You can see a clear progression with Eric Saward's Doctor Who work. 'The Visitation' is a nice, textbook straightforward romp. 'Earthshock' is an action movie-type story, with a fairly easy to follow plot for the most part until it all goes a bit mad at the end. 'Resurrection of the Daleks' was a slickly-directed collection of set pieces linked by a somewhat schizophrenic narrative. And 'Attack of the Cybermen' is a mess of indistinct plotlines, continuity references and two-dimensional cyphers. And yes, it is a Saward script. If Paula Moore did have any input, Saward script-edited this one to the extent that it's very much his story.

When dull Hinchcliffe fans bleat on about how dependant the JNT era was on past continuity, they often don't really have much of a case. Generally, the references were harmless. It's fandabbydozy if, say, you can name which stories the clip reel in 'Mawdryn Undead' references, but if it's about all you've seen it doesn't overpower the plot. However, 'Attack of the Cybermen' is something of an exception. To full appreciate what's going on, you could do with knowing that Mondas was destroyed in 'The Tenth Planet', that the Doctor thought the Cybercontroller dead from 'Tomb of the Cybermen', that there are Cybermen in the sewers most likely left over from 'The Invasion', and that Lytton was in 'Resurrection of the Daleks'. And that's not to mention the references like 76 Totter's Lane...

But the biggest problem 'Attack of the Cybermen' has is it's horribly dull. The thing takes until nearly the end of the first episode before it threatens to really get going. Until then, we have to put up with Lytton and his bunch of Sweeney rejects bumbling around, and the Doctor and Peri mucking around looking for a distress signal. The running joke of the 'fixed' chameleon circuit is amusing for about nine seconds of its' first appearance, while the references in the score to Steptoe and Son and Phantom of the Opera are cring-inducing. Colin Baker, having been hammy and fun in 'The Twin Dilemma', is hammy and irritating early on, having to deal with the clunky mood-swings in the script - notable the dreadful "Unstable?!?" moment. He settles down a bit later on, though the script lets him down, notably the overwrought scenes with Vlast and when he orders the shooting of Russell. I always got the impression that the violent overtones of Season 22 were not so much Saward's attempts to subvert the gentle fifth Doctor, but in fact his belief of how the character should be, turning the Doctor into some sort of revenge figure.

Still, Colin does well from the script compared to poor Nicola Bryant. While I don't think she's as bad an actress as is sometimes made out, she certainly can't save bad scenes. She also suffered from a part that was heavily underwritten. Here, Peri's largely superfluous, simply nagging and whinging at the Doctor for the most part.

Saward is far more concerned with Lytton. While Maurice Colbourne gives an efficient performance, the character's scripting is odd. We have the Doctor's moral quandry about misjudging Lytton [who he never met in 'Resurrection, but still...], but the character does very little to show he's any different than he was - remember, the Cryons are paying him to help them. Colbourne is never quite able to imbue the character with any more depth than that of a well-spoken heavy.

However, Lytton does better than most of the guest cast. Brian Glover's much-praised performance as Griffiths isn't actually all that much cop, the character being a standard slightly-squeamish henchman. Terry Molloy is similarly bland as Russell. The idea of getting Michael Kilgariff to reprise his role as the Cybercontroller is inexplicably bad seeing as the role basically entails being quite tall, wearing a costume and shouting a bit. That he's fat seventeen years on hardly helps the menace factor. David Banks does fairly well as the overshadowed Cyberleader, but the Cryons are a faceless bunch, not helped by silly costumes and cod-alien dialogue. But by far the worst element are Stratton and Bates.

