Tooth and Claw
Dec. 22nd, 2014 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatThis is another story that has improved on second viewing, or perhaps on viewing with NLSS Child.
RTD liked to cultivate the idea that most of the Doctor Who stories during his tenure started out as random words. He'd imply that he'd phone Stephen Moffat (say) up and say "Clockwork robots, Madame de Pompador" and then wait and see what happened. I have my doubts about this, if only because most of what Davies says about himself and the way he works comes across as a performance in and of itself. In this case the three words were, apparently, "Werewolf, Kung-fu monks, Queen Victoria". Tooth and Claw has a reputation as one of the weaker stories and think it is because the Kung-fu monks, in particular, do not integrate well with the rest of the story.
NLSS Child liked them though. She was telling me all about them as they appeared "they wear red robes to hide all the blood", she explained (sometimes I wonder a bit about all the anime she watches with Tame Layman). Although they are totally out of place in the story, and basically unused after the opening fight sequence, they were a familiar hook that pulled her into the adventure and into the Tenth Doctor in a way his previous two outings hadn't.
NLSS Child proceeded to enjoy all the joking around with Queen Victoria. Pauline Collins gives an excellent performance, conveying the complexity of her reactions to the Doctor and Rose, almost from the outset and NLSS Child picked up on that, talking about what she must be thinking about them.
Meanwhile, once you strip out the pointless monks, the rest of the story has a nice sense of place and atmosphere, seizing its opportunity to go all out for Victorian gothic horror and it works well. Arguably part of the reason the early Tom Baker seasons worked so well, was because they used the gothic horror formula so often and it, in general, manages to be pleasantly scary, and nicely visual, without needing to be particularly graphic or unsettling.
The monks remain largely pointless set-dressing but they actually participate so little in the story that it is easy enough to ignore them, and then there is much here to enjoy. A slice of gothic Doctor Who, somewhat in the Tom Baker tradition, with a strong central guest actor adding weight to the whole thing.
RTD liked to cultivate the idea that most of the Doctor Who stories during his tenure started out as random words. He'd imply that he'd phone Stephen Moffat (say) up and say "Clockwork robots, Madame de Pompador" and then wait and see what happened. I have my doubts about this, if only because most of what Davies says about himself and the way he works comes across as a performance in and of itself. In this case the three words were, apparently, "Werewolf, Kung-fu monks, Queen Victoria". Tooth and Claw has a reputation as one of the weaker stories and think it is because the Kung-fu monks, in particular, do not integrate well with the rest of the story.
NLSS Child liked them though. She was telling me all about them as they appeared "they wear red robes to hide all the blood", she explained (sometimes I wonder a bit about all the anime she watches with Tame Layman). Although they are totally out of place in the story, and basically unused after the opening fight sequence, they were a familiar hook that pulled her into the adventure and into the Tenth Doctor in a way his previous two outings hadn't.
NLSS Child proceeded to enjoy all the joking around with Queen Victoria. Pauline Collins gives an excellent performance, conveying the complexity of her reactions to the Doctor and Rose, almost from the outset and NLSS Child picked up on that, talking about what she must be thinking about them.
Meanwhile, once you strip out the pointless monks, the rest of the story has a nice sense of place and atmosphere, seizing its opportunity to go all out for Victorian gothic horror and it works well. Arguably part of the reason the early Tom Baker seasons worked so well, was because they used the gothic horror formula so often and it, in general, manages to be pleasantly scary, and nicely visual, without needing to be particularly graphic or unsettling.
The monks remain largely pointless set-dressing but they actually participate so little in the story that it is easy enough to ignore them, and then there is much here to enjoy. A slice of gothic Doctor Who, somewhat in the Tom Baker tradition, with a strong central guest actor adding weight to the whole thing.
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