Tooth and Claw

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This topic contains 18 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by  Rewvian 1 year, 5 months ago.

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  • #27310
    Craig @craig
    Emperor

    I like this. Lots of fun, Tennant gets to be Scottish and for those watching The Mind Robber there’s a nice nod to Jamie: “I’m Doctor James McCrimmon”. Landing in Scotland in 1879 the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria and travel with her to spend the night at the Torchwood Estate. However, a group of warrior monks have sinister plans for the Queen, and the full moon is about to summon a creature out of legend.

    #27322
    The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman

    I really hated Rose in this. Dozens of people are killed throughout the episode and all she cares about is weather or not she wins a bet. She ruins an otherwise decent episode.

    Fun fact: Pauline Collins, the actress who plays Queen Victoria, also played Samantha Briggs in The Faceless Ones back in 1967. She was offered the chance to continue playing the character as a companion but she declined.

    #27333
    wolfweed @wolfweed

     

    The marvellous Martial Arts Monks are a nod to the BBC idents of the time.

    The new Doctor has good taste in music. He could’ve also have played Dury’s ‘There ain’t half been some clever bastards’…

    New Doctor really rates 1979 (The 4th Dr described 1979 as ”A table wine.”)…

    New Doctor is surprisingly(!) good at a Scottish accent, Rose not so much.

    Macrimmon in-joke along with Balamory. Thumbs up.

    Hooray! I find Queen Victoria a very interesting historical figure.

    In our universe the train went further, onto Ballater…

    So far I’m not amused by the ‘Not amused’ joke either.

    A good monster – pushing the horror envelope for a family show.

    The new Doctor licks. He’s a lickety-lick-licker…

    I rather like the sound of The Empire of the Wolf – very steampunk.

    As I’ve said before, Prince George is  a werewolf (check your calendars)…

    #27349
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    I really enjoyed watching this one, after New Earth left me a bit bemused.

    The titles from Tennyson – “Nature red, in tooth and claw”, and there are a fair few other literary references dotted here and there. It’s a nice “Base under siege” story with some marvellous performances in the guest cast. I particularly love Pauline as Queen Victoria. You get the feeling there’s a lot going on underneath the surface with that character behind a carefully constructed poker face.

    Approaching this made me remember Charlie Brooker piece on New Earth in which he was similarly confused, but pointed to this episode with:

    next week’s episode (also scripted by Russell T Davies) involves a much-publicised encounter with a werewolf guaranteed to make easily-spooked kiddy viewers crap their own spines through their bumholes. It’s flipping great (as are Tennant and Piper).

    ..and it’s worth dwelling on how good the CGI here is. It was only a couple of years after The Prisoner of Azkaban movie had featured a werewolf, and here was a TV series looking superior to that. Quite astonishing, and well done to all involved. The trope of the hand reaching down to snatch the unbeliever to his doom really effective here and I can remember my niece jumping a few feet from the floor to that.

    @thekrynoidman To a certain extent, Rose and the Doctor are behaving like a couple of giggling imbeciles on occasion, but they are quite clearly pulled up on it by Victoria. I think that the playing obviously highlights the growing relationship between Rose and the Doctor. If this is a love story between them (which few, I think, would dispute) then this is the stage of the relationship that involves being immensely pleased with yourselves, self absorbed and becoming a touch annoying to your friends. 🙂

    It also highlights that certain over-confidence and pride comes before a fall strand that was developed thoughout Series 2.

    Unless I’m missing an episode, I’m afraid we have Love and Monsters next. Oh dear.

    @wolfweed

    Yes, I love some of the callouts in this. Macrimmon and Balamory especially. Also, the Doctor studied under Dr Bell who, as the supposed basis for Sherlocks Holmes scientific method, reinforces those old links!

    I’m hoping if we return to the Paternoster Gang we can get one really good Victorian Steampunk episode. On the face of it, it’s crying out to be done after tasters in Crimson Horror and Snowmen.

    #27350
    The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman

    @phaseshift
    I believe the Cyberman 2 parter comes next.

