Review - Rose

Let me take you on a journey back through time to the mystical year 2005 when Doctor Who was jump-started for the new millennium with Rose.

Season 1, Episode 1 - Rose

There really is a lot to love about Eccleston's Doctor. He is outwardly kooky but with a subtle depth that really works. The kookiness seems forced on parts, but I'm left feeling that that is intentional. It's a facade The Doctor is putting on to mask his mourning over his recent experiences. His initial contact with Rose is particularly poignant as we see him almost manic as he casually talks about possibly dying.

"I'm going to go upstairs and blow it up, and I might well die in the process,
but don't worry about me, no. You go on. Go on.
Go and have your lovely beans on toast."

This is a grieving man struggling to deal with his new place in the universe.

We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world. And if we let go...

This gives us some great hints at the Time War and The Doctor's ordeal, without having to drop a bunch of elaborate back-story. Clive was a great mechanic to help catch people up on the basic premise of The Doctor, although the PhotoShopping of Eccleston's head into the Dallas crowd shot was horrendous.

The pacing was good, even though there was lots of running towards the end. This is probably just a symptom of it being a Companion origin story rather than any kind of Go, go, go, Geronimo! We can also forgive this episode being a bit Companion Show Featuring The Doctor (or at least quite Doctor light) because it's not only reintroducing the Doctor Who universe, but introducing a new companion too.

There was no instances of Deus Ex Screwdriver in this episode. In fact it was only used I think twice, once to disable the attacking Auton hand (after a decent fight), and once to lock a door. The solution to this episode's problem is still a bit Deus Ex Machina, but as we are dropped into this adventure half-way through The Doctor's involvement, there was plenty of time for him to have prepared the anti-plastic. In the end it was Rose who saved the day, which is nice.

We saw a slight Hunka hunka burning Doc with Jackie (because only an older lady could want Eccleston) but that's more of a reflection of Jackie's character in this case. In this episode we see Hunka Hunka Burning Doc turned on its head, with The Doctor aggressively perusing Rose in front of her boyfriend, even going so far as to dismissively say, "He's not invited."

Hey! Is this guy boring you? Why don't you come talk to me instead?
I'm from a different planet. Seriously! You want to see my spaceship?

I've gotta say that I love Mickey, and the show totally needed more of him. Noel Clarke is a standout talent in this episode. His portrayal of the Auton Mickey was awesome. I feel bad for Mickey because his and Rose's relationship appears happy, affectionate and stable, but for some reason not only does Rose not seem particularly upset when she thinks he's dead (although we could pass that off as shock) but she dumps him with little hesitation, implying that his inability to help with the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness may be a reason. This mystifies me as The Doctor was almost as useless in that final confrontation. Poor Mickey.

"Thanks"

"For What?"

"Exactly"

There was a delightful cheapness to the whole episode that has been lost with the inclusion of American money. The CG effects are really quite poor, particularly when Mickey gets stuck to the Wheelie bin of death. Just having a bin as a monster is a wonderfully cheap move. But, you know what? I really didn't mind any of it. As has been true of Doctor Who since An Unearthly Child, cheap production is easily overlooked with solid writing. Perhaps Steven Moffat could save a bit of cash in post production and spend it on the writers. Then again you can't blame the sailors if the Captain can't steer.

8/10

Can we fix it?

Not much to fix here, to be honest. If anything, Rose's farewell needed to be handled differently. Either Mickey needed to be a bit of a dud boyfriend, or The Doctor shouldn't have excluded him from the invitation to join him, with Mickey then declining.

If the former route was taken, Rose would seem less heartless for leaving her clearly traumatised boyfriend to go travelling with a man she'd just met. The guy was a jerk, and she deserved better. She was looking for a reason to leave him, and here it is.

The latter is probably the better way of handling it though. Mickey could have been slightly less traumatised  by his experience, but clearly still too frightened to go with The Doctor. Rose would attempt to convince him, and while he refuses, he lets her go on the understanding she would return shortly.

Yes, the VFX haven't really stood the test of time, but all up a great episode, and I very much enjoyed revisiting it.