Rooksburg Reviews: Father's Day

Doctor Who s1e08: Father's Day

Rose comes to the realisation that she can travel to any point in time, and uses the opportunity to visit her father, who she never knew.  She witnesses his death, and as she laments that he died alone, she convinces the Doctor to go back so she could comfort him.  Instead, she saves his life, causing a paradox and attracting the attention of the Reapers, creatures that feed on paradoxes which would result in...

Seriously, who designed this??

Sigh, we've already reached this episode's fatal flaw and that's the lack of explanation as to what the Reapers are and how they work.  All that is said about them in-universe is that the timelords could prevent them getting involved when they caused paradoxes, and that they are like bacteria that sterilise the wounds of time.  The implication is that they are 4th dimensional beings that can only break through when the walls of time are thinner, at which point they consume everything around them unless the paradox resolves itself; however due to the shoddy writing I found myself thinking they were some sort of time-police that were attempting to fix the paradox themselves, in which case it made no sense that the Doctor would try to stop them because he knew things had to be back the way they were.  Ultimately the Reapers are a great concept, but very poorly explained- and it doesn't help that they're so poorly designed, looking like a 5-year old's attempts at morphing several plasticine creatures together.

This story desperately wanted to explore how paradoxes work, but because it's an episode of Doctor Who they had to shoehorn a monster in somewhere.  It is clear they wanted to explore a variation of the grandfather paradox- Rose knows how her father died so goes back to save him, but if he lived then she wouldn't have had a reason to go back.  The usual resolution of this paradox is the victim dying a completely different way, which proves the time-traveller's attempts useless in the face of destiny.  That may be a bit depressing for a family show, so they dwell more on the butterfly effect- even an insignificant nobody could have a profound effect on history, based on all the little things adding up.  Throughout the episode the Doctor keeps reminding us that nobody's unimportant, and that countless variables made things the way they are.  Now they couldn't think of an appropriate way to wrap up the story, so along come the Reapers, ensuring the only thing changed in the history books is that Pete committed suicide rather than get killed in a freak hit-and-run incident.  Personally I would have preferred the alternate ending in which Pete survives and is motivated to build a successful business empire as seen in Rise of the Cybermen, but understandably they needed Earth to remain unchanged for future stories.

A touching father-daughter moment.

Regarding the characters, there's a fair amount of development.  We see what Rose's father was like (incidentally Shaun Dingwall is one of the better actors you'll see this series), and how Jackie used to be (as insufferable as always).  Young Mickey gives the performance you would expect from a child actor (I'm scared, but can't stop smiling because I'm on Doctor Who).  The Doctor has conflicting feelings regarding humans- one second Rose is 'just another stupid human' but the next he's comforting a soon to be wed couple saying they're the most important creatures in the universe, and ultimately he demonstrates his willingness to sacrifice himself for humanity.  Finally, Rose reveals how selfish and short-sighted she is.  It's heavily implied that she planned to save her father from the moment she knew the TARDIS was a time machine, with no thought to any repercussions, and even as the world dissolves around her she still seems unphased, and of course next episode it'll be as if nothing happened at all.  It is this episode above all others that makes me wonder how she could be anyone's favourite companion, and at the risk of sounding like a deranged fangirl, I can't believe she's the one the Doctor would fall in love with.

First Impressions: Not entirely sure what's going on, but it's alright
In Retrospect: Reapers are annoying, and why haven't they showed up in the countless other paradoxes throughout the series?

Why am I still watching this show when every episode seems to have such terrible flaws?

Next Time: The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances

Doctor 12 Revealed!

Doctor... Who?

It seems a little redundant, but be warned there are spoilers in this post.  I'd be amazed if you made it here without already knowing though.

On June 1st, Matt Smith announced he would be stepping down as the Doctor, stating 'when you gotta go, you gotta go'.  Since then he has expressed regret, after seeing the fans' reactions, but it was too late- the search for probably the most iconic character on British television had begun.

