13 episodes, I think.
I wasn't thrilled to bits. Eccleston was good but a few cheesy moments - esp. the ending with Rose.
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I thought that Chris (how many Chris' are there in Billy Piper's life?), was very like (not visually - obviously) Tom Baker.
Same eccentric/comical streak.
13 episodes over 10 months is a hard toll on any actor. Hope he makes a second season.
FreddiesGhettoTrench: "I was named after a character on Doctor Who!"
It must be a real bitch having a name like Davros Smith!
Same eccentric/comical streak.
13 episodes over 10 months is a hard toll on any actor. Hope he makes a second season.
FreddiesGhettoTrench: "I was named after a character on Doctor Who!"
It must be a real bitch having a name like Davros Smith!
Just finished watching episode 1 - it rocked ! There were some nice touches of humour - the wheelie bin that came alive and swallowed Rose's ( Billie piper's character's ) boyfriend and the bit where the Dr nearly got strangled by the shop dummies hand in Rose's flat . I still haven't recovered from the fact * shock horror * Billie piper CAN act - everyone I know thought she would suck .
Wibble.
:-D
Fuller review to follow no doubt.... First impressions:
Loved Chris. Charismatic, serious when he needed to be, lively, engaging... Just brilliant.
A tad too much humour for my taste, but it was on the whole well-executed humour, and it never threatened to swamp the thing.
Well-paced, well-put together... Really, really good.
"A woman looked at your website?"
Nice nod to us fans from our Russell! :-)
The only slight annoyance was the sound-bleed from BBC Three early on - Graham Norton was only saying in the press the other day how he wanted a role in the series, and he got one.
Given the number of people obsessing over this minor fault over on the OG forums, reassure me normal people - the general audience neither noticed or really cared, right?
:-D
Fuller review to follow no doubt.... First impressions:
Loved Chris. Charismatic, serious when he needed to be, lively, engaging... Just brilliant.
A tad too much humour for my taste, but it was on the whole well-executed humour, and it never threatened to swamp the thing.
Well-paced, well-put together... Really, really good.
"A woman looked at your website?"
Nice nod to us fans from our Russell! :-)
The only slight annoyance was the sound-bleed from BBC Three early on - Graham Norton was only saying in the press the other day how he wanted a role in the series, and he got one.
Given the number of people obsessing over this minor fault over on the OG forums, reassure me normal people - the general audience neither noticed or really cared, right?
Just wondering, perhaps Taylor-Mayed can answer:
will there be a regeneration scene? The change was hinted at but regeneration scenes were always a highlight / ending of an era.
I've always tried to avoid internet / magazine articles on a new series. They kinda kill the suspense / surprise.
Not to sure what I make of the interior of the Tardis. we didn't see a great deal of it today.
will there be a regeneration scene? The change was hinted at but regeneration scenes were always a highlight / ending of an era.
I've always tried to avoid internet / magazine articles on a new series. They kinda kill the suspense / surprise.
Not to sure what I make of the interior of the Tardis. we didn't see a great deal of it today.
Great.. but nothing compares to the black and white episodes with Patrick Troughton, the cybermen, the Daleks.. For me everythings scarier in b/w
I thought the first epsidode was top class, and having seen some of the trailers for the later episodes, it looks as if its going to get better and better.
At last a show on a saturday night, that does'nt involve having to phone in to vote for a winner.
At last a show on a saturday night, that does'nt involve having to phone in to vote for a winner.
someone asked about a regeneration scene - There wasn't a regeneration scene - there was a subtle nod to it - chris looked in the mirror at one point ( a scene in Rose's flat ) and made a remark to himself about his ears - but no morphing from the last Dr to this one . Just seen trailer for episode 2 - looks even better
No, no regeneration - the assumption being it happened off-screen in an unseen advanture since the TV Movie. I thought the "ears" line was nice, though - I just don't thinkt the Ninth Doctor looks in mirrors all that often! :-)
Here's my full review anyway - sorry if it's a bit nerdish, it was written for a fan audience really.
