Thursday, 16 August 2012

"Just this once, everybody lives" - Doctor Who Series 1: A Review


In 1963 a show came along that changed everything, Doctor Who, a show that has effected people for nearly 50 years... although admittedly with a big gap in the middle due to the cancellation in 1989, however in 2005 it was brought back by Russel T. Davies, who trust me I will talk about somewhere down the line.

For those who don't know Doctor Who tells the story of The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. He also invariably travels with companions. Being a Time Lord gives The Doctor the ability to regenerate when dying, meaning that when an actor playing The Doctor is ready to leave the show they can bring in a new one, however there can only be 13 Doctors in total.


The series begins with The Doctor, now in his ninth incarnation, landing on earth and picking up Rose Tyler, a young girl from London who comes with the baggage of her mother Jackie and her boyfriend Mickey... whose last name I don't think I've ever known. He meets her stopping the Autons, an enemy from the old series, they then travel to the end of the world and Victorian Cardiff, where they meet Charles Dickens they then travel back to London arriving a year after Rose left causing a few awkward scenes and some horrible comic scenes. While there they stop some aliens called the Slitheen, a family from the planet Raxacorricofallipatorious, who hide in human suits. They then go to an underground museum in the future where they meet a Dalek, in an episode that is actually quite brilliant where it seems the Doctor is more of a monster than the Dalek, The Daleks being the Doctor's most iconic and terrifying enemies. Whilst there they pick up a guy called Adam who they take to a television Satellite in the future he tries to send future information back to the present and is sent home, after the Doctor stops an evil alien monster of course. They then go back in time and Rose stops her father dying, causing massive damage to time and a group of people to be trapped in a church, which is saved when Pete, Rose's father, sacrifices himself. They then go to WWII and meet Captain Jack Harkness a time travelling con man with a heart of gold. Also they stop a terrible threat to the human race by reuniting a scared boy with his mother, and saving everyone in the process. Jack joins there travels. They go to present day Cardiff and whilst there they stop one of the Slitheen who survived, and learn about the heart of the TARDIS. They then get taken into various pop culture references by the Daleks... it's a bit dumb, but they stop the Dalek emperor by Rose looking into the heart of the TARDIS and the Doctor has to absorb the energy of the time vortex from her to save her, sacrificing his current body to do so. He regenerates into the Tenth Doctor.


All in all it was a strong start to the new series for old and new fans alike, it had a lot to offer, some creative stories, The Doctor was a fascinating character, even if Rose wasn't, and you could actually feel the weight of his many years through a wonderful performance by Christopher Eccleston.

But there are problems with it. The main being Rose Tyler, she is an irritating, selfish, whiny bitch. Take for example her relationship with Mickey, she leaves him to run off with some strange man then when in a later episode he tells her he's seeing someone else she acts like he's in the wrong. What a bitch.


Best Adventure: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: The Doctor's WWII adventure with inventive ideas emotional wait and writing by Stephen Moffat, the best thing to happen to Doctor Who in the reboot.

Worst Adventure: The End Of The World: The villain is a piece of skin voiced by Zoe Wannamaker... need I say more?

In short, a good return to the best sci-fi show in the world.

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