It doesn't help that they're in the most superfluous of many pointless subplots which Eric seems to have crammed into the story for no readily apparent reason. We're subjected to these two idiots legging it from a work party, indulging in disguise japes, meeting up with Griffiths and Lytton and then being sharply killed off. Of course, the alleged characterisation hardly breathes life into this strand of the story. Stratton is shouty, Bates is a bit wet. Eat your heart out Bob Holmes. What really seals it is that the chap playing Stratton [he doesn't deserve me actually checking to see who played him] gives what's probably the worst performance in the series' history. That's a history that includes turns from Christopher Robbie, Dolores Grey, Leee John, Rick James, andJon Pertwee in the second half of Season 9. The chap seems to have decided to simply shout his lines at poor Batesy at all times in the hope this will work. It doesn't, and the result is excruciating.

By the second episode the plot is ludicrously contrived. We have the Cybermen planning to blow up Earth using a comet to save Mondas, but to help their cunning plan they lock up the Doctor in a room stacked with explosives, not even bothering to remove his sonic lance first. It must be some sort of Cyberarrogance programming, as they don't bother taking Lytton's knife off him later either.

But then this is the worst bunch of Cybermen we've ever had. Worst than the chaps with the balaclavas and silly voices in 'The Tenth Planet', and worst than the Monty Python and the Holy Grail-inspired squad that spend most of 'Silver Nemesis' running away from a bow and arrow. Cybernetic monsters from the future aren't very scary when ninth-rate London hoods and labourers take then out with pistols and spades. I smoke twenty cigarettes a day and eat junkfood constantly, but I'd quite fancy myself in a fight against an 'Attack' Cyberman.

It's all based on coincidences and large lapses of logic. It's stupid and boring. Thankfully, it was to be the rough nadir of the show in the 1980s, and very gradually the show would bounce back. Thank God.

Some dates are indelibly etched on our minds. For me, one such date is 5th January 1985, a time pregnant with possibilities if you were a Doctor Who fan. Me, I was a music fan and I was into girls, That day I hooked up with my new girlfriend, Sarah, hit the town, bought U2's Unforgettable Fire. Oh and I was looking forward to watching Attack of the Cybermen. What a title! I still love it. Cybermen. Attacking. What more could you want? Twin Dilemma was a false start, wasn't it? Colin Baker was great in it, a little theatrical, perhaps but he boded well and made a dramatic contrast to Peter Davison. The story was complete tosh, the production values were poor, the twins were... Best not to dwell on the inadequacies of this tale, everything would be put to right in ATTACK OF THE CYBERMEN! 

Yes, Attack of the Cybermen. This got 9 million viewers, you know. I'm sure Mr and Mrs Joe Shmoe and little Jimmy looked in the paper to see what was on TV and came across Doctor Who and one look at that title and, well, you'd have to check it out, wouldn't you?

Doctor Who - he's back and it's about time. An apposite description for this story, but first lets go back to 1982 and Earthshock. It was a revelation. Episode 1 is still premium Who. Anyone watching it for the first time was genuinely enthralled by the time the closing credits began. The Cybermen were back and we'd had no warning! (If the 2005 series can deliver a similar coup then I'll eat all the celery you can set before me.) Unfortunately the remaining 3 episodes don't really live up to the 1st. The fact that it is virtually plotless doesn't really matter. it's simply a vehicle to reintroduce an old enemy and kill off a hapless companion. The dinosaur twist is neat but there are roughly 60 minutes of meandering narrative and chatty, boastful Cybermen. I reckon the more they talk, the duller and more ridiculous they become. For my money, The Invasion represents the Cybermen at their best, keeping them in the background, tantalisingly. All the talking is done by the Cyber-Planner. The Cybermen look great: sleek, functional and with blank, impassive faces (no 'scary' grimaces here). Revenge of the Cybermen doesn't muck up the design and the 'head-guns' are a GREAT idea, think about it, it makes total sense - it's logical However they have become rather talkative, not Gerry Davis' fault, I feel but it's obvious that Robert Holmes dislikes writing for them. He was the wrong (re)writer for the story because he likes to create CHARACTERS and that's not a trait the Cybermen truthfully have as The Invasion (and Tomb of the Cybermen) nicely demonstrates.

