From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt{at}aol.com
Subject: Tooth and Claw: my review

TOOTH & CLAW

1 episode. Approx. 43 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed
by: Euros Lyn.


THE PLOT

The Doctor and Rose step out of the TARDIS into 19th century Scotland
- right into the line of fire of a squadron of English soldiers. It is
an honor guard, escorting Queen Victoria (Pauline Collins). The Doctor
uses his charm, a Scottish accent, and his psychic paper to gain the
Queen's good graces, and he has firmly ingratiated himself into the
royal party by the time she stops for the night at the Torchwood
estate, home to Sir Robert (Derek Riddell).

Sir Robert's welcome is marked by a series of hints that all is not
well. Hints that are ignored by the Queen, who wants to see the estate
that her late husband so often visited. But the estate's mysterious
new servants are revealed to be a renegade order of monks, who have
seized control of the house in order to gain access to Queen Victoria.
Not for assassination - but to infect her with the blood of the
werewolf waiting in the cellar!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Finding himself in 19th century Scotland, the Doctor
assumes the role of a Scottish doctor, rather niftily named after
probably the series' longest-serving companion. This allows Tennant to
use his normal speaking voice through most of the episode's first
half. Once the crisis hits, the Scottish accent drops away as "The
Doctor" emerges, something which Queen Victoria picks up on later in
the episode.

Rose: Is obnoxious. Seriously. This is by far the worst episode to
date (possibly ever) for the character of Rose Tyler. The running gag
with her trying to get Queen Victoria to say, "We are not amused"
isn't funny the first time it's brought up, and becomes progressively
more grating as the episode goes. I think there is too much of a
comfort level between Rose and Tennant's Doctor. Rose's ordinariness
acted as a sort of anchor for Eccleston's edgier Doctor. Opposite
Tennant, she just sort of settles into a smug, and rather unlikable,
blandness.

Queen Victoria: Pauline Collins returns to Doctor Who for the first
time since 1967's The Faceless Ones. In the almost 40 years between
that story and this one, Collins achieved a strong reputation as an
actress - one which shows its merit in her performance as the queen.
Collins has enormous presence. It's her performance which anchors the
episode. As she sees the Doctor and Rose giggling over having met a
werewolf mere seconds after we have heard the screams of one of the
wolf's victims, she is appalled - with good reason.


THOUGHTS

Tooth & Claw is a good, entertaining action piece. There is a lot of
energy, a lot of momentum, and a few highly effective moments, all of
it tremendously well-directed by Euros Lyn. It is definitely a good
episode.

But it's not a great one. The script has some visible holes,
particularly with regard to the monks. The teaser makes much of the
monks, as they cast aside their robes and reveal themselves as
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-style martial artists, complete with
flying. As soon as the werewolf is unveiled, they are relegated to a
plot device, keeping their intended victims inside the house. They
disappear completely at the end. I guess once the plan failed, they
used their Shaolin powers to fly away.

More successful is the setting up of Torchwood, which will come into
play first at the season's end, then in the Torchwood spinoff. This
episode shows us Torchwood's genesis, and it's not a bad origin story.
A house that's already linked to the supernatural, a queen who sees
the very worst side of our overly-smug heroes, and a final decree to
"be ready."

The transformation is the single most effective scene in the episode.
There is something very eerie about the human-form werewolf.
Ironically for a werewolf story, the wolf is far more frightening in
human form than after it transforms. The black orbs as eyes, the
unearthly quality in its voice as it tells its story to Rose, the
taunting of Rose having "something of the wolf" about her... It
intercuts dramatically with Sir Robert's story, and then the monks'
chanting. All finely calculated to have viewers on the edge of their
seats by the time the actual change begins. The momentum continues for
a good 10 minutes or so after that, with the episode only stopping for
breath again when the Doctor, Rose, Sir Robert, and the Queen lock
themselves into the study. An excellent transformation scene, followed
by a terrific action set piece.

The climax is also well-done, though it doesn't match the intensity of
the transformation. Stronger than the Doctor's defeat of the wolf is
Queen Victoria's admonition of the Doctor and Rose. An admonition that
they utterly ignore, given that we see them laughing about werewolves
in the royal family, and hear them mock howling from inside the
TARDIS, as the episode fades to the "Next Time" trailer.


Rating: 7/10.

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