Episode 003: The Unquiet Dead

This is a cool episode. It's the episode that locked me into Doctor Who in the first place. It does a great job of combining creepy sci-fi with history and drama, and there's a bit of actual science in there too. Part of what I love about this show is that it actually makes sense a lot of the time. I saw a commentary thing tonight that explained this perfectly. They were talking about how everything that happens, things you blame on tricks of the light or something like that, are actually the work of aliens.

"The stiffs are getting lively again!"

It has a nice dose of humor in it, too. Little hints and tricks to things like that TARDIS. Little bits of sci-fi thrown in, but not at you so that it overshadows all else.

But, right, the plot of the episode. All in all, it's a simple idea. It's Cardiff, there's a rift in time and space...which basically means that funky things happen there. Aliens and objects fall through, messages, , images, and just... stuff. These evil aliens are taking over human corpses, living off all the gases decomposing bodies create, and they want to take over the world. And there's a bit of Charles Dickens in there. And some Christmas. Rose dresses up all fancy, since it's 1860. It's her first trip to the past, and after the shock of the last episode, what with the Earth exploding and all, this is a nice, light, and balanced episode.
                        

"Ready for this? Here we go. History."

I also feel like this is Rose's first proper trip as an excepted companion. She and the Doctor both know that she's here to stay, and they're ready to experience whatever 1860 has in store for them, and by Jove, they're going to enjoy it no matter what.

And it's always nice to see Billie Piper all dressed up and whatnot.


Anyway, a few moments into their adventure, the Doctor grabs a newspaper and, oops, he's got it wrong. They were shooting for 1860 Naples, but they're actually in 1869 Cardiff. But, well, that's the TARDIS for you.

The Doctor and Rose get all wrapped up in everything happening, as they do, and they manage to communicate with the aliens and they beg for help. Charles Dickens is just kind of chilling out at this point. Mostly just an old, cynical and lonely old man out of ideas to write about and unbelieving of the wonders that keep playing out in front of him.

And then there's the maid, Gwyneth, who keeps displaying some more than slight psychic abilities. She freaks Rose out a bit. But it's handy when they contact these aliens.

This is a really lovely scene here, in my opinion. A lot happens. You have Dickens still denying the possibility of such things as ghosts and the supernatural, you have the Doctor just asking him to be a part of it, Sneed in nearly silent awe, and Gwyneth making the link and being possessed by the Gelth. They explain themselves, they beg for pity. And they ask to come to the Earth to make use of the dead, soulless bodies after the time war destroyed their own physical forms and devastated their homeland.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth!"

Rose protests, but she can't say why. The Doctor shuts her down, telling her that being polite means nothing because it could save the lives of the Gelth. She protests more for a bit, and she may never agree totally, but I think it's when she learns about abandoning her own mindset. The Doctor tells her to get used to different moralities or go home, and I think it hits her hard, even if it isn't focused on too much. It's her first taste of an alien concept on her own planet. The suggestion of changes that would be felt 200 years later in her time. Changes that would affect the whole progress of the human race.

And that little mention of the Time War. That says a lot. The Doctor shifts- you can see his guilt. Rose and him share a brief moment, but it is only a beat, and I think that's important. And I like that it's just a mention.

And... Charles... he's finally a believer.

 So they go along with the Gelth's request. They establish the bridge and, well, a "few" Gelth turned into a "few billion" Gelth. 

Doctor: I trusted you! I pitied you!!
Gelth: We don't want your pity! We want this world and all it's flesh.
Doctor: Not while I'm alive.
Gelth: ...Then live no more.

 They start possessing people, Charles runs off because it's just too much for him to take, Rose and the Doctor lock themselves in a little cell...thing. All seems lost.


Except there's clever Charles. Opening the gas, drawing the Gelth out of the bodies before Gwyneth, already dead and just hanging on, sets them all aflame. And Rose just doesn't understand. She wanted to save Gwyneth so much.

"She saved the world. A servant girl. And no one will ever know."

That is a huge theme in this show that is just absolutely beautiful. Wonderful. Perfect. The Doctor, this great and powerful, clever alien who knows so much more than we can imagine... and a little person, a "nobody", if you will, saves the world. I love that.


Charles Dickens is a new man, too. A new motive for life. And when he asks if his books last. And the Doctor tells him "Forever". So cute.


Very classic episode, in my opinion.