The 1860 thing is supposed to be a background setup to the Tardis not arriving at the intended time, a detail that becomes important next episode. Even then, the correct date is seen shortly after the '1860' line on the poster in Dicken's ready room.
Thanks for clearing that up, I just assumed there was a script editor oversight or something. They make such a big deal about it being 1860 at the beginning, but if there was a scene where they learn it isn't 1860 afterall before the Doctor casually mentions that Dickens will be dead in a few weeks, I somehow missed it. It didn't hinder my enjoyment of the episode any, but it did confuse the hell out of me that I thought they were in 1860 the whole episode and suddenly they're in 1869.
As for Dickens role in the episode, His arc is a nod to Ebeneezer Scrooge as he starts the episode rather miserable, uninspired and ultimately tired of life to the point of feeling that it is too late to rectify his mistakes only to gain a new lease on life at the end. The episode was supposed to have multiple references to various Dickens novels but they were ultimately cut or never came to fruition.
Yeah I got that's what they were going for, I just don't think they accomplished it particularly well. Like I said, Dickens felt like an afterthought for most of the episode, and I didn't see him deserving the Scrooge treatment in the first place. He mostly just seemed tired and a little bit emo about his family for unspecified reasons. TBH, I'm not really sure what happened in the episode that changed this, he's suddenly just "I'm not emo anymore because I saw aliens, I love my family and Christmas now!"
As for the actual episode. Dickens never actually did a reading in Cardiff in December 1869. So that is either a gaff or intentional artistic license to have the doctor and co meet Dickens on the christmas before he died. In the real world Dickens began touring in the January of 1970 up to March before falling gravely ill and eventually succumbing to his illness and leaving his final work unfinished (Another small anachronism as the first chapters of Edwin Drood were not published until April 1870) The ending is bittersweet as Dickens leaves the doctor and rose feeling inspired for the first time in years and ready to make changes only for the doctor to inform rose that he anything he chooses to do now will be shortlived.
I wasn't meaning to harp on any historical inaccuracy in the episode, I don't usually give a shit about that (unless it's something really egregious like "history is a white wash". Because the BBC need to have a certain number of POC in every episode whether it makes sense or not.)
I wouldn't have even known that Dickens did dramatic readings in front of crowds in the first place, let alone what year he did them. Accurate or not, I'm glad they included it because it was easily my favorite part of the episode. The guy they got to play Dickens did a really great job, I just wish he got to do it in a better episode. (I'm glad they got him back for a small cameo in the Series 6 finale.)
You know, it just hit me. This episode was like a half-baked proto version of Vincent and the Doctor. (Which I still consider to be one of the better episodes of one of the better series of New Who.) Only nowhere near as good.
I'm probably not the first person to make that comparison.
Ok, so it's the fat farting aliens episode.
-I've given Jackie a lot of shit over the years (mostly because she's basically just a 20 years older Rose). but damn, she's really getting my sympathy so far in this rewatch. Why the hell doesn't Rose just tell her where she's been from the beginning? Worst case scenario, she doesn't believe it. So just show her the inside of the Tardis, **like they even do later in the episode.
-Jackie wins the episode.
Jackie: Did you find her on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?
9: I *am* a doctor.
Jackie: Prove it, stitch this mate. *slaps the fuck out of him*
-Rose calls 9 gay because he says it hurt when Jackie slapped him. What the hell!? I love this show now.
I bet they wish they could go back and take that line out in the current year haha.
-I seriously don't get why Rose couldn't tell her mother where she went. The Doctor didn't even tell her not to, just that she can't travel with them.
-They're watching TV coverage of the spaceship crash, and because of dumb kid shenanigans, the tv randomly changes to a cooking show where some tv chef (I'm assuming he's better known in bongland, but he isn't Gordon Ramsay, so I don't care) is already making some sort of space ship cake. This was a cute touch.
-I never even remotely liked Harriet Jones until 10 screwed her over out of sheer spite (after she ironically did the objectively correct thing, and shot down unrepentant murder aliens, who were only retreating because they were defeated *this time*.), and I still don't like her here. She's a dumb as rocks busybody... and worse still, a bureaucrat. I can see how she became prime minister in a retarded place the UK, but I wouldn't want someone like her as a leader in my country. It doesn't help that she looks like a significantly younger Nancy Pelosi.
-The fact that Rose has been back to her present Earth for the better part of a day, and even after learning that to the rest of the world she's been gone for a year, *still* didn't bother telling her boyfriend that she was back, until he found out later himself is textbook Rose. What a fucking cunt.
-It's even worse when you find out he's been taken in multiple times for police questioning, and that Jackie's spent the last year making his life a living hell because she thought he might be involved with Rose's disappearance. #blacklivesmatter
To be fair, I don't directly blame Rose for those things Mickey went through, 9 is the one who fucked up there. If anyone owes Mickey an apology, 9 does... But 9 doesn't apologize, he just doubles down and acts like even more of a dick. Why is Colin Baker known as "the Asshole Doctor"? At least he never stole someone's girlfriend and then treated the exe boyfriend like a little bitch for no reason.
-I can see why Mickey doesn't like the Doctor right up until he's paired off with Martha Jones
because they're both black because they both have *so much* in common, and have *totally* met eachother onscreen even once. and sees that 10 is dying. I like to think Mickey was secretly laughing.
-Wow that "pig alien" looks even shittier than I remember, but I like the concept in retrospect. (It looks shitty because it's a fake.)
-The farting is just as cringy and stupid as I remember it being. "I'm shaking my booty." indeed.
-Why does the Doctor treat Mickey like he's an idiot? Sure Mickey is dumber than the Doctor is, but so is literally every other human on the planet. He's still clearly significantly smarter than Rose is, even in this episode, and the Doctor calls Rose brilliant more than once. (Even though she isn't.) I guess it's because he's
black err... I mean a
fucking white male.
-**When I wrote the first half of this, I forgot that Jackie does in fact see the inside of the Tardis in this episode. (if only accidentally) But Rose still decides to be a massive retard and lets her run off without telling her shit. Of course Jackie called the feds on her. Jackie is whatever the hell you call a 20 year older chav, and at the end of the day is just as stupid as her daughter is. Jackie isn't even wrong, Rose *is* in danger. I still feel for her.
-Wow the cops show up almost immediately, and the young black man is still somehow the only one who's able to get away, while the young white woman gets caught? The UK really *is* different from the US.
-
Fat Farting Alien: *fart*
9: Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?
Fat Farting Alien: Would you rather silent but deadly?
I'm calling it now, this was a fetish for one of the writers.
-Slitheen my ass, those are knockoff Gorons from Legend of Zelda. And they look ridiculous.
I'm not watching part 2 tonight.
