TV Club: The Girl in the Fireplace

Clockwork robots, a spaceship with doors to a French palace and a romance with Madame de Pompadour! What is going on? But the most pressing question is - Should Arthur the Horse have become a full-time companion?

Watch the episode on BBC iPlayer:

Or on DVD and Bluray:

Give our rating out of 10 below:

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7 Likes

For a while this was my #1 favorite story and while a number of episodes have passed it since then, itā€™s still probably a top 10 for me and I think might still be my favorite 10th Doctor episode. So much here that I love. The clockwork droids are probably my favorite monster of the show, with a design that is to me both beautiful and creepy. The romance element I love both on its own and in relation to the Doctor and Roseā€™s romance and I think this episode sits wonderfully next to School Reunion in examining the realities of what that romance really means. Itā€™s also just a very funny episode, with the ā€œdrunkā€ Doctor scene always being a particular favorite of mine.

Iā€™ve also got a strong attachment to this one as the one that made me first fall in love with David Tennant as the Doctor. I went in totally blind and didnā€™t even know about regeneration, so was totally caught off guard at the end of S1 and spent the next few episodes thinking that Eccleston could have done them better, and this was the first episode that I felt like Tennant was bringing something totally different to.

10 Likes

Personally, I think this episode is majorly overrated. Itā€™s not bad, but I just donā€™t see why so many people love it so much. There are some really cool concepts with the clockwork droids and the ship using human parts, and there are funny scenes with the Doctor being drunk and Arthur the horse (who should totally be a companion!), but the story just doesnā€™t compel me at all. I find it mostly dull. I donā€™t care for the romance, I think itā€™s rushed, mostly one-sided, and not something I can understand or relate to as a demiromantic person. Also, the only reason I even remember Mickey is there is because I know I always forget Mickey is there. He does nothing the entire episode!

14 Likes

Hereā€™s my review on the site:

I give it 4/5 but my review does pick holes in it quite a bit (mainly, I donā€™t like the Doctor in this much - sorrry @flora_snow00 ). But itā€™s still a good story overall with a clever reveal right at the end.

8 Likes

Iā€™m with @uss-genderprise, Iā€™m not a fan of this ep. I absolutely love the clockword droids and the human bits on the ship, but very little else about this ep does anything for me

5 Likes

A strangely controversial episode but I think itā€™s a beautifully sombre little idea box.

Moffatā€™s odd trend of having the Doctor meet his love interests as children unfortunately persists and there are some very strange connotations this episode creates but I do love how it begins what Series Five would perfect: the Doctor becoming somebodyā€™s imaginary friend.

The ship is a fantastic concept and the clockwork droids are interesting but are more of an intrusion past their first scene.

I think itā€™s got this regal melancholy to it that I really dig and whilst I donā€™t consider it one of Moffatā€™s best, I consider it of very high quality, especially for Series 2.

9/10

9 Likes

Definitely one of the best episodes of season 2 (low bar I know :wink:).
I really think a future spaceship harvesting human body parts for spare parts is a cool sci fi horror concept, and then add the time windows that follow Madame de Pompadour until she had ā€œmaturedā€ for the final vital ingredient, and robots made of clockwork components - itā€™s such a wild premise. Very recogniseably a Steven Moffat script.

I actually like the 10th Doctor in this? :thinking: oh right he is removed from Rose for a chunk of it, thatā€™s why :wink:
The 9th Doctor remembered he could ā€œdanceā€, and I do believe the 10th Doctor ā€œdancedā€ with Madame de Pompadour at the Banana Daiquiri party :smirk:
A really good little romance for the 10th Doctor.
And Madame de Pompadour is really well written and acted, and her death at the end is really well done and the voice over of the letter is great.

Did Rose and Mickey actually need to be in this story?

4/5 :star: from me :slightly_smiling_face:

7 Likes

Yes. Every story needs Rose :grinning:

5 Likes

I just watched Stolen Earth and would very much like for Rose not to be in that oneā€¦
(Watching Journeyā€™s End right now, those specials are coming a bit too close for comfortā€¦:eyes:)

6 Likes

Last time I watched Flux I thought. Ooh, this story misses a character that you care about. Rose would make them better!

7 Likes

The space station that Vinder was on was called Rose thoughā€¦
And I care much more about that space stationā€¦

7 Likes

You see we agree. You care more about a space station that is named after an awesome character than the flat character in the station.

8 Likes

Do I need to step in as moderator before you two come to blows :wink:

Blows about Rose.

Poetry!

