Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today, Everybody Lives!

Are you my Mummy?

     This post is dedicated to a classic two-part episode from Season 1 of Doctor Who, and a favorite of mine: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Written by Steve-I'm-A-Freaking-Genius-Moffat, this episode's greatly misunderstood villain has been rightly pronounced The Empty Child.
    
     The premise of this episode is that a large batch of Nanogenes have escaped into Earth's atmosphere. And what are nanogenes, you may ask? They are tiny little beasties that look like particles of dust or light or something, and their function is one of a medical nature, usually healing soldiers and preparing them for battle. However, when they emerge from their "ambulance," the only thing they find is a small child with a gas mask on, already dead. They bring him back to life, and patch him back as best they can; but what do they know of humans? Nothing at all. All they have to go by is a little boy who is looking for his mummy. And that's exactly what they make; a scared, angry, and powerful little boy who will literally tear the world apart looking for his mummy.

One of my favorite things about Doctor Who is that every single episode is quotable! No matter how lame the aliens are, or however thin the plot line, there is not a single episode that doesn't have some classic one-liners, and I'll pay money to the person who can show me an episode from the new series (Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith) where this isn't true. And on that note, here are some fabulous quotes from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances:

"It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room!
...I sent it to its room. This is its room!"


The Doctor: "Funny little human brains... how do you get around in those things?"
Rose: "When he's stressed, he likes to insult other species."
The Doctor: "Rose, I'm thinking."
Rose: "He cuts himself shaving, does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."


"I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."


"I like bananas. Bananas are good."


Hospital Patient: "My leg's grown back! When I came to the hospital, I had one leg..."
Doctor Constantine: "Well, there is a war on... is it possible you miscounted?"


"There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."


The Doctor: "Go, now, don't drop the banana!"
Jack Harkness: "Why not?"
The Doctor: "Good source of potassium!"


"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene."


Jack Harkness: "Who has a sonic screwdriver?"
The Doctor: "I do!"
Jack Harkness: "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks "Oh, this could be a little more sonic!"
The Doctor: "What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"


"Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, everybody lives!!"


This episode was fantastic. I give it 4/5 stars, and I recommend it to all!

1 comment:

  1. I agree that these both were great episodes :) After reading the great quotes that come from it, I think I may have been a little harsh in my only giving it 3 stars. Oh well, maybe I'll go watch it again.

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