I am – Hercules!!


“Doctor Dan” says:

DOCTOR WHO 4.7 – "The Unicorn And The Wasp"

Writer: Gareth Roberts
Director: Graeme Harper

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Fenella Woolgar (Agatha Christie), Felicity Kendal (Lady Eddison), Felicity Jones (Robina Redmond), Christopher Benjamin (Colonel Hugh), Tom Goodman-Hill (Reverend Golightly), Ian Barritt (Professor Peach), David Quilter (Greeves), Adam Rayner (Roger Curbishly), Daniel King (Davenport), Charlotte Eaton (Mrs Hart) & Leena Dhingra (Miss Chandrakala)

The Doctor and Donna arrive in 1926 and have to help Agatha Christie solve a murder that appears to involve a giant wasp...

Gareth Roberts returns with another episode that puts a sci-fi spin on a literary author, after tackling William Shakespeare in season 3's The Shakespeare Code. This time it's Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar) who has her reality blurred, as the reason for her 10-day disappearance in 1926 is explained as a necessary bout of amnesia to help The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) defeat an alien murderer...

As you'd expect, this episode is crammed full of murder mystery iconography: an English country mansion, posh residents, a local vicar, a thunderstorm, a jewel thief, a knifing during a blackout, a body in the library, two secretly gay men, a suspicious-looking Butler , a Drawing Room scene where the villain is unmasked, etc. There are even a few allusions to the board game Cluedo in the alliterative Professor Plum, whose death by lead piping kicks off this whodunit. Roberts is clearly a fan of Christie's work, as there are plenty of clever in-jokes and allusions -- most of which have entered pop-culture, so don't exclude anyone. But for Christie aficionados, there are a few cleverer moments – such as her plot-point of a wasp sting in Death In The Clouds being linked to the events of this episode.

David Tennant is very good, as usual -- as captivated around Agatha Christie as he was around Charles Dickens in The Unquiet Dead, although it was amusing to see Christie turn her nose up at his (slightly) distasteful glee at being involved in a murder mystery. As the world-famous authoress, Fenella Woolgar was excellent; one of those actresses who has a face that belongs in the 1920s, and gives a measured believable performance. The script managed to make her a worthwhile temporary companion for The Doctor, but one who never overshadows proceedings. Catherine Tate was okay, although it seems like she's less vital to many season 4 plots. She gets a few nice comedy moments to play (more of the playfulness last seen in The Fires Of Pompeii), a handful of dumb sequences (her magnifying glass vs. the giant wasp scene was just silly) and the obligatory face-pulling in exaggerated shock. This was actually the first episode she filmed as Donna after The Runaway Bride, so I can overlook any shrieking lapses as her ongoing adjustment to the character.

The supporting cast were mainly playing stereotypes, as befitted the spoof style of the episode -- but Felicity Kendal and Tom Goodman-Hill stood out as Lady Eddison and Reverend Golightly, respectively. Everyone else was perfectly fine, and the script did a good job of keeping the killer's identity a secret (neatly avoiding the comedy resolution of "the butler did it"). I was a bit disappointed to see how jewel thief "The Unicorn" factored into the story, and must confess that the eventual resolution to things – involving an alien lover for Lady Eddison and a mysterious Firestone gem – began to strain credibility. A part of me would have preferred a more believable human climax to events, but I suppose Doctor Who has to find a balance between pleasing adults with a worthwhile whodunit and kids who just want to see The Doctor battling a giant insect.

Overall, this was an amusing and spirited adventure that unfortunately became a bit too preposterous towards the end. But the episode's sense of fun, boundless energy, and some intelligent links to reality made up for a few lapses. Writer Gareth Roberts clearly intended to put a pseudo-historical spin on Agatha Christie's 1926 disappearance, while indulging in whodunit clichés and just having fun with some literary traditions. The Unicorn And The Wasp totally succeeds on that level and provided plenty of entertainment. It was a bit daft at times (the overlong Time Lord cyanide "detox" scene), and the resolution wasn't as neat and concise as I'd hoped for, but for sheer enthusiasm and narrative bounce it really hit the spot.

The Good

-- Fenella Woolgar joins Simon Callow (Dickens) and Dean Lennox Kelly (Shakespeare) as perfect interpretations of classic British literary figures on the show. Nice support from Felicity Kendal and Tom Goodman-Hill, too.

-- The general whodunit atmosphere and abundance of intended clichés; poking fun at murder mysteries, the books of Agatha Christie, and even the board game Cluedo, gave the episode much of its spark and energy. Gareth Roberts' script ensured plenty of pace, energy and quite a few laughs.

-- The giant wasp CGI was very good most of the time. The production design was also appropriately picturesque and believable – as you'd expect from the BBC, who can do circa 1920s in their sleep.

The Bad

-- The ultimate resolution to the giant wasp was a bit too complicated and strained, while The Unicorn jewel thief character was pretty much wasted. It wasn't enough to ruin the whole episode, but things did get a bit ridiculous in the last 10 minutes.

-- How to defeat a giant wasp: magnify a beam of sunlight onto it using a magnifying glass. That would work in a cartoon, but it looked laughable in live-action.

The Geeky

-- Agatha Christie really did vanish for 10 days in 1926, although her car was actually found near a chalk pit not a lake.

-- Fenella Woolgar starred opposite David Tennant in Bright Young Things, also playing a character called Agatha! She also appeared in Who writer Steven Moffatt's mini-series Jekyll last year.

-- The healthy presence of bees in 1926 is mentioned by Donna; another season 4 mention of the modern dwindling of the insects.

