Doctor Who (TV Series) The Doctor Dances (2005) User Reviews

A Superb conclusion to the Empty Child

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 12 August 2015]

Historically with the two parters, we get one fantastic part and a let down part, that has gone on for ten years. This was the exception, Part 1 was outstanding at this part was even better.

It starts of in the same very high tempo manor, with a satisfying solution to the cliffhanger. It continues to be even creepier, the patients getting up and walking around are extremely creepy. During all the terror Rose wants to find out if the Doctor dances.

Jack becomes an even more interesting character, his flirty banter was fun, Florence Hoath continues to be superb in it. The imagery is superbly done, and the production values are superb. The ending is particularly good and has some very sweet moments.

This episode is most frightening of the new series

[snoopygirl · 10/10 · 2 December 2007]

Although I've enjoyed most of the new series of Dr. Who it is this episode alone which brought me back to the days of my childhood when I could be genuinely frightened by Dr. Who.

The eerie child beckoning the innocents to zombification on the streets of WWII London will have you checking your doors and window to be sure they are locked. The entire episode seems to take place at night adding even more of a sinister atmosphere.

I was amazed to see this episode was written by Stephen Moffat who's work on Coupling is some of the funniest "brit com" humour of recent years.

Jack's in the Box...

[Xstal · 8/10 · 22 November 2021]

The Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves trapped in various places in the hospital as Gasmaskitis continues to spread, the mummifications causing more than just dread, one touch of mutation and you will get a new head, and while you'll be living you are actually dead. Escaping to gather round the alien vessel (the one that brought them here in the first place), the crowds of inflicted all starting to nestle, can that Nancy conjure up something impossibly special, transcendental, elemental, heartfelt, kind, almost relational? With a bit of help perhaps - heart-warming stuff indeed.

"Are you my mummy?"

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 18 September 2010]

If you thought the fantastic build-up in The Empty Child was something, think again: Steven Moffat ends his first proper Doctor Who story with a magnificent payoff that exceeds expectations, even in terms of "horror", cementing his reputation as one of the UK's best television writers.

Following up from the previous episode's cliffhanger, the mysterious Empty Child has infected dozens of people in a hospital. The only problem is, the Doctor, Jack and Rose are in the same building, meaning they have to come up with some unusually clever plan to survive, reverse the unearthly epidemic and get back to the TARDIS. After all, London circa 1914 isn't exactly the best place to die, though it sure beats 1869 Cardiff...

Like its predecessor, The Doctor Dances is a masterclass in tension, with some genuine scares served throughout the 45 minutes, although with a healthy balancing act coming from the typically Doctor-like moments of humor. In particular, Moffat uses the scenario (and, to a certain extent, the new Jack Harkness character) to comment on one of the protagonist's less child-friendly sides: the title, and the whole business about the Time Lord dancing or not, is basically a big fat metaphor regarding the sexual chemistry between the Doctor and his companion(s). Naturally, given the BBC's family-oriented seal on the program, things never enter Coupling territory, with the resolution coming off as light-hearted but extremely funny. In other words, vintage Doctor Who.

Scariest Story of the series

[lalawhitet · 10/10 · 17 May 2009]

The first half was great as the acting was intense and spooky. Words I could use to describe the first half:

Scary, frightening, creepy, chilling, terrifying, daunting, bloodcurdling, intimidating, menacing, murky, gloomy, sinister, mysterious, threatening, evil, bleak and unhappy.

At least it had the best ending, nobody died, everybody lived and that was brilliant.

Even up to the end you would think at least one person would die, but no, the Doctor and Rose save Captain Jack and bring him on board.

Brilliant episode.

Another happy landing.

[MrFilmAndTelevisionShow · 9/10 · 17 March 2021]

A perfect ending to this amazing arc. Definitely the most memorable of this particular season. Not much more to say really, it's really great, nuff said.

The Doctor Who we all know and love!

[Otter_ · 9/10 · 13 November 2018]

Honestly, the only reason this doesn't get 10/10 is at times I felt conversations (such as the ending) between Jack, Rose, and the Doctor felt a bit awkward and out of place.

Other than that it was a fantastic conclusion to a compelling story. How lovely the "everybody lives" moment is - really tugs at my heart strings. How anyone couldn't absolutely love the Ninth Doctor is beyond me.

Everybody lives!

[wetmars · 10/10 · 1 August 2020]

Once again, such a fantastic episode. I honestly don't know why I used to be so scared by "Are you my mommy" thing, but hey!

Blitzkreig Bop

[southdavid · 8/10 · 14 May 2020]

I needn't have worried about whether the conclusion of this two part episode as though the first half was good, this was even better.