Attack of the Cybermen represents the nadir of a self-destructing series. The seeds were sown with the re-introduction of the Master in Keeper of Traken. A perfectly fine story, as was the atmospheric Logopolis. At a pinch his presence in Castrovalva was acceptable, but Time Flight? The King's Demons? The Five Doctors? Etc, etc... Overkill. This exercise had already been tried from Terror of the Autons onwards and to dubious effect but at least it was novel at first. Season 20 brought back an 'element from the past' for every story and in the process alienated casual viewers and didn't exactly enthrall the fans either. A year later, and we had some reason for optimism:The Awakening, Frontios and, of course, The Caves of Androzani. Otherwise there was a worrying preoccupation with old villains and, increasingly, unwarranted violence. The blood and gore was laid on even thicker in the following season (Lytton's torture, general torturing in Vengeance on Varos, rat-eating and an inappropriate stabbing in The Two Doctors. Revelation of the Daleks at least had the black wit of it's script and the sheer verve of Graeme Harper's direction to carry it along. It's Colin Baker's best story by a country mile.

Michael Grade wasn't the enemy of Doctor Who. The main problem with the latter Davison, early C. Baker stories lay squarely with the production team. There is no unifying vision for the voyages of the Doctor. Whether we like them or not, we can see what Hinchcliffe/Holmes, Letts/Dicks, Williams/Adams, Lloyd/Davis, et al, were trying to achieve. They set an overall tone; they aren't necessarily trying to be original but they ARE trying to tell good Doctor Who stories. John Nathan-Turner presided over some great (or at the very least, interesting) stories: Warriors' Gate, Kinda, Enlightenment, Caves, Revelation, Greatest Show in the Galaxy and most of Sylvester McCoy's last season. But there is no overall tenor to the seasons that contain them, no direction (well, not until Andrew Cartmel came along...). Shock tactics are employed - virtually everyone dies in Resurrection of the Daleks, some horribly. The aim of Eric Saward and Nathan-Turner seems to be to make the series more adult. Inferno showed how this could be done without resorting to needless violence. The Green Death has a great, topical story and some chills but no gratuitous injury or maiming. The Dalek Invasion of Earth is surprisingly grim, even now, but Verity Lambert and co. doesn't smash the viewer in the face with it. Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against violence, per se, in Doctor Who or any other drama but just using it for effect is an empty and somehow degrading gesture. Nathan-Turner didn't seem seem to be interested in scripts, just recurring monsters, guest stars and strait-jacketing, inappropriate costumes (all his Doctors, Tegan, Nyssa, Adric, Turlough, Peri...). His best script editor was Cartmel.. He made the series more cohesive. You can argue the pros and cons of his version of the Doctor but at least he gave it some thought, and with Ace he brought character development into the series. Again, it's arguable whether or not you agreed with the way he did it but he tried and, more or less, succeeded. Saward simply wasn't reined in enough and in any case he shared Nathan_Turner's desire to make the series great by simply apeing the past. It's a shame because he showed a flare for dialogue and witty one-liners ("mouth on legs") and his debut, The Visitation, is a sound, traditional tale. 

Where does all this leave Attack of the Cybermen? It's akin to a dodgy Easter egg: thin, tasteless chocolate - hollow - wrapped in crinkly tin foil and containing sweets that leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Could you sustain yourself on such a diet? Colin Baker couldn't and neither could the viewers. Attack of the Cybermen is no better or worse than most of the stories that surround it and that's not a good thing.

Attack of the Cybermen - such a good title, promising much and delivering nothing. I haven't seen Sarah for years and The Unforgettable Fire saw U2 slide into bombast and self-importance. Ring any bells?

I don't want to be a McCoy basher... I really want to like his version of Doctor Who, and I do on several levels. Though I do find less to like in his three years on the show, his acting included. 

