Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoDoctor Who 3.2 - The Shakespeare Code
April 9th 2007 02:23
Image taken from Wikipedia.org
WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS EPISODE
A Brief Rundown of the Plot
To prove to his new companion Martha that he does indreed travel through time, the Doctor takes her back to London, 1599. It's the era of Elizabeth the 1st, and Shakespeare is a popular writer of comedies on the London stage at the Globe Theatre. The Doctor and Martha go to watch the playwright's latest, 'Love's Labour's Lost', and witness Shakespeare announcing the early arrival of his next play, 'Love's Labour's Won' - the fabled lost Shakespeare play. But the Doctor and Martha aren't the only ones eagerly awaiting this new comedy - three murderous witches wait in the wings, manipulating events for their own evil ends.
What's Cool
Elizabethan England is beautifully and exceptionally recreated via big budget set decoration, matte paintings and CGI. A wonderful example of the show's new and improved quality and a reminder of Doctor Who's endless possibilities for adventure and atmosphere.
William Shakespeare. We're introduced to Shakespeare as he accepts the congratulations of his adoring crowd, and the Doctor prattles on about how great a wordsmith the writer was, and then Shakespeare speaks to the crowd, "Oh shut yer mouths!" Shakespeare comes across hilariously as a celebrity of his age - a vain, funny, sexed up genius.
The episode is also rife with references to Shakespearian lore... we see members of his documented company from the era, influential events from the episode, and the Doctor drops hints galore (accidental and otherwise) about the writer's future works.
As usual, David Tennant is on fire. The dialogue is great too.
What's Not So Cool
The witches are very pantomime, and the makeup used for them is fairly cliched, though it could be argued that this is kind of the point of the episode. Either way, they aren't the most original of Doctor Who foes.
That's about it, most of this episode was great.
The Verdict
This is a good episode, the setting was wonderfully re-created and the script was sharp and funny (I'd love to see writer Gareth Roberts pen further Doctor Who scripts). Non-stop fun the whole way through. Bravo.
| 45 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Anonymous
Doctor: You can go home and tell everyone you met Shakespeare
Martha: Then I can get Sectioned!