interesting on this rewatch is that as both the first series of the Revival, and the last (only) series for Eccleston, the show had to spend a lot of it's first half establishing the show, and a lot of the second half giving the 9th Doctor a satisfying conclusion to his character arc, as well as giving the series a satisfying narrative conclusion. As such there's not a lot of episodes that are just the Doctor having a fun adventure, without the show also having to establish the larger rules/lore/themes/narrative or character threads etc... Not to say there wasn't fun to be had in the other stories. It's just that the fun adventure stuff, usually had to establish a larger point for the series and it's characters as well.

This story might be the only story in Series 1 that is just a fun adventure, and what a fun adventure it is. Despite the stakes at play and the scary 'monster', the opening set piece in the hospital is often thrilling, and the banter between our 3 main heroes is a constant delight. It's easy to see how Captain Jack so quickly became a fan favourite. John Barrowman is such a charasmatic presence. His toothy charm and playful energy works so well set against Eccleston's grumpy, northern disposition. Their attempts to one up each other to impress Rose is a lot of fun, and you can see them impressing each other to some extent as well. Even though the Doctor is angry with Jack for the chaos he's accidentally unleashed, you have no issue believing that the Doctor would want to save Jack by the end, and allow him to travel in the TARDIS.

It seems weird to talk about how fun this episode is, when it's usually considered first and foremost to be a scary Who episode. But just because the script and the characters are fun, it doesn't mean the stakes feel lessened or that this episode can't have some good scares. I mentioned in my previous review how good I think the design of Jamie is. It's so simple yet effective, and the "Are you mommy?" phrase is so utterly creepy. The scene in Jamie's room with the tape player, is so well constructed that I expect some kids may have been sent cowering behind the couch because it's a genuinely tense in how it plays and scary in it's reveal.

As mysteries go this one is also great. I love that the first episode basically gives you all the pieces to solve the mystery. I mean it's unlikely that you were going to, because the mystery requires in universe knowledge and some sci-fi logic to solve. But everything that's needed to make the reveal make sense has been well established already. I love that there isn't a villain per se in this episode. Just Nanogenes, little computers that heal people, but don't understand what a human is and the first one they encounter is basically a scared, dying little boy who wants his mum. So proceeds to remakes all people in this image because it assumed that's what human beings are. I think both the reveal and the solution are incredibly satisfying.

The solution of course brings us onto Nancy. I love that Nancy isn't trying to be some hero. She wants to know what happened to Jamie, but mostly she's just trying to survive another day (along with her gang of orphans). That's the reality for her living rough during the Blitz. It's just how to make it to tomorrow. She's pretty much expecting to die soon, because how could anything survive this war. She has no problem believing Rose is from the future, but struggles to believe that Rose is from a future London and isn't German. The world looks to be ending  when she sees the war happening around her. Her world feels like it's ended since she lost Jamie, but at the end she can see a future again.

Nancy is secretly Jamie's mother (not sister) and when she embraces Jamie at the end, it makes not only for a lovely climax for her personal story, but makes sense as a solution. The nanogenes analyse both of them together and can see that their genes are similar enough to figure out that she's his mother, and that her DNA is how humans should correctly be remade. Simple, elegant and a wonderful end to the characters arc, which sets up the most triumphant of endings to the narrative. Still one of my absolute favourite stories in all of Doctor Who.

This is a two-parter that absolutely maintains its quality throughout. With well-balanced horror-adjacent hijinks and the tender message of “Just this once, everybody lives” at the conclusion, this sticks out as such a strong and memorable story.

Absolute cinema my nephew says this is the best episode of the show he’s watched ever (he’s only watched like 20 eps bless)