There are a tonne of expectations hanging on this story, and the man behind it is more than aware of this. And that's what makes it such an outright success. 

Of course, the ones with the highest expectations are the hardcore fans such as myself. We've been "heartbroken" by the cancellation of our all-time favourite television show over 16 years ago, "strung along" by novels, comics and audio productions that were all nice but still not quite "real Who" and then even "teased" by the 96 telemovie that made us think we might finally get our favourite thing in the whole world back and then have it yanked away from us again. It has been a very bumpy ride for the hardcore fan for well over a decade and it's going to be toughest to please us. But because the writer/producer is as devoted to the series as we are, he can completely empathise with us and give us a lot of what we wanted without totally alienating the casual viewer that's going to tune in to see "what all the fuss is about". 

Let me start by actually making the one valid critical point about "Rose". The plot, at best, is threadbare. The Doctor's looking for the Nestene Consciousness to stop it from invading the Earth. If the Nestene doesn't listen to him and leave, he'll be forced to kill it. That's the story. That's it. It could be told in four minutes if it needed to be. But, because we also need to re-introduce the mythos, those other 40 or so minutes are full of atmosphere, charm and fun. Which is exactly what the new series needed to get off the ground. 

We see right from the start that Russell T. Davies has a very definite vision of where to take the series. Yes, his plot his weak - but it needs to be secondary right now. We need to re-encounter the Doctor because most of the world has forgotten who he is. And that is accomplished with such magnificient style that we're more than happy to let plot take a bit of a back seat. 

Chris is great as the Doctor. For us Canadians who don't get to watch the episodes til two weeks after they've been transmitted in England, we'd already heard in the press that he's leaving so it's actually painful for us to watch this first episode because we know not to get too attached to him. But it's so hard not to. Like McGann before him, Eccleston settles quite naturally into the role and gives it both incredible intensity and whimsey in all the right places. Because of his magnificient portrayal (I, personally, like the Northern accent and goofy grins), we love him right away as the new Doctor, even though he's not wearing "a proper costume"! 

Rose is an equally awesome companion too. We can see already that she wants to challenge the Doctor and that she has higher aspirations for herself than to just "eat chips and watch the telly" like the rest of the human race. It's also her that ends up saving the day - which makes her cooler than the average "screamer" companion we got in so much of the old series. 

And that's what we needed more than anything in this first story. A good establishing of the two central characters. Everything else is only somewhat important. We can have more contrived stories (which we get immediately in "End of the World") further down the road. Right now, we need to meet the Doctor and Rose and, of course, beat a bad guy. And bringing back a classic villain like the Autons was another damned smart move. To put in the Daleks or Cybermen or perhaps even the Sontarans (oh how I want to see how the new series will handle the "potatoe heads"!) in this story would have been too obvious of an attempt to draw an audience. And such big villains would've stolen too much attention away from establishing the protagonists. But an old villain that's been around a few times and lives quite vividly in the memory of a certain generation of fans was another excellent move on Davies' part. He reminds me vaguely of Andrew Cartmel in the way he approaches the series in that we can see that he definitely has a "masterplan" going on. And that's what we need right now in our favourite show: a very definite sense of direction. 

So, complain all you want about silly wheelie bins or Doctor Who websites - as far as I'm concerned, you missed the real point of this episode if you're pissed about this. And you're ignoring such great moments too that more than make up for any of the flaws. Like Rose's trip down the elavator to the basement where we get a sense that her life is about to take a drastic turn. Or Mickey's head talking to the Doctor after it's been removed. Or the Doctor having to turn around over and over to notice the "big wheel" he's looking for. Or the way the Doctor re-states his ethos by insisting on confronting the Nestene first and giving it an alternative to leave rather than just killing it outright with "anti-plastic". Or the genuine regret in his voice when he explains he was unable to save the Nestenes "feeder" planets during the wars that destroyed them. And so many other moments that would take too long to enumerate here. 

This story serves its purpose well and also manages to throw in tonnes of really magical moments without getting too pantomime about the whole thing. Basically, it brings back the new series with tremendous style and just an adequate amount of substance. 

