The Unicorn and the Wasp

L'épisode a été diffusé 17 mai 2008
TV-PG
45m

ÉVALUATION IMDb

7,7/10

7,9 k

MA NOTE

Felicity Jones, Catherine Tate, David Tennant, Fenella Woolgar, and Adam Rayner in Doctor Who (2005)

Adventure Drama Sci-Fi

Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueWith a 1926 dinner party turning into a murder mystery, The Doctor and Donna Noble get the chance to meet Agatha Christie on the eve of her well-known 9-days disappearance.With a 1926 dinner party turning into a murder mystery, The Doctor and Donna Noble get the chance to meet Agatha Christie on the eve of her well-known 9-days disappearance.With a 1926 dinner party turning into a murder mystery, The Doctor and Donna Noble get the chance to meet Agatha Christie on the eve of her well-known 9-days disappearance.

Director
- Graeme Harper
Writers
- Gareth Roberts
- Sydney Newman
Stars

Voir l’information sur la production à IMDbPro

ÉVALUATION IMDb

7,7/10

7,9 k

MA NOTE

Director
- Graeme Harper
Writers
- Gareth Roberts
- Sydney Newman
Stars

Voir l’information sur la production à IMDbPro

Anecdotes
Because of Agatha Christie appearing as a central character in the story, references are made throughout the dialogue to her works. Donna and others drop the names of several of Agatha's works: Why Didn't They Ask Evans, Murder on the Orient Express, N or M, Nemesis, Cards on the Table, Cat Among the Pigeons, Dead Man's Folly, They Do It With Mirrors, Appointment with Death, Sparkling Cyanide (also known as Death Remembered), Endless Night, Crooked House, and Murder at the Vicarage. Also, the book that Lady Eddison reads in a flashback is another Agatha Christie work, 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.'

Gaffes
We're told thieves broke into the church on Thursday night, but in the flashback, the church is lit by daylight.

Citations
[the Doctor makes muffled noises while making a shaking motion]
Donna Noble: I can't understand you! How many words?
[the Doctor holds up one finger]
Donna Noble: One! One word! Shake, milk-shake, milk! Milk! No? Not milk! Um, shake, shake, shake! Cocktail shake! What, d'you want a Harvey Wallbanger?
The Doctor: Harvey Wallbanger?
Donna Noble: Well, I don't know!
The Doctor: How is Harvey Wallbanger one word?
Agatha Christie: What do you need Doctor?
The Doctor: Salt! I was miming salt! I need salt! I need something salty!
[Donna grabs a bag from the counter]
Donna Noble: What about this?
The Doctor: What is it?
Donna Noble: Salt!
The Doctor: That's too salty!
Donna Noble: Oh, that's too salty!
Agatha Christie: What about this?
[Agatha hands the Doctor a jar and he upends it, eating the food]
Donna Noble: What's that?
Agatha Christie: Anchovies.

Connexions
Featured in Doctor Who Confidential: Nemesis (2008)

Bandes originales
Love Is The Sweetest Thing
(uncredited)
By Ray Noble

Commentaires des utilisateurs28

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Commentaire en vedette

The Doctor meets a giant wasp and Agatha Christie

I remember a time when Gareth Roberts was well-regarded by Who fandom. His New Adventures novels were well-liked and his Missing Adventures efforts were seen by many as some of the best of the 90's Who novels (including myself). Granted Roberts didn't help his dwindling reputation (a result of silly revisionist thought when fans decided to be pretentious and ignore these fun romps in favor of the 'challenging drama' of some of the NA's) with last year's extremely disappointing "The Shakespeare Code", but he has matched some of his finest work such as "The Romance of Crime" and "The English Way of Death" with "The Unicorn and the Wasp", a fun and exciting little adventure reminiscent in several ways of Doctor Who's other television murder-mystery, "Black Orchid".

The only real flaw in this episode was essentially the plot and the way it was executed. This has always been a flaw in Gareth Roberts' writing but he more than makes up for it (again) by injecting ample wit and style into his dialogue, which the actors really do justice here. I did think Catherine Tate slipped into her comedy routine a bit here which does injustice I think to the fantastic way she's developed her character over the last few episodes, but that's a minor complaint.

This is possibly one of the best-directed Doctor Who stories, well... ever. Graeme Harper first directed Doctor Who in 1984, debuting with the truly legendary "The Caves of Androzani" and following that up with the excellent "Revelation of the Daleks". Returning for the revived series of Who with "Rise of the Cybermen", Harper has proved to be one of the best and most unjustly ignored television directors out there. "The Unicorn and the Wasp" succeeds largely thanks to his direction of the episode, as he creates fantastic atmosphere and chooses his shots very carefully and very well.

Fenella Woolgar is terrific here as Agatha Christie herself and the story is just excellent, fun, humorous entertainment all the way through. The CGI effects in series four thus far have been miles ahead of what we've seen previously and the very, very well-done wasp(s) are proof of this. What a memorable and fun tale.

8.5/10