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July 25 2008
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Dan Owen reviews
Broadcast on BBC1, Saturday May 21st, 2005
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Synopsis: London, 1941, at the height of the Blitz. A mysterious cylinder is being guarded by the army, while homeless children, living on the bombsites, are being terrorised by an unearthly child... The Empty Child is another classic slice of British science-fiction, helped immensely by the same production values employed in the Dickensian The Unquiet Dead – the BBC just can't be matched for authentic period costuming and set-design. The fact everything looks realistic gives the entire episode the kind of believability and polish other episodes just can't match. 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.
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...
Review copyright © Dan Owen, 2005.E-mail Dan Owen
The following is a list of all the Doctor Who content reviewed to date : 2008 Series 30, Episode 13 - "Journey's End", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 12 - "The Stolen Earth", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 11 - "Turn Left", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 10 - "Midnight", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 8 - "Silence in the Library" (part 1 of 2), by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 7 - "The Unicorn and The Wasp", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 6 - "The Doctor's Daughter", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 5 - "The Poison Sky" (Part 2 of 2), by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 4 - "The Sontaran Stratagem" (Part 1 of 2), by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 3 - "Planet of the Ood", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 2 - "The Fires of Pompeii", by Dan Owen 2008 Series 30, Episode 1 - "Partners In Crime", by Dan Owen And the Audio CDs : 2000 04: The Land of the Dead 2000 06: The Marian Conspiracy 2000 10: Winter for the Adept 2000 12: The Fires of Vulcan 2000 14: The Holy Terror 2000 15: The Mutant Phase 2001 16: Storm Warning 2001 18: The Stones of Venice 2002 28: The Chimes of Midnight 2002 30: Seasons of Fear 2002 31: Embrace the Darkness 2002 35: ...Ish 2002 39: ...Bang-Bang-A-Boom!
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:
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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...