Back in the late eighties and early nineties when all I had were a few Doctor Whos from the eighties that I had taped off PBS (and I was younger and less critical) it was easy to like Sylvester McCoy. I didn't have much to compare him to apart from some Davison stories and most of Colin Baker's run. Fifteen years on, I have just about every episode and have come to the conclusion that yes, the program lost its way in the last four years or so. It went from a dramatic program to some odd mix of lightness/faux-drama and staginess. It certainly amped up the juvenile antics and silliness. I watched Remembrance of the Daleks the other night, and it merely drove this point home. 

The three Dalek stories of the eighties are a variable lot. Resurrection and Revelation are both almost unrelentingly grim, and consequently difficult for me to enjoy. Revelation is the better of the two plot-wise, but is so depressing to watch that I don't want to watch it again (and find the critical acclaim for it baffling). In contrast to those two stories, Remembrance of the Daleks is much lighter and far more enjoyable, but it comes with the curse of the McCoy years: sloppy or hurried editing, characters who have very artificial dialogue and who do inexplicable things, and lots of self-referential scenes or lines. 

The basic plot is sound enough. The Doctor has left a Gallifreyan stellar manipulator on earth in 1963, which the Daleks want. They pursue him there, and attempt to retrieve it. Things get complicated because two factions of Daleks want the weapon. The Doctor runs around trying to keep the humans from dying so he can spring his trap. Simple, right? 

Except that I can't picture Hartnell's Doctor taking the stellar manipulator with him when he went on the run. It makes his (presumably stealthy) theft of his TARDIS and escape from Gallifrey far more problematic. Furthermore, why remove it from the TARDIS and leave it at an undertaker's where it is surely less secure than it would be inside his ship? Why bury it in the graveyard, mock graveside service and all? And if there was a good reason for removing the Hand of Omega from Gallifrey (which can't have been to trap the Daleks, since he hadn't encountered them yet in his first incarnation), why send it back to Gallifrey at the end of the story? And it's nearly impossible to accept the Doctor destroying Skaro and Skaro's solar system considering the animal life or Thals that might have been living there. Hadn't he just been tried for genocide two seasons earlier? These questions undermine the plot. 

As for the Doctor, Sylvester McCoy simply does not have the gravitas or presence to carry off the part. I felt that way when I first heard that he was replacing Colin Baker. I've grown more accepting of his portrayal of the Doctor, but he just is not believable as someone who can project an air of authority and control a situation. His delivery of many lines is cringe worthy if we're expected to take him seriously, apart from times when he's in a quiet contemplative mood. He's very good in those scenes, of which the cafe discussion with Harry is a good example. Most other lines are just ... stagy, for want of a better term, or exaggerated. Consider "Little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armor" which he spits out horribly, or "That ship has weapons that could crack this planet open like an egg", a supposedly doom-laden pronouncement that fails to impress. Contrast that with Pertwee's "Compared to the forces you people have unleashed, an atomic blast would be like a summer breeze" from Inferno, or Troughton's "It will end the colony's problems because it will end the colony!" from Power of the Daleks. I know whom I'd take seriously. It's hard to accept McCoy as this dark, manipulative figure when you actually watch him perform. 

It's not that I dislike McCoy. He seems like a personable fellow. He's just all wrong for the part, and not an actor with great dramatic range. Neither is Sophie Aldred. Contrast them with the supporting actors who play Rachel, or Gilmore, and it becomes obvious that the two leads are the least convincing actors on the show. That being said, I like them both despite my criticisms and so I can watch Remembrance with the same rose-colored glasses I wear while watching any era of Doctor Who, but I find that I perhaps need thicker lenses. 

The Daleks alternate between impressive and sad. The single Dalek looks great while taking on the military in episode one. The Dalek who chases the Doctor up the stairs without shooting him, and then takes thirty seconds to break through the door to the cellar is just silly, and the Imperial Daleks who keep shooting the wall behind the gray Daleks in part four ought to be able to aim better considering that the two groups are about ten feet apart. On the other hand, the Daleks do benefit from the fact that Davros isn't revealed until the end of part four (though it's too bad he had to be brought back at all). And the voices sound great. 

