Ninth Doctor Summary

I was curious to see whether I would finish the Ninth Doctor era first or if the Sixth Doctor would win out. In the end, it makes more sense that it would be the Ninth Doctor given that he does have less time on screen than any other Doctor save the Eighth and his screen duration is too limited to give a full summary to.

Overall, I'd say that I liked the Ninth Doctor. He can be a bit too jokey and over the top at times, but his quiet moments are quite good. I would have very much liked to see what he could have done with a deeper and darker sense creeping in as came in with the Tenth Doctor. He had a good chemistry with Rose and I thought they played off each other fairly well. He was caustic in a way that would have made the Sixth Doctor proud but he never got into the full bickering with Rose. She held her own much better than Peri ever did.

It is easy to see how and why he was overshadowed, given the giants that the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors became. Having left on bad terms also didn't help as attempts to attract attention to the Ninth Doctor era were left without the Ninth Doctor himself. I would rate him more in the middle of my list of Doctors, enjoyable and entertaining, but without a central driving reason to push him above any of the others.

Highest Rated Story: The Unquiet Dead - 4.5

Lowest Rated Story: World War Three - 1.5

Average overall rating: 3.25

Rose
The End of the World
The Unquiet Dead
Aliens of London/World War Three
Dalek
The Long Game
Father's Day
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Boom Town
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

If I am God, what does that make you Doctor?

The final adventure of the Ninth Doctor, the culmination of the "Bad Wolf" subplot and the full return of the Daleks. RTD has a reputation for putting together excellent set ups in the penultimate episode and then letting things go out with a whimper in the finale. Does that hold true in his first finale and the end of the Ninth Doctor?

Plot Summary

One hundred years after the events of The Long Game, the Doctor, Rose and Jack wake to find themselves on futuristic versions of 21st century game shows being broadcast from the Game Station (formally Satellite 5). The Doctor is in Big Brother, Rose The Weakest Link and Jack What Not to Wear. The Doctor and Rose are confused and rather nonchalant in each of their shows until they witness other contestants incinerated after failing a level.

The Doctor breaks a camera in the house, causing his immediate eviction. However, his life is spared as the program is overwritten. He leaves the house to the station proper with another contestant, Lynda. Meanwhile, Jack pulls out a gun when the two droids attempt to kill him and he destroys them. Fashioning himself a larger gun, he meets up with the Doctor on the lower floors. The Doctor discovers that when he destroyed the Jagrafess, he left the Earth without any information, causing the society to break down, leading to the dystopia that now exists.

Jack manages to locate Rose's signal and they burst into the game just as she has lost the final round of her game. She runs to the Doctor but the Anne Droid incinerates her. The Doctor, Jack and Lynda are arrested by station security and placed in a holding cell, but the trio overpowers the guards and heads up to the top floor. There they discover the station run by a few workers and a controller.

The station briefly shuts down as a solar flare passes by and the controller comes to herself. She reveals that she brought the Doctor there to thwart the powers controlling her. She is unable to reveal that as the flare passes and the station comes back on-line. Jack discovers the TARDIS in a storage room nearby and using it, he discovers that Rose was not killed. All failed contestants are merely transmatted to a location just outside the solar system.

They discover that the location houses a cloaked Dalek fleet. Aware of their discovery, the Daleks transmat the controller and kill her. They then threaten to kill Rose unless the Doctor surrenders. He refuses and instead vows to rescue Rose and destroy the Daleks.

The Doctor and Jack take the TARDIS across the solar system and materialize it around Rose and her Dalek guard. Jack destroys the Dalek with his gun while the Doctor heads out of the TARDIS. Protected by a force field, the Daleks are unable to gun him down. The Emperor Dalek reveals himself to the Doctor, having survived the Time War. He has rebuilt the Daleks using cellular material from slaughtered humans. The Doctor also discovers that the Emperor Dalek has developed a god complex, infusing all other Daleks with both a religious devotion to him and a self-hatred at their impure state.

The Doctor takes the TARDIS back to the station where he begins to build a Delta-wave weapon that will fry the Daleks. Jack and the others head down to the first floor to recruit any former contestants to fight and buy the Doctor more time. Only a few do with Jack ordering the rest to stay quiet on the first floor.

Checking his readings, the Doctor discovers that he doesn't have enough time to create a weapon that will only kill Daleks. Instead it will kill both Daleks and humans. He tricks Rose into going into the TARDIS and then sending her back to her family where she is found by Mickey and her mother.

The Daleks arrive at the station and land five floors below the control room. One group of Daleks proceed upwards where they kill the defenders and blast through the defenses Jack had set up. Another group heads down to the first floor and kills all those who refused to fight and stayed below. The Daleks then reconnect and head to the last of the defenses.

Despite attempts to console and convince her, Rose refuses to accept being sent away. She sees more Bad Wolf signs and recognizes them as a symbol for her to help the Doctor. She decides to pry open the TARDIS console and look into the heart of the TARDIS as that would allow her to communicate with it telepathically. Mickey tries but his car doesn't have enough power.

Jackie tries to dissuade her but Rose refuses also forcing Jackie to realize that it was Rose who bent over Pete when he died. Jackie, realizing that it is the right thing to do, borrows a tow truck from a friend. She and Mickey help Rose pry open the TARDIS panel. Rose looks into the heart of the TARDIS and absorbs time energy directly from the vortex. The TARDIS then disappears as Jackie and Mickey look on.

The Daleks overrun the last of the defenses, killing both Lynda and Jack in route to the control room. As the Daleks enter, the Doctor finishes the delta wave weapon. The Dalek Emperor goads the Doctor to use it but faced with repeating the genocide he committed against his own people to stop the Daleks, the Doctor refuses to discharge the weapon.

As the Daleks move in for the kill, the TARDIS reappears and Rose emerges, full of the time vortex. She admits that she planted the Bad Wolf sign throughout time as a signal to herself. She then atomizes all of the Daleks and even brings Jack back to life. The time energy is killing her though and the Doctor takes her and sucks it out of her through a kiss, releasing most of the energy back into the TARDIS. He then carries an unconscious Rose into the TARDIS and takes off as Jack enters the room to see them go.

Rose wakes with almost no memory of what happened. The Doctor only reminds her of it a little, admitting that he had to absorb most of the time energy, which is now killing him. He comforts her that things will continue but that he must change. He then regenerates into the Tenth Doctor and offers to take her to the planet Barcelona.

Analysis

Taken as a whole, this story is pretty good. However, it does suffer from the typical RTD problem of having a really good set up and then petering out at the end. Some fans blame the literal "god out of the machine" ending but that didn't bother me that much. There were several issues that affected the end but I think the primary problem was that Bad Wolf was clearly focused on the Doctor while The Parting of the Ways focused on the companions, specifically Rose.

Throughout both stories, the Doctor was excellent. He was his caviler self at the beginning and then got serious as the scale of the problem reared its head. He was serious and focused, to a point that you could see how dangerous he could be. But at the end, the damaged Doctor who couldn't cope with inflicting large scale violence emerged. Even in Bad Wolf that is apparent as he casually hands off his gun to the people he's supposed to be threatening. It is funny and also a significantly Doctor-ish moment.

