Tooth and Claw

Well they managed to cram a lot into 45 minutes, it's nice to get a Scottish theme, Terror of the Zygons seems a long time ago.

It races into the action within a minute, and the opening scenes are beautifully done, the fight scenes are tremendous, but it's not all style over substance. The story is a very clever one, very imaginative.

The Doctor and Rose land in 1879 and encounter a Werewolf in Scotland. A group of fighter monks overrun the household of Sir Robert and imprison the staff in an outhouse with 'someone.' Whilst the Doctor, Rose, Victoria and guards turn up to stay at the house. The someone turns out to be a werewolf wanting to transform mankind by overtaking the throne by biting Queen Victoria.

The Special effects are possibly the series best so far, the hosts transformation into a werewolf is amazingly done. The CGI effects work far better then those used say with the Slitheen.

Pauline Collins returns to Doctor Who to play Queen Victoria 39 years after playing Samantha Briggs in Patrick Troughton's The Faceless ones. She does a super job in the role, with enough charisma to hold the story up. Tom Smith in the short time that he plays the host is utterly brilliant, he plays it with such bleakness.

All in all a very good episode, which has tremendous pace, great effects, some real scares and again it feels unique. The solution is a particularly satisfying one.

The Doctor intends to take Rose to 1979, but the TARDIS due to its typical erratic nature takes them to 1879, where the pair of them meet Queen Victoria in Scotland. The Doctor poses as the Queen's protector under the pseudonym of Dr. James McCrimmon, and the Time Lord and his companion travel along with her Majesty and her entourage to the home of Sir Robert MacLeish. Unknown to them, Sir Robert's wife and his servants have been kidnapped, and imprisoned in his own home by a group of monks who have fallen from grace, and want to bring about the rise of "The Empire of the Wolf." A new order ruled over by an alien creature, resembling a Werewolf, whose bite or scratch can essentially transform the recipient of said bite, into a wolfish creature. The intention is that it will kill Queen Victoria, and bring about its existence.

The Second episode of Series 2, of NuWho, "Tooth and Claw" is one of the better episodes of Russell T. Davies's run not only as Showrunner but as a writer. It's a simple concept, but one delivered with some considerable verve. David Tennant is on solid form as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor, as is Billie Piper, who continues to impress as his companion Rose, who proves that acting was always going to be her true calling, rather than her brief stint as a teen princess pop-singer. Many balked at her casting and were too quick to make assumptions about her abilities as an actress. But she proved the naysayers wrong, winning two British television Awards for her work on the series.

Guest appearing is veteran actress, Pauline Collins of Shirley Valentine and Upstairs Downstairs fame, who provides reliable and solid support as Queen Victoria, and brings the required amount of sovereignty and dignity to the role. The rest of the supporting cast for the most part equals her considerable talents. That said Michelle Duncan who plays Sir. Roberts's Wife, Lady Isobell proves to be a weak link, who proves to be lifeless as a corpse, although given the relative smallness of her role proves to be a minor flaw that doesn't impact too much on the overall quality of this outing.

What makes the story all that bit enjoyable, and brings an ounce of nostalgic Whoish, fan-boy joy to it, is the Doctor using the alias of James McCrimmon, an obvious reference to his former Jacobite rebel companion, Jamie (as once played by veteran actor Frazer Hines) from the late 1960s run of the series.

The story is fanciful enough, although its final code foreshadows the introduction of the Torchwood Institute that would be introduced at the end of the series, as it would the spin-off show. A TV series that had an all-too-short run, and would give, former traveling companion, the dashing Captain Jack Harkness (as played by the charismatic and handsome John Barrowman) his own TV series. It does however feel a bit too phoned in its delivery. Not to mention that the martial-artistic abilities of the Monks, although it does make for an entertaining hook, are somewhat anachronistic, it's something I can forgive because, what can I say, it still looks goddamn cool. Hell, this is Doctor Who after all. Tooth and Claw is immense fun, with minor flaws that I am willing to look over, because of its steady breakneck pace, embracing characters, and the discernibly palpable chemistry between David Tennant and Billie Piper. In short, don't give this one a miss.

Tennant is very likeable at the start, just a great Doctor. Everything worked out on this episode, bravo!

"Tooth and Claw" is simply put, one of the finest episodes of Doctor Who in either of its incarnations. It is a spectacular feast for the eyes, featuring excellent production values and oft inventive direction and cinematography, for television anyhow. I realize I am in a distinct minority when saying this, but "Tooth and Claw" to me was an example of just how exhilarating and utterly captivating Doctor Who can be at its absolute best. The '12' rating bestowed upon this by the BBFC will give you an idea of the oft risqué content, especially for a program that should be 'family-oriented'. In many ways, this is a traditional Doctor Who tale, creepy and well-written with sharp, witty dialogue to boot.

Another thing is, I never found Werewolves creepy or scary at all, with a couple of notable exceptions (An American Werewolf in London), but this episode makes it work with very little violence at all. It's one of the creepiest Doctor Who episodes I've ever seen. Kudos to Euros Lyn for this stunning visual feast. His direction is often inventive and quite surprisingly excellent by the standards often expected from television, and his pacing is also excellent. He would go on to direct "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "The Idiot's Lantern", both of which were also superb visually.

Letter Grade: A+

This was a very funny, well made episode for the new Doctor I thought it was great, there was comedy, mixed in with horror and mystery and it all made for one great episode easilly in my view 9/10 perhaps 9.5.