The internet was abuzz, and the usual speculation started again- would the Doctor be a black man? A woman? An unknown actor like Matt Smith was, or a well-known celebrity?  Young to attract younger audiences, or older to go back to the show's roots?  And most importantly, would the Doctor be ginger?  All sorts of names popped up at betting offices, ranging from Russell Tovey (best known from Being Human), to Olivia Coleman (Hot Fuzz) and Rupert Grint (Harry Potter)- some even had odds for Grint's Hogwarts classmates Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson!

The BBC then decided to make a live announcement for the new Doctor, as they would rather make an official announcement than have yet another online leak spoiling it for everyone.  Funnily enough this live special was announced around the same time one particular actor shot up in the bookies' odds- to the point where he became favourite and no further bets were taken.  This man had appeared in the show before, was an avid fan of the show, and would keep to the tradition of the Doctor being a middle-aged white man, so seemed like a pretty safe bet- and the rumours turned out to be true, as this is the face of our new Doctor:

The 12th Doctor: Peter Capaldi

"The list went 'Peter Capaldi'.  It was a very short list."- words from Stephen Moffat, who apparently thought Capaldi was the only option to succeed Matt Smith.  For those of you who don't recognise him, he has previously featured in In the Loop, the BBC TV adaptation of Neverwhere, and The Thick of It.  It goes without saying that he is an excellent actor, but will he make a good Doctor?  Only time will tell.  But where's the fun in waiting?  Time for speculation!

First, an observation of previous regenerations: The replacement always has a personality that addresses the previous incarnation's weakness.  Going just on the new-series Doctors, Nine's weakness was his aggression so Ten became much softer and more forgiving- but in doing so became overly sensitive and so his relationship with Rose became his weakness.  Indeed his constant acceptance ate him up inside until he couldn't take any more, leading to the 'Time Lord Victorious' element towards the end of his arc.  Eleven did away with any love for humans (the exception being River Song, whose relationship I see as more of a pre-destination paradox but more on that in a later blog).  He chose instead to go back to treating humans as an icky alien species and generally jumped to conclusions quicker than previous Doctors that so far seem to have paid off.  As a result, I believe this new Doctor will counter Eleven's short-sightedness and be much more methodical, planning before he acts, possibly resulting in another 'greater good' scenario echoing the Time War.  And I believe he won't necessarily make the right decision, as part of his progression into the inevitable Valeyard.  Looking at Capaldi, he has a very sinister look- especially in his promotional video:

This suggests his Doctor will have a darker edge to him, and he looks much more serious than Smith whilst still having a mischievous side- in fact closely resembling the first Doctor, William Hartnell.  Recent viewers of Doctor Who may be surprised to learn that the first Doctor was very different from the one we know and love- he was an old man that stole a TARDIS, lived as a recluse, and was extremely curious- often putting his companions in harm's way just to explore a little further.  If Moffat does have plans to descend slowly towards the Valeyard, then I shall certainly be interested to see what happens next...

Rooksburg Reviews: The Long Game

Doctor Who s1e07: The Long Game

The Doctor and Rose, with their new companion Adam Mitchell, find themselves on Satellite 5- a space station dedicated to transmitting news to the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire.  As usual, all is not what it seems as people who are 'promoted' to floor 500 are never seen again, technology is outdated, and something's wrong with the plumbing...

An interesting story with interesting characters, some good character development, an important milestone, and yet I still forgot this episode even existed.  As they say, there's nothing worse than a 3-star review, as you're not mind-blowing, nor are you 'so bad it's good'; merely mediocre, bland and forgettable.

The main point of this episode centres around Adam (again, a completely forgettable companion).  Adam

Who?

was in the museum from last episode where he was somewhat likeable compared to the Americans, so Rose immediately took a fancy to him (showing no remorse over Mickey) and convinced the Doctor to let him tag along.  On arriving at the space station he immediately faints from culture shock before showing his true colours by smiling deviously after being given the magic phone and the TARDIS key; clearly the Americans rubbed off on him.  Despite being so forgettable, he is notable for one key point- he is the first and so far only companion to get kicked out of the TARDIS for bad behaviour, an impressive feat though to me it felt slightly harsh; Rose was supposed be on a date with Adam but ran off with the Doctor, both abandoned Adam in a strange uncomfortable place, and Adam did want to change the world for the better (albeit with personal gain in mind, but the Doctor has been guilty of that himself before).  Ultimately it just felt like the Doctor wanted an excuse to get himself and Rose alone together again.