Of course, as a hardcore Who geek - I feel I must also congratulate the production team on giving us some nice nods to the past that only we would notice. Firstly, "Rose" blends in quite nicely with the 96 telemovie (even if we don't get a McGann/Eccleston regeneration scene) in terms of "film quality" production values and even the blend of symphonic and contemporary scores as incidental music. And, like the telemovie, the actual plot is only so important. But the truly obscure references to the old show are there if you're willing to really "strain the geek eyes". The very first Auton story also opened with a shot of the Earth hanging in space and being approached in a slow camera pan. It also had a gorgeous "tracking shot" in it where the camera followed two characters as they walked for a somewhat extended period of time together. And, of course, most splendid of all, we get the same sound effect the Auton gun makes as the hand drops away and fires (I wonder how much digging around in various archives they had to do to get that one?). These little touches really warmed my geek heart and re-assured me that this might be a very new and different series - but it was still Doctor Who. 

So, as the ending credits rolled, I was not only more than satisfied with what I'd gotten, I was excited to see what would happen next! Which was, to me, what the first story needed to accomplish. If every story was going to be like this, of course, I would be upset. But this is exactly what we needed for a first story. And Davies delivered it better than I expected.

I don’t need to tell you how I was feeling in the weeks and days approaching March 26th. I’ve been following Doctor Who since I was old enough to see its magic (I was 6 in 1974). I adored the show for all kinds of reasons – first and foremost for it’s imagination stretching format. I jumped aboard in the Golden Era of Hinchcliffe. I despaired as it wasn’t allowed to continue on TV in 1989. Books, comics and Audios more than made up for the lack of Who in the 90s and last few years – but I so much wanted the real thing - TV.

I love the Audios particularly – you can quote me on the fact that I believe them superior to the original TV show. Really though I just love Doctor Who – and I was as excited as the next active enthusiast (that’s what we are now apparently to distinguish us from the general public! I kind of like the label!) with the Official TV Return.

I went for a cozy approach on the night of the 26th. DW was mostly a solitary, or one-on-one pursuit for me – and I watched it with my better half (she sat fascinated throughout – but then she’s quite a fan herself).

After the initial frown at the jiggy-jiggy music, as Rose flitted about the Department Store, I am reliably informed I had a silly, stupid grin on my face throughout. As Rose went down to the basement so the marvellous secret, scary places of the imagination were upturned again. As the Mannequins moved the Monsters returned. As Christopher Eccleston appeared charging down corridors, I knew the Doctor was back.

It all went extremely quickly, but then modern TV is like that – and this is great modern TV. I really can’t remember being ever this engrossed in Who, yet I have pretty much sampled it all. No doubt I was caught up in the new, exciting novelty of a new series – but it really is rather brilliant. I find it marvellous that my expectations (which are always high for something with Doctor Who emblazoned on it) were exceeded. That really is quite amazing – and I would like to shake Russell T Davies by the hand (and his amazing helpers) and heartily congratulate him.

I knew Russell T Davies Doctor Who would be the genuine article – you just could tell from his mass of interviews, and the reports coming from the Recording. All the tingle-down-the-spine sound effects are present and correct. This really is the old show we all grew to adore – and it is fantastic to see it represented so well.

I was extremely impressed with the reality grounding that Rose and her home represented. Her homely yet normal house, her wonderfully dizzy mother, and her ordinary boyfriend. That marvellous scene where the Doctor and Rose are tracked past the garages back to the TARDIS. Pizza for dinner, lie-ins – this was the real world – and the magic of Who, as a contrast, has rarely been so better emphasized.

Chirstopher Eccleston is amazing. There’s something intrinsically Doctorish about him right from the start – yet there’s also a man-in-the-street about him too. Billie Piper is excellent too – and this was arguably her episode more than the anyones. We follow the story through her – and her character is so enchanting as to make that fascinating. The story for me was all about Rose and the Doctor – and there’s not one scene they are together that doesn’t sparkle with originality and energy. Special mention too, the new TARDIS Console Room is wonderful. To me it seemed Farscape/Cardassian inspired – and I really like that.

