The Unquiet Dead

In what way are you a cooling device?

The Unquiet Dead may be one of the best stories of Series One and also one of the best of the celebrity historicals. I remember being a bit dismissive of it the first time I watched it, but on second viewing, it was much more enjoyable.

Plot Summary

In 1869 Cardiff, Mr. Sneed, and undertaker, is seeing to a recently deceased woman. Her grandson is staying with her when the body reanimates and attacks him. Mr. Sneed tries to get her down but she breaks out and walks into the street. He collects his housekeeper Gwyneth and the two go looking for the woman.

The Doctor and Rose land a few blocks away and step out to explore. The dead woman enters a theater where Charles Dickens is giving a recital of A Christmas Carol. He observes the dead woman in the audience and sees blue mist coming from her mouth. The audience panics and rushes out, telling Mr. Sneed where to go. He and Gwyneth grab the now lifeless body and drag it to the hearse. The Doctor and Rose are also drawn by the commotion. The Doctor observes the blue mist creature entering the gas lamps. Rose however sees Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth taking the body and goes after them. Fearing she has seen too much, Mr. Sneed chloroforms Rose and dumps her in the hearse as well.

Seeing that Rose is missing, the Doctor runs out and sees her in the hearse. Charles Dickens, believing that the Doctor is behind this trick, runs after him. The Doctor commandeers Dickens' carriage and goes after them. Dickens comes along and after introductions and understanding of what is happening, warms up to the event.

Arriving at Mr. Sneed's mortuary, the Doctor hears Rose yelling for help and bursts in on her being attacked by the two corpses. The corpses ask for help before the blue gas leaves their bodies and disappears in to the lamps. The Doctor asks some questions of Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth before going after Dickens who is having difficulty coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

Rose and Gwyneth have a quiet moment of talking where Gwyneth reveals her psychic abilities. It seems there is a dimensional rift in Cardiff with a weak point over this house. Growing up near it has made Gwyneth sensitive to it. The Doctor sets up a séance with Gwyneth as medium. Dickens is skeptical again but agrees. The gas creatures appear and ask for help. They are known as the Gelf and their planet was destroyed in the Time War. They ask for a bridge to be formed through the rift so that they can inhabit dead bodies. The Doctor agrees, offering to take the dead bodies to a different planet so they can build a new world.

Rose tries to talk Gwyneth out of the Doctor's plan but she is convinced that she can help. The group heads down to the morgue and Gwyneth uses her sensitivity to form the bridge. However, upon completion, the Gelf move through and take possession of the bodies and attack. They kill Mr. Sneed and move on to the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor locks himself and Rose in a gated alcove while Dickens runs into the street. Angry at their lying, the Doctor vows to destroy them.

Dickens spies a gas lamp flickering in the street and gets an idea. He goes back into the house and blows out the flame of the lamps but keeps the gas on. He does this and yells to the Doctor what he is doing. The Doctor, being near the main gas line, releases it as well. The gas pulls the Gelf out of the bodies and into the air where they remain trapped. Rose and Dickens run into the street while the Doctor tries to get Gwyneth. He goes to her but realizes that her body has already died and only her latent spirit remains. That spirit pulls a matchbox out and readies to strike it. The Doctor runs out and gets out of the house as she strikes the match, causing the house to explode, closing the rift point and burning the Gelf in the air.

Dickens takes the Doctor and Rose back to the TARDIS, inspired with new vigor. He states that he will be returning to London to make amends with his family and will tell the world of what happened in the conclusion of his currently unfinished book. The Doctor and Rose depart although he confides to Rose that Dickens will die the next year and never finish that book. Dickens however, is greatly amused by the disappearing TARDIS and heads off to find his coach.

Analysis

There is not much to say about this particular story. It is a well crafted story and well acted. The bit play between the Doctor and Charles Dickens is particularly funny, especially with the use of anachronistic language in the form of the fan discussion.

It is nice that it is a well contained story with only three other characters beside the Doctor and Rose. Granted there are the dead bodies and the theater manager in one brief scene, but most of all the scenes only involve those five people and that gives it an intimate feel, as well as an understanding of how this event could happen and yet it escape with no one knowing about it, like many of the Doctor's adventures.

On that note, it is interesting that on the third episode of the new series, the rules established by the First Doctor are thrown out the window. Rose notes that dead bodies with gas people are not around in her time and the Doctor immediately shoots her down by noting that time is in flux and can constantly change. That makes for a strong departure from the First Doctor's statement about how time cannot be changed or that if it can, mechanisms exist to correct it (such as recently seen in The Time Meddler).

What's even more interesting is that just before the rift is opened, the Doctor tells the Gelf that living in the bodies is only a temporary solution and that he will take them to a new planet to rebuild. This would immediately explain Rose not knowing of gas beings in dead bodies in her time; the Doctor had taken them away. So his talk of about how time was in flux served nothing except to tell the audience that things are in play. I suppose this would be more in line with The Pyramids of Mars where the inaction of the Doctor would lead to an alternate future rather than direct action changing events.

Another aspect of this episode that was enjoyable was the peek into the Doctor's vulnerability regarding the Time War. Given what Gwyneth could pull from Rose's mind, it remains in question as to whether the Gelf were actual victims of the Time War or if they were simply exploiting the Doctor's memories to gain sympathy. Either way, the Doctor plunged full in to helping them while Rose was the counterbalance of skepticism. This is also a bit of contrast as usually it is the companion who shows mercy and kindness and the Doctor who needs to be convinced to step in.

Gwyneth and Mr. Sneed were decent enough characters, although a bit one note through the episode. It is not surprising that most scenes were stolen by Charles Dickens, who showed a great deal more depth and nuance in his characterization. But they played their parts well and were enjoyable to watch.

On the whole, I think and argument could be made for this story being the best of Series One, although I know that The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances will certainly get some votes. I would say that I think it's the best of the celebrity historicals until Vincent and the Doctor and I certainly understand how some would prefer this story to that. It was enjoyable to watch, a well paced story and one that I think I would enjoy a third time around.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5