The editor, with the 'editor-in-chief'

The 'monster of the week' is the Mighty Jagrafess (of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe), who is an amorphous indecipherable creature attached to the ceiling in floor 500 and ultimately doesn't do much- arguably the true villain is Simon Pegg's character, 'The Editor', as he is the one operating the station whilst the Jagrafess oversees.  They have been controlling the media for 90 years in attempt to enslave the human race without them even realising, and it would have worked if the Doctor hadn't come along.  Again, they are fairly decent villains- neither are doing anything particularly evil (aside from killing anyone who knows too much), and the point is raised 'is it really slavery if the slaves don't know about it', though this is immediately shot down by the Doctor who isn't in the mood for philosophical debate.  Also interesting is the fact that the Doctor doesn't save the day this time, instead enlightening an ordinary girl who takes matters into her own hands.

Not much more to say on this one.  Everything is 'good, not great' which leads to a fun 45 minutes but not a memorable one, and in a way slightly disappointing when this series often strays into 'so bad it's good' with its camp cheesiness.
First Impressions: Pleasantly surprised, might give some credibility to the series.
In Retrospect: Oh yeah, this episode... Simon Pegg's cool.

Next Time: Father's Day.  (aka the reason why I haven't dwelled on Rose's selfishness this episode)

Rooksburg Reviews: Dalek

Doctor Who s1e06: Dalek

In a subterranean museum in Utah lies a vast collection of alien artifacts- the pride of which is sending a distress call that the Doctor receives.  What is this prized artifact?  Well the title of the episode may give a clue, it's a Dalek- the Doctor's most hated enemy.

Spoilers!

Straight away we see the main flaw in this episode; the fact that it tries to build suspense despite the title already giving the big reveal.  Aside from this relatively minor flaw (it's not even noticeable so long as you avoid the 'next time' trailer and aren't paying attention to the title when it comes on screen), this is a pretty decent episode, though I would say it would be better suited later on with slight script changes.  The purpose of the new series was to introduce Doctor Who to a new audience, and as such it should be assumed that some of this audience may not have heard of the Daleks.  If their first experience is this episode, I would be quite disappointed.  It shows that Daleks are nigh-unstoppable ruthless killing machines, but that they also have a sensitive side (albeit caused by some 'biomass extrapolation', but still).  I'm also not happy with 'levitate' and found it a bit cheap, but I suppose they needed to address the problem of stairs at some point.

The theme of this story is to hold a mirror to the Doctor.  Previously we have seen him take a relaxed view to what goes on around him, only getting involved if he absolutely has to- but this time he's involved due to personal hate and fear, not entirely unlike a Dalek's motivations.  Due to this, this episode is quite an important one for the series as it shows the first time the Doctor's really been torn up by his actions in the Time War, which some have speculated we haven't seen the full ramifications of until this year's 50th anniversary special.

Regarding the supporting characters... oh dear.  Poor Americans, they just can't catch a break from us Brits-

The trolls have taken over the internet.

we have a view of Americans that depicts them as loud, greedy, ignorant, gun-toting, cowardly people that have a condescending view of the British; and this episode reinforces every single one of those stereotypes without any redeeming features.  We have the museum's owner, and owner of the internet, Henry van Statten who displays a tenacious single-mindedness to ensuring the Dalek doesn't get damaged, even when it's killing his entire staff- until the point where his own life is in danger at which point he'll stop at nothing to save his own skin.  We also have Diana Goddard, who is van Statten's right-hand woman (after his former assistant disagreed with his ambition to become president) and immediately betrays him to take his place when all is safe.  Another significant member of van Statten's staff, Simmons, takes delight in torturing the Dalek, even taunting it when it's fully operational.  The final American is a guard who disregards the Doctor's advice in dealing with the Dalek (concentrate on the eye-stalk) and goes for a brute force approach only to be killed within seconds.  To highlight how loathsome these Americans are, we have an Englishman working with them- Adam Mitchell- who is constantly belittled and mocked, and demonstrated to be a generally much nicer person than the Americans.  He also serves to show how heartless Rose is, as within seconds of meeting him, she starts flirting with him; again, completely forgetting about Mickey.  A vague attempt is made to show Rose's compassionate side, but it doesn't really work when she's being sympathetic towards the most feared being in the whole universe.