I want to like this. I'm a Doctor Who fan who doesn't enjoy criticizing the show. I find that I do enjoy Remembrance of the Daleks more than either of its two predecessors, and it's not a bad story in it's own right, it's just flawed in a number of ways. It's enjoyable, but far inferior to the vast majority of stories and acting that preceded it, apart from season 24. Good fun if you don't look at it too closely.

Ah, for a return to the heady days of 1993...

It was a simpler time, pre-Sky (well, for me at least), pre-disposable income (again, this may not apply to everyone), I was only 13 and guess what? One of my friends received Silver Nemesis for his birthday (I'd received The Keeper of Traken) and he was popping round to put it on. Fantastic, eh?

Not feverish with excitement yet? No? Well let me tell you that it's "extended!" Can you not feel your palms sweating in anticipation?

Oh well, bully to you!

It's easy to forget over a decade later just how exciting it was when new videos were released - this was generally the first time I'd seen the serials in question. No Sky, remember? But what was doubly exciting about Silver Nemesis that it was one of only the 8 serials I'd seen on their original transmission. Happy times and places.

As a result I always think of the extended edition as the proper one - this being the one to which I have been most exposed, and the one on which I shall cast my critical eye in this review. My memories of the original, and of which bits are the added bits are less than accurate, but of the original I will say this - if Remembrance laid the foundations of my fandom then Nemesis filled them with cement.

Now, let me say that Silver Nemesis is sh*te - completely and utterly. It's always best to get that ambiguity out of the way first of all. It does however, have a few redeeming features that I'll mention first so that I can get to the criticism.

There's the Cybermen themselves - all spruced up for the anniversary year. I don't think they've ever looked more solid than this - gone are the jumpsuits and moon-boots and not a piece of vacuum attachment in sight. The ability to see the actors jaw moving is a lovely touch and I defy anyone not to feel a thrill as they exit the Cybership at the end of part one when their shiny new masks reflect the murky green light. Like the Daleks two serials previous, the design teams have made subtle innovations to the design and I think they deserve to be applauded. These were the kind of adaptations that used to go on every time the Cybermen appeared in the Sixties but ground to a halt in Earthshock. Plus ca change?

Lady Peinfort - she's hilarious beyond measure. I sometimes wonder whether it's intentional or not, but there's no denying that it's laugh-out-loud funny. It's always great when guest cast members seem to be really enjoying themselves and we should be grateful that this is an all location serial because the scenery of Television Centre would not have survived this performance. "Twas a slow poison..."

"Who did this to you?" "Social workers." Well I laughed.

Sylvester and Sophie put in another good shift, and I'm particularly fond of the "Am I beautiful?" exchange between Ace and Nemesis. And just how glorious is it to see Sophie and Sylv lying in the grass enjoying some jazz? The rapport between them is lovely - and so far removed from the Saward era bickering that I'm retrospectively sympathetic to Peter Davison for getting lumbered with the man. Never mind.

But that's it, really, isn't it?

From 75 minutes of television these are the only things for which I can find praise - and even then some of you will think I'm being generous. (Although, not as generous as some of the other reviews here.)

Again we have a serial suffering from the fact that the summer of '88 was rather glorious, all told, yet we're being asked again to believe that this is November. I defy anyone to sit on plastic garden furniture in short sleeves in the open air in November and not turn an unhealthy shade of blue. You see, BBC, there's a reason why music festivals are held in the summer months in the UK and it's not because the heating bills are cheaper... but I digress. At least the brief scene set in South America looks nice.

