Rose

A welcome return for the Doctor!

The episode started with a very un-who-like concept; telling the tale from the POV of the leading lady. It didn't feel quite like who to begin with (maybe that's just me), but I did warm to the style. The first few minutes were i'm afraid a bit dull, showing Rose getting up and going to work wasn't really impulse viewing, but it then moved on well. The bit where the dummies (autons) come to life was cool, and I think will scare children of school age. The return of the sonic screwdriver was impressive, as was the return of the Doctor!

Ecclestone played the character in a very quirky way. He often played dumb, whilst showing signs of eccentricness. This reminded me of Troughton.

Moving onwards, Clive was a breath of fresh air, he is an established comedy actor, having appeared in Early Doors (a bbc sitcom written by Mancunian Craig Cash). The scenes with him were excellent, and I'm sorry to say that he was killed off. Shame really. I felt they could have used this idea of there being traces of the Doctor in history to a better effect, by showing some pictures of other incarnations... however, this may have been confusing for new viewers.

The Wheely bin scene had me in stitches laughing! It was a stroke of genius, and despite the actor's lack of acting talent, it was pulled off magnificently. For those that dont know, the Nestene Conciousness pulled Jimmy (Rose's boyfriend) in to the bin.

The next bit, with an auton Jimmy, wasn't very well done. Obviously he looked plastic... but too obviously plastic that anybody would have noticed - but not Rose! However, in the restaurant the "Champagne" scene was excellent. Didn't expect it to be the Doctor! 

The psycho headless auton was poor. Too overloaded with special effects. However, thats just my opinion, my girlfriend seemed to like it! The timeless classic "double take TARDIS" scene was extremely well acted, despite the new TARDIS interior, which I loathe! I personally thought that the McGann TARDIS was the best to date.

The bit with the Millenium Eye was very funny. Also, worth noting, that when the Doctor grinned manicly after noticing the eye, he looked uncannily like the grin of (Tom) Baker's doctor! "Excellent!"

From here i'm afraid I disliked the end. The Nestene Conciousness wasn't as scary as it could have been. In fact, in the book Synthespians, it was truly terrifying. The attack of the Autons wasn't hugely inspiring anyway.

To round off, a great Doctor, a semi-impressive first episode, but masses of Potential!