First Impression:  Pretty good, but aren't Daleks meant to be terrifying?  Yet a single human can cause them to question their own existence?  Sounds a bit lame...
In Retrospect:  Still pretty good, wish we'd seen a Dalek story before this though just so we'd know how terrifying these creatures are supposed to be.  Unfortunately, this won't be the only time RTD attempts to make the Daleks 'sympathetic' villains...

Also, this episode features a topless Christopher Ecclestone, which I'm sure is good enough reason for some of the female fans to watch it (and probably some male fans too).

Next Time:  The Long Game.

Rooksburg Reviews: Aliens of London/ World War Three

Doctor Who s1e04/05: Aliens of London/ World War Three

The first two-part story arc, I will be treating both episodes as part of the same story.
The story is about the Doctor and Rose returning home, only to find the Doctor missed his target (again) and they find out Rose has been missing a whole year.  Before Rose can get in too much trouble, a distraction appears in the form of a spaceship crash landing in the Thames, destroying Big Ben in the process.  It doesn't take long to realise this crash was a hoax, leading the Doctor to find out why aliens would attempt a covert invasion in such a high-profile way.

This review will be slightly different from my others thus far, as it's no secret that I absolutely hate these episodes- I think the only episode more detested is Love and Monsters.  So I'm going to cover usual review topics, followed by a long list of reasons why I hate these episodes so much- they just keep getting worse the longer they go on for.

The character development is the strongest point in this story; we see that the Doctor doesn't always get things right, and that can have ramifications on the lives of his companions.  Both Jackie and Mickey get a lot of character development, Jackie being shown as a mother who clearly cares for her daughter and is terrified that she's in danger as long as she's with the Doctor.  Mickey is also shown to have waited for Rose over the whole course of the year, even when being accused as a murderer, but once again he is ridiculed by the Doctor and pitied by Rose.
The story is the next best point, but doesn't make much sense; the Slitheen want to blow up Earth to turn it
into slag that they can sell off, but to do this they need to use Earth's own nuclear weapons to trigger a world war, which they will gain access to by impersonating high profile figures, which they will do by distracting the rest of the world with a fake UFO crash in the middle of London.  Thankfully, enough action happens that you don't need to pay too much attention to the story's developments.

Ugh, just looking at them makes me cringe...

The visual effects in this episode are downright terrible.  They were then, and they are now.  Anything involving CG doesn't give even the slightest impression of reality, and the prosthetics just look like lifeless rubber hanging off a stick.
The enemies themselves, the Slitheen, are the worst designed creatures in the whole of New-Who.  Physically they're not too terrible, though the effects let them down, but in every other aspect they are loathsome.  All that really needs to be said is their whole existence is based on fart jokes.

So now the list of awfulness, in chronological order (as, like I said, these episodes only get worse as they go on...)

• The police's lack of interest in Rose's disappearance.  I highly doubt that they would be satisfied with her explanation that she was just travelling and hadn't contacted home, and I'm sure they would have wanted to take the Doctor in for questioning as her apparent captor, but evidently not.
• The crashed ship is immediately cordoned off by soldiers of the parachute regiment.  How they got there so quickly and managed to disperse people so quickly is anyone's guess.
• The Doctor refuses to take the TARDIS to investigate, claiming more spaceships would add to the confusion.  This despite the TARDIS being invisible to anyone not looking for it.
• Despite the area being cordoned off, everyone is able to see a body being lifted from the wreckage- something the authorities would clearly want to keep quiet.
• The 'Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the Monitoring of Sugar Standards in Exported Confectionary' is now acting prime minister, simply because the cabinet are all absent from Downing Street at the time.  I'm pretty sure the office of prime minister doesn't go to whoever happens to actually be in his office at the time.
• Fart gag.  Don't tell me it's to appeal to children; this series of Doctor Who is rated 12 (and besides, I think even kids would be offended).
• The Doctor claims this could be humanity's first contact with aliens, despite the fact he should know exactly when first contact occurred.  (I'm willing to accept first contact is one of those points 'in flux')
• The Doctor encounters a room full of guards that point guns at him, but are perfectly happy to follow his orders when they hear a scream.
• The alien body is an augmented pig.

