Nearly 10 years on, it’s a lot easier to look back with clear eyes on the Davies era. Doing that reveals that – like most of the show’s 51-year run – it’s a mix of the great, the good and the “what the?”
It’s also interesting to look at Christopher Eccleston’s performance from a distance. As good as the actor is at his craft, he rarely seems entirely comfortable in the role. I don’t know how much of this has to do with his issues on the show (to their credit, Eccleston and Davies have never talked about what caused the actor to leave after one season) or just never getting under the skin of his character.
Rose
One thing the new series has done is rehab the role of the companion. Billie Piper’s Rose finishes the work started in the 1980s by Ace, and provides the Doctor with a far more realistic partner than in the past. That’s all on display in the dynamic new series opener, which avoids the mistakes of the TV movie. We see all of this from Rose’s perspective, as she moves from intended victim of the Autons (Yay! Robert Holmes in the house) to a scrappy investigator to someone who saves the Doctor at a moment in need. Her reward? Travels in time and space, of course. We also get Mickey, Jackie and a lower-class British vibe that is light years from most of the show’s history.
The End of the World
First off, Rose and the Doctor head into the far future (like 5 billion years into the future) and meet up with some oddball aliens (including a bunch of sentient trees) and uncovers a plot by the very last human (Cassandra, a hunk of flat skin and a brain that is voiced by Zoe Wanamaker) to fry everyone up in the death throes of the Solar System. It’s silly stuff, but does have goofy charms – and the revelation that the Doctor is alone in the Universe, as all of the other time lords are dead.
Mark Gatiss joins in the new Who fun for the first time with a largely entertaining trip to 19th-century Cardiff. It’s Christmas and Charles Dickens (Simon Callow; the new show is getting some heavy hitters right out of the gate) is in the house. Of course, that means we’ve got a haunting – in this case by an gaseous alien life form called the Gelf. The Doctor is all together too trusting, and that leads to near disaster. We get typical Gatiss humor, and typical Gatiss loose plotting that makes the ride a bit uneven. Still, the chemistry between Eccleston and crew is great, especially with Callow and Eve Myles, who so impressed the producers that she got cast in a lead role in spin-off show Torchwood (I may take a look at this in the future, though I may not be able to sit through the terrible, terrible final season).
Aliens of London/World War Three
Well, good things come to an end – like the strong start to the revival season. These episodes were uneven when first broadcast and have just gotten worse as time has gone on. Davies mistakes children’s show for juvenile, leaving us with the literal stink of a bunch of farting aliens. There’s also a pig alien that is just… oh, just so bad. (On the upside, future Torchwood cast member Naoko Mori shows up as well). Eccleston ricochets around the whole piece, unable to convincingly link up the manic and serious sides of his character. Mickey and Jackie are back, and provide some fun, as does Penelope Wilton, making her first appearance as Harriet Jones (M.P. for Fly dale North, of course). Still, usually when I make a pass through the episodes of this season, I give these two a pass.
I don’t give this one a pass, ever. The first classic episode of the new series, it features a story Robert Shearman adapted from a Big Finish audio he had written, Jubilee (it was this fact that first got me interested in the Big Finish world). Set in the far future of 2012, the story involves an ultra rich collector and his prize possession: a Dalek. It turns out to be the last Dalek in creation, as they were thought to be all destroyed in the Time War. The first scene between the Doctor and the Dalek is brilliant, as the anger that has bubbled under the surface of our hero finally gets to come out and he makes the decision to kill it on the spot (after learning that it’s gun is not working).
Rose mucks it all up, of course. She not only bonds with the Dalek, but also touches it. That bit of time-travel energy is enough for the creature to regenerate, sucker his torturer to death and go on a killing rampage. Despite murdering hundreds of people, Rose somehow bonds with the pepper pot (really the main flaw here), but the story moves along so quickly – and the final confrontation is so loaded with emotion – that is easy to overlook that.
