I was a bit disappointed this week after learning that Christopher Eccleston had quit as the Doctor and I was determined not to enjoy this episode. I surprised myself...this was surely the best episode of Doctor Who ever! From the teaser sequence opening inside the TARDIS to the fabulous new opening I realised the Doctor could survive without Eccleston. 

Platform One and its many inhabitants enthralled me. Gone are the days of rubber suited aliens. These aliens look almost real and put shows like the dull and insipid Enterprise to shame. Jabe is my favourite out of the lot; Yasmin Bannerman puts in a wonderful performance and her sexual chemistry with the Doctor was funny and interesting, seen as the Doctor hasn't been shown to have any interest in sex whatsoever in the past. The Doctor's shameless flirting doesn't come off as wrong and out of place; it fits in with his character. Their friendship is great to watch, and the Doctor's grief at her death is poignant.

There are some very interesting tit-bits about the Doctor's past that come up in this episode. Gallifrey has been destroyed! The Doctor is the last of his race! (Do the Daleks have anything to do with this I wonder...) I have a feeling we'll get to know why and I for one can't wait to find out. This type of innocent continuity between episodes will make the series that much more rewarding to watch. The Doctor, as a result of this, seems to become more of a tragic hero than before. We feel sorry for him. Christopher pulls this off brilliantly.

Next stop the story. Not exactly complicated, but it's a good mystery none-the-less, and seems to me to be a classic Who story; Doctor and companion in a confined setting with people getting killed. It works even better here because of one thing; the special effects are amazing. I always thought the effects were good on Stargate but here it's much more than that. The scene of Earth being destroyed; Rose trapped while the sun's rays tries to disintergrate her; the Platform One station; it's all good. Last weeks dodgy wheelie bin CGI effects are almost (but not quite) forgotten.

Good points: Zoe Wannamaker as Cassandra is a hoot. Totally evil and totally funny. I would like to see more of her, except she gets killed. And Rose reacted the way any normal person would at being confronted with so many weird aliens; she freaked out. That was a nice touch.

Bad points; the Doctor and Rose were separated quite a lot through the episode. This early on in their relationship it was a bad idea. And at the end of the episode I felt very emotional; Christopher Eccleston put in a flawless, solid performance. To me he IS the Doctor. It's just a shame his performance wasn't marred by the fact that he's leaving.

(Note: Yes, this is my real birth name! No relation to my namesake!)

At last the start of new Doctor Who! The wait is finally over! I loved the opening and closing themes and sequences. They were very similar to the classic series and yet noticeably updated.

For an introductory story Rose is quite good. It introduces the characters and situation at a manic pace and given the time constraints it needs to. Other "first" stories such as An Unearthly Child, Robot, The Twin Dilemma & Time and the Rani were not nearly as entertaining and they had twice the length of time to do so. That being said, I wish the story had been done in two parts because I feel it would have been even better if time had been given to flesh the characters and situation out more. I'm a little unsure if the one episode format is really the best choice but we'll see if the future episodes manage it a little better since they don't have the requirement of introducing the main characters.

The opening is presented in a very music video montage style which is typical of much of today's films and television, and yet it manages to actually convey the necessary information which is something that most films and tv shows fail to do when utilizing this style.

It's nice to see the Autons return along with the Nestene Consciousness. For old fans it was a nice nod and it was also a fine choice of returning foes which needed little back story to get new viewers up to speed.

Christopher Eccleston is a fine Doctor bringing many of the old familiar elements to the character as well as some of his own added quirks. I know some people are bothered by his grinning all the time, but I find it refreshing. It makes him seem more approachable than many of the other Doctors. I found his performance to be excellent.

Billie Piper was quite the pleasant surprise with her acting ability. She is also one of the most attractive companions ever and yet the producers have so far managed to avoid some of the sexism and helplessness attributed to most of the female companions of the past.

Noel Clarke was fine as Mickey and I especially liked his portrayal as an Auton. The only downside is that I could see many U.S. TV stations frowning upon having a minority character portrayed as flawed as he is. It could make it a tough sell over here in the states where we're really sensitive to negative portrayals of minority characters. On the plus side he was in a relationship with Rose which was very progressive for Doctor Who.