In fact, there is almost nothing not to like in Bad Wolf. The characters are engaging, there is humor but also a strong sense of danger. We also get a wonderful fake out with Rose apparently being killed. This is doubly effective because Lynda has asked to come with the Doctor and he is very open to it. It has the exact feel of an old companion being removed and being replaced by a new companion. You buy it, even to the point where Rose is revealed to still be alive as it is easy to imagine the Doctor's rescue of her failing and Lynda still moving on to be the new companion.

The reveal of the Daleks is also excellent. The preview at end of Boomtown spoiled the review for most people. But if you had been ignorant of that, the reveal was very well done. As Rose wakes up and classic fans instantly key on to the Dalek control room sound as it is the only noise. Even as the Daleks enter their reveal is slow. Rose pins herself against a wall as we view through a Dalek eyestalk, just like Barbara did in The Daleks. As others enter, they are shown in reflection and other oblique ways. It is not until they focus on talking to the Doctor that the full scope of the Daleks is made clear. The build is slow and very well done, giving a proper sense of fear that the Daleks deserve.

That fear pervades through the entire invasion. In the whole battle, the Daleks wipe the defenses with relative ease. Only four Daleks are shown to be destroyed or damaged in the entire attack and with multiple Daleks filling the room each time, the overrun is quick and efficient.

Of all the deaths, I found Lynda's to be the best and the most sad. She is trapped in a room waiting for the Daleks to burn their way in when three Daleks rise in front of the window. There is no sound but you see the lights of the Dalek flash and it's like reading lips to know that he is yelling "Exterminate". The window shatters and you don't hear Lynda scream as she is exposed to space. For having such little time, you got to know the character and enjoyed her company. That you started getting into the mindset of thinking of her as a companion also makes her death seem that much more tragic. Jack at least fought up to the end and even had a moment of defiance before being gunned down. It was a death worthy of the character and felt less tragic even though you know Jack a lot more.

So why does it fall apart at the end? Rose. It's no secret that I don't care for Rose that much but I always felt that she meshed fairly well with the Ninth Doctor. Her rough edges matched well with his more caustic personality. But in both episodes, Rose shows almost no redeeming characteristics. She is over the top in her amusement on The Weakest Link until the reality of the situation dawns on her. She also is the only one who does nothing to help herself. Both Jack and the Doctor are able to get themselves out of their situations so she feels bit a useless in Bad Wolf.

It is The Parting of the Ways that exacerbates things though. The focus of the story leaves the Doctor once he sends Rose away, in what is an excellent bit of acting by the Doctor. Once she is back though, while I appreciate her passion to get back to the Doctor, her methods are annoying to me. She is openly insulting to Mickey, noting that her exposure to the Doctor has left her unable to live a normal life the way they do. It is the most condescending attitude for going back to rescue a person one could imagine. It becomes all about her, which is precisely why I don't like Rose.

Even her scene with Jackie should have been more touching. But instead it becomes this angry event, with Rose forcing Jackie to accept the reality as she and the Doctor changed it. I still fail to see how the acceptance that Rose was at her father's side when he died equates with helping to get back to the Doctor. Yes, helping is the right thing to do and Pete would have advocated for that, but almost nothing Rose has done has emphasized that point. It is still all about what she wants.

As far as the climax with her becoming god-like to destroy the Daleks and then the kiss, I don't have a problem with the idea, but the execution fell short. In this, I have to place most of the blame on Billie Piper. Her acting was not up to the challenge of what that scene required. When you see her do a flash of Bad Wolf as the Moment in The Day of the Doctor, you can see how much she has grown as an actress and the fear and power of that comes across much better. In this scene though, it just feels silly.

It doesn't help that Christopher Eccleston also falls short here. His reactions seem overplayed as well. Only the Dalek Emperor seems to be where he needs to be in terms of the reaction. I also thought the kiss was over the top but they were playing the romance angle (something I never saw) between the Ninth Doctor and Rose so that is expected, if also unwelcome.

I thought the regeneration scene was done fairly well, although I wish the Doctor hadn't been quite so jokey before it. I don't mean that I think he should have been tragic and mopey the way the Tenth Doctor was, but his almost maniacal grin right near the end seemed more creepy than anything else. It's almost a relief to get to the Tenth Doctor at the end.

In the end, it was a high that fell to an average. Not as bad as the drop off from other finales but no where near what could have been achieved. I think if Rose had shown even some humility and selflessness in her quest to rejoin the Doctor and if the director had been able to coax the actors to a bit more gravity in the Deus ex Machina scene, the second episode would have had a lot less fall off. I think this story is still quite enjoyable and a must when revisiting the Ninth Doctor, but it's less than what it could have been due to the way things wrapped up.

Overall personal score: Bad Wolf - 4.5 out of 5; The Parting of the Ways - 2.5 out of 5

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Are you my mummy?

Enter Steven Moffat. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is the Moff's first entry to writing for Doctor Who and it also is probably a pretty good summation of his overall view of the show and how he conducted thing as show runner: scary, funny and just a little too fearful to go overly dark. In the end, everyone lives and that is both the blessing and curse of the Moffat era.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Rose respond to a distress signal by an alien ship. The ship is caught in the time vortex and crashes in London in 1941 during the Blitz. The Doctor and Rose land the TARDIS about a month after the crash. The Doctor slips into a nightclub to see if anyone knows about the ship crash while Rose waits outside. There he learns of the time period to which they have landed.

While waiting for the Doctor, Rose spots a young boy in a gas mask calling for his mother on the roof of a building. She climbs up to try and help him but when climbing on the anchor line of a barrage balloon the balloon frees and she is carried away across London as the German planes approach. She manages to hold on for a bit but eventually slips off. Her fall is arrested by a tractor beam from the ship of a 51st century time agent named Captain Jack Harkness.

Captain Jack pulls Rose aboard his ship and believing her to be a time agent, proceeds to make an offer of sale for a crashed Chulan warship. Rose plays along, intrigued by Jack but tells him that only her partner is authorized to make payment. They then scan about looking for the Doctor.

The Doctor emerges from the club to find Rose gone. He is distracted by the phone in the TARDIS door ringing. He is warned not to answer it by a passing girl named Nancy but does so anyway, hearing the voice of a child asking for his mother. He follows Nancy into a home where the family is hiding in the air raid shelter and Nancy is leading a group of homeless children in partaking of the large set dinner table.

The Doctor asks about them but they are interrupted by the boy in the gas mask knocking on the door and calling for mummy. The children flee but the Doctor looks to help. Nancy again warns him before running and the Doctor is further alarmed as the child's voice comes over the phone and the speaker of the radio. He opens the door only to find the child gone.

The Doctor follows Nancy to her hideaway and asks further about the fallen spacecraft. She tells him where it is but tells him to see the doctor in the hospital near the crash site first. She also confesses that she does what she does as she feels guilty over the death of her little brother Jamie who was killed in an air raid when he followed her out.

