Doctor Who - Series 1 (2005)
I love sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes. I'm sure you've gathered that from my blog. Or if you're a friend of mine, my home, my Facebook page, me in general. I'm sure I've mentioned this in a previous posts, but one of my biggest nerd blind spots is "Doctor Who." I mean, I'm aware of it. I have tons of friends who are super into it and have been pushing me to watch for years. An I have tried. God knows I've tried. I've probably watched the first two episodes of the rebooted "Doctor Who" five or six times in the past few years, but haven't gotten any further. Everyone kept telling me, I could skip Christoper Eccleston's Ninth Doctor and jump right into David Tennant's Tenth, but I'm not good at starting something in the middle.
So, what finally got me to finally watch this series all the way through? Well, it is Jodie Whitaker. Whitaker is taking over as the new Doctor when the 11th series of the reboot starts up sometime in 2018. She's the series first female Doctor in over 50 years. It's historic and I want to witness that, but I want to witness it in context. To be fair, I'm not really interested in watching any episodes prior to Eccleston's run, but I think that's OK. So, these are some general thoughts and impressions I had as I made my way through series 1 of "Doctor Who."
The series begins with "Rose." And right off the bat, I have to say, I think I would have enjoyed the series more and not stopped, if I had realized from the beginning that this is really Rose's story. She is our point of view character. The Doctor is sort of tangential to the whole thing. Yes, rescuing her from the Autons at her job is the catalyst for her embarking on this journey, but normally the focus is on Rose. That makes sense when you think about it. This is the first series of "Doctor Who" in something like 16 years. You're trying to attract an audience of more than just Who diehards. So, making Rose (Billie Piper) the main character is smart. She's pretty and blonde. She's a filter for the audience. Much more relatable than an alien who treats the human race with an odd mix of affection and contempt, though much more of the latter, at least in the first few episodes.
"Rose" is a perfectly acceptable premiere/re-introduction to "Doctor Who." There are definitely some silly moments, but I think that is something of a touchstone of the Who universe. Some of the things are silly, like Rose's hapless boyfriend Mickey being "eaten" by a trash bin and replaced with an Auton. The silliness and some of the lower end special effects are charming. They don't really detract. The most important thing about this premiere is that it makes sense that Rose would take off with the Doctor. She's young. She's faced with a dead end life or following in her mother Jackie's footsteps and like any 19-year-old that doesn't really appeal to her. Following the Doctor on his adventures makes sense.
The next four episodes are pretty unremarkable. They are kind of standard, run-of-the-mill sci-fi stories. This is to be expected. It's obvious show runner, Russell T. Davies and his team of writers, is still easing people back into the "Doctor Who" verse. That's not to say they are awful. "The End of the World" introduces the last living human, Lady "Moisturize me!" Cassandra and is the show's first future trip. "The Unquiet Dead" features the first trip to the past and introduces Eve Myles, who would go on to play a major role in the Who spin-off, "Torchwood." The less said about two-parter, "Aliens of London/World War 3" the better. All you really need to know is "farting aliens." Ugh.
The new series really showed what it was capable of with the sixth episode, "Dalek." It re-introduced the Doctor's greatest nemesis. Now, I knew what a Dalek was, but couldn't imagine them being a credible threat, but this episode changed my mind. It's how the Doctor responds to it, how it acts once it's released. This was also the first episode where I felt like Piper and Eccleston were injecting the Doctor and Rose with unique quirks and personalities. Eccleston was a bit warmer and Piper was more take charge.
"The Long Game" feels like kind of a place holder episode that was necessary for the finale. The Doctor, Rose and Adam travel to a future space station where the news is being manipulated by a creature called the Jagrafess and the Editor. It was cool seeing a young Simon Pegg here.
The next trio of episodes are the best of series 1. "Father's Day" tells the tale of Rose and the Doctor going back in time to witness the death of her father. Rose remembers the tale from stories Jackie told, how her father was killed by a hit and run and left to die alone. Rose just wants to stay with him, but of course can't leave it at that. She saves her father, because why wouldn't she? The episode is a great showcase for Billie Piper and the scenes with her father feature her best acting on the series to date.
