2.2: Tooth And Claw
Synopsis: 1879, rural Scotland, the Torchwood Estate. An unholy order of werewolf-worshipping monks have infiltrated the house and have marked Queen Victoria as a target. She will be bitten and transformed, to further the influence of the wolf.
Sir Robert, master of the Estate, nervously spends the evening talking about his father and the Queen's consort, Prince Albert, and how they built a giant telescope together, and told werewolf stories. The monks and the wolf attack, and amid the chase the Queen pulls the Koh-i-Noor diamond from her pocketbook. She explains that her husband kept having it cut to perfect it. The Doctor concludes that Robert's father and Prince Albert laid a trap for the wolf, in the form of the diamond and the telescope.
The Doctor rigs the giant telescope (not actually a telescope, but a light chamber) to filter moonlight into the room, magnified through the diamond, and harmful to the werewolf. As the wolf turns back into a young man, he asks to be "let go," and the Doctor obliges, magnifying the light further, and destroying him.
The following day, the Queen honours the Doctor and Rose, then bans them from her Empire, as they cause trouble and seem to welcome alien life forms into her world. She vows the create an institute named for the Torchwood Estate, which will investigate and fight against threats such as the Doctor poses.
Golden Comic Moment: Upon being questioned by the Scottish gendarmes, the Doctor puts on a Scottish accent. Following is lead, Rose says, "Och, aye. I've been oot and aboot..." to which the Doctor responds with, "No, don't do that... no really, don't. Really." It begins as mere advice, but becomes a command out of annoyance.
Each of the three lovely ladies who travel with the Tenth Doctor have a moment such as this, in which they attempt to adopt the manner of language of the place and time of their arrival (Martha in The Shakespeare Code and Donna in The Unicorn and the Wasp). They do so quite clumsily and the Doctor is forced to tell them, irritatedly, to stop it. And they all react in very much the same way as Rose does here: to look at the Doctor, offended, and wonder why they can't, but he can.
It's funny the first time because there is an element of "the third wall" being broken. Rose's imitation of the accent is so horrendous and stereotyped as to be offensive, and we wonder if we are seeing a bit of a nod to David Tennant's Scottishness as the Doctor tells her, "No, don't do that." After that, it's funny merely because it harkens back to this moment, and serves as a cute, light reminder that the Doctor is well-travelled and he hates "starting from scratch."
Golden Fangirl Moment: There's no point in denying it: David Tennant makes us squee. And part of the reason for this is that accent. Sure, it's kind of hot when Sean Connery trots it out and mildly amusing on Craig Ferguson, but... on David? Well, you get the idea. To hear it come from his lips while he's onscreen playing the Doctor, well. What can we say? We're so fangirly right now, we can't find the words to continue...
Cringeworthy Moment: Rose's running gag in this story is that she is trying to get the Queen to declare that she is "not amused." When finally she says it, Rose responds with a self-satisfied "Yes!" because she has won a bet. The Doctor's reaction is one of bemused resignation.
But it is not a moment to be taken lightly, because it may be this moment when Queen Victoria definitively decides to create Torchwood, which would have dire consequences for the Doctor and Rose, not so very far from now. Again, their pleased-with-themselves playfulness flies in the face of everything, and ushers them into disaster.
Golden Moment: Queen Victoria is enigmatic and larger-than-life. An entire era of history, an attitude, and a way of life have been named after her, and her stoicism is legendary.
So, it might go without saying that the coolest thing about this episode is the Queen, because Pauline Collins does a truly outstanding job of humanizing her, making her flesh and blood. She is the impetus of this story - she drives the conflict and her memories of her husband drive the solution. At dinner, when the Doctor asks if she misses her husband, she muses upon the appeal of ghost stories and how they give us hope of having contact with our loved ones, silly though it may seem. Then she says, "It is the Creator's greatest mystery that we are allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait." These lines are so beautifully written, so concise and so expertly delivered that they stand at the heart of the episode. They display the conflict/solution relationship, and they make the Queen incredibly human.
The Doctor sums it up nicely at the end: "Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving no message from the great beyond. I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, ma'am, from beyond the grave."
Why I Beg To Differ: DWM reckons that the Golden Moment is when the Queen shoots the head monk. Their reasoning lies in the fact that death is commonplace on Doctor Who for incidental characters, but the twist of having the very prim and proper Queen Victoria do the killing is a genuinely surprising twist.
Though we beg to differ, it is telling that it can be agreed upon that moments revealing of the Queen's character are considered Golden. Yes, her dispatching of the enemy is indicative of her mettle, but in a story about a boy whose humanity has been stolen, and seeks to steal that of the Queen, we argue that the Queen's humanity is more important than her gutsiness. Nothing is more human than frustration and grief, and her lovely lament says it all.
