History Recap / DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead

[[Recap/DoctorWho Index]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose 1]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld 2]] | '''3''' | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon 4]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E5WorldWarThree 5]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek 6]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame 7]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay 8]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild 9]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances 10]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E11BoomTown 11]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf 12]] | [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays 13]] ]]-]]]

'''Original air date:''' April 9, 2005

'''Production code:''' 1.3

* HoldYourHippogriffs: Dickens says "what the Shakespeare?"[[note]]For those unaware, "what the Dickens?" is a somewhat old-fashioned phrase akin to "what the hell?"[[/note]]

JustForFun/{{The one w|ith}}here [[TropeNamers the Doctor]] [[ChangedMyJumper changed his jumper]]. And we meet [[Series/{{Torchwood}} Gwen Cooper]]'s ancestor.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Charles Dickens, lifelong sceptic and debunker of bullshit, finally encounters a real psychic and ghosts. The next scene shows him downing a something or other and actor Simon Callow does a good job of showing him a little worse for wear. And drink.

* HoldYourHippogriffs: Dickens says "what the Shakespeare?"[[note]]For those unaware, "what the Dickens" is a somewhat old-fashioned phrase akin to "what the hell?"[[/note]]

The one [[TropeNamer where the Doctor]] [[ChangedMyJumper changed his jumper]]. And we meet [[Series/{{Torchwood}} Gwen Cooper's]] ancestor.

Having shown Rose the future, the Doctor intends to show her the past, and he thus sets course for Naples, 24 December 1860. The TARDIS makes the journey and materialises with some effort on both the Doctor's and Rose's parts. Rose is awestruck to think that she's about to step out into a Christmas Eve that was over and gone long before she was ever born, but before she can do so, the Doctor sends her to the wardrobe; he considers his own clothing appropriate enough, but Rose's modern attire would cause a riot in the 19th century. [[SheCleansUpNicely He's surprised by how beautiful she looks in the gown she picks to blend in with the surroundings]], for a human. The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors, but Rose is the first to step out and make a footprint in the snow. Arm in arm, she and the Doctor walk off to see history for themselves.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Between Rose and Gwyneth. Rose comes from 21[-[[superscript:st]]-] century Britain, where education is standard for all children and a considerably more relaxed [[UsefulNotes/ATouchOfClassEthnicityAndReligion class system]] allows for more social mobility, with ambition to move upward being largely encouraged. Also, fewer people have domestic servants in her time. Gwyneth is a 19[-[[superscript:th]]-] century servant girl in a much more stratified society. Rose has a problem with this, but Gwyneth does not. This aspect of the episode was criticised by feminist ''Doctor Who'' site [http://androzani.com Androzani Dot Com] as it gives authorial approval to Rose barging into the 19th century and starting 21st century conciousness raising without the slightest regard for Gwyneth and Sneed's different circumstances.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Between Rose and Gwyneth. Rose comes from 21[-[[superscript:st]]-] century Britain, where education is standard for all children and a considerably more relaxed [[UsefulNotes/ATouchOfClassEthnicityAndReligion class system]] allows for more social mobility, with ambition to move upward being largely encouraged. Also, fewer people have domestic servants in her time. Gwyneth is a 19[-[[superscript:th]]-] century servant girl in a much more stratified society. Rose has a problem with this, but Gwyneth does not.

* BittersweetEnding: Although they prevail, the Doctor reminds Rose as they leave that Dickens is within a year of his death, and will not complete his next novel.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Charles Dickens, lifelong skeptic and debunker of bullshit, finally encounters a real psychic and ghosts. The next scene shows him downing a something or other and actor Simon Callow does a good job of showing him a little worse for wear. And drink.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Meta example: it's the only ChristmasEpisode of the revival that isn't a special and aired in April.

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: Meta example: it's the only ChristmasEpisode of the revival that isn't a special and aired in April.

* DirtyOldMan: Rose calls Sneeds this, accusing him of feeling her up while loading her onto the hearse.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: When the Doctor approved the Gelth's plan, Rose was oppose to the idea as bringing the undead is wrong as dead things are suppose to stay dead. Turns out she was almost right as the Gelth reveal that they just want to take over the planet.

* DirtyOldMan: Rose accuses Sneed of feeling her up while loading her onto the hearse.

* FalseInnocenceTrick: The Gelth claim to be refugees from the Great Time War who have lost their bodies and only want to use dead humans as Meat Suits. It turns out that there are many more of them than they claimed, and they want to take over all humanity, not just the dead ones. Granted, they're not actually lying — the key here is that they just need dead bodies. A few billion. Which means a majority (if not all) of the human population of Earth at the time.

* WhamLine: "Maybe your dad's up there too, miss" is one for Rose. She didn't mention her father at any point to Gwyneth.

* HistoricalInJoke: Dickens declares his intention to incorporate the Gelth into the climax of ''Literature/TheMysteryOfEdwinDrood'', a novel that will go uncompleted because [[invoked]][[AuthorExistenceFailure he'll die]].

* LiteraryWorkOfMagic: At the end, Charles Dickens is inspired to write the episode's monsters into ''Literature/TheMysteryOfEdwinDrood'' so the world will know the truth. Of course, he suffers [[invoked]]AuthorExistenceFailure before finishing it.

* ProperlyParanoid: When the Doctor approved the Gelth's plan, Rose was oppose to the idea as bringing the undead is wrong as dead things are suppose to stay dead. Turns out she was almost right as the Gelth reveal that they just want to take over the planet.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Meta example: it's the only ChristmasEpisode of the revival that isn't a special and aired in April.

Later, Gwyneth pours tea for Sneed's visitors, and serves the Doctor his tea exactly as he likes it without his having to ask. Meanwhile, Rose lashes out at Sneed for drugging and kidnapping her and then locking her in a room with zombies. The stricken Sneed admits that the dead have been walking for the past three months, and that they retain some scraps of memory from their former lives. Dickens tries to insist that this is an illusion of some sort, but the irritated Doctor tells him to shut up and questions Sneed further. When Sneed admits that he's never had trouble with the gas lines before, but that the house has long had a reputation for being haunted, the Doctor theorises that there's a rift in time and space located in the building — and that it's getting stronger, allowing something to slip through from the other side.

Having shown Rose the future, the Doctor intends to show her the past, and he thus sets course for Naples, 24 December 1860. The TARDIS makes the journey and materialises with some effort on both the Doctor's and Rose's parts. Rose is awestruck to think that she's about to step out into a Christmas Eve that was over and gone long before she was ever born, but before she can do so, the Doctor sends her to the wardrobe; he considers his own clothing appropriate enough, but Rose's modern attire would cause a riot in the 19th century. [[SheCleansUpNicely He's surprised by the beautiful gown she picks out to blend in with the surroundings]] and finds her quite beautiful, for a human. The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors, but Rose is the first to step out and make a footprint in the snow. Arm in arm, she and the Doctor walk off to see history for themselves.