Ugh...

• More fart gags.
• The plan involves gathering every expert in aliens together in one place, despite any experts that may be in other countries, or other members of UNIT.  (To a lesser extent Torchwood, as they don't technically exist until next series).
• Every major character is in mortal danger.  Episode ends on a cliffhanger.  Yet... we immediately see a 'Next Time' trailer that shows them all escaping their various predicaments.
• When the Doctor reverses the polarity, somehow all Slitheen are affected despite showing no evidence of a link, other than a vague empathic link that 'somethings happened', at any other point.
• The guards all happily leave their posts when told there is an alien in the other room.
• The guards do not believe the most important alien expert when he says that the acting prime minister's an alien, despite the fact he's clearly acting odd.
• The guards, when ordered to execute someone, will happily wait for the victim to explain how he's going to escape before shooting him.
• The guards, when said victim is in the process of escaping, still fail to shoot him.
• UNIT's password for everything is 'buffalo'.
• The acting PM expects the public to believe all the experts were killed by aliens who have weapons of mass destruction pointed at Earth, despite the fact all the public knows is that a ship crash landed.
• The public believes all the experts were killed by aliens who have weapons of mass destruction pointed at Earth, despite the fact all the public knows is that a ship crash landed.
• The acting PM expects the United Nations to give him access codes to nuclear missiles that can be launched at said weapons of mass destruction, despite the fact NASA could look up and say that's a load of rubbish, and he's lying.
• The Royal Navy's password for everything is also 'buffalo'.
• Using the internet and just one password, anyone could press a big red button to launch a missile targeted on Downing Street.
• No-one on the submarine appears to have noticed they have just fired a missile without permission.
• There are no anti-missile defenses in place despite the extra-terrestrial threat.
• When counter-measures are taken at the last minute against the missile, the same 'buffalo' password can be used to stop them.
• When Downing Street is destroyed, everyone accepts that the aliens were inside all along despite there being no evidence.
• The public are quite happy to accept that a missile blew up their head of government, and that it wasn't a part of the alien attack.
• Despite the fact the cabinet are still alive and well, presumably including the actual deputy PM, Harriet Jones- a backbench mp for an unheard of constituency- can still become PM just because she was in the PM's office when the previous acting PM died.

...And that's all I have to say.  This was a terrible story that didn't deserve to be shown in two parts, and a terrible follow on from The Unquiet Dead.  And it's still not the last we've seen of the Slitheen...

Next time a better structured review: Dalek.

"...It's just a show; I should really just relax..."

Rooksburg Reviews: The Unquiet Dead

Doctor Who s1e03: The Unquiet Dead

Cardiff, 1869; and Charles Dickens is about to learn that ghosts are very much real- a discovery that will change the rest of his life.

Many 'first's with this episode for New-Who.  First episode set in the past, first featuring a famous person, first written by Mark Gatiss, first to explicitly mention Bad Wolf, and first mention of the Cardiff Rift.  Also the first episode I properly enjoy of Christopher Ecclestone's run, and the first one I can tolerate Rose in, though there are moments...

I shall get the Doctor and Rose out of the way quickly.  The Doctor was more like a 'classic' doctor in this episode, only offering advice when needed and letting others save the day, as well as offering a logical point of view that counters the humans' self-imposed ethical ideas.  Rose, for the majority, was tolerable as she wasn't sure how to deal with the completely different society of the past and raised some interesting philosophical points.  However, she still has a complete lack of sympathy as shown by her pressing Gwyneth into revealing details she's clearly not comfortable about, and more importantly at the end when she is told Dickens will only live one more year, to which her response is a shrug and an 'aww'.  Compare to the van Gogh episode, in which Amy is visibly heatbroken by a similar revelation.

