Rose

Doctor Who is back. And it's fan-bloody-tastic.

Being a young'un (if you can call 20 'young') I've never before had the experience of sitting down to watch a brand new series of Who (I'm not counting the TV Movie because that wasn't a series and anyway I had to record it), so as a complete virgin to the wonders of new Who the whole experience made me a bit giddy. But giddy in a good way.

I've seen lots of old episodes of Doctor Who on video, from every era, and I have to agree with what RTD was saying in the 'New Dimension' documentary about each Doctor being relevant to his own specific time period. The ones that I watched were all relevant to the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the movie captured the essence of the 90s . . . and now we have Doctor Who for the 21st Century. It's new, it's different, but so are we and the series has evolved with us.

I love the new music. I know there have been comments about the lack of a face appearing in the title credits but for me that's a minor thing that was more of a mildly amusing recurring theme than a genuine mainstay of the series. Yes it was nice to have a face appearing to let you know who was starring but do we really need that? I love the time tunnel effects and the music has just enough of the original in to remind us that this is Who we're watching while adding a fantastic new spin. I particularly enjoyed the slightly orchestral feel of the later part of the title music.

The beginning of the episode was like nothing we've seen before. Fast-paced, choppy, you could be forgiven for thinking you're watching the beginning of the BBC's new drama series about the everyday life of a London girl - and that's perfect, because that's the point of Rose herself. She's an everyday London girl and this was the best way of introducing her. Being honest, I didn't at first warm to Billie simply because she had little to do in her first few scenes other than run around in a montage but by the time we had her walking down the dark corridors, I was beginning to see an actress who could quite easily become one of the industry's biggest stars.

Rose as a companion is intriguing. It's not the first time the makers of the series have claimed that the latest female companion will be 'on an equal footing with' the Doctor, but this time I get the sense that Rose will not go the way of most companions before her. She is a genuinely strong character and the very fact that she investigates the Doctor when she could quite easily just let it go makes me think that she is going to be as much a part of the action as the Doctor - someone particularly deserving of the title 'companion' rather than 'assistant'. I particularly enjoyed her 'gymnastics' quip towards the end of the episode and I couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when she made the decision to leave her life behind and join the Doctor.

Now, for the Doctor himself.

If it's true that everyone has a Doctor, I think that the Ninth Doctor might be mine. I'm giving him time because I don't want to jump to any conclusions yet, but he is the deepest and most interesting Doctor I've ever seen and it's only been one episode. 

It's already been mentioned on here but I'll say it again, in Christopher Eccleston's performance there are hints, glimmerings, of all the Doctors that have gone before - an authoritarian streak worthy of Hartnell, the 'armless' quip that is pure Troughton, a willingness to become part of the action like Pertwee, an amiable silliness inherited from Tom Baker, a boyish excitement that speaks of Davison, a certain irritability under stress that could be Colin Baker, a mysteriousness that was brought to the fore by McCoy and the love and compassion that epitomised McGann's short reign. In short, this Doctor more than any before him is, as the Fifth Doctor said in 'The Five Doctors', the sum of his memories.

This Doctor is the most alien of all the Doctors. He is driven by a love of all life but as is shown by his apparent forgetfulness regarding Mickey he is also capable of seeing the big picture. The Eighth Doctor would most probably have been as concerned for Mickey as Rose but in this new incarnation he has accrued a sense of responsibility that forces him to look beyond individuals, as his somewhat startling speech to Rose reveals.

Chris's performance was extraordinary. He managed to take the Doctor from one end of the spectrum to the other in the space of a few minutes with incredible ease and the sense that this was all completely natural. I love his slight swagger and easy grin, and I love that without realising it he has become the Doctor I wanted him to be.

There have been complaints about the lack of a regeneration scene. Whatever. I really don't think it's necessary and anyway the point of the story is that we arrive halfway through. A regeneration scene would have been complicated to explain to any new fans and its absence allowed us to hurtle straight into the story. I'd also like to point out to those who have complained that this caused a plot hole with Clive's pictures of the Ninth Doctor: he's a time traveller. Just because the pictures were taken sometime in the past doesn't mean they've already happened. The pictures of the Ninth Doctor could just as easily have been taken in five years' time when he decides to pay the past a visit. Hole closed.

The interior of the TARDIS is gorgeous. The similiarity between the new look the Time Rotor and the Rotor from the TV Movie provided a continuity bridge and the walls are like a more detailed, less harsh version of the original. The console is a delight, made up of a mish-mash of bits and pieces that look as though they're held there by Blu-Tack and the organic, coral feel of the interior makes it a mysterious, gorgeous wonder.

With the new TARDIS we are returned to the idea that this is a battered old Type 40. The movie interior was gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but it turned the TARDIS into the Doctor's living room and the console was so pretty that it seemed perfect. The point is that the Doctor's TARDIS isn't perfect, and with the console that looks like it's a Blue Peter experiment that sense of age is perfectly portrayed. The gangways also bring us back to the idea that this is a 'ship' - as it was often referred to in the Hartnell years - and gives the impression that the TARDIS itself is alive, a point that has been made several times in the more recent slew of books, and a point that would be interesting to see portrayed in the series. I also particularly like that the Police Box doors are now actually a part of the interior decor, my personal favourite point being that there is actually an old-style telephone behind where one would be on a real Police Box.

The Autons were menacing but not particularly frightening but that might simply be because we have so much violence on TV now anyway that the idea of a walking mannequin just isn't that frightening to us. The Consciousness didn't particularly impress me as a villain but the references to the Doctor's part in the 'War' intrigued me enough that this didn't particularly matter.

And this is where I reach the point: this was the first episode in a brand new series. If it had been about the Daleks, or another more menacing creature all the focus would have been on them. Using the only mildly scary Autons and introducing the Consciousness so late meant that we had time to get to know this new Doctor and Rose, meant that we were able to sympathise with them by the end of the episode so that when the Doctor realised that he had failed and the Consciousness was going to destroy Earth, we felt his pain with him, so that when Rose managed to wrestle aside the Autons and destroy the Consciousness we raised a cheer for her bravery.

New Who? Fantastic. Old Who? Fantastic. They're all the same Who. But this Who's been regenerated and it's not done any harm at all.

What was it the Sixth Doctor said?

'Change, my dear. And it seems, not a moment too soon.'