"The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" poses the immortal question: "Are you my mummy?" It tells a great, creepy story about a little boy wandering around the blitz of World War II asking this question and transmitting an odd disease. It introduces dashing time traveling con man, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), eventual leader of Torchwood. Now, I have watched all of "Torchwood" and LOVE it, so I was super happy to see Captain Jack join the series. I knew he originated in "Doctor Who," but I didn't realize he showed up in the first series. Barrowman brings some great energy to this and the final few episodes. A sense of fun that is missing sometimes. These two episodes put more focus on the Doctor, showing him investigating and finally giving Eccleston the chance to really flex his Doctor-ing muscles.
"Boom Town" is another throwaway episode leading up to the finale. It brings back the only surviving farting alien, ok, Slitheen, who has somehow been elected mayor of Cardiff. OK. There's a nice little dinner scene between the Doctor and the Slitheen where they discuss morality and the Doctor's role as judge, jury and executioner, but it last so little compared to the rest of the episode and is seemingly forgotten about so fast it's difficult to really call the episode a win.
The two part series 1 finale "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" is a solid wrap to Eccleston's first and only turn as the Doctor. I know people have mixed feelings about "Bad Wolf," but I really liked it. Separating the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack and putting them in future versions of popular reality shows is pretty funny. And is it really that hard to believe that shows like "Big Brother," "The Weakest Link" and "What Not to Wear" wouldn't still be around in some iteration sometime in the future? How much mileage you get out of this probably depends on your feelings about reality television. I'm a big fan so that probably explains why I didn't mind it.
The finale is a stellar way to say good-bye to Eccleston's Doctor. There is an invasion of Dalek's. Emotional beats. Possible deaths. Rose staring into the heart of the TARDIS. A kiss between Rose and the Doctor and ending with his regeneration into his Tenth iteration. It also becomes pretty clear that Rose is in love with the Doctor, but we'll touch more on that with the next series.
It's not perfect. It's a little odd that they just leave Captain Jack, brought back to life while Rose is near omnipotent. The explanation for the "bad wolf" clues littered throughout series 1 is kind of half-hearted and knowing that he would eventual regenerate, wouldn't the Doctor have at least mentioned this to Rose? Wouldn't they have had some sort of conversation about his previous lives? Or incarnations? Or whatever?
I'm really glad that I finally made it through this. After doing some reading about this first series, I learned that it was announced that Eccleston would be a one-series Doctor before it even premiered and I always wondered if that didn't subliminally color people's perceptions or opinions of him. It was nice that he got a pretty solid one-season arc, focused on how to be the Doctor again. Maybe that's why people don't relate to him like I feel they do to David Tennant or Matt Smith or even Peter Capaldi. They get to be more happy-go-lucky because Eccleston worked through the hard stuff already. I would have loved to see a second series with him, free of the emotional baggage, but I'm excited to continue on this journey with David Tennant at the helm.
I'm interested to hear how my hardcore Whovian friends feel about this season and Eccleston overall. I know it's sacrilege but I'm still not totally sold on Rose. Let me know in the comments.
So, what finally got me to finally watch this series all the way through? Well, it is Jodie Whitaker. Whitaker is taking over as the new Doctor when the 11th series of the reboot starts up sometime in 2018. She's the series first female Doctor in over 50 years. It's historic and I want to witness that, but I want to witness it in context. To be fair, I'm not really interested in watching any episodes prior to Eccleston's run, but I think that's OK. So, these are some general thoughts and impressions I had as I made my way through series 1 of "Doctor Who."
The series begins with "Rose." And right off the bat, I have to say, I think I would have enjoyed the series more and not stopped, if I had realized from the beginning that this is really Rose's story. She is our point of view character. The Doctor is sort of tangential to the whole thing. Yes, rescuing her from the Autons at her job is the catalyst for her embarking on this journey, but normally the focus is on Rose. That makes sense when you think about it. This is the first series of "Doctor Who" in something like 16 years. You're trying to attract an audience of more than just Who diehards. So, making Rose (Billie Piper) the main character is smart. She's pretty and blonde. She's a filter for the audience. Much more relatable than an alien who treats the human race with an odd mix of affection and contempt, though much more of the latter, at least in the first few episodes.
