What happened?
The Doctor and Martha arrived in 1599, England, to see Shakespeare and his plays at the Globe in all their glory. Unfortunately a trio of Carrier Knights, very much like witches, have orchestrated the construction of the Globe to be a spot where a portal can be opened to free the rest of their race from their other-dimensional prison. With Shakespeare’s play, his words, being used as a means of unlocking the prison it’s up to The Doctor, Martha and Shakespeare to prevent it from happening.
Thoughts
I wasn’t enthused about this episode, but it proved rather enjoyable. The constant Shakespeare quotes, and running joke of The Doctor feeding ‘Will’ his most famous lines (paradox alert!), I did find somewhat tiresome, though. Clearly the writer of this episode knew his Shakespeare, both in work and in history, and many of the remarks felt like a kind of breaking of the fourth wall.
Like, for example, Shakespeare simultaneously flirting with both Martha and The Doctor, to which The Doctor quipped about a certain number of scholars being pleased. The in-joke being that speculation about Shakespeare’s sexuality has been pondered through various obscure references in some of his sonnets. That kind of thing breaks the suspension of disbelief for me.
Same goes for the use of Harry Potter-speak “Expelliarmus” at the end of the episode. “Good old, JK!” exclaimed The Doctor; such moments just totally snap me out of what’s going on and make me think of a scriptwriter being referential and communicating too directly with the audience.
But that’s just me. Maybe other people love all that. I don’t.
The monsters of the week for this episode were reasonably otherworldly whilst retaining a Shakespearean vibe, the three witch creatures calling to mind Macbeth (I felt certain a reference would show up and hammer that point and was rather happy it didn’t/couldn’t and was left more subtle). Not sure why they were called Carrier Knights, or quite what they were all about, but they served their purpose.
The interplay between Martha and The Doctor ticked along here. The episode started with him discussing how this was to be her one and only trip away with him, but there was no mention of that being the case as things were wrapping up. Of course she’s going to be around for a while yet so there’s no danger of that really happening, though I must say that The Doctor’s obliviousness of her is a little off.
I liked how Shakespeare observed the two of them, recognising the age in The Doctor’s young eyes and how Martha looked at him with a sense of surprise that he even existed. The show doesn’t quite have the energy to relive that sense of new excitement it once took the time to allow Rose to experience, but at least Martha was there to question cause and effect and consequences of time travel. The Doctor seemed wholly unconcerned with it, mind, which is probably subject matter that shouldn’t undergo too much scrutiny.
Doctor Who doesn’t quite subscribe to the ‘whatever happened, happened’ theory of linear time and yet allows whatever changes and alterations are made in history to not have a lasting effect on what has occurred. Perhaps earlier shows, years ago, thrashed out the specifics of the nature of cause and effect for The Doctor. Me? I’ll just go along with it.
Something of a one-off episode then, on which a Doctor Who series is mostly comprised of. Enjoyable enough as some light entertainment on TV but nothing really meaty to chew over in the grand scheme of things.
What was the best part?
I did like the bedroom scene with The Doctor and Martha. He very nonchalantly presented her with the option of sharing a cosy bed with him. Once she was in it all her sense of suggestion, about how small it was, went right over his head. I guess the point being made here is that The Doctor just can’t get passed Rose, can’t even see Martha as anything like an equal – and so when he talked about her it was the equivalent of slapping Martha across the face!
What do I think will happen next?
From this episode there were really only two potential ‘threads’ that I suspect will be either picked up again or continue to be pulled on. The first was Queen Elisabeth I showing up, hating The Doctor. Almost certainly this indicates an episode will feature her and result in her displeasure! The other was Martha and her evident attraction of The Doctor. Not quite sure where it’s come from so fast (the one kiss in the previous episode – must have been a heck of a kiss!) but The Doctor is so far ignorant of it to the point of obnoxious. Can’t he see that Martha is way hotter than Rose!?!
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