The Doctor heads to the hospital, observing the crashed ship under guard of the British Army. In the hospital he finds hundreds of people in bed, all with the same injuries and all with gas masks fused to their faces. Doctor Constantine tells him of an original patient, a small boy and that everyone else was infected after touching him or one of the subsequent patients. Doctor Constantine also reveals that they are not dead but respond occasionally as he himself begins to transform with a gas mask face and the same injuries.

Rose and Jack find the Doctor shortly afterwards in the hospital. At the same time Nancy reenters the house to find more food and is confronted by the child in the gas mask, whom she recognizes as Jamie. Jamie calls out to her asking her if she is his mommy. This triggers the people in the hospital who begin advancing on the Doctor, Rose and Jack. The Doctor tells them off by telling them that he is cross and they need to go to their room. Both Jamie and the people accept this. The people go back to bed while Jamie heads out of the house.

At this point, Jack realizes that the Doctor and Rose are not time agents and he comes clean about the ship. It was an ambulance that he poached and was going to con them into buying just before it was destroyed by a German bomb. Annoyed by Jack and his carelessness (as he suspects the ship is the source of the plague) the Doctor heads upstairs to the patient zero room. They find toys and drawings of the child's mom. They also listen to a tape recording of the child asking for his mom.

Jamie, ordered by the Doctor to go to his room, enters the room and summons all the other infected people. The three flee through the hospital until they are finally able to barricade themselves into a storage room. Out of escape options, Jack teleports himself back to his ship and sends a signal via the radio that he will transport them once he's changed the ship's settings. The Doctor and Rose banter a bit until Jack pulls them out of the hospital and they head back to the scene of the crash.

Nancy is caught trying to escape the house but blackmails the husband into letting her go when she threatens to expose him for sleeping with the butcher. She stops by the group of kids and tells them that she is going to stop the attacks by the masked child. She then cuts her way through the military perimeter but is caught. She is handcuffed to a table under guard, but the guard is showing signs of transformation.

The Doctor and his party approach the compound and when Jack greets the captain in charge, the captain also begins to transform. They rush past him and find Nancy singing to the transformed guard, who has been lulled to sleep. The Doctor frees her and begins to examine the ambulance. Attempting to open it triggers an alarm and all the masked people begin to advance on them. The assemble but hold until Jamie arrives.

The Doctor confronts Jack, informing him that the ship was full of nanogenes, tiny medical robots. Upon crashing, the nanogenes found Jamie's dead body but didn't have a human pattern to work from so only brought him back to life in his state. His touch spread the nanogenes who rewrote the human DNA in favor of their repairs. Jack transports back to the ship to stop the German bomb from destroying the ship and spreading the nanogenes.

The Doctor looks at Nancy as Jamie and his hordes approach and realizes that Jamie is not her brother but in fact her son. Knowing this, he encourages her to go to him. She confesses to him that she is his mother and hugs him. The nanogenes read the parent DNA and correct their earlier mistake. Jamie returns to himself and the Doctor takes his mask off to reveal a normal boy underneath. He then sends out the nanogenes who repair all those affected by the earlier mistake, some to a point of improvement beyond their original condition.

The German bomb is released by Jack catches it in his tractor beam and puts it in stasis. The Doctor and Rose head back to the TARDIS to celebrate. They then rendezvous with Jack's ship which is about to be destroyed as the bomb is losing it's stasis field. They take Jack with them and all three have a dance in the TARDIS.

Analysis

This story is Steven Moffat in miniature. About the only thing missing from it is anything that is "timey-whimy." But the simple horror elements are there, along with drama and emotional manipulation. You also have the saccharine and a few pacing problems as well.

The best part of this story is the child himself and the Doctor's reaction to him. The child is both creepy and also very sympathetic. When he calls out to the Doctor through the door of the house in The Empty Child, you both hear and feel a lost, scared child who you should bend over backwards to help. That you are also afraid of this child creates an odd dichotomy in your brain that you wrestle with. I personally felt even worse when the Doctor told him to go to his room. He is looking at Nancy and as it registers, you see his head droop and you can almost feel the sadness welling up inside him as he doesn't know why he is being punished.

Nancy and the rest of the kids were also fine but I felt Nancy was a bit stiff at times. Some of that might have been trying to pull the stiff upper lip and all, but her confession regarding Jamie seemed like it should have been a bit more emotional for her than it was. The other children didn't have much time to be more than children, which is exactly how it should be. Too much time with children and their lack of acting experience starts to show and that can hurt a story.

I quite enjoyed Jack. He skirts the line with his cockiness and it is very close to descending into cliché at times, but he is still a very enjoyable character. I actually like him even better when he is less sure of himself and begins to cow to the Doctor a bit, although that's a good payoff solely because of the dick measuring going on between them. The Doctor's embarrassment over the sonic screwdriver relative to Jack's squarness gun is quite funny and one of the few times the Doctor is put on his heels with regard to it.

Rose on the other hand, is not that enjoyable. She never seems to come across as particularly serious in this episode. You would think that flying over London in the Blitz would temper her a bit but she goes along with it and is all pally and flirty with Jack. I do like that she gets called out with regard to Mickey and how she is more or less using him to make herself feel better but is always looking to drop him. Her one decent moment is her quiet talk with Nancy and the reassurance she offers that the Allies win the war. It is a nice moment and reflects how low the spirits of the British people must have been given that Nancy takes it as a given that the Germans will eventually win and that Rose is lying, not because she has reservations about time travel, but because Rose isn't German.

The overall look of the story is pretty good. The only real point where they didn't quite pull things off was in the scenes from the Blitz where Rose is hanging from the balloon. The CGI is pretty thick there and it gets a bit of a cartoon-y look the longer Rose is up there. I understand the idea, but they don't quite pull it off. You can definitely see how far the show is come by pulling that scene next to a similar sequence in Victory of the Daleks. But other than that, the production looks pretty good. The transformation of Doctor Constantine being an excellent example of a well done CG effect that helped a great deal with the horror element of the story.

Aside from the niggles noted above, there are three points of the story that didn't really work for me. The first was the pacing, especially in The Empty Child. The cutaways to Rose and Jack didn't do much for me and they felt like distraction and filler. The tension was with the Doctor and his interactions with Nancy and Jamie. That built the scariness and any cut away from that felt not like relief but instead like a distraction. I didn't care about champagne on the roof of a cloaked ship. I cared about the Doctor's unease.

The second was the Doctor's over enthused reaction to everybody living after the nanogenes correct their mistake. He is saying this in the middle of a German air raid where potentially thousands of people are dying. Doctor Constantine also pointed out that none of the people infected were dead anyway. They were alive but transformed. So it wasn't like they were brought back or that they were in danger of dying. Yet many people are dying around him. It is an out of place moment that just clangs. It feels like an extra load of syrup on what should be a normal happy ending and it just gags.

