Rose

Good points and bad points on a series we have waited for, for so long, they are bound to have made some mistakes. Lets hope that these can be put right in the future.

Bad bits first.

1: An hour long story? 

This felt rushed. It got in everything, just, but it all went past so quickly. Losing the episodic structure of the stories definitely feels like a minus, no cliffhangers, no slow pace to get to know the characters. Even with McGann's doctor the movie was long enough for us to get a full story in. This was half a story. In some of the older series the bad guys wouldn't even be identified until the second hour of the story. All the stories for this season have been filmed but for next season a return to episodes would, I think, make a great improvement.

2: No regeneration?

Well, we can live with it, but it led to one huge plot hole. The Doctor checks his face in Rose's flat as if it's the first time he's seen it, the implication being he's only just regenerated, however in Clive's shed we are explicitly shown that this doctor has been around for a while.

3: Clive. Why?

The episode hasn't got enough time to get the story in as it is, suddenly we get a character and his family, inserted only to fast track Rose's (and new viewers) understanding of the Doctor and then get killed. We don't care about Clive, we don't get to know him. Again because of the shortness of the story, extraneous characters used to have ages to endear themselves to us before wandering into the sights of whatever alien was slowly lumbering towards them. This little spot could have been far better filled by the Brigadier or one of the past companions, someone we knew which could have made a nice link. An opportunity missed.

4: Special effects.

The sticky wheelie bin was awful and the Nestene consciousness was pretty bad. For goodness sake, computer special effects without Peter Jackson's bank balance are worse than any amount of hand puppets and full body suits. Lets hope they don't digitise the daleks.

5: Rose.

I don't care what anyone else thinks, Billie Piper is too well known a celeb to pull off the role. Eccleston is a brilliant actor, Piper is merely a decent one, you can't watch her without remembering everything else she's done. An unknown actress would have been better. Was Peter Purves on Blue Peter or Dr Who first (Don't know, wasn't born) but I don't think any other companion was a well known actor/actress or personality before Who and I think there was a reason for that.

6: Locations

Cardiff is an excellent place to film, so is London, but you can't put Cardiff landmarks, such as the Queen's Arcade into London. Anonymous streets maybe, but the two cities have an entirely different atmosphere and it comes across on film.

7: Tardis.

I agree with Sylvester McCoy who wrote immediately after transmission on the BBC website that he wasn't keen on the new Tardis interior and that Paul McGann's Jules Verne inspired Tardis was much better. It was. So were the Victorian and the Classic interiors.

8: Scary? No.

My doctor was Sylvester McCoy and whatever may be said about his era, one thing was for certain, the stories were atmospheric and very scary. The Wolves of Fenric, The catmen from Survival, The gothic weirdness of Ghost Light, The Kandyman gave me nightmares and The Cleaners were terrifying. Again, with the hour to fit everything in the Auton's, after a good start in the basement, were not given the eerieness and creepyness that they deserved. The Mickey Auton looked like he'd come off a CBBC program and since when did a superior Auton replace his guns for hammers? This brings me to the next point.

9: Incidental Music.

Something else McCoy highlighted, or the lack of. It was always part of what made Dr Who. Think of any great Dr Who scene and you will almost certainly remember the music that ran beneath the scene. I can't remember a single piece of music from this episode. Obviously the directors are aiming for more realism in the show but I think it's lost the atmosphere that reached it's peak at the end of the McCoy era and was also evident in the McGann movie.

10: Writing.

Some absolutely fabulous writing on this episode, which was almost ruined by the blatant choreographing of the director. As in the Doctor is being established as someone who runs around all the time, always on the move, (Again, too short a time for a full story) so you know that whenever the Doctor stands still and gets a serious look on his face he's about to say something profound. As great an actor as Eccleston is he can't pull this off yet with the same ease and panache that McCoy or the great Tom Baker could, because the director puts so much emphasis on it.

1: Christopher Eccleston.

An absolutely fabulous actor, he singlehandedly saved this story from being drowned by all the bad points I've just listed. He's already leaning towards a Tom Baker style but with the Peter Davidson angst that we saw when he gets caught by the Autons and shouts that he couldn't save their homeworld. He's least like Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton. This darker streak we hear about may not neccesarily be in his character but in his failings. He did seem to be a far more human character than any who came before except perhaps Davidson. I don't think the romantic element that is supposed to occur is a good idea, certainly when the Doctor and Rose held hands it was almost big brother like. 

Many many things I disliked about this, having grown up with McCoy I now realise why everyone says they prefer the one they first meet. I think however that the Doctor is essentially complete, Eccleston is great, but I think that modern day styles and techniques of working are not neccesarily the most appropriate for Who. We'll have to see how the rest of the season pans out and what the rest of the fans think. 

If I were to pinpoint any one thing that needs to be changed for next season though, the stories have to be longer, episodic if need be, an hour simply is not long enough it all felt rushed. I think if that happened all the other elements would fall into place.

(And get a good incidental music composer)