Sir Robert, master of the Estate, nervously spends the evening talking about his father and the Queen's consort, Prince Albert, and how they built a giant telescope together, and told werewolf stories. The monks and the wolf attack, and amid the chase the Queen pulls the Koh-i-Noor diamond from her pocketbook. She explains that her husband kept having it cut to perfect it. The Doctor concludes that Robert's father and Prince Albert laid a trap for the wolf, in the form of the diamond and the telescope.
The Doctor rigs the giant telescope (not actually a telescope, but a light chamber) to filter moonlight into the room, magnified through the diamond, and harmful to the werewolf. As the wolf turns back into a young man, he asks to be "let go," and the Doctor obliges, magnifying the light further, and destroying him.
The following day, the Queen honours the Doctor and Rose, then bans them from her Empire, as they cause trouble and seem to welcome alien life forms into her world. She vows the create an institute named for the Torchwood Estate, which will investigate and fight against threats such as the Doctor poses.
Golden Comic Moment: Upon being questioned by the Scottish gendarmes, the Doctor puts on a Scottish accent. Following is lead, Rose says, "Och, aye. I've been oot and aboot..." to which the Doctor responds with, "No, don't do that... no really, don't. Really." It begins as mere advice, but becomes a command out of annoyance.
Each of the three lovely ladies who travel with the Tenth Doctor have a moment such as this, in which they attempt to adopt the manner of language of the place and time of their arrival (Martha in The Shakespeare Code and Donna in The Unicorn and the Wasp). They do so quite clumsily and the Doctor is forced to tell them, irritatedly, to stop it. And they all react in very much the same way as Rose does here: to look at the Doctor, offended, and wonder why they can't, but he can.
It's funny the first time because there is an element of "the third wall" being broken. Rose's imitation of the accent is so horrendous and stereotyped as to be offensive, and we wonder if we are seeing a bit of a nod to David Tennant's Scottishness as the Doctor tells her, "No, don't do that." After that, it's funny merely because it harkens back to this moment, and serves as a cute, light reminder that the Doctor is well-travelled and he hates "starting from scratch."
Golden Fangirl Moment: There's no point in denying it: David Tennant makes us squee. And part of the reason for this is that accent. Sure, it's kind of hot when Sean Connery trots it out and mildly amusing on Craig Ferguson, but... on David? Well, you get the idea. To hear it come from his lips while he's onscreen playing the Doctor, well. What can we say? We're so fangirly right now, we can't find the words to continue...
Cringeworthy Moment: Rose's running gag in this story is that she is trying to get the Queen to declare that she is "not amused." When finally she says it, Rose responds with a self-satisfied "Yes!" because she has won a bet. The Doctor's reaction is one of bemused resignation.
But it is not a moment to be taken lightly, because it may be this moment when Queen Victoria definitively decides to create Torchwood, which would have dire consequences for the Doctor and Rose, not so very far from now. Again, their pleased-with-themselves playfulness flies in the face of everything, and ushers them into disaster.
Golden Moment: Queen Victoria is enigmatic and larger-than-life. An entire era of history, an attitude, and a way of life have been named after her, and her stoicism is legendary.
So, it might go without saying that the coolest thing about this episode is the Queen, because Pauline Collins does a truly outstanding job of humanizing her, making her flesh and blood. She is the impetus of this story - she drives the conflict and her memories of her husband drive the solution. At dinner, when the Doctor asks if she misses her husband, she muses upon the appeal of ghost stories and how they give us hope of having contact with our loved ones, silly though it may seem. Then she says, "It is the Creator's greatest mystery that we are allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait." These lines are so beautifully written, so concise and so expertly delivered that they stand at the heart of the episode. They display the conflict/solution relationship, and they make the Queen incredibly human.
The Doctor sums it up nicely at the end: "Your Majesty, you said last night about receiving no message from the great beyond. I think your husband cut that diamond to save your life. He's protecting you even now, ma'am, from beyond the grave."
Why I Beg To Differ: DWM reckons that the Golden Moment is when the Queen shoots the head monk. Their reasoning lies in the fact that death is commonplace on Doctor Who for incidental characters, but the twist of having the very prim and proper Queen Victoria do the killing is a genuinely surprising twist.
Though we beg to differ, it is telling that it can be agreed upon that moments revealing of the Queen's character are considered Golden. Yes, her dispatching of the enemy is indicative of her mettle, but in a story about a boy whose humanity has been stolen, and seeks to steal that of the Queen, we argue that the Queen's humanity is more important than her gutsiness. Nothing is more human than frustration and grief, and her lovely lament says it all.