The third thing that bugged me was the dance discussions between the Doctor and Rose. Unlike a lot of fans, I don't have a problem with a sexual Doctor. He obviously had a relationship with Susan's grandmother and several other females in the past to say nothing of what he would do in the future as the Tenth Doctor. But what starts as a little bit of coy innuendo just gets beaten to death as the episode goes on. I don't care much for Rose bringing it up in the first place as it adds to her very cavalier attitude towards the situation they are in. But to take something that should have stayed in that room and dragged it out across the whole rest of the story just got tiring. I think Moffat thought he was being clever but it just seems overly silly.

As an aside, I noticed while watching this one that Moffat was able to slip his traditional "Doctor Who" joke in. Nice to know that some things always stay the same.

Overall, I think the goodness of the episode is spread well and it covers the more negative aspect of this story. I was a little surprised at how balanced both stories were. I generally expect one episode to be stronger than the other, but this one was fairly well balanced. I knew I was going to have a favorable opinion of the first episode as I enjoy the scene between the Doctor and Doctor Constantine so much, but I had forgotten that the second part didn't go downhill as I misremembered it doing so. This is another reason why I'm making a point to go back and rewatch these early stories and not relying on my own faulty memory. In the end, I'd say it's definitely worth watching multiple times. It may not be the apex of the First Series that other fans are inclined to think of it as, but it is one of the higher points.

Overall personal score: The Empty Child - 4 out of 5; The Doctor Dances - 4 out of 5

The End of the World

Everything has it's time.

Rose introduced the Doctor and companion while The End of the World propelled them on their first time adventure together. Except not really. Yes, they travelled through time five billion years, but Rose spends most of the episode in a state of shock (probably the first realistic reaction by a companion) or locked in a room. So this more of a Doctor with pseudo-companion in the form of Jabe the tree.

Plot Summary

Showing off for Rose, the TARDIS materializes on Platform 1, a space station overlooking Earth on the day it is to be destroyed. Artificial gravity satellites had kept the expansion of the sun in place but funding had run out and the abandoned Earth is to die in a show for the rich and famous.

The Doctor and Rose pose as guests and exchange gifts and pleasantries with the other invitees, most notably Cassandra, the last genetically pure human, although hundreds of surgeries have reduced her to a sheet of skin and extended her life for several thousand years. Among the gifts exchanged are a silver spheres from the Adherents of the Repeat Meme. While the guests are busy, spider droids emerge from the spheres and sneak into the crawlspaces and begin to sabotage the station.

Feeling overwhelmed, Rose leaves the observation deck. She calms herself a bit talking with a maintenance worker, who is killed by the spider droids after she leaves, and then sits alone in a side room. The Doctor finds her but becomes angry when she presses him for specifics about who he is and where he is from. Rose backs down and the Doctor reciprocates by tinkering with her phone to allow her to call her mother. While observing, the station rocks a bit and the Doctor recognizes a problem.

The Steward also recognizes an issue but before he can dispatch a repair team, a spider droid enters his office and brings down the sun shade, roasting him in his office. Back on the observation deck, the Doctor notices sabotage. Jabe, a sentient tree, offers to show him an access shaft near their quarters. Rose, offended by Jabe's assumption of a sexual relationship between her and the Doctor, stays on the observation deck, where she promptly gets into an argument with Cassandra.

The Doctor and Jabe find an access panel that allows the Doctor to scan the station and access the main control box. While talking, Jabe confesses that she scanned the Doctor earlier and learned he is a Time Lord. She offers sympathy for the loss of his world. The Doctor thanks her and upon entering the discharge room they discover and capture one of the spider droids.

Following her argument with Cassandra, Rose stalks off and is knocked out by one of the Adherents. She is dragged to the room earlier and the sun shield begins to lower. She screams and the Doctor, returning to the observation deck hears her. He manages to raise the shield but the rays fused the door shut leaving her trapped in the room. He promises to come back for her.

Returning to the obervation deck the Doctor repairs the droid and sends it back to it's makers. It first goes to the Adherents of the Repeated Meme but they are exposed as robots as well. The droid then goes to Cassandra. She confesses as she stands to make a large amount of money with the deaths of the guests due to business holdings. She detonates the spiders, lowering the station shields and then transports off.

The Doctor and Jabe run back to the discharge room where the computer override station is located. But the way is blocked by rotating fans. With the controls damaged, the only way the fans can be slowed enough is for the control bar to be held down. Jabe grabs the bar even though the temperature is rising. The Doctor then begins to dodge the blades.

As the pressure wave approaches, the shieldless station begins to crack and unfiltered sun rays begin to get through, killing several guests. Meanwhile, the Doctor makes his way to the last blade. Jabe catches fire and the bar rolls back up, increasing the speed of the blade. Concentrating, the Doctor opens himself to time and passes through the gap. He then reactivates the shield just before the pressure wave hits, destroying the Earth.

The Doctor returns to the observation deck, as does Rose as the door was destroyed while the shield was down. He finds the transporter signaling device and recalls Cassandra without her medical support team. The heat increase in the station causes her to begin to dry out. Rose asks him for mercy but the Doctor just stands there. Cassandra dries to the point of contraction and then bursts apart, killing her.

The Doctor and Rose return to the present, where Rose is still feeling a bit shell shocked. The Doctor tells her of his race and that his planet was destroyed in a war that his people lost. He offers to let her go home but she instead suggests they go have some chips and relax.

Analysis

This story was pretty decent, but there was something missing from it for me. I'm not one hundred percent sure what it was but it just felt like something was lacking in terms of drawing me in.

One thing it is not is the acting. All the central characters played their parts well. The Doctor was on point with the prickly PTSD manifesting itself well in the scene with Rose and then later with Jabe. Rose did very well as well as we finally saw a companion legitimately overwhelmed by being in the midst of a group of aliens. Other companions had moments of disbelief but this is the first time one seems genuinely overwhelmed by the situation and Rose does it very well.

Jabe also works well as the step-in companion. She seems genuinely fond of the Doctor and noble in the acceptance of her death to help the Doctor save the rest. I also enjoyed Cassandra. She's a bit of a one-note stereotype, but she plays the part well and there is a subtle level of humor there, to say nothing of a fairly well executed plan. At the same time, it is very easy to stand with the Doctor and just let her die, especially after her mocking of him that she will tie up the courts for years.

Cassandra's death is a marked point in the new series as it defines that the Doctor will be vicious and cruel at times. In the classic series, the Doctor would kill but in most cases it was in self defense or the defense of others. Usually if there is something he could do to bring the villain to justice, he would do. This is an instance where he makes the active decision that the justice system will not be enough. He wants vengeance and the fact that he has to do nothing makes it so much easier. But as I am a fan of the dark and vengeful Doctor (see The Christmas Invasion), I found Cassandra's death and the Doctor's attitude towards her most satisfying.

So why is there this niggling lack of connection for me and this story? I think this story has an element of trying to hard and as a result, falling into cliché. The worst moment was actually the scene with the fans. The fans were meant to be a scary obstacle but with Jabe holding down the lever, they slowed down to the point that the Doctor should have been able to go through them faster than he did. It felt very much like a set up to ensure that he would have to do the last one without her help and use special Time Lord power. It also ensured that he would be raising the shields back up at the very last second. That just smacked of Galaxy Quest level cliché and it was obvious about it.