I remember listening to Anton Diffring saying in an interview that he only came over because it meant he could watch Wimbledon at the same time - and you know what, I absolutely believe him. He certainly didn't come over to do any acting. His is the most arse-clenchingly poor performance on display here - say what you like about Delores Gray or those skinheads, their characters are undeveloped comic support, not one of the major antagonists. He's bored; he's clearly got no idea what's going on (although he's hardly alone on this point); he delivers lines like he's reading from a cue card just out of shot with a leadenness that would set off airport alarms. Which begs the question - just HOW was he allowed into the country?

For Doctor Who to work there must be a clear and present threat to the protagonists to drive the drama. Without that threat you end up with a rather empty fantasy with a few jokes thrown in. In fact, you get season 17. And of course you get Silver Nemesis. The ineffective Nazis, coupled with the Cybermen on display here - beautifully designed though they are - who react to gold like it's "anti-plastic" (my first new series reference and oh it felt good) leave the Doctor with little or no threat at all. The Doctor does his best to talk them up and the gun-fight makes them look good but once 17th Century time-travellers start taking them out with arrows then you're on a hiding to nothing. And I swear Sylvester tickles a Cyber-tummy when he's in the ditch by the Nemesis comet.

If the Doctor and Ace had drowned at the beginning of the serial when they fall acrobatically into that river, the combined ineptitude of the other three interested parties would've still seen them all fail. The flaws in the plot are endless and in the hands of the ever-unreliable Chris Clough with his point/shoot mantra it's dull, too. And considering Inferno can take you all the way to part five before your bum starts to twitch then this is surely unforgivable.

"Who did this to you?" "Social workers." While I was laughing two million viewers switched over to watch the end of Corrie.

I consider this to be the nadir of the McCoy era - and I think this is in part due to the fact that my expectations were being raised by the steady upward curve that I felt began with Paradise Towers the previous season. However, with seasons reduced to only fourteen episodes and with a nine-month gestation period between seasons Doctor Who couldn't excuse/afford to be transmitting such substandard fare. This would however prove to be the last time the series seriously misfired, Cartmel by now had a good grip on just how far the budget would stretch and this time it is the script's horrendous lack of ambition that lets him down rather than that of his design teams.

Back in '93 it was great, but even those warm feelings of nostalgia cannot disguise what a shoddy mess this really is.

I’ve been reading some of the reviews here and decided it was time to re-watch the series and offer my take, for what it’s worth. First and foremost, the opening music is electrifying, catching the audience without preamble. This is followed by 2-3 minutes of a day in the life of Rose Tyler. The “desperate soap opera” creates a backdrop to what is otherwise a very ordinary life for a fairly ordinary girl. She has a job, a dip-stick of a boyfriend (if anything can be said by the way he eats a sandwich or dances in the street!) but ultimately she is down to earth and lives like so many other people her age. The fact is brought further to light when Rose is in the basement with the Autons and does not even think there’s anything unearthly going on as mannequins start walking towards her. My only gripe here is that, when she initially thinks she gets locked in the basement, she doesn’t take out her phone to contact help before everyone leaves! Oh, well… bad reception, no doubt!

The Doctor’s arrival is as well-timed as any Time Lord could be. His brief introduction to Rose (“I’m the Doctor… run for your life”) is typical of his age old eccentricity. When next we see him, he is chasing an arm through a cat-flap. Where I take the greatest issues with the episode are here: 1) The Doctor is seen to kneel on the couch to see if Rose has a cat – take careful note fellow Whovians, the couch is against the wall when the Doctor kneels on it: how is there enough of a gap for the arm to come rocketing out? Clearly when the arm comes out, the couch is NOT against the wall; did The Doctor shift the couch in an off-camera moment when he gets up? 2) The Doctor finds a mirror (just before the arm incident) and comments on his ears. This leads us to believe the latest regeneration has happened relatively recently; but according to Clive he has been in that form long enough to get on the Titanic, to visit JFK (an awesome reference to the day that Doctor Who premiered in ‘63), and elsewhere. Now, while in Clive’s past, this could still take place in the Doctor’s future, and unless a book is written, for those who watched the whole of the 2005 season, we know that it doesn’t happen in the televised stories… so this means that the Doctor never got around to looking himself in a mirror since the last regeneration or someone wasn’t paying attention to details. Ho hum…

