28.04: The Girl in the Fireplace

[Dave]

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Writen by Steven Moffat
Directed by Euros Lyn

Cast:
David Tennant (Doctor Who)
Billie Piper (Rose Tyler)
Sophia Myles (Madame du Pompadour)
Ben Turner (King Louis)
Jessica Atkins (Young Girl)

The story takes place in 18th century France and features Madame de Pompadour.

[PTeppic]

I liked it.

The 'start part way through and work in various timelines till you catch up to "present" thing' works even better in time-travel setting like Doctor Who than the various other places I've seen it recently (like MI:III this afternoon).

Sophia Myles was, of course, superb as the elegant, educated, charming yet ambitious Mme de Pompadour (aka Reinette), giving her some excellent interaction with Rose towards the end.

Yet a new talent for the Doctor I don't recall before.
Some sort of mind probe, being able to enter someone's mind and memories - even if it does work in reverse for the attentive

For Rose/Mickey it was little more than a "get into trouble and wait for the Doctor to get them out" episode, with most interaction being Doctor/Reinette. Not a problem so long as not overdone.

Possible continuity thing, though no doubt easily mitigated(!):
The TARDIS ability to translate French continued through the time windows, okay, I can get that. But also afterwards when the Doctor smashed the mirror and was stranded with no working time window.

And, more importantly(?), next week: Cybermen (and Roger Lloyd Pack)

[Dave]

I also liked it, though it was a bit of a departure for more recent Doctor Who. The clockwork robots, the heart wired into the ship's electronics and the ship needing the head of it's namesake was very surreal, and I think you have to go back maybe even as far as the Patrick Troughton years for similar weirdness. It reminded me of Jeff Noon novels for some reason.

Originally posted by PTeppic
The 'start part way through and work in various timelines till you catch up to "present" thing' works even better in time-travel setting like Doctor Who than the various other places I've seen it recently (like MI:III this afternoon).

I agree with that. It didn't work for me in MI:III.

Mickey didn't 'scream like a girl' this week. He seemed to have the coolest head when they were about to have them sawn off.

Originally posted by PTeppic
Possible continuity thing, though no doubt easily mitigated(!)

I think he probably has that power anyway, without the Tardis, or maybe he learnt French before. At least they made an effort to address the problem. They rarely have before, I mean how far does the Tardis's power extend? And they ran all over Paris in episodes such as 'City of Death'.

Originally posted by PTeppic
And, more importantly(?), next week: Cybermen (and Roger Lloyd Pack)

I was a little uncertain about the return of the Cybermen. The Daleks have Time Travel and can come back again and again, but the Cybermen have literally been done to death. This actually looks good though!

[PTeppic]

Originally posted by Dave
It didn't work for me in MI:III.

A bigger problem for me is that it's been done to death recently... although that's a non-trivial and unpredictable distribution due to more factors than are relevant... thinking of a couple of episodes of Firefly, for a start... probably at least one of Lost, too.

[obcooke]

Ah, I have discovered an even greater problem with the story.

In the beginning, The Doctor talks to Reinette through the fireplace - 30 seconds later he travels to Paris to find that his conversation with the girl was "weeks ago... that was months". (A fact that The Doctor convienently forgets later when he tells Reinette to pack her bags, he'll be right back.)

Later when Micky & Rose are captive and The Doctor attends a party, MIcky says that The Doctor's been gone "for flippin' hours"!?!?

How is that possible? If the time differential is constant AND (for easy math) let's say 30 seconds equals two months - in one hour, that's 240 months of Paris time or twenty years. That's one helluva party.

Besides that time puzzle, I have to say, having seen some six episodes ahead that this is, by far, the best episode of the season - IMHO.

[obcooke]

[Originally posted by PTeppic: The TARDIS ability to translate French continued through the time windows, okay, I can get that. But also afterwards when the Doctor smashed the mirror and was stranded with no working time window.]

Well, after all, the translation trick is a new invention and when you open it up inside it says -

Everybody speaks the King's English, so just quit going on about it all right?

(Or do you say Queen's English when women reign?)

No, I mean, semi-seriously - If you're trying to figure the rules of the TARDIS, I think you have to eliminate The Doctor from the translation equation.

According to The Doctor, who is prone to exaggerate, in The Parting of the Ways, he says he's got 5 billion languages.

And at the beginning of this episode when asked if that really was Paris, The Doctor says that not only was she speaking French, but it was the correct French for that era. So he must have heard her in French.

Come on, its The Doctor, of course, he knows French. Remember when he was stuck on Earth in the Seventies?, remember UNIT? Surely if he didn't know our languages before he would have learned them all then, after all, the language lesson is a history lesson on the native people. And why use a translator when you can speak directly?

[Robertbert]

Oh fercrap'ssake...It's only a story...More importantly, its a Doctor Who story...In what universe does a Who story ever make sense? :-D ...Time-Flight anyone?...

I watched this GITF one again over the weekend...And loved it again!!...Stephen Moffat rocks!!...

Looking forward to next years' story from him...

[Loner]

Ha ha! You're right Robertbert. Most Dr Who episodes have a plothole of some kind. If you're going to get all nit-picky you'll miss the good bits!

I mean according to the Dr, the time lag was caused by a loose connection which he fixed (with the sonic screwdriver, of course! ) when he "rebooted" the fireplace and yet there was still time-lag. It's a plot device. Get over it.
I found the ending trite. That kind of silly twist at the end reminds me of Red Dwarf (Our Rob or Ros/Ouroboros, anyone?)
But I will still watch the Doctor every week like a big old sci-fi geek!

It's a good episode but for me it still doesn't beat The Empty Child from Eccleston's reign. "Are you my mummy?" *shiver* Ooh, creepy.

[Robertbert]

I think the funniest mistake was that you can see the green of the spaceship in a corner of the fire before he re-connects it...But that's just a minor thing!!...Aaaand, Yeah he should never have been able to talk in real-time through the fire anyway if when you go away from it months pass...Doesn't make sense...But do I care?...Hell no!!!...Love it!!...

[Paradox 99]

I think that the idea was that the portal was eratic. For short periods of time it would remain stable, enabling communication and transportation, but occasionally it would leap forward months or years. I guess it could have been like that on purpose - the ship was trying to locate the exact time it needed.

[lordoftime]

good episode but terribly sad at the end. Seems the new series doesn't mind making its viewers go from one emotional ride to another. was a bit overkill I thought. but everything else about the story was terrific. especially the Doctor, seemingly intoxicated, returning to the ship in time to whack the robot things. And seeing Micky get his first real trip in the Tardis was awesome.

[Loner]

Originally Posted by lordoftime

And seeing Micky get his first real trip in the Tardis was awesome.

Ha! Yeah that was hysterical! "Don't move from this spot!" And what do they do? The look on Mickey's face when he picks up the gun! And when he sees the eyeball-camera! Priceless!

[lordoftime]

Yeh he and Rose went off to, shall I say it, horse around, while the Doctor was working. I liked Micky's wide-eyed enthusiasm for getting a spaceship on his first try!

[dustinzgirl]

This was the worst episode ever. I didn't even sit through it because it made no sense. Is Dr. Who gaining in power and loosing his analytical/logical capability? Or do the new writers just not get it?

My review = Yuck.

[lordoftime]

and who are you to pass such judgement?