8 Likes

IMG_2727

7 Likes

The first time I saw this, as it went out, I thought it was amazing. There were so many ideas crammed in together and the look of it was sumptuous. A horse on a spaceship! Clockwork robots in pre-revolutionary France! The whole time-lapse conceit and how achingly sad it turned out to be. It was so many different things at once. Yet, as I come back to it, especially with respect to what has come since, some of its veneer has come off. There are some problematic issues around the relationships between the Doctor, Rose and Mickey, and the juvenile Reinette. Itā€™s a common trope in fiction, but is it appropriate to start an adult relationship as a grown man who has known that woman as a child? The love story is painful, but also the early new series sexualisation of the Doctor never quite got it right. It always feels a bit inappropriate. What is an appropriate age gap between a human and a centuries-old timelord? I know weā€™re not meant to think about it too much, but there are still some power dynamic issues, even if we think of each of the characters as ostensibly human.

Despite my niggles, I think itā€™s a rollicking good story, and a stand-out in Series 2.

12 Likes

A genuinely different story for DW at the time it was done and, a bit like @deltaandthebannermen , this was really the story where I felt Moffat, the writer, truly arrived. Donā€™t get me wrong. Iā€™m hugely fond of ā€˜The Empty Child/The Doctor Dancesā€™ and yetā€¦ one good script does not a writer make! This is the one that sealed the deal. This guy has talent, thought I. These thoughts were subsequently confirmed by ā€˜Blinkā€™ and wonderful ā€˜Silence in the Library/Forest of the Deadā€™.

Anyway, this one dared to be different. I loved the setting on board the 51st Century spacecraft. Also loved the juxtaposition of sci fi with history. The Clockwork Robots were a perfect way to marry these two elements together through a common aesthetic. They look suitably futuristic and yet utterly befitting the 18th century period.

It isnā€™t the perfect story but it is clever, sweet, funny and sumptuous. A highlight from a season I struggle with. I love the 10th Doctor, but this doesnā€™t really happen for me until series 3. Series 2 isā€¦ OK. ā€˜Girl in the Fireplaceā€™ is, happily, one of a couple of exceptions in this series.

:slight_smile: :gear: :mantelpiece_clock:

10 Likes

giphy (2)

9 Likes

The Girl in the Fireplace is a high point of Series 2, one of the weaker seasons of the revival.

Moffat crafts an inventive timey-wimey adventure, combining a character-driven period drama with pure and fun science fiction. Itā€™s an early example of Moffat challenging the expectations of the viewers.

David Tennant is lovely in this story, in one of his better performances. Sophia Myles proves to be one of the most memorable and solid guest performers in the revived series. She puts in a soft but very engaging performance.

The Doctor is both funny and touching here, ready to help a woman he barely knows, even if it means he gets separated from his companions. The way heā€™s excited about space-age clockwork, snogging Madame de Pompadour, befriending Arthur the Horse and getting drunk (and ā€œdancingā€) at a party are things only Ten could pull off.

Mickey is now officially a part of the TARDIS team, but still a bit of a comic relief character. The two companions are mostly abandoned by the Doctor throughout this, but they fare very well on their own, and Billie Piper isnā€™t too annoying for a change. Granted, they donā€™t have much of a role to play in the episode, but still.

The Clockwork Droids are a great concept, used pretty well but perhaps not as much as could have been possible. Their design and function are creepy, and they work effectively despite being so simple. What makes them scarier is the fact that they harvest human body parts to run their spaceship.

This is one of the better-produced stories in the early revived series. 18th-century France looks incredible, the droids look realistic, and the old, abandoned spaceship is also pretty nice. The CGI isnā€™t always up to par (Iā€™m thinking of the ā€œhorse through the mirrorā€ scene), but itā€™s not too bad. The sad music stands out the most.

This is a slower episode, but itā€™s well-paced nonetheless, allowing the Doctor and Reinette to connect properly, which makes the ending feel properly satisfying.

Once again, Moffat manages to craft an atmosphere that effectively combines authentic period drama with dark and creepy scenes, romance, heartbreak, and plenty of sharp humour.

There are so many great lines about bringing a banana to a party, Thickety Thick Face, keeping the horse and other stuff. Just a very quotable and meme-friendly episode.

This is easily a 9/10 for me!

10 Likes

Hard agree with @MrColdStream The Girl in the Fireplace is great, the timey-wimeyness is brilliant, and generally I think this is one of the most Doctor Who stories of all time (at least, one of the most revival Doctor Who stories of all time)

Inventive monsters, time travel as part of the plot, past and future shown off well, solid comedy, historical figure Iā€™d never have known about if not for the show, great villains, and like it or not, itā€™s got the romance thatā€™s very much part of Tennantā€™s era which is when revival was at its cultural peak.

Plus itā€™s one of my Dadā€™s top three episodes, so Iā€™ve got to score it highly for that the others being Fatherā€™s Day and I think Heaven Sent. Then again he hates Waters of Mars, Children of Earth, and Midnight, so I definitely donā€™t always agree with him.

9/10

11 Likes

Now just imagine if it had had Pete and Jackie Tyler insteadā€¦ (Pete can get Jackā€™s part.)

6 Likes