Surrounded by the infected, The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Captain Jack (John Barrowman) attempt to escape the overrun hospital and investigate the origin of the outbreak. Meanwhile, Nancy (Florence Hoath) is sick with guilt and heads for the crash site herself.

I'm really struck with this one about how good a writer Stephen Moffatt is. How many of the plot points are layered in early that pay off in this finale and how it reaches such a satisfactory, but inherently logical and clever conclusion, utilising an idea it had already seeded in the episode. Also Eccleston's sheer jubilation at the idea that just once, "everybody lives" is a great moment, perhaps his best in his whole run. On top of that, there are two moments of (again, relatively family friendly) horror, both involving sound effects continuing when they should have stopped, that are subtly and masterfully done.

Jack is a fun character still, though we see little of the character that we'd arrive at and, interestingly, he talks about two years of his life being taken that still don't think has been explained (on the television anyway). Maybe there's a low hanging plot point for season 13. I remember he hangs around for the next few episodes, so maybe we'll land a little closer there.

I'd forgotten how good much of the first season is, it's been delightful to discover it again.

I'm speechless

[ianweech · 9/10 · 18 January 2021]

This was amazing. "Mommy" the gas mask zombies were interesting and terrifying. The doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack were amazing. Wow, this was good.

A fine conclusion to 'The Empty Child' story

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 3 March 2018]

This episode begins immediately after the previous one ended with The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack surrounded by the gasmask wearing beings; The Doctor has an idea and manages to 'sent them to their rooms'. Their troubles are far from over though as they still have to get out of the hospital and find the cause of what happened in the first place. Captain Jack is adamant that the item he crashed into London had nothing to do with it but the Doctor thinks otherwise. While this is going on Nancy is first captured by the owner of the house where she and the street children were feeding and then by soldiers guarding the 'space junk'.

I really enjoyed this two-part story and the concluding episode was almost as good as the first. The greater number of 'Empty Children' (and adults) increased the threat level although the scariest scene featured Nancy handcuffed to a table next to a soldier who had clearly been affected and was about to change. The transformation scenes were well handled and scarier than one might expect for an episode given a PG rating. There is some humour to balance the scares; notable when the Doctor replaces Captain Jack's 'space-gun' with a banana that grew on the site of the weapons factory. After the somewhat bleak story it was nice to get an ending that was happy but didn't feel overly saccharine. As expected Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper impress as The Doctor and Rose and guest stars Florence Hoath and John Barrowman do fine jobs as Rose and Captain Jack. Overall a really good story; a high-point in the series so far.

The Doctor Dances

[studioAT · 7/10 · 28 July 2020]

A gripping second part to this war time two parter, with some lovely moments along the way.

It's a shame that this first series of the reboot is often forgotten, overshadowed by the user friendly David Tennant years, because it did have some good episodes like this.

Lovely

[warlordartos · 9/10 · 6 April 2020]

Not quite as good of a second part but only just below part 1 because this was still an exquisite episode and maybe even more frightening than the the 1st part.

If i had any objections it would be Captain Jack, I found John Barrowman's Performance absolutely amazing in future episodes, was a little lacking here; but being his introduction episode to the Doctor Who franchise i can't complain. Certainly seen much worse character introductions on other tv shows.

Gratifying and endlessly-charming.

[bendtnerfc · 10/10 · 4 December 2021]

Satisfying solution to the cliffhanger, followed by loveable scenes between the Doctor, Rose and Jack and concluding with some heart-felt moments in a resolution that answers all looming questions from the weak before.

A satisfying conclusion to the creepy empty child

[dkiliane · 9/10 · 15 January 2019]

Steven Moffat continues to impress with his conclusion of the two-parter began with The Empty Child. He even manages to up the ante after the Doctor, Rose, and Jack manage to escape the predicament of being surrounded by awoken infected in the previous episodes cliffhanger.

The suspense is palpable throughout and still manages to give us small bits of humor too, and even some heart. The scene where the Doctor rejoiced over "nobody dies" is especially heartwarming and a fantastic character moment for him. The separate subplots introduced in the previous episode are satisfyingly brought together by the end of the episode as well.

Another job well done! Easy to see why Moffat would be chosen to eventually succeed Davies as showrunner later on. 9/10

Best Entry in Season 1

[rohanumpleby-34057 · 10/10 · 17 January 2023]

A two-parter that can be best described as Brilliant.

