Because, frankly, I am a lunatic I'm also, along with everything else, going to go back to the start of "Doctor Who" or "Nu-Who" anyway, and rewatch and review every episode. I have seen every episode before, but very few of them more than once. Let's go back to 2006 for the first one.
Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) works in a London department store. One night, just before lock up she's attacked by the shop dummies. Her life is saved by a man enigmatically known only as "The Doctor" (Christopher Ecclestone). The Doctor, an alien, is tracking signals that are controlling plastic things, particularly but not exclusively shop dummies but both he, and now Rose, are being targeted in turn.
This was my real introduction to "Doctor Who". I was 9 when the show ended, and though I do remember the feature length episode with Paul McGann, this was the start of the show, for me. The most striking thing about it, looking at it with 2020 eyes is how badly the computer generated effects have aged. It's not the fault of the BBC, it's just that 14 years ago visual effects were so costly there was a compromise required. It cannot be ignored though that the interaction between Mickey and the Dustbin looks terrible. My next thought was that I should be cherishing this time with Christopher Eccleston as I know it's not going to last very long. Everyone is clearly settling into everything at the moment . . . which I think is the excuse for the overblown "I can feel the movement of the earth" speech in the middle of the episode. But a couple of other moments really land, such as enthusiastic "Yeah" in response to Rose's question about whether travelling with him will always be this dangerous.
This episode has a lot to do, it introduces us to all the principles that will take us forward for the next few years, including Mickey (whose characterisation is perhaps the most "off" in this one) and Jackie. It can perhaps been forgiven then that the plot is a little basic and we hang around in the climactic scenes far longer than we ought too, before Rose decides that she can save the day. But it's an engaging start to the series that would now (and did at the time) entice me to start watching.
Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) works in a London department store. One night, just before lock up she's attacked by the shop dummies. Her life is saved by a man enigmatically known only as "The Doctor" (Christopher Ecclestone). The Doctor, an alien, is tracking signals that are controlling plastic things, particularly but not exclusively shop dummies but both he, and now Rose, are being targeted in turn.
This was my real introduction to "Doctor Who". I was 9 when the show ended, and though I do remember the feature length episode with Paul McGann, this was the start of the show, for me. The most striking thing about it, looking at it with 2020 eyes is how badly the computer generated effects have aged. It's not the fault of the BBC, it's just that 14 years ago visual effects were so costly there was a compromise required. It cannot be ignored though that the interaction between Mickey and the Dustbin looks terrible. My next thought was that I should be cherishing this time with Christopher Eccleston as I know it's not going to last very long. Everyone is clearly settling into everything at the moment . . . which I think is the excuse for the overblown "I can feel the movement of the earth" speech in the middle of the episode. But a couple of other moments really land, such as enthusiastic "Yeah" in response to Rose's question about whether travelling with him will always be this dangerous.
This episode has a lot to do, it introduces us to all the principles that will take us forward for the next few years, including Mickey (whose characterisation is perhaps the most "off" in this one) and Jackie. It can perhaps been forgiven then that the plot is a little basic and we hang around in the climactic scenes far longer than we ought too, before Rose decides that she can save the day. But it's an engaging start to the series that would now (and did at the time) entice me to start watching.