Episode #160 : Rose

Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.

Episode 160:   Rose.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         26th March 2005.

It's just another day in the life of London teenager Rose Tyler. That is, until she meets the Ninth Doctor. The plastic on Earth has come to life, and the Doctor has to stop it before the Nestene Consciousness can take over. Rose's life will never be the same again.

The show has been brought back by Russel T Davis and BBC Wales. I was very surprised that the show had done away with the multi-episode stories and was now running like every other show with a roughly 45 minutes story. At the time I was disappointed but now I realise that the show is better for it.

Immediately we are introduced to the new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. He is very different to any of his previous incarnations but is perhaps a very good means of introducing the character and the show to a modern family audience. At times his persona gets a bit much, especially with the references to humans as "stupid apes".

Rose Tyler, played by former pop star Billie Piper, is an interesting companion. Unlike the classic companions, Rose is simply an everyday young woman who finds herself drawn into the alien invasion by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As well as Rose we are introduced to her boyfriend Mickey and her mother Jackie. Both are characters who will have potential as the show goes along.

Doctor Who returns with a classic villain, the Nestene Consciousness and it's Auton servants. They are invading the Earth as their worlds were destroyed in a war. This is the first reference to the Time War in the new show though we won't learn that in this story. It could have been easier to start with something more recognisable like the Daleks but I think the BBC did the right thing and come back with a known but less iconic monster.

The show is much better for having been brought back at a time when decent production values allow for excellent special effects, make up and, at last, well done script writing. There are humorous elements included that don't quite work and I wish they had not been included. Some of these, such as a plastic rubbish bin eating Mickey Smith and then burping were frankly childish. But for a first introductory episode, Rose is well done and long in coming.