-- Christopher Benjamin (Colonel Hugh) has appeared on Doctor Who twice before, in 1970s Inferno and 1977s The Talons Of Weng-Chiang.

-- Reference is made to season 1's The Unquiet Dead, when Donna protests that it wouldn't be very likely to meet Charles Dickens surrounded by ghosts at Christmas time.

-- This was the first episode Catherine Tate filmed as Donna, following her debut in The Runaway Bride.

-- Donna's smooch with The Doctor in this episode means the Tenth Doctor has now been kissed by all of his companions.

-- It's revealed here that Time Lords can reverse the effects of cyanide poisoning through the bodily intake of protein and salt, eventually expelling all nastiness in cloud-like vomit.

-- In season 3's Last Of The Time Lords, The Doctor said he would love to meet Agatha Christie.

-- The Doctor once again uses the alias (Chief Inspector) Smith with his psychic paper.

-- Donna is revealed as giving Agatha Christie some of her ideas, such as Murder On The Orient Express and Miss Marple.

-- In the TARDIS, The Doctor apparently keeps some mementos of his adventures, alphabetized. In a trunk we see a Cyberman's chest-plate and a crystal ball containing trapped Carrionites (The Shakespeare Code).

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

“Kelvington” says:

Every series of the new "Doctor Who" they have managed to do a nice historical episode, this series is no different. Tonight we meet Agatha Christie, played exceptionally well by Fenella Woolgar. Plus after weeks and weeks, I think Donna is finally growing on me to the point of enjoyment. It's actually cool that there is a character that isn't really that impressed with the Doctor's power of observation. I hope that the next companion will be somewhat skeptical as well.

Before the credits even roll, we are introduced to virtually every stereotypical character from the novels one could ever want, from the Reverend, and the Professor, to the butler they are all there. And the episode starts out like a game of "Clue" right down to the death of the professor, in the library, with a lead pipe. It's a great little moment. The episode is filled with them. I'm not sure where this was shot in the run, but you can tell everyone appears to be having a great time in this episode, and it really shows through.

If you try to take this episode seriously, then it's going to seem very dull, and probably if you're under the age of thirty, you might not enjoy it as much. But seeing all the classes of people doing their little bits was very fun. Plus watching the Doctor and Donna looking in on them adds to this episode. My biggest complaint about the episode revolves around the actual fact that Agatha Christie actually did go missing for ten days. And in the episode we hear all about it, complete with cliched spinning newspaper and a very "Murder She Wrote" set of flash forwards. Mind you it's a minor complaint, but it was a little too foreshadowing for me.

The rest of the episode plays out like your typical murder mystery complete with flashbacks, lies and the occasional giant wasp. For every fan of murder mysteries, this is a near perfect episode of "Doctor Who", for hard core fans they might be a turn off because of the complete change in style and narrative. As for me, I loved it! Right down to Donna going on about how great it is to see Agatha Christie dealing with an actual murder, it would be like meeting Dickens, surrounded by ghosts, at Christmas. But that never happened, did it?

Just my 2¢

“The Handsome 12th Doctor” says:

That was blinking brilliant.

I like it when they do an out-and-out fun episode. As long as they're sufficiently spaced out. I wouldn't want a comedy every week. I understand you need freak-the-shit-out-of-the-kids stories too, like "Blink", to keep a fair balance.

Some people though don't seem to like it when Who goes comic. I for one enjoyed the Adipose ep but I heard a lot of folks didn't. And ok, I'm happy to accept differing opinions on that one.
But if you didn't like tonight's show then you're nothing but a sad old MumbleGrumble and I don't want to talk to you no more.

Reasons why it was brilliant (part 3) -

It was laugh-out funny. Smart funny. Not farting aliens funny. It was an affectionate send-up of your typical Agatha Christie tale. A country house, posh people, murders, red herrings galore. It got it all spot on. From the opening "Oh, it's you" scene, right through to the part where everybody is gathered together on a stormy night to reveal the killer (which I guessed wrongly btw).
Tennant and Tate appeared to have great fun making this one. The charades part cracked me up. I also loved Donna pretending to be posh, followed by the Doctor's "Don't do that" (which harked back to when Rose pretended to be Scottish).
Fenella Woolgar playing Christie herself did some very fine, more subtle, witty work as well.

It wasn't just a plain murder mystery. It still kept its sci-fi heart, with a vespiform alien hiding out among the suspects. The giant wasp was rendered beautifully. And I liked the old-school transformation scenes done mainly using lighting, smoke and a fair amount of overacting.
The sci-fi element gelled well with the mystery and it even managed to create a bizarro explanation for what really happened to Agatha Christie when she went missing for 10 days.

The production looked superb throughout. In my view the BBC are the best in the world at making period television. Tonight they proved this again. Not just in the big noticeable things like the costumes and cars, but in the little details too. Such as the design of the playing cards for instance. I already want to watch it again to look closer at the stuff like that.

Actually no, I want to watch it again because it was a damn marvellously fun episode.

Now sadly there's no Who on next week. The horror known as Eurovision will be taking over the schedule.
The week after that it's the Steven Moffat penned story. And I have to say that we, as a fan collective, may need to ground ourselves a bit. I know his scripts have so far always been the best but there is an overly high expectation that he'll produce something outstanding again. And he might well do so. I have strong faith that he can. But hey, if he doesn't, let us not get all mad at him.

DOOGIE HOWSER UNDER $10 PER SEASON!!
$39.99 For All Four!!
Yesterday They Were $107.99!!
SRP is $119.97!!

SALE EXPIRES IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!