Doctor Who - 03x02 The Shakespeare Code

09. July 2013

Like I said, I’m writing about „The Shakespeare Code“ this time. I watched this episode 1 or 2 years after I watched season 1 and 2. After season 2 the show was cancelled in Germany (I really can’t understand that).

In “The Shakespeare Code” the Doctor and Martha, who has just met him, travels to London in the year 1599 and meet Shakespeare. All in all it’s a very funny episode, a lot of jokes.

I always like it when the Doctor meets historical persons, and solves some mysteries about their lifes.  In this episode Shakespeare writes his lost play “Love’s Labour’s Won”. I like such references! The Doctor uses quotes from Shakespeare’s plays, inspiring him to write them down. Shakespeare himself comes up with the quote “To be or not to be”, but think it’s too pretentious.

Then, the Doctor discovers that the shape of the Globe theatre is defined by the witches to free their species. And that’s why it looks like it looks.

One of the best things about this episode are the Harry Potter references! I loved that! The Doctor tells Martha that he cried when he had read the final Harry Potter book. I think the episode was on air a few months before the book came out. And even if it was obvious that people will cry when they read the last Harry Potter book, that was great!

Do you know my favourite movie is Back to the Future? It was so great when the Doctor mentioned it. My favourite books and my favourite movie in my favourite TV show! Great!

I also liked that the monsters in this episode are witches! Ok, they are Carrionites which use word-based science, so they’re not really witches. But who cares!

The best part of “The Shakespeare Code” is definitely the end. The witches are about win, so Shakespeare should use some powerful words to fight them. When he not knows what to say next Martha suggests “Expelliarmus”. And so Shakespeare defeats the witches with a Harry Potter spell! That was the very best! And the audience believe it was all part of the play.

In the beginning the Doctor showed Shakespeare his physic paper but he didn’t see anything. The Doctor sais it’s because he’s a genius, and Shakespeare later proves that. He reveals the Doctor and Martha as time travellers. 

In the end, Queen Elisabeth enters the Globe theatre because she had heard about Shakespeare’s play. She isn’t very pleased to see the Doctor and orders “off with his head”. Haha, and the Doctor is so confused. He doesn’t know yet why the Queen is so mad at him.  In “The End of Time” we find out, when he tells Ood Sigma that he married “Good Queen Bess”. Seems like it wasn’t a great marriage.

Oh, and it looks like they’ve got weeping angels at Bethlem Hospital!