Of Ninja Monks and Werewolves!

Days left till the 50^th: 87

Episodes watched:  16

Today’s Episode: Tooth and Claw

Writer:  Russell T. Davies

We begin with some hooded monks traveling across the Scottish Moors, and they come upon this house. They demand the house.. a servant there laughs at them. They disrobe into this!

 

They then insert themselves into the household as servants, lock up the mistress of the house, and all the other servants in the cellar, and add a box, and they reveal what’s in it, we see the servants faces.. we are clueless as to what is in the box going into the opening credits.

Then on the Tardis, the Doctor and Rose discussing music and he takes her to 1979 to hear some big act play at some famous concert, not exactly sure where. (Ten is so showing his Tennant in this scene.. as David loves music) So she’s wearing overalls that are quite short with a cute pink tee shirt. Turns out that the Tardis gets the flight a bit wrong AGAIN, and they are in 1879, on the moors of Scotland, and immedartly are arrested as soon as they leave our lovely police box.  The Doctor pretends to be James McCrimmon, using the psychic paper, and I’m sure Tennant was happy to use his natural Scottish accent! This soldier demands to know why she’s naked..

And lo, we hear a voice from somewhere.. its none other than Queen Victoria! She is traveling by carriage due to a tree blocking the train. She invites them to go with her as the psychic paper says that the Doctor is her protector.

Lo, everyone then heads out to the Torchwood Estate, and Rose and the Doctor decide to set up a little bet…

ROSE: I want her to say (she puts on an affected upper-classed accent) ‘we are not amused’. I bet you five quid I can make her say it.

DOCTOR: Well, if I gambled on that, it’d be an abuse of my privileges of traveller in time.

ROSE: … Ten quid?

THE DOCTOR: Done.

So then they arrive and the Queen doesn’t realize anything is amiss with the servants, lack of food, she just wants a place to relax, despite Sir Robert’s, the owner of the house insisting that she not stay. She mentions how much she has heard about it, and is happy that she is able to stop by, as her late husband was fond of Sir Robert’s father whom has also passed on.

Everyone goes inside and Rose has been told to get into a regular dress. When she opens up the cabinet, she sees this poor crying maid. She finds out about the servants and that the mistress of the house are all locked up. Rose assures her that Queen’s guard will help. However, when she steps out into the hallway, she sees that they are all passed out due to a sleeping drought, and the maid and her are promptly locked up as well.

Night falls and the Doctor, the Queen, the head of her guard and Sir Robert are all dining together. One of the Monks disguised as a servant tells the Doctor that the clothes are befuddling to her and that she’ll be awhile. The Doctor accepts this at face value and then all four of them discuss local legends such as the werewolves that supposedly resides in the area.

So, Rose is chained up with other people, and sees this dude in a cage. She automatically assumes that he’s and innocent thing, and that she and the Doctor can take him home. He says he was born just 10 miles away. There is a full moon that night, and she realizes that this guy is dangerous, and manages to get everyone to pull their chains off the wall, with everyone working together, and they all run to the big house, whilst the boy in the box transforms into a werewolf! AWWWWWWHHHOOOOOO!

Back in the dining room, the Doctor notices that the “servant” is chanting by the window, while Sir Robert discusses an monastery  nearby that his father visited frequently to talk to the “local wolf”, that opposed his father’s research into the local legend as fact. He realizes the servant is a monk, and then all the monks burst in, and Sir James mentions they have his wife, and Doctor goes.. “ROSE!” and they leave to find her.

So, the queen and the Captain ask the monk what is going on, and he just replies that they want the throne. The monk then takes the Captain’s gun and knocks him out. So the queen pulls out a gun from her purse and shoots the Monk.

Meanwhile, Rose and the servants and the mistress of the house all manage to get free, the same time that the Doctor and Sir James find them.. the same time that the werewolf is bursting out of its cage. As soon as the Doctor sees the wolf, he can’t but help grin and say.. “Oh, that’s beautiful!” before Rose ushers him out.

