Dr Who Series 1: Episode 3 - The Unquiet Dead

Spoilers as usual. Sorry for being late on this one. Homecoming weekend and all that jazz. Couldn't miss out on the festivities.

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Episode 3: The Unquiet Dead

Annnnd we open the show with an open casket. That is never a good sign people. Never… And of course I’m right because then the dead lady has creepy blue floating stuff around her before she opens her super creepy eyes and wanders off [not before killing her son of course]. And we find out there have been more…. These are some pretty shady things going around this morgue dude. Personally, I think he should be a little more freaked out than he is.

Then we go to a shakey TARDIS. Seems the good, ole’ Doctor has less control over the machine than originally speculated in this blog. Either way, they land in 1869 [though they think it is 60’[?] for a little while]. And Rose would attract attention with her outfit. She would be considered the town whore and she really isn’t for our times. So back to the room with all the pretty outfits and picking out one that appropriate… Because everyone knows exactly what people wore in those times… >.> Or maybe it is all labeled.

We bounce back and there are more shady dealings and pushing unwanted demands going about. Then there is suddenly Charles Dickens! Oh snafoozle!

Back to the Doctor and Rose, we see our leading lady putting her first footprints into 1869 snow [though I don’t know how different it is from snow now….]. Lots of fun walking around.

Back to Charlie Dickens’ little show/lecture/whatever. We play the “Can you spot the spooky lady in the crowd” game. If you haven’t played it before, it’s quite fun. There is quite a bit more flashing between the Doctor and Rose and the Charles Dickens’ thing until the converge into one epic thing. There were also carolers… Singing Christmas carols… And yes, I had to put that in there.

It is revealed by the Doctor that the ghost-y things are really gas-y things. And while Rose tries to “save” the old [dead] woman, she is kidnapped [for lack of a better word]. And the Doctor is clearly too enthralled by Charles Dickens to really notice. He is a fan of Mr. Dickens’ works of course. Finally the Doctor puts his thinking cap on and runs to the nearest carriage [AKA Charlie’s] and they start a wild chase for Rose. Not without some demanding on Mr. Dickens’ part though.

We arrive back at our starting point, the morgue of DOOOOOOOM. Rose is trapped in the bad room with two dead bodies while the creepy guy from earlier hides and his worker/servant girl tries to deter the Doctor and Dickens. And of course those bodies become reanimated. And the Doctor saves the day… And finds out the gas things aren’t really what they seem… AKA aliens. And we learn there is a rift [which = a weak point in…something] … On this house/morgue place. Which kind of makes it a haunted house which is perfect for this Halloween time coming up.

Some how, this leads to a happy Doctor and Charles Dickens looking for strings to prove it’s all a hoax. There is also some Rose and servant girl talk. Boys is a pretty universal and safe topic, right? Either way, it leads to Rose being called a wild thing [well, she did decide to go time traveling with a crazy Doctor… Also, cue “Wild Thing” song]. And we learn more about servant girl. A slightly religious girl wanting to go to Paradise with her departed mum and dad. And her power which was eluded to in the beginning… Apparently she can read minds or something. It’s never clarified except she has had this ability as a child and it was probably caused by the rift. Either way, she brings up the fact that Rose’s dad is probably waiting for her too in Paradise. So I little more insight into Rose but still leaves us with questions on that topic…

Of course, all of this leads into a séance [dunno if that’s spelled correctly…]. And the servant girl is in charge. She sees them! She feels them! And the aliens finally get a chance to talk. They need her to make it through the rift and all that jazz… Because their actual bodies were destroyed… IN THE TIME WAR [more about that in the questions section]! Which apparently destroyed many “higher” beings and not so much the “lower” ones.

From here, there is the first mini battle of Rose versus the Doctor. He’s ok with the aliens using the dead people while she is not [maybe because of her father?]. And of course, the Doctor gets it sooooo wrong. After getting servant girl to the arch to let the gas things through the rift, they start demands. Need more bodies, must kill you all, blah blah blah. *insert more hand holding here*

Charles begins to run off but eventually thinks “Oh snap, gas!” And he runs back and helps save the Doctor and Rose. Rose and Dickens run off in the sunset out of the building while the Doctor tries to save the servant girl. Of course, he realizes she already died and clarifies she probably died as soon as she stepped in the arch. But that doesn’t stop servant girl from lighting a match and blowing up the place and the evil ghosts aliens. Booya!

And now we get the hard part… Departing from Mr. Dickens. The writer asks questions that the Doctor cannot answer… Because even the Doctor cannot explain who he is. Cause it’s complicated. End of discussion for now. But he encourages Dickens and tells him his writings last forever! Cause that’s pretty sweet yo. Of course, Dickens wants to write about aliens now but thankfully, he dies soon… Cause that would be bad…

And previews! We wander back to Rose’s time! Dunno if it is soon after she left or what but some bad stuff is going down!

Remaining Questions:

What exactly makes a war a Time War?

Seems like there were definitely other aliens involved, otherwise there would have been no demolition of other "higher" beings. Still no indication of which ones were involved outside of the Time Lords

What happened to Rose's dad?

We are given the knowledge that he is indeed dead. However we don't know the whole story at this point. We also don't know how it may have affect Rose or her [somewhat desperate for a man] mother. There isn't really any indication that his death is important... Maybe he inspired Rose to take opportunities as they come?

Questions yet to be answered:

Who fought in this war that destroyed the Time Lords? What was it all about?

How long has the Doctor been in this form?

How old is Rose?