Who's On First - A Review of Season One of the new Doctor Who

[angelophile]

Being a long term Doctor Who fan, the last time we saw the Doctor on our screens was in the TV movie that, it was hoped, would launch a new series. Ratings for the joint US production were poor outside the UK, however, the storyline was rather poor and while the look of the show was great and Paul McGann's Doctor was pretty solid, it didn't seem to inspire anyone either. While I enjoyed it for what it was, it seems the time wasn't right for the Doctor to make a return.



Roll on almost ten years and Who once again returned to our screens. This time, the BBC funded it themselves and took a risk of ploughing a large budget into its re-launch. Gone was any attempt to deliberately cater to the US market and while, I'm sure, making an international success was on the minds of the production team, they seemed first and foremost to want to make a home-grown hit.

And did they succeed? Certainly in terms of audience figures, Who has topped the ratings for Saturday night television in the UK every week since its launch, averaging around 8 million viewers per episode. Not only that, but it has been a success in both Canada and Australia, who seem to "get" the Britishness of the show more than our American cousins. With the relaunch, the BBC clearly set out to make a great, somewhat old fashioned, family entertainment show that captured the ethos of the original series. In that they succeeded without needing to Americanise it.

Right from the start, Eccleston's portrayal of the Doctor has been pretty impressive. He's not the best Doctor ever, but he's a long way from being the worse. His Doctor, like Pertwee's, relies on his physicality as much as his mind. He's a walking mood swing in some episodes, veering from being a rather sharp, petulant child, or harsh taskmaster, to suddenly beaming all over his face and practically breaking into song. The writers and Eccleston himself, seem to have balanced the right combination of wit and intellect that made so many previous doctors a success. His quick tongue seems to keep up to the fast new pace of the show, which has speeded up from the old multi-part episodes of the past. However, for all that, I don't think the pacing has suffered - there's still been plenty of time for character development and interaction, although that has focused more on the Doctor, Rose, Captain Jack, Mickey and Rose's mother, rather than bit part characters. No bad thing, but it does mean some of the "bad guys" have been rather lightly sketched.

However, there was a chance for some supporting characters, like Charles Dickens, played by Simon Callow or Penelope Wilton's MP to get a decent chance to shine. The supporting casts have seemed smaller and more intimate, however, which has all helped to keep the pace of the show moving.



The opening episode, Rose, pulled viewers frantically into the whirlwind world of Doctor Who that we all know and love. It moved along at a frantic pace, the Doctor was quickly introduced and quickly thrust into a rather light plot about saving the world from old baddies, the Autons. The plot might have been light, but the show immediately felt like classic who, as if it hadn't been away. Eccleston's Doctor felt natural, a decent progression from Paul McGann, although it would have been nice to see the old Doctor hand over to the new, the fact that it appeared that Eccleston had been the Doctor some time, long enough to make plenty of trips to get the conspiracy theorists talking and to give the TARDIS another refit, helped to ease the idea that he'd never been away. Just having ten years worth of adventures that we hadn't seen.

Billie Piper as Rose also had a fairly strong start - it's clear from the beginning that she wasn't going to be the standard Who victim, and while she didn't quite have the same up-and-at-em attitude of last companion Ace. But Rose started off as being a complete character, fairly well drawn out and performed by Piper. She is feisty, streetwise and has a lot of emotional intelligence, and is the doctor's equal, unlike in the old days of the show.

The second episode kept Eccleston's sharp tongue going, and flew us into an alien space station, complete with just about every new concoction of an alien species one can concoct. Rose started to become a fully rounded character in this episode and both Eccleston and Piper had a chance to shine in their performances as Rose found herself witnessing the end of her own world, something that found echoes in the Doctor's life. The episode trod the difficult tightrope between being a light hearted adventure and then suddenly turning dark, but trod it pretty successfully.

Maybe my favourite episode of the series, took us to familiar Who territory, a period piece on planet Earth. 1869 to be exact, and Charles Dickens is giving a Christmas Eve performance of A Christmas Carol that gets rudely interrupted by a gas powered, walking corpse. This was pure Who, aliens, ghosts, a period story and special effects that would send the kids scurrying behind the sofa. Aided by a superlative performance from Simon Callow, I loved everything about this episode.

Unfortunately, the new show hasn't been flawless and the two parter "Aliens of London" does overdo the "humour" content at the expense of the horror. The story with an attempted invasion by the Sliveen started strongly enough, but even apart from the fart gags, proved the show hasn't worked out how to do monsters/aliens in a scary and convincing way just yet.

I missed the next episode "Dalek" so can't really comment.

Following it 'The Long Game' was slick and stylish, but ultimately devoid of any really hook for me. Set in the far future on Satellite 5 - a broadcasting satellite. Obviously the episode was meant as a satirical swipe at 'The Media', but despite a fun performance from guest star Simon Pegg (The Editor) it fell rather flat. Amongst the weakest of the series, it still wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything much.

'Father's Day' was almost pure 'Soap Opera', and if it wasn't for the Reapers (crappy flying dragon things) you could be forgiven for thinking that this was not sci-fi/horror at all. The poor animation and design of the Reapers (surprisingly from Bryan Hitch) could have sunk this episode, as could the convoluted and oft trod "dangers of altering the past" story, but it turned out to be excellent because of its genuinely moving subject matter and convincing acting. Billy Piper really stood out this episode, the Doctor taking second place to her character and it actually worked well, focusing on the emotional aspects over the sci-fi.

'The Empty Child' and 'The Doctor Dances' were written by Steven Moffat (who wrote the sitcom Coupling) and produced two of the best episodes of the series. The rather ludicrous looking premise suddenly becomes very chilling as the Blitz-set story cranks up the tension rather than going for an obvious murderous alien. The zombie-like plague is a solid plot device, the introduction of "metrosexual" Captain Jack a delight and the period brilliantly recreated. The "horror" aspect of this two-parter was probably the best of the series. It's probably the most "British" of episodes too, sneaking in a little sense of patriotism into the story.

I missed "Boom Town", but considering it was a return of the farting Slitheen, no bad thing.

Finally, the last two parter. Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways. I don't want to say too much about the final episode as some have yet to see it, but certainly this was another strong two part story. The first part trod the balance between ridiculous, satire and being quite enjoyable. It didn't really ring true in many ways, but the addition of Captain Jack and some neat stabs at television were handled a lot better than I imagined they would be, considering how nervous I was when the plot synopsis was revealed. However, the real strength to the episode was the final ten minutes as the Doctor once again found himself facing his greatest adversaries and giving a list of the impossible odds he intended to beat before moving to do it all, with no plan, no weapons and just a cocky grin. The last episode played on all the strengths of the series, taking the "Bad Wolf" theme to new levels, twisting the ideas of who could act like the real heroes out of the TARDIS crew and finally resolving in a shattering and witty conclusion. And, of course, the fact that the Daleks were at the fore and IN FORCE ensured that this episode was forgiven any flaws.

There really isn't anything amazingly bad I can say about the series and it's probably the strongest since the Tom Baker era. Maybe the Doctor uses his Sonic Screwdriver one too many times and it's a pit Eccleston won't be returning for a second series. Perhaps the humour was overplayed on occasion, perhaps some episodes focused a little too hard on Rose and her family. But in all, it was clear that the Doctor is back and he's here to stay.

Roll on 2006.