"Rose" is a perfectly acceptable premiere/re-introduction to "Doctor Who." There are definitely some silly moments, but I think that is something of a touchstone of the Who universe. Some of the things are silly, like Rose's hapless boyfriend Mickey being "eaten" by a trash bin and replaced with an Auton. The silliness and some of the lower end special effects are charming. They don't really detract. The most important thing about this premiere is that it makes sense that Rose would take off with the Doctor. She's young. She's faced with a dead end life or following in her mother Jackie's footsteps and like any 19-year-old that doesn't really appeal to her. Following the Doctor on his adventures makes sense.
The next four episodes are pretty unremarkable. They are kind of standard, run-of-the-mill sci-fi stories. This is to be expected. It's obvious show runner, Russell T. Davies and his team of writers, is still easing people back into the "Doctor Who" verse. That's not to say they are awful. "The End of the World" introduces the last living human, Lady "Moisturize me!" Cassandra and is the show's first future trip. "The Unquiet Dead" features the first trip to the past and introduces Eve Myles, who would go on to play a major role in the Who spin-off, "Torchwood." The less said about two-parter, "Aliens of London/World War 3" the better. All you really need to know is "farting aliens." Ugh.
The new series really showed what it was capable of with the sixth episode, "Dalek." It re-introduced the Doctor's greatest nemesis. Now, I knew what a Dalek was, but couldn't imagine them being a credible threat, but this episode changed my mind. It's how the Doctor responds to it, how it acts once it's released. This was also the first episode where I felt like Piper and Eccleston were injecting the Doctor and Rose with unique quirks and personalities. Eccleston was a bit warmer and Piper was more take charge.
"The Long Game" feels like kind of a place holder episode that was necessary for the finale. The Doctor, Rose and Adam travel to a future space station where the news is being manipulated by a creature called the Jagrafess and the Editor. It was cool seeing a young Simon Pegg here.
The next trio of episodes are the best of series 1. "Father's Day" tells the tale of Rose and the Doctor going back in time to witness the death of her father. Rose remembers the tale from stories Jackie told, how her father was killed by a hit and run and left to die alone. Rose just wants to stay with him, but of course can't leave it at that. She saves her father, because why wouldn't she? The episode is a great showcase for Billie Piper and the scenes with her father feature her best acting on the series to date.
 |
| Are you my mummy? |
"Boom Town" is another throwaway episode leading up to the finale. It brings back the only surviving farting alien, ok, Slitheen, who has somehow been elected mayor of Cardiff. OK. There's a nice little dinner scene between the Doctor and the Slitheen where they discuss morality and the Doctor's role as judge, jury and executioner, but it last so little compared to the rest of the episode and is seemingly forgotten about so fast it's difficult to really call the episode a win.
 |
| You are the weakest link. |
 |
| Regeneration |
It's not perfect. It's a little odd that they just leave Captain Jack, brought back to life while Rose is near omnipotent. The explanation for the "bad wolf" clues littered throughout series 1 is kind of half-hearted and knowing that he would eventual regenerate, wouldn't the Doctor have at least mentioned this to Rose? Wouldn't they have had some sort of conversation about his previous lives? Or incarnations? Or whatever?
I'm really glad that I finally made it through this. After doing some reading about this first series, I learned that it was announced that Eccleston would be a one-series Doctor before it even premiered and I always wondered if that didn't subliminally color people's perceptions or opinions of him. It was nice that he got a pretty solid one-season arc, focused on how to be the Doctor again. Maybe that's why people don't relate to him like I feel they do to David Tennant or Matt Smith or even Peter Capaldi. They get to be more happy-go-lucky because Eccleston worked through the hard stuff already. I would have loved to see a second series with him, free of the emotional baggage, but I'm excited to continue on this journey with David Tennant at the helm.
I'm interested to hear how my hardcore Whovian friends feel about this season and Eccleston overall. I know it's sacrilege but I'm still not totally sold on Rose. Let me know in the comments.
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