I think the other thing that bugged me was that the story had very little mystery or subtlety to it. Cassandra's reveal as the mastermind was the only reveal but we saw the spiders from the get go and there was a strong element of waiting until we saw what the ultimate goal of their sabotage was. I think that because the episode was running short, bit of a padding were put in which helped with character development but also slowed down the payoff of the story and I got tired of waiting after a while.

For me, the story was decent but I don't think I can rate it higher than average. Whether it was the waiting for stuff to happen or the obviousness of what was going on, the story just didn't grab me and say that this is one to watch again. I think I could even sense that going in for the rewatch as I remember looking at the Ninth Doctor catalogue in the past and always passing over this one as I never felt overly compelled by it. It's not bad and I wouldn't say no to watching it, but I feel no sense of desire to watch it again in the near future.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5

The Unquiet Dead

In what way are you a cooling device?

The Unquiet Dead may be one of the best stories of Series One and also one of the best of the celebrity historicals. I remember being a bit dismissive of it the first time I watched it, but on second viewing, it was much more enjoyable.

Plot Summary

In 1869 Cardiff, Mr. Sneed, and undertaker, is seeing to a recently deceased woman. Her grandson is staying with her when the body reanimates and attacks him. Mr. Sneed tries to get her down but she breaks out and walks into the street. He collects his housekeeper Gwyneth and the two go looking for the woman.

The Doctor and Rose land a few blocks away and step out to explore. The dead woman enters a theater where Charles Dickens is giving a recital of A Christmas Carol. He observes the dead woman in the audience and sees blue mist coming from her mouth. The audience panics and rushes out, telling Mr. Sneed where to go. He and Gwyneth grab the now lifeless body and drag it to the hearse. The Doctor and Rose are also drawn by the commotion. The Doctor observes the blue mist creature entering the gas lamps. Rose however sees Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth taking the body and goes after them. Fearing she has seen too much, Mr. Sneed chloroforms Rose and dumps her in the hearse as well.

Seeing that Rose is missing, the Doctor runs out and sees her in the hearse. Charles Dickens, believing that the Doctor is behind this trick, runs after him. The Doctor commandeers Dickens' carriage and goes after them. Dickens comes along and after introductions and understanding of what is happening, warms up to the event.

Arriving at Mr. Sneed's mortuary, the Doctor hears Rose yelling for help and bursts in on her being attacked by the two corpses. The corpses ask for help before the blue gas leaves their bodies and disappears in to the lamps. The Doctor asks some questions of Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth before going after Dickens who is having difficulty coming to terms with the reality of the situation.

Rose and Gwyneth have a quiet moment of talking where Gwyneth reveals her psychic abilities. It seems there is a dimensional rift in Cardiff with a weak point over this house. Growing up near it has made Gwyneth sensitive to it. The Doctor sets up a séance with Gwyneth as medium. Dickens is skeptical again but agrees. The gas creatures appear and ask for help. They are known as the Gelf and their planet was destroyed in the Time War. They ask for a bridge to be formed through the rift so that they can inhabit dead bodies. The Doctor agrees, offering to take the dead bodies to a different planet so they can build a new world.

Rose tries to talk Gwyneth out of the Doctor's plan but she is convinced that she can help. The group heads down to the morgue and Gwyneth uses her sensitivity to form the bridge. However, upon completion, the Gelf move through and take possession of the bodies and attack. They kill Mr. Sneed and move on to the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor locks himself and Rose in a gated alcove while Dickens runs into the street. Angry at their lying, the Doctor vows to destroy them.

Dickens spies a gas lamp flickering in the street and gets an idea. He goes back into the house and blows out the flame of the lamps but keeps the gas on. He does this and yells to the Doctor what he is doing. The Doctor, being near the main gas line, releases it as well. The gas pulls the Gelf out of the bodies and into the air where they remain trapped. Rose and Dickens run into the street while the Doctor tries to get Gwyneth. He goes to her but realizes that her body has already died and only her latent spirit remains. That spirit pulls a matchbox out and readies to strike it. The Doctor runs out and gets out of the house as she strikes the match, causing the house to explode, closing the rift point and burning the Gelf in the air.

Dickens takes the Doctor and Rose back to the TARDIS, inspired with new vigor. He states that he will be returning to London to make amends with his family and will tell the world of what happened in the conclusion of his currently unfinished book. The Doctor and Rose depart although he confides to Rose that Dickens will die the next year and never finish that book. Dickens however, is greatly amused by the disappearing TARDIS and heads off to find his coach.

Analysis

There is not much to say about this particular story. It is a well crafted story and well acted. The bit play between the Doctor and Charles Dickens is particularly funny, especially with the use of anachronistic language in the form of the fan discussion.

It is nice that it is a well contained story with only three other characters beside the Doctor and Rose. Granted there are the dead bodies and the theater manager in one brief scene, but most of all the scenes only involve those five people and that gives it an intimate feel, as well as an understanding of how this event could happen and yet it escape with no one knowing about it, like many of the Doctor's adventures.

On that note, it is interesting that on the third episode of the new series, the rules established by the First Doctor are thrown out the window. Rose notes that dead bodies with gas people are not around in her time and the Doctor immediately shoots her down by noting that time is in flux and can constantly change. That makes for a strong departure from the First Doctor's statement about how time cannot be changed or that if it can, mechanisms exist to correct it (such as recently seen in The Time Meddler).

What's even more interesting is that just before the rift is opened, the Doctor tells the Gelf that living in the bodies is only a temporary solution and that he will take them to a new planet to rebuild. This would immediately explain Rose not knowing of gas beings in dead bodies in her time; the Doctor had taken them away. So his talk of about how time was in flux served nothing except to tell the audience that things are in play. I suppose this would be more in line with The Pyramids of Mars where the inaction of the Doctor would lead to an alternate future rather than direct action changing events.

Another aspect of this episode that was enjoyable was the peek into the Doctor's vulnerability regarding the Time War. Given what Gwyneth could pull from Rose's mind, it remains in question as to whether the Gelf were actual victims of the Time War or if they were simply exploiting the Doctor's memories to gain sympathy. Either way, the Doctor plunged full in to helping them while Rose was the counterbalance of skepticism. This is also a bit of contrast as usually it is the companion who shows mercy and kindness and the Doctor who needs to be convinced to step in.

Gwyneth and Mr. Sneed were decent enough characters, although a bit one note through the episode. It is not surprising that most scenes were stolen by Charles Dickens, who showed a great deal more depth and nuance in his characterization. But they played their parts well and were enjoyable to watch.

On the whole, I think and argument could be made for this story being the best of Series One, although I know that The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances will certainly get some votes. I would say that I think it's the best of the celebrity historicals until Vincent and the Doctor and I certainly understand how some would prefer this story to that. It was enjoyable to watch, a well paced story and one that I think I would enjoy a third time around.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5

Father's Day

You're just another dumb, stupid ape.