    #27356
    Arbutus @arbutus

    I’m struck here by something that I think the AG series has done very well. If you are going to pull off a story with a famous historical character, it’s pretty crucial to cast someone who can absolutely nail the part. DW has done this over and over, with great portrayals of Shakespeare, Dickens, Churchill, and so on. I agree that the queen is beautifully done here.

    I also agree that the “not amused” joke was absolutely embarrassing.

    #27357
    The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman

    @phaseshift Sorry my mistake, Love and Monsters is next.

    #27358
    Anonymous @

    Loved it. I haven’t enjoyed a Werewolf story as much as this since ‘An American Werewolf in London’.

    Agree with others that the ‘not amused’ joke started to grate but it was worth it just to see Queen Victoria reprimand Rose and The Doctor over their childishness.

    @arbutus Yes, the supporting actors have, so far, been brilliant but we’ll come to the fly in the ointment next week* ;). Another great performance of a supporting character from the equally great Pauline Collins.

    I can’t quite remember which episode it was (possibly ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) but there was a telescope in one of the TARDIS’s many rooms. Was it the one (or a replica) from this story?

    * @phaseshift @thekrynoidman – yes, next week’s story should be ‘Love and Monsters’**. RotC and TAoS were written by Tom MacRae.

    ** unless we do a one-off retrospective of Matt Jones’ TIP/TSP (shakes fist at RTD for not writing them)

    #27359
    Anonymous @

    @thekrynoidman – just noticed your correction. Was busy typing 🙂

    #27361
    wolfweed @wolfweed

    @fatmaninabox  The 2 telescopes (& rooms) were similar in style but different.

    z

    #27365
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    @thekrynoidman @fatmaninabox

    Thanks – I had a feeling I’d missed something, probably because RTD wrote more episodes in Series 1, and I suddenly thought “we’re leapfrogging to the end of the series?! That can’t be right!”

    I have to say, again that my own personal favourites for series 2 do tend towards Girl in the Fireplace, School Reunion, and the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit two parter. I think this is probably my favourite RTD episode from series 2, but we’ll see after I’ve watched them all. Next weeks will never see the list though.

    #27372
    janetteB @janetteb

    I don’t have much to add to the above comments. This certainly was one of the better episodes from series 2. It is one of the few that we occasionally re-watch which may be colouring my impression of Rose somewhat. I do like “base under seige” stories and horror always works best in a closed atmosphere. It encapsulates much of what RTD does best.

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #27373
    wheels @wheels

    one of my favourite episodes, pauline collins is very good in this, the pace of the episode is very good to.

    the effects are really   impressive to, the change into the wolf is amazing.

    #27374
    Anonymous @

    Yep @all love the above. The thing I hadn’t caught before was the facial expressions of Tennant; a little but of smug, a little bit of surprise; a little bit of curiosity…and now we’re singing the song…. Anywaaaay,    I too love well done under- siege stories. As for Rose, I dunno, @thekrynoidman I think she was quite compassionate; hell, she showed this in  bucket loads in the episode with the catty nuns!

    I liked the humour between Rose and 10. Collins almost dour, chilliness was an archetype of Victoria. Then we had the non-rational, the primitive: “there is something of the wolf in you” hysteria mixed in with the damp, out of the way manor surrounded by eerie cold country. I liked the chaos (though it was scary), the inexplicable barbarism of the wolf; so the silliness of Rose with Tennant in that “Oh gee I luuuurve you” way acted as a small counterweight, no? Notice, how they are so physically close now and every look and glance is interpreted immediately by the other. It reminded me of the fealty and love expressed by the lord of the Manor to his soon to be widow.

    #27375
    Anonymous @

    Oh boy, I had to Google Steampunk as you had used it quite frequently. I thought it was a josh. Turns out, no, it’s a thing!

    #27376
    ConfusedPolarity @confusedpolarity

    I’m in full agreement with those who find Rose annoying as all Hell in this one – barring the moments down in the cellar when she’s brave enough to question the caged host and has the initiative to try and break the chain, she’s just smug, ignorant and deserving of a damned good slap in my eyes 🙂

    I should add (it’s probably already obvious) that I don’t care for the “Doctor and Rose are in luurrve” theme.  I firmly believe the Doctor has loved all his companions in his own way over the years, without ever turning into some kind of teenage-infatuated Smuggins.