On the Monday night after the original screening we went to my friends house (EZ) – also a big Who fan. We watched it again, with his wife Nealm and his 6 year old daughter Nikita. I spent just as much time watching 6 year old Nikita as watching the TV Screen! It was fascinating to see her reactions. She laughed when the Doctor sent the playing cards everywhere. She laughed again and jumped up and down when the Mannequin Hand was attacking the Doctor, but then stopped suddenly when it fixed on Rose. She rushed to her Mum when the Wheelie Bin started attacking Mickey, but then giggled when it burped. She snuggled up to her Auntie (my wife) when the Nestene Monster was shouting at the Doctor. She gave it 10/10 when we asked around the room what our ratings were (we do this whenever we watch something!). Truly marvellous to see Doctor Who fascinate a small child, as I was fascinated all those years ago. Incidentally the ratings from the 4 over 35 adults were 10, 8, 9 and 9.

I am loathe to put any kind of criticism in my review, but I suppose I should balance things out a little. The story. With all the introductions, explanations of the Nestene threat seemed hazy. Of course it’s essentially the same threat and motivation as Spearhead From Space (well done DWM giving it an article in the latest Mag). The Internet guy was pretty good (complete with jokes about the male domination of fandom), but it would have been nice to see other Doctors on his walls – but I see why they didn’t too – focus had to be on the new Doctor.

The new Doctor Who is glorious, and judging from its beginning, this series will be probably the best we have ever had. Coming into work on Tuesday morning I was met with cheers from my fellow workers. I had come out of the closet as a Who fan a few months before, and they knew just how much I was looking forward to the new series. What I find marvellous is that they all loved it too. For the first time in my life I’m cool – absolutely amazing! 9/10

After 10 long years, Doctor Who has at last finally returned to Australian television screens – and it's about time.

The updated time vortex is a nice nostalgic touch for those of us who remember it. After over a year, the new Doctor Who logo still looks far too “photoshopped” for my tastes. The new theme tune is a wonderful combination of the old Delia Darbyshire melody, overlaid with a symphonic score. It's a big improvement on the pompous bombastic John Debney version from the TV movie. And light-years better than the chintzy cheesy version used during the Sylvester McCoy years. The opening shot immediately catches your attention – a wideshot of the earth and moon, then zooming into Rose's alarm clock. Clearly showing that this series will explore the unknown, but will be returning to Earth from time to time.

Murray Gold's new theme tune is excellent – his incidental music is not so excellent. The inspired-by-department-store melody was perfectly appropriate for the first five minutes, but I don't believe it was particularly appropriate for repeated use throughout the entire episode.

Rose's mother Jackie very much reminds me of my own mother. Especially her overprotectiveness of her daughter, not to mention her tendency to natter over the phone with her friends. As a result, I find the character of Jackie annoying for all the right reasons – as a reflection of the bland and uninspiring life that Rose will soon leave behind. Mickey is your typical faithful boyfriend. Like most males of his ilk, he's not a particularly articulate or refined fellow, but its clear that he does love Rose, in his own hamfisted way. I find Mickey to be an immensly annoying character for the same reasons as Jackie. And that's fine – as a Doctor Who fan gunning for Rose to leave in the TARDIS, I'm meant to.

In a breathtaking forty-five minutes, Christopher Eccleston has redefined the role of Doctor Who for the 21st Century. Other actors who have played the role, have sometimes taken the larger-than-life eccentric approach. For past episodes in a more innocent time, this has worked exceedingly well. Ecclestone's Doctor is truly alien, without taking the overly bombastic approach that some past actors have. For me, the “Earth turning” speech was when I truly believed that he was the Doctor.

Billie Piper's character of Rose is an even bigger revelation than the Doctor himself. Rose is a fully- fleshed out character, and the fact we see this adventure from her point-of-view only emphasises this. She's a fully-rounded person with a family who loves her, who's then flung into the most extraordinary situation imaginable.Billie Piper plays the role with charm and verve, without ever descending into maudlin histrionics.