For the past sixteen years, the concept of “a new series of Doctor Who” has existed purely in the abstract – a dream in the minds of the fans, something to debate and conjecture over, write articles about on internet message boards, talk to other fans about down the pub. As the years went by without any new television series, so each and every one of us began to imagine what such a thing, were it ever to happen, might be like. This long period meant that we all had time to build up our individual fantasies of what we wanted, until we all had a ‘perfect’ Doctor Who constructed in our heads, whether consciously or not.
This is part of the problem of Rose, but only for fans – suddenly, rather than each having our own visions of the future, there is only one, and it’s here and now and right in front of us and it’s real. It’s such a culture shock to find that it’s actually here, that we perhaps risk forgetting that it can’t satisfy everyone’s desires – that would be impossible. Nor should it strive to – this is, after all, a new series for the general public, and however many nodding winks it may tip to fandom, it can never be exclusively designed for a few thousand of us amongst the millions, let alone for an individual fan amongst those thousands.
Rose was not my image of perfect Doctor Who, of course it wasn’t. I’ll tell you what it was though – pretty damn good.
First things first then, Christopher Eccleston. It sounds a crass and obvious thing to say, but he really was one of my favourite actors long before he ever got the part of the Doctor. I remember well sneakily staying up late in my room as a twelve year-old, because I was desperate to find out what happened to all of Our Friends in the North, but more than any of them I wanted to see what became of Eccleston’s Nicky. The intensity and sheer watchability he brought to that and other previous roles is present here, but with so much more – a wonderful sense of a lust for life, a line in bad jokes, charisma and great comedy timing. On first watch I wasn’t convinced about his wrestling with the Auton arm, but second time around I really enjoyed it. His whole comic routine in Rose’s living room was wonderful – for a moment he has the ‘Fonz touch’ of previous Doctors as he goes to shuffle the cards in a fancy manner, and it’s all suddenly lost as cards fly all over the place. The intelligent and the farcical going hand-in-hand – very Doctorish.
This is not an out-and-out comedy Doctor though – he’s also excellent when called upon to do the more serious stuff, such as the ‘world spinning’ speech to Rose, or the confrontation with the Nestene Consciousness where he pleads almost guiltily that he couldn’t save its world. Is this the sound of a plot arc being dropped into place, perhaps? References to ‘The War’ are interesting – it’s probably a coincidence, of course, but way back in 1963 CE Webber and Donald Wilson, two of the show’s triumvirate of creators, were of the opinion that the mysterious ‘Doctor’ character in the series they were dreaming up was a refugee from a massive ‘Galactic War’ tens of thousands of years in the future, suffering from some form of amnesia brought on by the horror of what he’d seen there… Never a concept developed upon in the series itself of course, but worth mentioning.
A Doctor needs his companion of course, and in this case we have the episode’s eponymous heroine, Rose – Rose Tyler, this project’s bearer of the Russell T Davies trademark surname. I have to admit I was one of those who was a little surprised when Billie Piper’s casting was announced back in May 2004 – yes I was prejudiced, of cours
Here's my full review anyway - sorry if it's a bit nerdish, it was written for a fan audience really.
For the past sixteen years, the concept of “a new series of Doctor Who” has existed purely in the abstract – a dream in the minds of the fans, something to debate and conjecture over, write articles about on internet message boards, talk to other fans about down the pub. As the years went by without any new television series, so each and every one of us began to imagine what such a thing, were it ever to happen, might be like. This long period meant that we all had time to build up our individual fantasies of what we wanted, until we all had a ‘perfect’ Doctor Who constructed in our heads, whether consciously or not.
This is part of the problem of Rose, but only for fans – suddenly, rather than each having our own visions of the future, there is only one, and it’s here and now and right in front of us and it’s real. It’s such a culture shock to find that it’s actually here, that we perhaps risk forgetting that it can’t satisfy everyone’s desires – that would be impossible. Nor should it strive to – this is, after all, a new series for the general public, and however many nodding winks it may tip to fandom, it can never be exclusively designed for a few thousand of us amongst the millions, let alone for an individual fan amongst those thousands.
Rose was not my image of perfect Doctor Who, of course it wasn’t. I’ll tell you what it was though – pretty damn good.