Father's Day is a very popular episode due to the emotional nature of a man coming to grips with the fact that he has to die and our sympathy for those that love him. I admit that I appreciate the death of Pete Tyler at the end. But this episode is also the story that fully crystalized my dislike for Rose and just about every episode subsequent to this one has only brought her up to neutral rather than fully enjoyable.

Plot Summary

Rose asks the Doctor to visit a couple of points in her parent's past. They travel first to see Pete and Jackie's wedding, then they travel back to the day of Pete's death. Rose had heard from her mother that Pete had died alone on the street after the driver of the car that hit him drove off and she wants someone to be there with him as he dies. The Doctor reluctantly agrees but when the moment comes, Rose can't bring herself to go to him and they walk away.

After regathering herself, Rose asks the Doctor if they could do it again. The Doctor doesn't like it but he agrees. He instructs Rose to wait behind the building and when they see their earlier selves walk away, she can go up to Pete. Rose however runs out into the street and knocks Pete out of the way of the oncoming car, saving his life. The earlier versions of Rose and the Doctor vanish and the Doctor looks on at Rose with shock and cold fury.

Pete thanks her for saving his life and he takes the two of them back to his apartment for a quick tea and change before heading on to a friend's wedding. Rose implied that she knew the marrying couple as well and he offers to give them a lift. After Pete goes to his own room, the Doctor blows up at Rose for changing the past and blames her for thinking only of herself. He feels used and he leaves for the TARDIS with her being just as angry at him for doing what she did.

Pete and Rose drive to the church but they are forced to dive to the side as the car that hit Pete in the original timeline keeps appearing and disappearing in front of them. Rose sees Jackie and herself as a baby. Jackie is angry at Pete for both being late and accusing him of sleeping around with Rose. Rose is shocked to see her parents being so unkind to each other, although Pete starts to smooth things over.

The Doctor arrives at the TARDIS to find that it has become an empty box and he begins to see alien creatures called Reapers. He runs to the church and urges everyone to get inside. Reapers appear and begin to devour the people, but the age of the church acts as a barrier. He lets the people know that a wound in time has been created and the Reapers are like bacteria cauterizing the wound. Rose realizes that this is her fault.

With the talk of a wound in time, Pete realizes that Rose is his daughter from the future. He asks a bit about the future and Rose lies about him being a good father. Pete however, understands immediately that she is lying. Rose tries to apologize to the Doctor. He is still angry but a bit more forgiving and rueful that the Time Lords are gone as they would have been able to fix this. In the conversation, Rose drops her TARDIS key and the Doctor sees that it is still filled with time energy. He uses the key and a battery to start the TARDIS reappearing, although it will take time.

Waiting for the TARDIS to appear, Pete attempts to tell Jackie that Rose is Rose from the future. Jackie misunderstands and thinks that she is a daughter from an earlier encounter and in preparation for a fight, baby Rose is handed to adult Rose. The time paradox (Blinovitch Limitation Effect) allows a Reaper to materialize within the church. It consumes the Doctor and then crashes into the reemerging TARDIS, rendering the TARDIS key inert.

With the Doctor and the TARDIS gone, Pete again sees the car that nearly hit him appear and disappear outside. He knows that the only way to stop things is for him to die. He tells Rose and says goodbye to Jackie. He then runs out and is hit by the car. As soon as he is hit, the Reapers disappear and the Doctor and all the others who had been eaten reappear. The Doctor tells Rose to go to him and she sits over him as he dies. With a slightly modified version of the timeline restored, the Doctor and Rose head back to the TARDIS.

Analysis

This is such a mixed episode for me. I like Pete Tyler. I think the sacrifice at the end is quite moving. But everyone else in this episode sucks. Rose is a huge brat and doesn't really suffer except in the end when Pete takes ownership of her actions and kills himself. Jackie is at her most shrewish and annoying. I had really hoped in the scene where the Doctor bossed her around that he would tell her to shut up. Even the Doctor is a bit annoying because this thing is nearly as much his fault as it is Rose's.

Now, I must immediately say that I thought this story was well acted. I thought the drama and the villains were well realized, although the CGI has not aged particularly well. I also think that the story was framed well in that I went along with the emotions that I think the story was trying to get out of me. Yet, I still get the impression that we are supposed to feel sorry for Rose throughout this whole story and I do resent that.

Rose was given what she asked for by the Doctor and she blew it. He gives her a second chance (more fool him) and she screws things up in a way that was worse than what Adam did. She then acts like a child who knows they've done something bad but is going to deny it anyway. When she is finally sort of punished by the Doctor leaving the road to sympathy is thrown open, but I feel like she hasn't been fully punished enough. And no, it is not enough to me that her dreams of an idyllic father and a perfect marriage between her mother and father are dashed. That is idealistic claptrap to begin with and a person as old as Rose is supposed to be should not be living in that level of delusion. To me, it is another aspect of how spoiled Rose is and that when the cold of reality starts to dawn, the universe corrects itself to reassure her that she is special and will get everything she wants in the end. This is actually at risk of turning into a rant about Doomsday and Journey's End so I'd better stop there.

I think this episode would have been much better if Rose had simply and properly owned up to what she had done at the beginning. You couldn't make Pete into a jerk as that would have deprived us of the one sympathetic character and a non-selfless Pete would never have sacrificed himself either. But if Rose had reacted with more genuine emotion at the mistake she had made. If she had started crying about how she couldn't bear to watch him die again and just wanted to save him, it might have worked better. It would have drawn a closer parallel to her pain and the Doctor's own pain and then given her her own arc where she must sacrifice for the greater good (the greater good). I know that that is what they were going for and that is somewhat achieved, but it feels as though Rose got very little out of this and that it was Pete who actually grew, even though he had to die in the end. It did set a nice platform for Pete's return in the Cyberman two-parter, but that's another review.

I can't call this a bad episode because it's not. But it did solidify my dislike of Rose. She is more tolerable in Series One because the Ninth Doctor calls her on her crap and does rely on her more as a friend. It is with the Tenth Doctor that she becomes insufferable because he is too fond of her to be the tough love that is needed to balance her out. But my own hang ups about Rose should not color the story for others.

Annoying as Rose and many of the other characters are, the story does whip by and is entertaining overall. Unlike The Long Game, it is highly memorable and both Pete Tyler and the Doctor give excellent performances. It is worth seeing, regardless of my feelings about Rose and if that doesn't bother you, it could easily be one of the best of the First Series. It has enough flaws with me though that it doesn't hold up as one that I would readily watch again, even though I can't argue with it's quality.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5

The Long Game

My watch must be off.

I've heard The Long Game referred to as the first Doctor-lite story. It is true that he has less screen time, but so does Rose. It is really only due to the devotion of time to Adam's little adventure that the Doctor and Rose are seen less. Now, you could still call that a version of Doctor-lite, but the question is how the story holds up overall.
Plot Summary

The Doctor, Rose and Adam (having tagged along at the end of Dalek) emerge on Satellite 5, a news broadcast platform, in the year 200,000. Humanity has expanded to a large empire across space. However, the Doctor immediately notices that something is wrong as the people are less developed than they should be. He poses as someone from upper management doing an inspection to learn what is going on.