The most interesting aspect of the episode (from a continuity) perspective, is the war that the Doctor refers to in his confrontation with the Nestene consciousness. Just what exactly has the Doctor been up to in the past few years since we've seen him? It appears that RTD is setting up a large arc for the Doctor – hopefully it will work. I enjoyed the Doctor and Rose's confrontation/conversation next to the London Eye. In addition to quickly establishing their relationship, it also brings new viewers up to date – what is the TARDIS? Why is it bigger on the inside than the outside? Just who IS the Doctor? Essentially, RTD has to sum up the forty-year premise of the show in forty-five fast-paced minutes. It's quite a challenge, and RTD mostly pulls it off.

Rose is by no means a perfect Doctor Who episode – how could it be? This new series needs to respect forty years of past history, as well as forge a new and viable future for an attention-deficit viewing audience. In that regard, the debut episode builds a solid foundation from which to improve upon.

Does it work for the 21st century? Will it engage a new audience? Does enough happen? Is it just Hollyoaks with a TARDIS? A lot of accusations have been thrown at the new Dr Who series, a few of them justly so. But do any of them hit the heart?

Viewed as a Doctor Who story, 'Rose' is certainly very odd. The enemy gets barely any introduction, still less explanation, not much screen time and no lines. The plot, as far as this invasion is concerned, is little more than "the Doctor turns up and stops it", which of course is what a lot of people were dreading would happen once stories were cut from four half-hour episodes to a single 45 minuter. However, this isn't quite fair.

'Rose' isn't a Doctor Who story, any more than the first episode of the classic series was. Both are stories of ordinary people becoming inadvertently entwined in a world far outside theirs, and meeting a strange man who they, and we, will soon come to know as the Doctor. 'An Unearthly Child' is a story about two teachers investigating a suspicious student. It's very odd, because after the first episode it suddenly lurches off into a lot of tosh about cavemen, which is when Doctor Who proper starts, but for that first one it's creepy, mysterious, character-driven, explorative, and features no monsters whatsoever.

Similarly, 'Rose' is a story about... well, Rose. She doesn't investigate a suspicious incident so much as become one, but the idea is the same: she falls randomly into the Doctor's world, and we see the story of how it affects her. When she first meets the Doctor, he's practically at the end of what you'd think of as a classic Who story - he knows what the enemy is, how to defeat it, how to find it and what to do when he gets there. That isn't Rose's story; it's just background. Her story, like 'An Unearthly Child', is about someone ordinary colliding with an extraordinary world. It's very odd, because after the first five minutes it suddenly introduces a lot of tosh about shop dummies, which is when Doctor Who proper starts, but it still somehow manages to be mysterious, character-driven and exciting... and has monsters.

There are faults, of course. The incidental music feels a bit Remembrance of the Daleks, very disco military, with no thematic evolution from Working In A Shop to Saving The World. The editing in the climax isn't pacy enough. The humour is a bit strong. Micky can't act. Christopher Eccleston walks funny. But really, who's counting?

The point is, it feels like Dr Who. Overwhelmingly so, and infinitely more than the '96 tv movie, which we can finally all admit to having hated now we've got something else to fill the void. Christopher Eccleston is enormously engaging - friendly, fun, enthusiastic, and (his key character note) tremendously alive. Billie Piper is a revelation, utterly alive and believable as a real-life girl next door. The design work is excellent - even the semi-organic TARDIS, which made me sob when I first saw it because it's going to be such a bastard to build cgi models of, is great - and the sets huge, well shot and evocatively lit. The script by Russell T Davies is, needless to say, faultlessly structured, pulsing with life and astonishingly funny. The direction is rapid, clever, pacy and alive. I've even changed my mind about the coat.

