Who Review: The Unquiet Dead

Having taken Rose on an adventure in the future, the Doctor whisks her to Earth’s past–specifically, Naples in 1860. But that’s not where the TARDIS ends up. Instead, the Doctor and Rose find themselves in Cardiff, on Christmas Eve, 1869. Just as they’re getting ready to explore, a loud scream draws them to a theater where Charles Dickens is giving a recital of his short story, “A Christmas Carol.” It seems the deceased residents of a nearby funeral parlor have been walking the streets, controlled by a mysterious blue vapor. One of those residents, a fan of the celebrated writer, has turned up at the recital and is causing a scene. As the Doctor and Rose attempt to investigate, Rose is captured by the director of the funeral parlor. The Doctor makes the acquaintance of Mr. Dickens, and together they race to Rose’s rescue, finding themselves at the heart of the ghosts’ lair: a rift in space and time upon which the funeral parlor was built. The ghosts aren’t specters, but bodiless aliens looking for hosts. And they are prepared to take Earth’s dead to suit their needs…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

“Pity the Gelth!” cry the helpless, gaseous beings from a distant planet, and the Doctor and Rose fall for it in this, Rose’s first trip back in time, and the first story by a guest writer: Mark Gatiss. It’s long been known that the BBC excel at period costume dramas, which always served Classic Who well, and it seems to continue to serve New Who. The sets are perfect, as are the costumes, and the whole atmosphere of the piece. The interesting twist is the fact that this is Victorian Cardiff, not Victorian London, as is so often depicted in historical dramas. (Okay, so it was actually filmed in Swansea, but it’s Swansea pretending to be Cardiff.) Perhaps not much difference to the untrained eye, but a nice shout-out to the city that gave birth to the Doctor’s re-birth.

Of course, if you’re going to do a historical, you want someone notable from the past to make an appearance. Victorian Christmas almost demands that person be Charles Dickens, and what a marvelous Dickens we have in Simon Callow, who both looks the part, and plays him superbly. Not that I know what Dickens was like, but I could believe Dickens was like this–and that’s what counts. But the great author is not just there for historical decoration; he plays a decisive role in the story. Indeed, the world is saved by Dickens and Gwyneth, the maid. Dickens has the bright idea to draw out the Gelth, who are using the gas system to travel, by opening up the gas pipes, coaxing them out into the open. And Gwyneth, who was born on the rift, and hence the perfect bridge for the Gelth between their world and ours, allows herself to be the conduit, and then gives her life by igniting the gas, thus destroying the malicious aliens.

Perhaps the dodgiest idea of the story is that of the vaporous Gelth making use of gas pipes to get around, especially when we see them zipping about the air near the beginning. Why do they need the pipes, exactly? Stealth doesn’t seem to be a major part of their M.O., since they re-animate dead bodies and walk them around the streets. In fact, they seem to want the bodies so they can go around killing people to create more dead bodies to occupy. A kind of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” And since they’re already dead, there’s not much anyone can do to stop them, so why do they need to hide?

The Gelth claim they lost their corporeal form as a result of the Time War. In the last story (“The End of the World”), the Doctor told Rose his planet was destroyed in a war. Now the Gelth give that war a name for the first time, though we aren’t told at this point that they’re referring to the same war. The Doctor sees no problem with the Gelth using the bodies of the dead, since the dead don’t need them. Rose, of course, raises the objection that the dead deserve respect and dignity. The Doctor simply shuts her down claiming a “different morality,” and Rose should “get used to it or go home.” His offer to the Gelth of temporary use of the bodies is, perhaps, a compromise. But this is, again, I think, another glimpse at a harsher, darker side of the Ninth Doctor’s personality. Of course, Rose is right–the dead deserve respect, and the Doctor has no right to make decisions for human beings when he isn’t one himself. Rose agrees to letting the Gelth use the bodies, as long as it’s only temporary, but it becomes a moot point. The Gelth aren’t interested in rebuilding their old world and crafting new bodies; they want Earth and its dead. When that reality comes to light, all bets are off, and the Doctor stands with the human race against the Gelth. The moral dilemma is cut short, but it was raised. And it’s an interesting question to ponder: why do humans give such dignity to their dead? The animal world doesn’t care what happens to the corpses of their dead. Deer, hedgehogs, and squirrels don’t hold funerals for their fallen. I believe it has something to do with being created in the image of God–but without that worldview, how does one explain this concern for the bodies of the deceased? Something to ponder… 🙂

The special effects in this episode are very well done. I particularly like the way the Gelth take on a gaseous human form when they communicate, and the zombie make-up is very effective. Gwyneth’s use of “the sight” gives her character another dimension. How being born on the rift gave her such insight is not exactly obvious, but it does allow her to comment on Rose’s world, and cry out in horror, “The big bad wolf!” Naturally, Rose is confused… but she won’t be by the end of the season!

These are the kinds of stories, well acted, and with a proper budget behind them, that we hoped to see from a Doctor Who re-boot. Definitely worth watching.