What the Dickens?

I am a fan of any historical episode of Doctor Who, much preferring them to ones set in present day London.  However, generally speaking, I am not such a fan of episodes involving historical figures... There was a law passed recently in China that forbade any time-travelling stories lest they tarnish the reputation of respected figures, which I am somewhat sympathetic to (though making a law against it is a little extreme).  That being said, this representation of Dickens is very well done and remains respectful to the author- a joint effort between Mark Gatiss and Simon Callow, who has said he cringed when he heard Dickens was going to be shown in Doctor Who and refused to perform the role unless he was represented fairly.  Dickens is shown as a man who has grown increasingly weary with life, but upon being shown there is more to this world than meets the eye he gains a new lease on life- enough to keep him going for at least one more year.  However, I see Dicken's involvement as unneeded; the only reference to Dicken's life was a couple of throwaway gags, and any other character could have easily had the same involvement, compared to the Shakespeare and van Gogh episodes where the 'celebrity' cameo actually makes sense.

The supporting cast do well, even though their accents probably sound fake to a foreign audience- that's just the nature of the Welsh accent.  Eve Myles plays Gwyneth, a servant who possesses the 'sight'; a suitably ambiguous ability that can be used to look into a person's timeline and generally connect them to paranormal activity.  For the record I am opposed to any assumed existence of 'magic' or actual supernatural activity in Doctor Who, where everything should be scientific and related to aliens- much like the common opinion on Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull- but letting that slide, she does a good job and has a well developed character.  She's not bright, but she won't accept Rose thinking her stupid.  She serves for Mr. Sneed (Alan David), who is being swept along the current of supernatural events.  He acts like a deranged psychopath a lot of the time, but how else would you act if you worked in a morgue and the bodies started coming back to life?

This is a scene from Doctor Who?

This brings me on nicely to the villains, the gaseous Gelth.  To be honest, there's not an awful lot I can say about them... They were threatening but not particularly memorable.  They raised an interested moral dilemma (they can live if we give them human corpses which is unethical- but we're not using the corpses so where's the problem?) but any interesting questions raised are quickly glossed over as they inevitably turn traitorous.  Aside from that they give a little more exposition on the Time War and the Cardiff Rift.  Looks-wise, I thought they were quite impressive as although they were wholly CG they were subtle enough to not date as much as, say, the Slitheen... Which I will be covering in the next review.

On first impressions, this is a good episode that has interesting dilemmas despite a not-so-interesting enemy.  Dickens being involved is neat but doesn't add anything to the story.
In hindsight, Vincent and the Doctor dealt with similar issues and was much better at it.  But that doesn't stop this from being a good episode.

Next review: Aliens of  London/ World War Three

Rooksburg Reviews: The End of the World

Doctor Who s1e02: The End of the World

5 Billion years in the future, the Earth is being destroyed as the sun explodes- but the Doctor isn't there to save it, instead he's there to witness it.  However trouble soon arrives as the station they are on becomes a victim of sabotage and all guests are about to be cooked alive.

This episode showcases the CGI more than any other episode, and for the most part it's impressive.  The

Well there goes the budget...

station looks great, the explosive effects are good, even the alien prosthetics aren't too bad; the only problem is Cassandra, the last human who has had so much surgery she's now little more than a piece of skin stretched across a frame.  In my opinion the CG used for her was very fake looking, but I blame the concept more than the execution.

The story for this episode is very character driven, mostly concerning Rose's culture shock on meeting all these new alien species and coming to terms with seeing the destruction of her home.  The whole story is no doubt littered with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references, considering Douglas Adam's involvement in the classic series, but thankfully no direct references are made.  Unfortunately, there are other pop culture references that are unforgivable- references to ipods and Britney Spears specifically.  This is done all too much in science fiction; 5 billion years have passed yet inexplicably everyone's obsessed with the 20th century, making the subject feel dated in just a couple of years.

