Doctor Who Watch A Thon Season 1 Episode 9 "The Empty Child"

As an effort to justify our somewhat obsessive T.V watching Meghan (Of Coffee and Wizards and @MegTao on Twitter) and myself have decided to undertake a Doctor Who Watch-a-long. We'll be starting with the beginning of the 2005 relaunch and will be posting about one episode each Friday, on our respective blogs. We hope you'll join in – whether as a re-watch or to discover the Doctor for the first time!

*just a heads up each post may contain spoilers for that episode and then ones before it*

Episode Summary

Directed by: James Hawes
Written by: Steven Moffat

Rose and the Doctor find themselves in 1941 London when the TARDIS receives an emergency signal from another time-traveling vehicle. While the Doctor tries to determine where the object may have landed, Rose goes off in search of a child she can hear calling for help. When she gets herself into a precarious situation, she's rescued by the rather handsome RAF Captain Jack Harkness, who owns a time machine of his own. The Doctor meanwhile meets Nancy who has an interesting way of arranging meals for homeless children. They are also being chased by the child Rose heard calling. The Doctor determines that human DNA is being rewritten but it's not obvious why or by who.

Thoughts on the Episode

Love love love this episode. And for so many reasons too.

First of all The Empty Child is a down right creepy episode. The little masked boy wandering around calling "Mommy" is pretty much one of the most terrifying things ever. It gives me shivers and makes me not want to be alone in my apartment at night.Seriously how can this not freak you out?

However the creepiness factor isn't the only reason I love this episode. We also get the first appearance of Captain Jack, who make me swoon pretty much everytime he speaks. You gotta love a guy with a little bit of swagger. Don't get me wrong, I love the chemistry/relationship between Rose and the Doctor but there's just something epic and romantic about her and Jack.

In addition to Jack we also get introduced to some supporting characters, who really make this episode in my opinion. I often find the secondary characters get overshadowed and are frequently underdeveloped but not so here. Nancy is incredibly strong and brave. A total fighter that helps hungry children, even though she doesn't have to. Plus that creepy little boy in the gas mask is her brother, making her bravery even more profound.And then there's Giaus! Or at least the same actor who plays Giaus from the BBC's Merlin. And he's still a doctor! Like Nancy he's brave when he doesn't have to be and I really admire them both.

Overall this is an episode to love for many reasons, it's got great characters, it's creepy, the plot is intriguing, and it's well filmed. There are some interesting camera angles in this episode that kind of remind me of the X Files and similar shows and despite fake backgrounds, I still thought this episode was very visually pleasing.

Favourite Moment

What did you think of "The Empty Child"? And are you as in love with Jack as I am?