And there's a reason for this. The first thing Russell T wrote for the series was a 15 page document explaining what the show was about. Not regeneration, not police boxes and sonic screwdrivers, but what it's REALLY about. The reason the new TARDIS works is that it's built from ideas up: it's not a home, it's a VW camper van - an old hippy's stolen jalopy, jury-rigged to be operated by a single pilot and repaired on the road with whatever technology was available. The Doctor isn't a an exile, an alien or a player of chess upon a thousand boards: he's a traveller, alone and homeless until he finds someone who can complete him. Rose doesn't join him because she wanders in off the street; she comes because she knows if she says no she'll regret it the rest of her life, and because the Doctor is everything her life isn't. Because he's alive. He doesn't save worlds and rescue aliens because he's a hero, or a pinko communist liberal. He does it because life is short, and every moment precious, whether you're a Time Lord, a shop assistant, a TARDIS or the Moxx of Balhoon.

Russell's final summary of the Doctor's moral code, and Christopher's, is "Live life". I may not have agreed with everything about 'Rose', but that's something I can't help but embrace wholeheartedly. And if the series has a heart as strong as that - two hearts, indeed, for a resurrected Time Lord - then the critics can whinge as much as they like. The Doctor's in safe hands.

My review of this and the next two episodes will be more retrospective than the following episodes as I started reviewing from Aliens of London onwards. These episodes have been reviewed upon rewatching them on DVD. So my comments will be based on my memories of the first time I watched this story and new observations in light of the series to date. I hope you bare with me.

I am a massive fan of the Who theme tune and can listen to it in any form (excluding season 23). I even quite like the McGann movie version. So I was thrilled that the new theme is spot on and could listen to it repeatedly (in fact I have the menu screen of the dvd playing in the background - where is the BBC produced single ?) The time tunnel raphic sequence is enjoyable (if that can be the case for title sequences) and I really like the TARDIS switching between the two tunnels midway.

So, to the episode. The point of Earth view was a good touch to start yet I remember initially suddenly feeling like I was in a program I didn't recognise. Watching the fast cut, speeded up opening shots reminded me first I was watching a Russel T Davies show like Queer as Folk or Casanova, much, much faster than ANY Doctor Who has ever been. But it didn't take me long to settle in.

The opening scenes, again fast paced but actually quite eery and menacing when the Autons first encounter Rose. Then the Doctor uttering probably one of the, if not the most iconic words in his 42 year history "Run". A quick run through some corridors and then a proper introduction before we see the first special effect of the new series, not quite perfect but an idea of what's to come. Terrific start.

After some Eccleston baiting in later reviews, looking back on this episode I found him to be quite entertaining, charming and not as grating as I remember. I do think however his insane grinning was more prolific in other episodes. This episode could end up being the most quotable. I can see all the Ninth Doctor T-shirts emblazoned with "FANTASTIC". But a tour de force for this opening show. Billie Piper as Rose hits the ground running right from the start. Again it's become common to praise her performance through the series but it's well deserved praise. Noel Clarke however, is just plain bad in this. But he will improve.

Being an opening episode (aka pilot) there is a lot of information to take in so is pretty much a fast paced episode. It is never drowned with exposition. This is cleverly left to snippets of data throughout the season. Yet all the Doctor Who icons are handled well and often with humour. Particular reference is made to Rose's first encounter with the TARDIS. The Auton invasion unfortunately, although well played is left to be the B plot and I do think they should have a better episode. But the pointis to introduce the Doctor and Rose and the new format so this can be forgiven.

It did beg the question would the format be too much for a 45 minute episode but, again after seeing more of the series, 45 minutes will be enough.

I liked the plastic Mickey (as opposed to the wooden one) and the wheelie bin ( but didn't understand why that particular one was activated)

The effects off the nestene was brilliant and much better effect than its been credited for. Again a throwaway quick fix but that is the nature of the episode. Best bit of the episode, and the series has got to be the Doctor and Rose in front of the Eye.

One continuity error I noticed, watch the gun-hands on the three Auton "brides". They are already open.

So to recap. A pretty first rate opening episode acted well by all (except one) and enough to whet my appetite for the rest of the season. It's still WHO and it's still FANTASTIC!

Rose is an OK introduction, suffering from a paper-thin plot and the need to re-introduce a sense of mystery and danger to the character of The Doctor. The special effects were hardly ground-breaking, and suffered a lot in places from being too 'obvious' (e.g. the signal emanating from a famous London landmark). The Nestene Consciousness was better realised than in Spearhead From Space (which could be interpreted as being damned with faint praise), and it was good to see The Doctor at least trying to interact with it rather than destroy it straight away. 