Cassandra, the last 'pure' human

The characters themselves are interesting and varied.  The Doctor shows his dark side, and shows his lack of  sympathy except when motivated for vengeance.  Likewise, Rose shows that she is considering that she may have been too hasty taking up the Doctor's offer, but the feeling soon passes and she's already completely forgotten about Mickey- even to the extent that at the end of the episode she implies she's dating the Doctor.  Cassandra is a bit of a mess of a character; starting as someone who's only present because she's 'the last human' she then becomes willing to kill high ranking officials just to claim enough money to fund further surgery, and to top it off she's revealed as being transexual for the sake of a cheap gag.  The supporting cast don't get much screentime, but it serves in their favour as the viewer wonders what their stories are.  Also the less the viewer knows of them, the more the viewer can identify with Rose as everyone around her is alien in both appearance and manner.

My first impressions on this episode are that it was a little bland and boring.  Sure there are aliens, but they don't have much impact because everyone knows there are aliens in Doctor Who.  The 'villains' (The Adherents of the Repeated Meme) are nowhere near developed enough to be believable, and it's painfully obvious that Cassandra's the true enemy based on screentime alone.  The Doctor's resolution to the story is extremely out of character as well, even abandoning his one rule from the previous episode 'everyone gets a chance'.  We also get some exposition on who the Doctor is and why he's so reluctant to talk about his past, but again we get nothing more than a tease- other species are aware of the existence of Timelords, and that there was a war the Doctor was involved in.

On rewatching, my opinion hasn't changed.  Nothing significant to the overall plot of the series aside from the introduction of the Face of Boe (who does nothing) and a casual mention of the arc words 'bad wolf', and no real character development as the Doctor is out of character and Rose merely comes to the conclusion she should have reached before this episode.  In all honesty, when I came back to this episode I knew I'd seen it before but the story is so forgettable that I had no idea what the danger was and forgot entirely about the repeated meme, which is terrible storytelling when they are major plot points.

Next review: The Unquiet Dead.

Rooksburg Reviews: Rose

Doctor Who s1e01: Rose

As the first episode of the series, and the first episode of the revival, this episode needed to be good.  And it is, though with a few flaws.

The story revolves around Rose (played by Billie Piper), who is an ordinary girl with an ordinary job in

The Doctor's first appearance in the series revival

London.  As she's about to leave work she has to deliver some money to the chief electrician only to find him missing from his office.  She looks for him, only to find a room full of mannikins- that start to move.  As they close in, the Doctor (Christopher Ecclestone) arrives to save her and whisk her away to safety- before blowing up the building and disappearing.  The rest of the story consists of the Doctor reappearing several times by coincidence, Rose trying to find out who he is, and plastic mannikins rising against humanity.  A pretty good story, let down by a couple of throwaway lines but I'll get to them later.

The most important question on anyone's lips is, is he going to be a good Doctor?  The answer depends on if you're new to the series or not.  If you watched Classic Who, I would say the answer is 'Who the hell is this guy and where's the Doctor?'.  He has some of the right traits; he assumes too much from people around him, he comes across as indifferent, and he's witty... But.  He is also younger than anyone's used to, has an extremely derogatory opinion of humans, and shrugs off the likelihood of people around him dying ('I Hadn't considered that...').  For newcomers to the series, he's a fun character.  He has fun doing what he does, he's mysterious, he has a vague moral code ('Everyone gets a chance'), and you hope that Rose will improve his opinion on humanity.

Rose; the Doctor's latest companion

Speaking of Rose, she is the Doctor's new companion.  There's no particular reason for it, the Doctor just decides that this girl's been showing up a bit lately, she happened to be in the right place at the right time to save his life, and she has a loser of a boyfriend so she may as well go with him.  In this first episode, Rose is a perfect substitute for the viewer.  Everything about her is ordinary until suddenly her life is turned upside down; she does what any reasonable person would and try to find out what's happening, then when she's offered the choice to go on a trip through time and space she accepts after a moment's hesitation.  Honestly my only criticism of her first appearance (note my use of 'first'- it won't take long to get tired of her) is her parting words to her boyfriend Mickey, which seemed extremely harsh ('Thanks for what?' 'Exactly').  There's also the fact she couldn't tell Mickey had been replaced by an extremely obvious plastic doppelganger, but I'll put that down to the storytelling/effects rather than the character.