The three travelers tag along with the news team to watch an info transfer from the various satellites through one of the worker's brains, processing the information like a computer. The Doctor's activities alert the Editor on the top floor that something is amiss. He scours records and issues a promotion to one worker, cutting off the new transfer demonstration. The promoted woman leaves and ascends to level 500 where she finds a group of frozen bodies. She is in fact a plant sent to investigate and destroy the news station if necessary. The Editor alerts her to the one in charge and despite firing at it, she is assimilated as a frozen drone.

Adam, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the future, heads to the observation deck by himself. He accesses an info terminal and is able to access the history of computers. He uses Rose's cell phone to call his parent's answering machine to record the history but is cut off by a message telling him to report to level 16. Going down, he learns his access was cut off as he doesn't have an info chip. Using a credit bar the Doctor had given him and Rose, he buys a chip implant, with the worker talking him into getting the upgraded version, which opens a hole to his brain.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose hack into the stations computer and learn that despite it being very hot on their level, the station's cooling system is going full blast, with all the cooling being directed to level 500. Their hacking attracts the Editor's attention and when they fail to show up on the registry, he gives them access to level 500. The two of them ascend to the top where they are captured by the Editor and they see the Jagrafess, who has been dictating the direction of humanity through information control over the past ninety years.

Shortly after the Doctor and Rose are captured, Cathica, a news agent who they had been talking to, follows them up the elevator and overhears the conversation between the Doctor and the Editor. Meanwhile, Adam has returned to the news room and again records information on to his parent's answering machine, but this time he is beaming the information directly through his brain. This however, gives the Editor access to Adam's memories and he immediately learns who the Doctor is.

Cathica recognizes what is happening and plugs herself into a terminal on level 500, overriding Adam's connection. She shuts off the cooling system and disables the central computer. The feedback frees Rose and she releases the Doctor. The lack of cooling causes the Jagrafess to overheat and he explodes. The Editor had tried to escape as well, but he was held in place by one of the controlled bodies of the promoted and killed in the explosion.

The Doctor leaves Satellite 5 in Cathica's hands and immediately takes Adam to his parents home. He destroys the answering machine with the data and leaves him behind. In addition to telling him off, he warns Adam to keep a low profile since having a hole in his head that opens with a snap could be dangerous to him. As the Doctor and Rose leave, Adam's mother comes in and she snaps her fingers during their conversation, letting her in on Adam's secret.

Analysis

This is a very straightforward story that would have been around a half an hour if it hadn't been for Adam's subplot. That doesn't make it bad though. Adam's subplot was less interesting but it was woven in between the Doctor's scenes and at least had a payoff in that Adam's folly accelerated the danger the Doctor and Rose were in.

The Doctor himself was quite entertaining in this one as he seemed less tolerable of fools than usual which gave him an even greater alien vibe. Rose had very little to do except follow the Doctor around and babysit Adam at the beginning of the episode so that cut down on any shortcomings she might have.

I was also pleased that Cathica not only was able to create a solution to the problem, but also did not die as a result. In a number of stories, the Doctor gets into a jam and it is a third party that helps out but dies as a result so it was nice to see this one survive. I was also amused by her revenge motivation for not being promoted, with the added twist of being angry that you weren't considered a threat to be taken care of.

I'm less familiar with Simon Pegg as I have not seen either of the new Star Trek movies or much beyond clips of the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy. But I did enjoy his performance in it's slightly over the top way. It was hammy, but not in a distracting way. I think there was a deliberate choice to make the Editor something of a mustache twirler as a way of offsetting the horror of the Jagrafass for the kids. It didn't bother me and when done right, a little mustache twirl can be very entertaining.

On the downside, this story is very simple and is probably not one that will clamor for your attention once you've seen it once or twice. Adam's plot can have slow moments and really, there isn't much need to pay close attention at any point in the story. That's not bad, but it doesn't make for an overly memorable episode.

This couldn't be helped, but when looking it from ten years forward, the CGI effects are pretty obvious, and can look a bit cartoony at times. Obviously that can't be helped, but it is one thing that your brain will register and could take you out of it at some point.

On the whole, this episode is probably a good one to get a younger viewer in on. It's not particularly scary and is interspersed with a reasonable amount of humor as well as not being too demanding of understanding the plot. Of course, it also means that's it's not going to be marked as anything resembling a classic either. It's entertaining but also forgettable. You could pull it off and watch it again easily but it's also not going to be on anyone's "must watch again" list.

Overall personal score: 3 out of 5

Boom Town

You let one of them go, but that's nothing new.

I must admit, I don't recall much of Boom Town except for the basic outline of the plot and the restaurant scene. I believe this was a last minute replacement episode and since the Slitheen costumes were on hand, it was easy to create a story that would have cost very little and been quick to make.

The plot, as I recall, involves the last surviving member of the Slitheen from Aliens of London/World War Three, Margaret Blaine, having spirited herself away to Cardiff and been elected mayor. She is using her political power build a nuclear reactor that would then fail and be used as cover to make her escape from Earth. The Doctor arrests her and is determined to take her back to her home planet but she begs him to allow her to leave since she knows she will be executed. Jack Harkness sets off a trap that gives Margaret a chance to escape but she is caught in the heart of the TARDIS, which she looks in to and reverts back to an egg. The Doctor disables the trap and states that he will take Margaret back to her home planet and placed in the care of a new family.

I'm not going to say that this was a bad story, only that it was not overly memorable. I enjoy morality plays, especially when there is a real conundrum to be had about what is right. Of course, I also don't think there was any real question that Margaret should have been taken back and executed for her crimes. Nurture has a great deal to do with it, but in the end, one must own up to the decisions that they make.

But, the narrative for the Ninth Doctor was just how broken he was after the war. Even without the war, he was surrounded by death and to have a direct hand in a death where it was not necessary to ensure his or his companion's survival did make for an interesting question. I go back to the restaurant scene. Margaret was a bit disingenuous as she did try to kill the Doctor and escape. All while that is going on, she probes the wound of the war, feeding into guilt and the idea of what would one more death do.

But one can't judge an entire episode based on a single scene. There is the rest of the story and that is what drags things down. You have Mickey, Rose, and Jack and their role is minuscule. I can recall that Mickey and Rose more or less end their relationship officially and Jack sets off the surfboard which opens the rift. That opening of the rift is what allows the TARDIS console to open up and revert Margaret back to her egg state, effectively creating the easy resolution to the dilemma of whether to take Margaret back or not. Again, its not bad, it's just not memorable either.

I can't say that I think I would jump up to watch this again, but I know I could watch parts of it again fairly readily. I would also say that of the three episodes featuring the Slitheen, it is certainly the best. That may not be saying much, but it will still allow it a higher rating in my book.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5

Aliens of London/World War Three

Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.
On one hand, you want to be somewhat easy on Series 1 of the revived Doctor Who. After all, they were just getting to their feet and some missteps were bound to happen. But on the other hand, if something lets a story down you should note that because you might be less likely to watch it later. The first two-parter, Aliens of London and World War Three is like that.