At story’s end, they take young Brit Adam with him. It won’t turn out well.
The Long Game
This is a pretty murky episode, with a lot of ideas and action presented, but lacking a real cohesive reason to exist. What’s good? Simon Pegg shows up as The Editor, a slimy collaborator with the aliens who have subjugated humanity. New companion Adam turns out to be a dud, and is stranded at home with a doorway thingy in his brain. The other elements are interesting – like how the aliens are manipulating the news to keep humanity docile – but aren’t explored nearly enough to really make them interesting.
Here’s the emotional heart of the season, as Rose travels back to the day in 1987 when her father was killed. She never knew him, and just wants to have someone there when he dies. Of course she interferes, which wrecks absolute havoc with reality. The Tardis is gone. Rose, the Doctor and the survivors of a wedding (including Rose in baby form) are trapped in a church. Rose and her father – wonderfully underplayed by Shaun Dingwall – get a few short hours to meet and bond, before Pete makes the decision to set things right by sacrificing himself. All in all, a gorgeous episode from Paul Cornell, who would be back to write more.
Hmm, Steven Moffat. I wonder whatever happened to him? Yes, the future showrunner makes his first appearance as a writer in these Hugo winning episodes. It has all the hallmarks – creepiness created by the everyday (in this case, a child in a gas mask; well, that would be everyday in World War II), dollops of sharp humor, and a twisty plot that doesn’t fully come together until the end. We also get another future Torchwood star this time out – in this case, it’s Captain Jack Harkness. John Barrowman was made to be on this show, and his omnisexual creation provides a much needed breath of fresh air near the tail end of the season.
Boom Town
“What are you captain of, the innuendo squad?” Mickey asks Capt. Jack at the beginning of this episode. That’s about as good as it gets here, in this flabby piece that tries to dig into the morality of the Doctor’s actions and his habit of leaving things before the clean-up starts. Sadly, this means we get a returning Slitheen, who has somehow managed to rise up to be mayor of the city. Anyway, they capture her (OK, the chase is pretty funny) and before bringing her to justice on her home world, the Doctor gives her a chance for dinner and to plead her case. She wonders if the Doctor can morally send her to her doom (her planet has the death penalty). An interesting idea, but there’s not a lot of depth or logic to her arguments. It only gets worse as she turns on them (well, duh) and is only defeated by a literal deus ex machina – as the heart of the Tardis opens and regresses her back to the egg.
You know what I hate more than farting aliens? Game shows fought to the death. I especially hate game shows fought to the death centered on programs from the early 2000s, which now look horribly, horribly dated. So the first two-thirds of this episode are pretty hard to watch, but once we get beyond that, the intrigue really starts up. There are a few mysteries at play, as the Doctor tries to uncover what is controlling the Earth via the games. And then there’s the title of the episode. Those words have been haunting the duo throughout the season – what could they mean?
The first answer comes at the tail end of the episode. We think Rose has been killed in a deadly game of the Weakest Link. Instead, she has been transported to… a Dalek fleet.
The second answer comes in the second part of the episode. After a daring rescue and a meeting with a barking bad (even for a Dalek) Emperor, the Doctor goes to work in an effort to stop the massive invasion fleet. The few remaining souls on the game station make a stand, dying to the implacable advance of the Daleks. We see the end of Lynda with a “Y,” who is a companion who could have been; and then Capt. Jack.
The Doctor forces Rose back to Earth, but she is able to get into the heart of the Tardis, absorb it all and save the Doctor, destroy the Daleks, bring Jack back to life (more on that in Torchwood) and is ready to burn up before the Doctor (finally!) kisses her and absorbs it back. Along the way, Rose sends the "Bad Wolf" message back through time (you couldn't have just sent a note?) so, I guess that's answered and done. Though it will provide one of the best moments of the later David Tennant years, but more of that when it comes.
Anyway, all the energy in the Doctor triggers a regeneration, as our Doctor with the big ears and angular face turns into David Tennant.
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