Captain Jack Harkness Introduction:

I really like his character, when he's alone with somebody he's overly flirty, which is kind of annoying to me because he's like this every time, and it gets old after a while but that's a small nit pic I have with this Character. I am jealous of its comedic timing, when the trio are together there chemistry is on point! I honestly can't give it enough praise. The Character dynamics are so unique as they are completely different individuals with there personal flaws and qualities but when there together, they joke around and its funny the jokes are clever and neat. Resulting in a dark and gritty episode, it does well of lighting up the mood. His Character is also well introduced and he actually gets alot to do. Like flirt with Rose after he saves her. And he has a nice little machine that he flies around with him. I think he's chill, even though there's bombs exploding everywhere and I think his Character could of been explored more, but here it works and it's fine.

Who am I kidding 10/10 Best Two-Parter from Season ones Canon.

Another fitting conclusion?

[jackparrishjp · 8/10 · 21 June 2019]

This episode has so much running and so many near misses it's laughable, it's actually laughable! I understand the need to have all these things play out as there needs to be both realism and threat in the story but they could have just wrote better structured scenes to accommodate for this which big Steve could certainly have done.

I digress, the subtext was strong in this episode as rose, a fair maiden of Britian was being fought over by a G.I and a Brit, which holds heavy symbolism to the ww2 era as their was suddenly a rush of American soldiers who were using their optimistic charms to get the girl but in this scenerio the heart and determination prove that charm is just cheep talk and that when the Brits show that their gritt is out of love, they soon go back to the Brits. I mean there's a reason the episodes called the doctor dances.

I'll try to wrap up quickly, the episode is mainly about character development and use of metaphors with the plot being used to effect each of the characters in a positive or negative way respectively, the best one is when the doctor realised that the little boy is nancys son and that to help these people she needs to show him that love helps technology heal those who are in need.

Excellent conclusion....

[stevenjlowe82 · 9/10 · 7 October 2023]

This was an excellent conclusion to the previous opening episode of this superbly creepy Doctor Who story.

As I mentioned in my previous review of part one of this two part story I am hugely impressed with the incorporation of horror elements and tropes into this story it was very effectively done. Also the transformation into the gas mask face I found to be very well done, especially considering how questionable some of the CGI has been so far.

I also really enjoyed how as the Doctor put "just this once everyone gets to live" and there was an actual happy ending with nobody sacrificing themselves etc. I found Captain Jack's fakeout farewell scene was very effective and I saw a depth to his character that I'm feeling I've overlooked in the past.

Overall a very effectively creepy outing for the Doctor and Rose.

An Exhilarating Masterclass in Joy and Renewal

[hwiltshire-06889 · 10/10 · 3 April 2024]

The Doctor Dances is the perfect conclusion to the chilling two-parter along with The Empty Child. It's a joyous celebration of life, love, and the indomitable spirit at the heart of Doctor Who. This episode delivers on all fronts, offering thrills, laughs, and an ending that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

The threat remains palpable even as the story pivots to hopeful territory. The stakes are high, the tension expertly wound, yet the episode never forgets to have fun. Captain Jack, initially dubious, finds his place in the chaos, his flirtatious charm a perfect foil for the Doctor's prickly bravado. Rose steps up with confidence and compassion that is a delight to witness.

The Doctor himself is at his finest. Christopher Eccleston is absolutely luminous as hope battles with resignation on his face. His relief, his unbridled exuberance when the situation turns, is utterly infectious. The "Everybody lives!" declaration is a legendary Doctor Who moment, a pure distillation of the show's ethos.

Yet, the episode doesn't forget the poignant notes. Nancy's storyline, her quiet heroism, grounds the fantastical with raw humanity. The Doctor and Rose's dance, the simple conversation between them, is sublime. It's proof that intimacy can be just as powerful as the grandest spectacles.

The Doctor Dances is Doctor Who at its best. It's thrilling, heartwarming, and spectacularly acted. This episode embodies why the show is so beloved - because sometimes it's not just about beating the bad guys, but about finding joy in the face of impossible odds.

Check Out Wendy Padbury in 'The Mind Robber' Sometime

[richard.fuller1 · 10/10 · 2 October 2006]

I watched Doctor #2, Patrick Troughton, in a story called "The Mind Robber" with companions Jamie McCrimmon (Fraser Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury).

Zoe and Jamie were lost in a storybook, encountering a few literary figures.

One interesting bit, about in the second episode, is when Zoe is calling out to the Doctor and Jamie to find her in the vast empty area she is in.

"Doctor! Jamie! Doctor! Jamie!" she calls out, then says, "I'm here!" I couldn't help but notice it was the same tone as the gas-masked child would speak in this episode of the new Doctor Who, near 30 years later, when he was in the hospital before the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion, Rose (Billie Piper).

"Mummy! Mummy!" the young child says, then "I'm here!" Sounded just like Padbury in the Mind Robber.

How about that?