‘Doctor Who’ blogging: “The Empty Child”

Ah, Steven Moffat, our new Doctor Who overlord: this is the first episode by him. And this is the first appearance of Captain Jack Harkness. I don’t mind telling you, when I first heard that the Doctor was getting a new companion, long before I ever saw this episode, and I went in search of pictures online of the actor who would be playing him, I gasped when I saw John Barrowman. It wasn’t this image:

but the effect was similar: he literally took my breath away, he was so beautiful, but in such a masculine way. I probably looked a bit like Rose, when she first lays eyes on him:

It’s such a perfect introduction we get to Jack, so beautifully setting the stage for who he would be, as a character, but also who he would be as a sort of cultural icon. We’ve never seen a character like Jack before in pop culture: he’s so manly while so unapologetically gay (or perhaps omnisexual but mostly leaning toward gay -- we’d see later that he’s fallen in love with at least one woman, but it’s clear here that he’d have no trouble at all seducing Rose... and enjoying it). It’s impossible to imagine any homophobic moron impugning Jack’s masculinity: he’s “all man” in a way that we haven’t seen onscreen before, certainly not in anything so popular and with such an impact as this new Doctor Who turned out to have. I have no doubt there are real men like Jack -- we’ve just never seen them in popular entertainment like this before, certainly not in any kind of heroic capacity.

And Jack seems to spread his easy manner to those around him. This guy’s reaction when Jack tells him he has an “excellent bottom,” and gives him a playful smack:

It’s so sweet, how he’s shy but delighted. Hard to imagine that being so open a reaction of a soldier in World War II, no matter how comfortable with himself he was.

Now: Rose. I’m starting to wonder whether the Doctor is starting to wonder if he really did make a mistake in picking this stupid ape of a girl. In what universe is the Doctor “not very Spock”? “I think you should do a scan for alien tech,” she gripes to him. “Gimme some Spock, for once, would it kill ya?” The TARDIS isn’t Spock enough? A trip to the year 5 billion to watch the destruction of Earth isn’t Spock enough? Rose does not appreciate what she has here, and she should stand aside and make room for someone who does.

And what’s this? The Doctor forgets completely about finding the missing Rose when he’s confronted with the mystery of the ringing phone that isn’t a phone. Maybe she’s just not, I dunno, Nurse Chapel enough for him...

God, Stephen Moffat is a genius, though, isn’t he: “Are you my mommy? Mommmmmm-eeeee!” Who’da thunk a little boy calling for his mummy could be so damn creepy?

Random thoughts on “The Empty Child”:

• Sounds like Eccleston’s still not over his cold from “Father’s Day”...

• Dr. John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids? *snort*

• I don’t normally notice the direction on Doctor Who, but this episode is so beautifully shadowy and atmospheric:

Director James Hawes makes it look like a lost Hitchcock movie in places (see that image at the very top of the page, too).

• Is this possibly the least useful drawing ever made?

It looks like a pickle to me. A giant pickle falling from the sky? That’s very classic-Doctor Who, actually...

I guess the Doctor can’t be good at everything.

• I don’t spot any Bad Wolf references in this episode. Did I miss something?

• Still life: Time Lord with Cat (1941):

Aww, the Doctor likes cats...

• I just realized that telephones have been a recurring motif in the new Doctor Who:

It’s sorta funny, considering that the iconic image of the show is a phone box, that that was never the case before. Of course, now we all carry around our phones with us, so they are much more a part of our everyday lives than they ever were before.

• On the other hand, Jack tells Rose to “switch off your cell phone” -- that is, he uses an Americanism; he doesn’t say “switch off your mobile.” So should we presume he has already visited Earth in the very end of the 20th century or into the 21st? He’ll certainly do that later, when he lives his unkillable life from the late 19th century through to the early 21st, but he hasn’t done that yet. Though Jack doesn’t know who Spock is, so he’s not conversant with pop culture of the period, either. But he must have picked up that American accent somewhere/somewhere. Ah, the mysteries of Jack Harkness...

• If Jack has psychic paper, how come he never uses it again (that we’ve seen)? That could be very handy in a tight spot.

• Even Nancy can’t help flirting with the Doctor (all that teasing him about the size of his ears and his nose):

He knows it, too, and that’s probably when he realizes that she’s not as young as he probably first thought she was...

• Talk about creepy: “There was a man there.” That’s all that one little kid needs to say to explain why he ran away from the farm he was evacuated to, and everyone knows what he means. Ugh.

• Great quotes:

“Know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?” --the Doctor
“Five days? Or is that just when we’re out of milk?” --Rose

“I’m not sure if it’s Marxism in action or a West End musical.” --the Doctor, on Nancy’s method for feeding all the street kids (I think it’s a West End musical)

“Never easy bein’ the only child left out in the cold, you know.” --the Doctor
“I suppose you’d know.” --Nancy
“I do, actually, yes.” --the Doctor

(Awww.... c’mere, honey, and let me give you a hug...)

“Dunno what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell outta me.” --the Doctor on the English people

(next: Episode 10: “The Doctor Dances”)