    OK, sorry about that – rant over!

    I genuinely love lots about Tooth And Claw.  The host is properly spooky, the transformation horrifying and the wolf himself (as the Doctor exclaims in a real Doctorish moment) beautiful.  Tennant has some glorious moments through the whole episode – I especially love his reaction in the library “Books! Best weapons in the world!” Also, it’s such a pity he didn’t play the whole series in his own accent; much easier on my ear than the one he adopted instead!

    And as a Second Doctor fan of course I love the “Doctor James McCrimmon” moment.

    The guest actors are terrific – Pauline Collins catches all the authority of Victoria, her overwhelming grief for Albert, and still has a twinkle about her – this is a woman who can be amused, if not by the childishness of certain people around her! Sir Robert, too, is evidence of RTD’s strength in writing character.  He’s completely sympathetic and his death, unlike some “villain fodder” characters, does make an impact, on me at least.

    The deaths are shocking, too; a vision of snapping jaws and some screams are more horrible than any amount of blood and gore as far as I’m concerned.  It’s a shame they had to end the episode with a “Hey, look, we’re so anti-establishment!” tedious gag, but never mind; if I can forgive the whole “not amused” fiasco, I can overlook that too.

    It’s a darned good episode, really!

    Pity Love and Monsters is next on the list: I wouldn’t re-watch that one for the Koh-i-Noor itself!

     

     

     

     

    #44945
    gamergirlavatar @gamergirlavatar

    Tooth and Claw is my favorite season two episode. By bringing a dark atmosphere into a episode, it brought out Doctor Whos dark side. The mood and setting worked fantastic together. Adding a mythical creature into a time where people believed in such monsters made this episode more grounded.

    #73451
    Rewvian @rewvian

    So I had completely forgotten this episode was a thing, and probably only watched it once back in 2010, and not again until just now.

    The opening scene felt like something out of an action movie, with the monks fighting the master of the house and taking it from him.

    I actually enjoyed Rose and the Doctor waiting for Queen Victoria to say she wasn’t amused.  I thought the episode did have some plot holes, and I did find myself wishing they would have gone to the year they originally had intended.

    This episode had a lot of running up stairs.

    The part with the mistletoe having an effect on the werewolf to prevent it from getting close was cool.  Even more cool was the way they got rid of the werewolf using the not-telescope and the diamond.  My question is, so they just defeated the werewolf but there are still monks with guns waiting outside of the estate, right?  Did they just give up?

    Mostly this episode served to show the founding of Torchwood.

    So the next episode, School Reunion, is the first episode in the new series that has no thread.  I remember not liking that episode as much, but it has been ages so I don’t know what I’ll think of it this go around.  I might just post my rewatch thoughts on that episode here if I feel like I need to say anything.

    #73455
    Rewvian @rewvian

    So now I will talk about episode S2 E3 School Reunion here, because there is no thread for it.

    I get that this isn’t a bigger episode, but I think it deserves some praise for bringing back Sarah Jane Smith and K-9, if nothing else.  It served as a backdoor pilot for the Sarah Jane Adventures, or else a cross-over of some sort if that was already airing at the time this episode came about.  I think the plot of the episode was kind of lame, involving the bat creatures that take the best parts of other beings they conquer wanting to reshape reality or whatever using the school kids.

    What I think the best part of this episode was, was showing how Sarah Jane felt after losing contact with the Doctor years ago, how the Doctor feels in regards to his human companions who age much quicker, and how Rose felt seeing the Doctor interact with a former companion.  These are questions that the greater Who fandom probably wanted some answers to before this episode came along, and they got them.

    K-9 pretty much saved the day, and this is the point where Mickey pretty much becomes an official companion, at least for a little while.  I thought it was fun seeing the Doctor act as a teacher and Rose act as a school lunch lady.  I guess that is about all I have to say about School Reunion, but it probably deserves a bit more credit than it got.

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