Incidentally, the pictures Clive had should have been used to reaffirm the series that came before: pictures should have indicated other Doctors (McCoy, McGann, Bakers, etc). That would have been a neat thing for the long time fans and an item of mystery for the newer ones. Moving on…

Jumping forward, who puts an empty garbage bin out on garbage day? But even the dolt who does this, doesn’t think a rubbish bin is more frightening than a daffodil, does he? Back during Terror of the Autons, we had some truly scary notions: frankly, the trash bin was not scary; in fact, courtesy of a “lowest common denominator” moment, the bin becomes a symbol of idiocy. Why did we need a burp? In this day and age, I would think parents would want to discourage such grotesque behavior… It was a ploy to be funny for the kids, no doubt, but it worked against the whole. 

Those moments that best capture the episode, and the show on a whole, are the moment when Rose enters the TARDIS and the dialog that follows: “… are you alien?” coupled with the music. Why they have not released a soundtrack is anyone’s guess, but the music in this moment, and the earlier talk when the Doctor explains who he is (“Now forget me Rose Tyler…”) is just, to coin a phrase, FANTASTIC. Chris maybe inadvertently flashes back to Tom Bakers “What’s the use in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes…” outside the TARDIS thus once again showing the alien-ness of the Doctor. (Don’t get me started on the McGann episode!) His moods are not like our own. His excited, Baker-eqsue “Fantastic” when he finally realizes the wheel is the transmitter… he is a product of his past! The Davison-esque “I’m not here to kill it…” mentality once again gives long time fans a chance to see the other Doctor’s still present in this incarnation. 

Lastly, the departure with Rose at the end has sent a chill through my spine since the first time I’ve watched it. This episode is not perfect. But it does lay the groundwork: it sets the players on the board. It needs polishing in some areas while others could not have been better. Eccleston is fantastic. Even his attire, which I was initially against as it lacks the eccentricity of his former selves, eventually grew on me. Piper is amazing. I love the fact that when she hugs Mickey, she does not look stick thin; she’s REAL! The chemistry between the two rivals that of McCoy and Aldred, Baker and Liz Sladen… it’s amazing! Perhaps 5 stars is a little lofty, but how can you not give it high marks when the last image is of Rose in a slow motion dash for the TARDIS, with a gigantic smile beaming all the way???? 

Welcome back, Doctor!

Before any retrospective of the opening episode of “Series One” of “Doctor Who” can take place, it’s important to realise that, traditionally, the first adventure of ANY new Doctor’s tenure usually leaves a lot to be desired.

For instance, had “An Unearthly Child” not been followed by an iconic serial such as “The Dead Planet”, would the series ever have caught the public’s imagination in the first place? Are there many weaker Pertwee serials than “Spearhead From Space”? How out of place was “Robot” in arguably the best season in the show’s history? Did anyone really understand “Castrovalva” apart from its esteemed writer? And how hard were “The Twin Dilemma” and “Time and the Rani” to love? Also, if this theory holds true, what a big problem for Paul McGann, who needed his first episode to buck that trend to even have a second episode. And, of course, it didn’t . . . although I believe McGann could have been (and still could be) a great Doctor.

So, despite my delight at the end of the nine-year wait for the return of the legend, I did wonder if “Rose” would follow in this rather-inglorious tradition? And you could say it did – but only in comparison with a series which must have exceeded everyone’s expectations. Mr Russell T Davies did “exactly what he said on the tin” – and masterminded a 21st-century “Doctor Who”, sitting comfortably alongside the classic series, while creating a dynamic new era of its own. And perhaps the latter is more significant, which is why it should call itself “Series One” rather than “Season 27”.