Mickey is, for this episode at least, loathsome yet pitiable.  He acts like an idiot, a coward, and generally clingy and desperate.  That being said, he still probably doesn't deserve the derision he gets from both the Doctor and Rose.  He is treated as a puppy by both of them, which may be redeemable on the part of the Doctor as he seems to view humans as apes, but not from Rose who is supposed to be his girlfriend- an extremely unbelievable relationship as every moment they share the screen she's rolling her eyes.  Rose's mum, Jackie, is also largely unlikeable in this episode.  After her daughter suffered the traumatic experience of her workplace blowing up, presumably a terrorist attack in the minds of the public, her first comment is 'find a new job' followed by 'get some compensation'.  Her only other notable appearance is when she meets the Doctor and immediately tries to seduce him.

The villains of the story are, like most of RTD's creations, an excellent concept with poor execution.  The thought of shop mannikins coming to life is quite a terrifying prospect and enough to make you walk round a shopping mall with paranoia, but then you find out they have guns in their hands for some reason.  The Nestene Consciousness itself is not so impressive.  It's a big pool of molten plastic, that gets scared when it recognises the TARDIS, which serves as exposition for the Doctor's involvement in the Time War.  The lesser villains are plastic Mickey, and a wheelie bin, which is trademark RTD silliness.

The start of the episode showed an impressive planetary view.  The end of the episode had some impressive

The wholly convincing Mickey duplicate

explosions.  The middle of the episode had... a wheelie bin made of Flubber that looked poor even when it was new, and the plastic Mickey which would even have little kids shouting at the tv that Rose is so stupid for not noticing how fake it looked.

My final notes concern how it holds up in hindsight, and honestly it's not as bad as I remember.  The only truly bad parts of the episode are plastic Mickey and the wheelie bin and the Doctor's complete obliviousness to the London Eye.  It's interesting to speculate when the Doctor had time to be at JFK's assassination considering he seems to have freshly regenerated and spends most of his time with Rose, and if the rumours of a 'missing' Doctor are true then it helps to explain why he is so different from the 8th Doctor, and why he has so much residual hate.  All in all a pretty good start to the series that was sure to bring in new fans and please some of the less-diehard veterans.  True fans of Classic Who are likely to be cringing though.

Next review: The End of the World.

Upcoming Doctor Who Reviews

This year celebrates the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, and as such I'm re-watching all the 'new' who and seeing how they match up- and how the John Hurt speculation could fit in.

I was a late comer to Doctor Who.  When it got revived by Russel T Davies I paid no attention- I was vaguely aware of an old program about a man in a long scarf in a sci-fi program, but that didn't
interest me so I didn't watch the new series.  Occasionally I'd catch glimpses on tv, but all I saw was lots of running and loud music.  Eventually I was forced to watch it (some family meal in front of the tv or something), and actually found it to be much more epic than I previously thought- this man was standing up to Satan!  From that moment on I was hooked.  It would be a while before I would watch anything before that point, as the dvds were still far too expensive, but I tuned in every week, and towards the end of RTD's run I joined in all the speculation online.

Before I start the reviews, you will inevitably want to know my views on the showrunners- opinion is very much divided between RTD and Steven Moffat, and often bias will skew any reviews.  Russel T Davies revived the series, and did an ok job though it felt far too silly in places (yes, yes, I know- it's a 'family' show and all that, but there's no excuse for farting aliens).  Steven Moffat is highly praised for the individual episodes he's written during RTD's run, and as show runner he's sliding towards a darker and grander feel but at times it's come off as extremely rushed, like he feels every series needs a 'game-changing' revelation.  I've also been of the opinion that RTD's episodes always felt amazing when they first aired, but on re-watching they're rubbish, compared to Moffat's episodes that lack something at first but re-watching after the series is complete often makes a lot more sense.  In short I much prefer Moffat over RTD, but accept that Moffat has flaws, and often it feels like so much more could have been done.

That's my opinion on the show as a whole, next blog I will start reviewing individual episodes starting with the first episode of series one; Rose.