The men and the women separate, the men go for their guns, to protect the queen, while the women hide in the kitchen. (Except for Rose.. she’s always beside the Doctor) The men fail to use bullets on the wolf. Doesn’t stop it, and a few are killed.

The Doctor, Sir James and Rose meet up with the Queen, and they after trying to get out using a window.. (in vain since the monks were shooting at them) they run off into a library! This then happens, as the wolf doesn’t come after them..

That makes the doctor curious, so he licks the wall, (not kidding, HE LICKS IT!) and realizes the carvings are of mistletoe, and the wood is painted with some mistletoe varnish. Thus making him realize, they are in a library!

Thus they learn about the wolf, and its origins.

Then Queen then out of the blue, realizing her life is at stake, shows them why she was on this journey to begin with..

WOW. She was having that sucker cut into AGAIN?

Before we know it, the Doctor begins making all kinds of connections… since earlier they visited the Observatory, and the lenses where wrong, because rather than having the ability to look at the stars, it was reflecting something different, and it wasn’t until that moment he realized.. OMG! WE HAVE A TRAP FOR THE WOLF! Just as we see the wolf on the roof walking on the glass ceiling, trying to get in.

So, they all go running off toward the observatory, and Sir James decides to lay down his life for the Queen, and gets killed to buy them time to set up the big spacey thing, and the Doctor manages to get it into place just in time as the wolf bursts in, and he yells for the diamond to use to reflect the MOONLIGHT onto the wolf. However the wolf does manage to touch the Queen just as the moonlight makes the wolf hover, turn human, and it begs the Doctor to go a wee brighter, thus killing it.

So, the next day.. we see the Queen dub the Doctor, “Sir Doctor of Tardis”, and Rose gets “Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate”. She then says she is NOT amused (Doctor, you so owe Rose 10 QUID now.. ) and basically banshes them both. Awww… no biggie.. they just can go elsewhere.

So then this whole conversation happens on the way back to the Tardis..

THE DOCTOR: You know, the funny thing is, Queen Victoria did actually suffer a mutation of the blood! It’s historical record hemophiliac  It used to be called the Royal Disease! But it’s always been a mystery because she didn’t inherit it. Her mum didn’t have it her dad didn’t have it — it came from nowhere!

ROSE: What, and you’re saying that’s a wolf bite?

DOCTOR: Well, maybe Haemophilia is just a Victorian euphemism.

ROSE: For werewolf?

DOCTOR: Could be!

ROSE: Queen Victoria’s a werewolf?

DOCTOR: Could be! And, her children had the Royal Disease. Maybe she gave them a quick nip.

ROSE: (disbelievingly) So, the Royal Family are werewolves?

DOCTOR: Well… maybe not yet. I mean, a single wolf cell could take… a hundred years to mature… might be ready by… oooh… early 21st century…?

ROSE: Nah! That’s just ridiculous! Mind you… Princess Anne…!

DOCTOR: I’ll say no more.

ROSE: And if you think about it… they’re very private. They plan everything in advance. They — they could schedule themselves around the moon — we’d never know!

The Doctor sniggers as they reach the TARDIS and he opens the door. They bundle in.

ROSE: They like hunting! They love blood sports!

The Doctor laughs, the TARDIS starts to dematerialize but they can still be heard.

ROSE: Oh my God, they’re werewolves!

The two of them howl and cackle over the sound of the TARDIS engines until it has completely vanished.

Later, just as the Queen was about to set off, she decides to setup the house… which is known as the TORCHWOOD Estate, as a new institute to protect the planet.

Thus she might be an alien after all? Hmmm.

Love this episode as Tennant really begins to inject bits of himself as the Doctor, I’m sure due to many conversations with RTD, trying to figure out what direction the Doctor should go.. and what he likes and dislikes, as it is still VERY early in his tenure.

So, Rose is also getting used to having Ten now.. we’ll see how she deals with a little competition tomorrow.

Until then.. I agree with Billie that David’s bum is worth looking at….