First things first then, Christopher Eccleston. It sounds a crass and obvious thing to say, but he really was one of my favourite actors long before he ever got the part of the Doctor. I remember well sneakily staying up late in my room as a twelve year-old, because I was desperate to find out what happened to all of Our Friends in the North, but more than any of them I wanted to see what became of Eccleston’s Nicky. The intensity and sheer watchability he brought to that and other previous roles is present here, but with so much more – a wonderful sense of a lust for life, a line in bad jokes, charisma and great comedy timing. On first watch I wasn’t convinced about his wrestling with the Auton arm, but second time around I really enjoyed it. His whole comic routine in Rose’s living room was wonderful – for a moment he has the ‘Fonz touch’ of previous Doctors as he goes to shuffle the cards in a fancy manner, and it’s all suddenly lost as cards fly all over the place. The intelligent and the farcical going hand-in-hand – very Doctorish.
This is not an out-and-out comedy Doctor though – he’s also excellent when called upon to do the more serious stuff, such as the ‘world spinning’ speech to Rose, or the confrontation with the Nestene Consciousness where he pleads almost guiltily that he couldn’t save its world. Is this the sound of a plot arc being dropped into place, perhaps? References to ‘The War’ are interesting – it’s probably a coincidence, of course, but way back in 1963 CE Webber and Donald Wilson, two of the show’s triumvirate of creators, were of the opinion that the mysterious ‘Doctor’ character in the series they were dreaming up was a refugee from a massive ‘Galactic War’ tens of thousands of years in the future, suffering from some form of amnesia brought on by the horror of what he’d seen there… Never a concept developed upon in the series itself of course, but worth mentioning.
A Doctor needs his companion of course, and in this case we have the episode’s eponymous heroine, Rose – Rose Tyler, this project’s bearer of the Russell T Davies trademark surname. I have to admit I was one of those who was a little surprised when Billie Piper’s casting was announced back in May 2004 – yes I was prejudiced, of cours
Because despite all of those influences, all of the modern pacing and production, this is still very much Doctor Who. The sense of fun mixed in with the adventure, the righteous crusading of the Doctor tempered with his unhumanity, and the fact that he wants to give the Nestene Consciousness a chance before he has to destroy it… All of this comes right out of the heart of the series we all know and love. This is certainly Doctor Who, and very good Doctor Who at that.
The production was uniformly excellent – well-paced, well-shot and with only the incidental score from the usually-reliable Murray Gold occasionally jarring – Gold’s done an excellent job on the new mix of the theme, however, admirably accompanied by pleasingly familiar-seeming visuals from The Mill. In fact the only technical aspect to let the BBC One broadcast of the episode down were the two very brief sound bleeding errors from BBC Three’s concurrent broadcast of the Strictly Come Dancing tie-in show: unfortunate, perhaps, but I’d challenge anybody to say that these two three-second or so interruptions in any way spoiled their enjoyment of the episode.
Given how much there was to fit in and how brisk the pace was, it’s surprising there was much room for any supporting characters, but Davies has always been good at quickly establishing character, and the main supports were all very good. A few have suggested that Mickey is ‘token ethnic comic relief’, but I think this is nonsense – yes, he’s a bit useless, but that’s just his character. There’s nothing derogatory about it – Jackie and Clive are equally comically drawn and I don’t see anybody complaining about them being stereotypes.
Clive of course is one of Davies’ knowing nods to us, the fans – he is one of us basically, from a world where we don’t have a show but an actual real Doctor to obsess and make websites over. The collection in his shed was nice, and the photo from 22nd November 1963 was a lovely touch – the new beginning going right back to the first time around. Oh, and his wife’s line of “She’s read a website about the Doctor, and she’s a she?” was one of my great favourites. I would have liked to have seen more of Clive – a shame he ended up being a rather resigned victim of an Auton attack.
The Autons themselves were fantastic, blank-faced, unstoppable and suitably menacing, only really letting the side down a little when the three brides just stood there pointing their guns at Jackie and not shooting her in the several moments they had before they were deactivated. But hey-ho, it’s nice to still have Jackie around – she looks as if she’s set to provide more comic relief in the contemporarily-set episodes, and her ludicrous attempt to seduce the Doctor was a nice way of signposting just how uninterested he is in that sort of thing, thank you very much.