And, if “Rose” won’t be many people’s favourite episode from “Series One”, that doesn’t mean it was without appeal. Far from it. There was so much to pack into that 45 minutes to ensure enough viewers were hooked enough to come back the following weeks, there was always a chance it could be accused of being “style over substance”.

However, who wants to dwell on that suggestion when there were so many positives to accentuate? Pre-“Rose”, the “givens” for me would be the quality of Davies’s writing and Mr Christopher Eccleston being a wonderful choice as The Doctor. And those predictions were quickly realised. Davies’s opening story structure – and indeed his treatment for the whole series – was excellent, and his dialogue of the highest order, executed superbly by the cast, headed by Eccleston. At the risk of being ungracious, one expected nothing less from a writer of Davies’s calibre.

Even from the pre-series teaser trailers, Eccleston was, for me, The Doctor. Romantics may – and I’m sure have – suggested that, within “Rose”, he wove elements of all his predecessors into his characterisation, and I’m sure he paid more than a cursory glance to those who came before, but he was more his own man, or Time Lord. He grasped the nettle of what was required in the role from his opening scene and grasped the viewer at the same time as he grasped Rose’s hand and took her away from the pursuing Autons. This was a character worth getting to know, full of dynamism, full of intrigue, full of humour, full of life.

And talking of dynamism, intrigue, humour and life brings me to Rose herself. I have to say I wasn’t too familiar with Ms Billie Piper’s acting work – but she more than lived up to the daunting challenge of playing a character who actually had such an important episode named after her.

I think Davies wrote an amazing part for a young actress, but Piper’s the one who breathed life into Rose, and how impressively she did just that.

I don’t quite hold with the view that The Doctor having an intelligent and “ballsy” companion is a new concept. What was Ace? Peri? Tegan? Leela? Sarah? Hardly shrinking violets – and I think Rose follows in the tradition of good companions rather than being out on her own.

Admittedly, Davies gives her a bigger piece of the action than her predecessors – saving The Doctor and the world in her first episode is quite a starting point (but, as we discover in Episode 13, you ain’t seen nuffin’ yet!) and, even at this early stage, Rose and the Doctor are more of a pair than the teacher/pupil relationships favoured by the past.

But the relationship worked from the off. Love at first sight? Of sorts. We won’t find out, and we shouldn’t find out where it could go. Davies had a great unrequited love story between his two principal characters in “Queer as Folk”, and elements of the depth of Stuart and Vince’s unspoken affections are there in Rose and The Doctor – if you look closely enough! And if you want to.

Having to establish Rose and The Doctor – plus the TARDIS (just one of the many stunning special effects which really marked this show as being from the 21st century) in this opening episode did mean the plot would almost have to take a back seat. This was always the problem of the two-episode (in old money) serials in the past. Pleasant enough, but no-one ever marks them down as classics (there is an exception to this rule and it’s called Episode Six of Series One!).

And, in “Rose”, destroying a creature which controls all things plastic with a phial of anti-plastic does rather confirm the assertion that plot was of secondary importance. It was just a bit too convenient. But understandable. And probably unavoidable. Poor old Nestene Consciousness, I didn’t think it got much of a deal plot-wise in “Spearhead From Space” either!

But minor gripe about the actual story aside (and it did hang together quite well) there’s no doubt “Rose” marked a triumphant return for the series. It was well-written. The lead characters were quickly established as being worthy of the importance attached to them. The back-up characters were also beautifully crafted by writer and actors (I really enjoyed Clive – but you know characters like him have to die!). The effects were stunning throughout, and now I know what the phrase “high production values” means – you splash the cash, and the rewards are there for all to see. And the whole thing crackled along at a breakneck pace, enhanced by the ever-excellent incidental music.

“Rose” did what it had to do – established “Doctor Who” was back, and was back for good. And, as I know now, it was the tasty hors d’oeuvres for the feast to come.