# Doctor Who "The Empty Child" - 5/5/06 (US airing) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677 "2006-05-06T16:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/21 "2006-05-07T03:33:53Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > Cheap one of \*\*Dr … Spock \*\* as Elza B pointed out. 😃 I’ve been reading too many parenting books. That should’ve been Mr. Spock. Not Dr. Spock. :smack: Glad others found this episode creepy. We watched it again this morning, and I still found it incredibly creepy. Response to **Wolfman’s** spoiler/speculation: If Nancy is really Jamie’s mother, then at the end when Jamie was approaching her, why would she refer to herself as his sister? Especially since she was alone in the room with him - no one else there. Wouldn’t she just refer to herself as his mother instead of his sister? I was pegging the actress for being fifteen or sixteen - turns out she’s really 22, according to the IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/22 "2006-05-07T07:46:39Z")
Sorry guys, but to say anything about the next episode would spoil everything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/23 "2006-05-07T08:13:42Z")
response to [bold]Eliza B’s [/bold]response about my speculation. 🙂 [spoiler] That was one of the things to make me think it was foreshadowed. The kid is looking for his mommy. And we’re dealing with 1940’s culture and everythings in flux. Suppose Nancy gets pregnant unmarried. She has the kid and panics, and with all the turmoil she just says they are bother and sister and never even tells him or anyone else she is the mom. So the poor kid never even knew his mom, and it mixed with the sci/fi alien voodoo so he turns into a mom-searching zombie centered on her. Plus the (other) Doctor told the Doctor(Who) that Nancy knew more than she said and had the answer to the problem. Add in that she was so motherly to all the other urchins, while directly running away from the zombie kid, it just seems to me that it’s a pretty clasic abandonment/denial to acceptance/redemption storyline. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/24 "2006-05-07T08:52:11Z")
Speaking as a chap who was hiding behind the sofa four decades ago :eek: : - yes, the latest incarnation is deliciously scary! - of course it would be rude to say what happens next (but keep watching!) ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/25 "2006-05-07T13:24:56Z")
Do not miss the start of the next episode. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/26 "2006-05-07T14:01:20Z")
I would just like to say that I had the exact same thought as **Wolfman** , which is why I mentally bounced around so much about Nancy’s age. I’ll be awfully disappointed if I’m right, though… it’s just more fodder for my damn overactive brain (I figure out just about every supposed twist, and it’s annoying). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/27 "2006-05-07T15:10:35Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > response to \*\*Eliza B’s \*\*response about my speculation. 🙂 Bad Wolf! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/28 "2006-05-07T15:55:03Z")
> [@Elza B](#): > > I was pegging the actress for being fifteen or sixteen - turns out she’s really 22, according to the IMDB. 😃 Yes. We know. (Pays to read earlier posts sometimes. That’s why I have my own Tardis. 😛 ) > [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [Florence Hoath](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387524/) ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/29 "2006-05-07T18:53:42Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > 😃 > > Yes. We know. (Pays to read earlier posts sometimes. That’s why I have my own Tardis. 😛 ) :smack: Dude, gimme a break. I was reading two different threads about the show on two different boards and I got mixed up. 😛 I need another nap. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/30 "2006-05-07T20:34:20Z")
Considering how some threads have gone in times past, I’m just glad you took it as the light hearted teasing that it was. UK Dopers, are we USAers missing anything (that you can tell) in the transition from BBC to Sci-Fi Channel? We get an hour of the show at a time, mixed in with commercials of course, so not a whole hour of show. What do you guys get? (I know you’re a year ahead of us.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/31 "2006-05-07T20:42:40Z")
Wolfman - the other doctor’s name is Dr Constantine. (It stuck in my head as I’m a fan of Hellblazer and Sandman, AND I roleplay a character named Professor Constantine, so…) ---
**Author:** ![silverfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@silverfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silverfish)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/32 "2006-05-07T21:21:42Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > UK Dopers, are we USAers missing anything (that you can tell) in the transition from BBC to Sci-Fi Channel? We get an hour of the show at a time, mixed in with commercials of course, so not a whole hour of show. What do you guys get? (I know you’re a year ahead of us.) We get 45mins (without adverts), which seems to be what an hour long american show would be without advert breaks. I do remember 24, broadcast on the BBC was about that length. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/33 "2006-05-07T22:32:54Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Considering how some threads have gone in times past, I’m just glad you took it as the light hearted teasing that it was. Oh, come on, you were just hoping I’d fly off the handle and go start a Pit thread. 😃 As far as the length of the show, does it seem like we in the US get an overabundance of commercials? I could barely get up for a bathroom break before the commercial was over and the show was started, but then it seemed like we got less than 5-7 minutes of show before another commercial started. E. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/34 "2006-05-07T22:41:15Z")
wolfman and Elza B - you’re both right I took the liberty of downloading the next episode and… [spoiler]the doctor specificaly says: “what are you? about 20, 21?” and makes a specific statement about being an unwed teenage mother in 1940s England. In fact, it becomes instrumental to resolving their little problem. [/spoiler] Let me just add that the sci-fi explanation for whats going on doesn’t make it less creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/35 "2006-05-07T22:42:42Z")
Ah, the joys of nationally-syndicated television channels. Plus, of course, getting Doctor Who about six months earlier than you fellows (I just finished watching the whole series through on DVD- again). It’s good to gloat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/36 "2006-05-07T23:25:48Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > Ah, the joys of nationally-syndicated television channels. Plus, of course, getting Doctor Who about six months earlier than you fellows (I just finished watching the whole series through on DVD- again). > > It’s good to gloat. 😃 You sir are no gentleman. Oh well, at least we are getting them. Is it at all weird that Trek was referenced as much as it was for this episode. I don’t remember the Tom Baker Doctor making topical TV connections. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/37 "2006-05-07T23:34:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t remember the Tom Baker Doctor making topical TV connections. Wasn’t the Tom Baker one set slightly in the future- ie. it aired in the late 1970’s and Sarah Jane Smith came from 1980-something? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/38 "2006-05-08T01:13:12Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > Wasn’t the Tom Baker one set slightly in the future- ie. it aired in the late 1970’s and Sarah Jane Smith came from 1980-something? Really? I’ve never heard that. Remember, she started out with #3. Off to the BBC and fan pages to see what I can find out. [Nothing on BBC.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page18.shtml) [Nothing about it on Gallifrey.](http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=3u) Lack of a cite isn’t proof of a negative, tho. So if you can find one, I would be most intrigued. I’m so glad Rose is a major babe. I had missed Peri and her amazing technicolour bikini. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/39 "2006-05-08T01:14:23Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > Wasn’t the Tom Baker one set slightly in the future- ie. it aired in the late 1970’s and Sarah Jane Smith came from 1980-something? That was due to the influence of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who first appeared in the 2nd Doctor’s reign. The stories featuring him and UNIT were nominally set in the “near future” (i.e. present plus 10-20 years) in order to reference events that would have to be public knowledge but obviously hadn’t happened in real life (manned expedition to Mars, etc.) So by extension Sarah Jane was part of this parallel history. IIRC, Sarah Jane was in fact the last companion from the UNIT near-future timeline: his companions from Earth since have all been from “today”. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677/40 "2006-05-08T01:17:53Z")
Ah, thanks, **Lumpy**. I started out with #3 on PBS and am just now getting to catch up on #2 thru DVDs. Much obliged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-the-empty-child-5-5-06-us-airing/355677.md?page=3)