The unfortunate thing about this story is that it had a nice set up as it revived elements from the classic series. An alien ship crash lands in London but this is a misdirection as a group of aliens called the Slitheen have already infiltrated the British government and use the crisis to seize control. Refreshingly, they are not interested in conquest but intend to destroy the planet, harvesting the radioactive slag for profit. This is actually a clever idea. Of course, they are all thwarted by the Doctor and his companions and all but one are killed when 10 Downing Street is hit by a missile.

This story has good elements to it. The plot of the Slitheen is interesting and the idea of creating a fake alien landing to cover a real alien plot is also good. The pacing in Aliens of London is pretty good and the acting isn't bad either. We also get the introduction of Harriet Jones who is a fun recurring character.

However, there is also the not so good. First and probably most prominent on the list of annoyances is the farting. I understand that some method needed to be given that this heavy person was a Slitheen in disguise but the use of farting as the giveaway was just bad. It's taking a somewhat interesting story with some darker overtones and jamming it with stupid juvenile humor. This is the kind of thing that appeals to eight-year old boys and just about no one else. I understand wanting to spread the demographic appeal of the show, but this is just annoying.

The second thing on my list is more of a trial and error thing for the show and that is the design of the Slitheen. The big green rubbery monster with a baby face just didn't do it for me. It smacked too much of what done in the classic series because technology and budget limitations forced them to just put a stunt man in a suit and chase everyone. The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead demonstrated that the show was capable of so much more than had been done in the past and to revert to this silly looking monster was just disappointing.

Third is the pacing of the resolution in World War Three. Since this was the first story to have a cliffhanger, the production team through everything against the wall and put all three groups of protagonists in some sort of peril at the end of Aliens of London. It was a bit much and it had the unfortunate effect of leaving things at a stand still only a few minutes in to World War Three. There is a lot of back and forth banter which is OK to listen to but it is all filler with just a big lull in the drama.

The only source of drama comes from Mickey hacking into the government database and a Royal Navy submarine to destroy the Slitheen before they launch the nuclear missiles that will start World War Three. Even this is rather silly as Mickey isn't shown to be a brilliant hacker but instead finds a simple backdoor password that allows him access to the whole system. I get that this was designed to give the kids the feeling that anyone could be the hero the Doctor needs, but come on.

This story is probably the most childish of the whole first series. I get that they were finding their way but when you sandwich this between the creepy The Unquiet Dead and the PTSD moments of Dalek, it just feels even more out of place. It's watchable, but I'd need a good reason to go back watch these two again.

Overall personal score: Aliens of London - 2 out of 5; World War Three - 1.5 out of 5

Dalek

You would make a good Dalek.

Dalek is generally considered the best Dalek story of the New Who era and it is difficult to argue that thought. It would help if the Daleks were ever shown to be as competent as the one in this story is, but that's a discussion for another day.

Of all the new series Doctors, it is only the Ninth Doctor who seems to act as though the Daleks are a foe worthy to be scared of. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors were generally a bit too non-shalant about the Daleks while the Twelfth Doctor has a respect but not a fear of the Daleks. It is the Ninth Doctor's fear that sells this story more than anything.

The scenes that everyone seems to lock into are the two instances of confrontation between the Ninth Doctor and the Dalek. In the first, the anger and fear are palpable. My personal favorite moment is when we get the Dalek point of view and the Doctor thrusts his face into the eyestalk screaming about how not only did the destruction of Gallifrey and the Dalek race happen, he made it happen. That is the angry Doctor unleashed. That is the hatred borne of fear and self loathing coming to the surface.

The second scene that everyone remembers and loves is after the Dalek has destroyed most of the private army and the Doctor screams that it should just die and purge the universe of it's race. The Dalek pauses and remarks, I can imagine almost with a bit of humor, that the Doctor would make a good Dalek.

All that said, there are flaws in this episode. Intense as the Doctor's scenes are, there are moments where he does go over the top with his hysterics. That can be a bit cringe inducing. Also, Rose hits my annoyance factor hard in this episode. She energizes the Dalek and despite it's murderous rampage, still appeals for some level of mercy for it. It is only because it has absorbed this human quality from her that it eventually allows itself to recognize the futility of existing alone and destroys itself.

I understand the emotional depth that they were going for in this episode, but I get frustrated by the concept that there can be good in anyone or anything and that is something that must be cultivated to preserve the purity of the hero. This is rubbish. Evil must be opposed and that does require the use of extreme measures, including execution sometimes, to preserve the good. The Daleks have always been an absolute evil and to mitigate that evil with the idea that it can be infused with good, muddles the story and even gives a bit of a cop out ending where the Doctor ends up not having to destroy said evil again. I understand this is part of the overall redemption of the Doctor from the torment of what he did in the Time War, but it still feels like a cop out ending.

Still, a good story on many levels and well worth multiple viewings.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5

Rose

Nice to meet you Rose. Run for your life.

I'm going to open this one with the free admission that I am indifferent at best about the character of Rose. Nothing against Billie Piper who seems to be a good actress, but I just didn't care for the character as a whole. There were moments in there where she was enjoyable but there were a lot of other moments where she was whiny and entitled (I'm letting my old man persona leak out).

That being said, I like Rose more than fandom in general I think. I recently rewatched this episode so it's still a bit fresh in my mind. It's actually rather amazing when you contrast the cinematography used in the early seasons of New-Who and that of the Matt Smith/Peter Capaldi eras.

Rose is probably best for what it's job was. It had the dual problem of needing to be a stand alone adventure series while at the same time appealing to the nostalgia of the classic series. In that, it succeeded in my opinion. The Doctor is reintroduced in a quick way and there is never any bother about his background until later. He moves with action, setting up the quicker pace of the new series, while at the same time getting off quips that flash back to previous Doctors. There are slow periods where the characters are developed, the concept of time travel is first broached in a back-handed way and the story comes to a fun (if a little corny) action-y conclusion. Even the threat is a bit of a subtle callback as the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness were the invasion that had to be turned back in the Third Doctor's first story.

Now, there are a few poor moments as well. Some of the acting is poor and there is a strong sense of the actors trying to get a feel for their characters. The CGI is pretty close to terrible by today's standards and I don't think it was top shelf even back in 2006. The fact that the Nestene Consciousness didn't look that far removed from the CGI used by The X-Files in Ice (1993) should tell you a lot. There are also a couple of suspension of disbelief moments, especially with Rose not being able to tell that Mickey has been replaced. Many jokes have been made with regard to the shiny that was Mickey's forehead.

All things considered though, Rose stands up well. It did enough to get a person invested in the characters and the concept. It also had enough of a smell of the classic series that older fans would be willing to follow the trail an episode or two longer. As a stand alone episode itself it has a feel of a Doctor-lite story, but not in a bad way. It's enticing and reasonably engaging.

Overall personal score: 3.5 out of 5