I also enjoyed Camille Coduri as Rose's mum. She reminded me of so many mothers I've known that it was an amazing job.

The special effects were great! Not as nice as the TV movie, but so much better than the old TV series! The only scene I didn't feel worked entirely was the trash bin scene. It looked too fake. Also the burp was a little too over the top. It was very humorous, but it felt really out of place with the rest of the atmosphere of the scene.

Most of the humor worked really well. I loved The Doctor wrestling with the Auton arm and many of the one liners. Again the only bit I felt didn't work was the trash bin scene.

The resolution was a bit rushed and the anti-plastic a bit convenient but I'm sure that was do to the new time constraints.

So overall, a fine start and a really nice episode. Really good performances, a nice mixture of humor and drama and the return of classic foes along with old friends. I have confidence that they will be able to smooth out the few rough spots. My main complaint would be the limited time to establish the plot and characters.

This second episode shows that the excellent work started by "Rose" was no accident. The Doctor takes Rose to witness the end of the world 5 billion years from now. On the observation platform orbiting the now deserted Earth are a host of various Aliens, very rich and powerful who have come to watch for fun the last minutes of our Earth as the sun expands and swallows it up. The Earth is now no longer viable as a tourist attraction. The shields having kept the sun from expanding are now being shut down for one final spectacle.

Among the Aliens are the Trees, a race of aliens made of wood who long ago originated on Earth. The Doctor strikes up a friendship with one called Jabe who seems very curious about the Doctor. Ross having meet various aliens from Jade to Cassandra, the last "pure" human to exist becomes depressed and out of her depth and decides to go for a walk round the observation platform. The whole experience of having met so many aliens having overwhelmed her.

The Doctor concerned goes looking for Rose with Jabe's help and before they met Rose again, a murderer has been at work to sabotage the whole event. The final death throes of the Earth become redundant in the face of the threat that now faces the stranded Alien spectators in the observation platform.

Normally this would make for just exciting viewing but along the way minor threads about the Doctor are revealed which for casual viewers who are unfamiliar with Dr Who get an emotional resonance rarely seen in Doctor Who. But for long terms fans of the Doctor, the ending is quite shocking and leaves the viewer wondering what the future holds for the Time Lord we have grown to love over the years.

Russell T Davies pulls no punches in this second episode. As the Doctor said in the first episode, it would be a dangerous journey for Rose but the discovery for the viewer along the way is quite unsettling. Make no mistake this is Doctor Who back with a vengeance after 16 years of sleeping.

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 emblazened 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 point is 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 briliant 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!

I'll save all of the catch phrases for everyone else. I, like most of you, sat with eager breath for this episode, and it did not fail to deliver. Yes, He's Back...

After the triumphant return in the first episode "Rose," the Doctor's character is even more flushed out in this episode. Partially due to Christopher Eccleston's acting, but mostly due to the writing of Russel T. Davies. He has taken the character in a new, wonderful direction, without tossing out the rich history of the character.

The Doctor furthers his relationship with Rose, while also letting slip a bit of his back story, leaving us long time fans pleasantly satisfied. Although, the fate of the Time Lords did leave me shocked.

The budget on the series really shines through with this episode, with all of the alien races, and CGI looking amazing. Gone are the days of rickety old sets, and wobbly walls. The teaser before the opening credits was a nice touch as well.

Christopher Eccleston brings a youthfulness to the role, with his inquisitiveness and interest. He is still the know-it-all, and show off, but he also showed that the Doctor also has a deep sense of love and compassion.. without having to have any sexual connotation (other shows in Hollywood should realise that..)

And, Rose brought up things in this episode, that fans have wondered for years.. "Why haven't they asked this.. (insert quote here..)" Billie Piper is an amazing actress, and duly suits this role. She is innocent, yet feisty.. a perfect counterpoint for Eccleston's portrayal of The Doctor.

All in all, the episode was tremendous and now we go into the deep wait for the next episode which, judging by the teaser, will be amazing as well.