"Doctor Who" Rose (2005)

Director:

Keith Boak

Writers:

Russell T. Davies (written by)
Robert Holmes (character: "The Autons")

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

26 March 2005 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Rose Tyler is just an ordinary shop worker living an ordinary life in 21st century Britain. But that life is turned upside down when a strange man calling himself The Doctor drags her into an alien invasion attempt! |

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Time Lord | Tardis | Companion | Doctor Who

Cast

Christopher Eccleston	...	Doctor Who
Billie Piper	...	Rose Tyler
Camille Coduri	...	Jackie Tyler
Noel Clarke	...	Mickey Smith
Mark Benton	...	Clive
Elli Garnett	...	Caroline
Adam McCoy	...	Clive's Son
Alan Ruscoe	...	Auton
Paul Kasey	...	Auton
David Sant	...	Auton
Elizabeth Fost	...	Auton
Helen Otway	...	Auton
Nicholas Briggs	...	Nestene (voice)

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:TV-PG

Trivia:

On the very first transmission of this episode, the beginning sequence involving Rose and the Autons was accidentally played with a Graham Norton voice over. Julie Gardner immediately called the BBC switchboard and managed to help solve the problem with the transmitters just in time for The Doctor to say his first line.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The Doctor and Rose locate the "metal" hatch that leads down into the "Plastic's Leader" blob. Watch carefully after the Doctor removes the "metal" hatch and moves it aside. The entire hatch "pops-up" a second later. This is because it is plastic and it was suctioned to the floor.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rose Tyler: [rushing out the house] Bye!
Jackie Tyler: See you later.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Doctor Who: The Age of Steel (#2.6)" (2006)

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

As essential a part of British pop culture as the Monty Python and James Bond, Doctor Who was a massive hit for 26 years (1963-1989), making it one of the longest running TV shows in the world (most serials are lucky to have ten seasons). Plans to reboot the series were always on the BBC's agenda, and after a miscalculated (not to mention Americanized) TV movie produced by Fox failed to capture the magic of the original version, another nine years (Comic Relief spoof and animated mini-series notwithstanding) were required before the ultimate Time Lord could return properly, courtesy of acclaimed writer Russell T. Davies.

Davies' brilliance in reintroducing the character lies in his decision to do so through the eyes of an outsider: Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), a London-based girl who leads a very normal life until one night she is attacked by creatures made out of living plastic. She is rescued by an elusive stranger who introduces himself simply as the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and then disappears after quipping: "Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!". As she gets more and more curious about this "man", she soon finds herself in a whole new world: aliens, invasions, travel through time and space, and of course, the omnipresent Police Box-shaped TARDIS.

The first 45 minutes of the new Doctor Who are almost perfect (the special effects could have used a bit more polishing) because Davies nails two things: the show's unique humor and the two protagonists. The original series' most endearing trait was its blend of spectacular sci-fi and pure British comedy, a hybrid that's hard, if not impossible, to export. Here the laughs are all linked to the conversations between Rose and the Doctor, who come off as fully rounded characters after just one episode. Okay, so technically Eccleston's Doctor is the Ninth to use that name, but he distances himself from the previous eight incarnations by speaking with a Northern accent (the one he uses on a daily basis) and justifying it with a terrific line: "Lots of planets have a North!".

The real triumph of this episode, though, is Piper's performance: in theory, Rose is in her late teens, therefore nearly the same age as thousands of young viewers who had never heard of the Doctor before. Her portrayal of an ordinary girl lost in a new, exciting universe, represents the new generation's reaction to the return of a TV icon, and the chemistry that instantly forms between her and Eccleston is a sign indicating the new Doctor Who is just as good as the old one.

First, fifth, ninth, it makes no difference: there may have been others before Eccleston (and Piper, for that matter) but together he, William Hartnell, Peter Davison and the rest of the bunch are one single character, one so cool he doesn't even need a name: he's THE Doctor.