The main problem I feel is that the story blasts on through at 200mph. The forty-five minutes allotted passed in seemingly half that time, with nary a pause for breath. The few character moments we had ("I can feel the Earth turning in Space" and "There's a strange man in my bedroom") were good, but too few and far between. Rose would have benefited from another 15 minutes to give the plot more meat and the characters more room to breath. 

But there is plenty which is good: Eccleston's first outing shows promise, The Doctor being less certain of himself and more distant at times. When Rose chides him for not telling her that Mickey might be OK, we realise that this isn't the Doctor we're used to: not Jon, who would have had consoling words for Jo, nor Peter who would have tried to buck up Tegan with 'Brave Heart.' This is a more alien Doctor, one hurt and de-sensitised by the events of the War he has fought in. Eccleston has put a lot into creating this part, and it shows in his performance. From his first speech (“Run!”), he makes the part his own, in a way no incoming actor has done before. Only Hartnell, the original, showed such confidence and presence as The Doctor from the word go. 

Billie Piper as Rose is a revelation. She can act. Not only that, she can act well, and makes one believe in the part. She is a shop-girl with a nose for trouble, she is a humanising influence on The Doctor, she could be our new best friend. Giving Rose the limelight for the first story was a bold decision, but it worked. For the first time since An Unearthly Child we get to meet The Doctor through the eyes of a real person, one not used to Time Travel and alien invasions. It was a masterstroke, and one we should applaud Russell T Davies for. 

The Auton dummies are reasonably well realised, and we finally get to see them smash out from the windows in which they are displayed. What was missing was the “first part” of the story, showing how the Autons were made (I’m assuming there is a factory somewhere in Kent where the owner has been supplanted by an Auton duplicate) and insinuated into so many shop windows in such a casual fashion.

Indeed, when Rose (we) get into the story, the adventure is half over. The Doctor is in the process of making Henrik’s department store ‘safe’ and has (presumably) dealt with other Auton outposts. There is something unsatisfying in this, a sense that there is more to be told, that we don’t have all the facts. 

Who does have all the facts? Clive doesn’t, but he has a lot of them. He’s the 21st-Century Doctor Who fan, all internet-savvy and anal retentive geeky. Why is he obsessive about The Doctor? We aren’t really told. But he has amassed lots of information and sightings about the Ninth Doctor (without ever really picking up on the trail left by his predecessors) and shows Rose that this is someone special. There are a couple of nice in-jokes there, including his presence at the Kennedy Assassination (22nd November 1963, of course) and more of these are included on the website (unpromoted) which the BBC have set up. It can be accessed via the BBC Doctor Who site, and is a clever piece of fluff to demonstrate how the series has moved into the Computer Age. 

The rest of Rose’s life is well detailed, from her slightly flirty mother to her deadbeat boyfriend. Noel Clarke plays the part well, and it is easy to see why Rose, given the choice of staying with him or travelling with The Doctor, would jump into the TARDIS. It’s a nice touch that Rose is stronger than Mickey, and shows both how capable she is and how much of a foil for The Doctor she will be. 

No review of Rose would be complete without mention of the infamous ‘wheelie-bin’ scene. Suffice to say that, as a tension-breaker for the little ones (who might not have ventured near bins ever again if traumatised by the shot) it worked well. It wasn’t overdone (as the farting was to some extent in Aliens of London), and there could be a plausible reason why the burp occurred (which I’ll leave out in the spoiler-free environment we still have). One scene does not deserve to be held up to ridicule this show, when there were entire stories in the 1980’s with more childish stupidity than in the two seconds of television shown here. Deriding the entire show because of this is truly clutching at straws. 

If this is Doctor Who for the 21st Century, then I like it. It is bold it is witty , it has great special effects and it is able to attract great actors to appear in it. Despite the shortcomings in the plot and structure of Rose, its sheer bravado carries it above much of the lacklustre, by-the numbers episodes of Doctor Who seen in its declining years. 

Overall: bold and beautiful.