Overall then? Superb. The first time around I was a little worried there was too much humour for my tastes, but I think after a second viewing I was simply worrying because I was watching it with my parents and I was anxious that they’d find it too silly. Needless to say, they loved it – the burping wheelie bin went down well, and I can’t see what all the fuss has been about concerning it. Yes, it’s a comic moment, but it works. The humour never undermined the drama, it nicely counter-pointed it, which has always been how the very best Doctor Who has worked down the years.
So of course it wasn’t perfect. It never could have been it had too many expectations and dreams weighing down on it for that. But it was a fine start to what looks set to be a very fine series indeed.
The production was uniformly excellent – well-paced, well-shot and with only the incidental score from the usually-reliable Murray Gold occasionally jarring – Gold’s done an excellent job on the new mix of the theme, however, admirably accompanied by pleasingly familiar-seeming visuals from The Mill. In fact the only technical aspect to let the BBC One broadcast of the episode down were the two very brief sound bleeding errors from BBC Three’s concurrent broadcast of the Strictly Come Dancing tie-in show: unfortunate, perhaps, but I’d challenge anybody to say that these two three-second or so interruptions in any way spoiled their enjoyment of the episode.
Given how much there was to fit in and how brisk the pace was, it’s surprising there was much room for any supporting characters, but Davies has always been good at quickly establishing character, and the main supports were all very good. A few have suggested that Mickey is ‘token ethnic comic relief’, but I think this is nonsense – yes, he’s a bit useless, but that’s just his character. There’s nothing derogatory about it – Jackie and Clive are equally comically drawn and I don’t see anybody complaining about them being stereotypes.
Clive of course is one of Davies’ knowing nods to us, the fans – he is one of us basically, from a world where we don’t have a show but an actual real Doctor to obsess and make websites over. The collection in his shed was nice, and the photo from 22nd November 1963 was a lovely touch – the new beginning going right back to the first time around. Oh, and his wife’s line of “She’s read a website about the Doctor, and she’s a she?” was one of my great favourites. I would have liked to have seen more of Clive – a shame he ended up being a rather resigned victim of an Auton attack.
The Autons themselves were fantastic, blank-faced, unstoppable and suitably menacing, only really letting the side down a little when the three brides just stood there pointing their guns at Jackie and not shooting her in the several moments they had before they were deactivated. But hey-ho, it’s nice to still have Jackie around – she looks as if she’s set to provide more comic relief in the contemporarily-set episodes, and her ludicrous attempt to seduce the Doctor was a nice way of signposting just how uninterested he is in that sort of thing, thank you very much.
Overall then? Superb. The first time around I was a little worried there was too much humour for my tastes, but I think after a second viewing I was simply worrying because I was watching it with my parents and I was anxious that they’d find it too silly. Needless to say, they loved it – the burping wheelie bin went down well, and I can’t see what all the fuss has been about concerning it. Yes, it’s a comic moment, but it works. The humour never undermined the drama, it nicely counter-pointed it, which has always been how the very best Doctor Who has worked down the years.
So of course it wasn’t perfect. It never could have been it had too many expectations and dreams weighing down on it for that. But it was a fine start to what looks set to be a very fine series indeed.
dragonzflame - it's not going to be on TVNZ, but Prime TV have purchased the series and will be showing it sometime soon. :-)
Ah yes, Prime. I suspected as much - they tend to like to get these things to compete with TVNZ. Just as well I'm one of the 75% of the country who can get it then.
Thanks for that T_M!
'If your an alien why do you sound like you come from the North?'
'Lots of planets have a north'
Am I the only one or has he got a Tom Baker feel about him? Given Russel T Davies' age and the Doctor he would have seen as a kid its surely no coincidence?
'Lots of planets have a north'
Am I the only one or has he got a Tom Baker feel about him? Given Russel T Davies' age and the Doctor he would have seen as a kid its surely no coincidence?
Poor acting, weak script and dialogue, woeful continuity.
However, great fun and I'll watch it again next week.
However, great fun and I'll watch it again next week.
"woeful continuity"
Intriguing remark. In what sense?
Intriguing remark. In what sense?
In the context of the show.