Review: Doctor Who, "Rose" (minor spoilers)

[jeriendhal]

Just saw a copy of "Rose", the pilot episode for the new Doctor Who series that was leaked onto the Net yesterday, courtesy of a fellow DW fan who's more Net savvy than I am.

Short summary: It's Doctor Who for the MTV generation, which means there's more action and more special effects than a season's worth of the old show. There's an actual budget this time, and the producer uses it for good effect.

If you can get past the first ten minutes, which are a bit jarring as we follow soon to be ex-department store employee Rose and her first run-in with the Doctor and the episode's villians, it settles down to a quick, but not overwhelming pace. It's good, Eccelston is suitably strange as the Doctor, though his accent is certainly different from any Doctor before him! A couple of the jokes don't work (especially the Max Headroom homage), but overall it's a joy to watch, for old fans and new.

I just hope A&E picks it up so I can see it legitamitally over here.

Comments

[shadur.livejournal.com]

I loved the scene where the Doctor first explains how he intends to stop them.

*holds up a vial of OMINOUSLY BLUE FLUID* "Anti-plastic."

That's pure Doctor Who, right there.

None of this Star Trekkish explaining how the fluid contains a culture of nanites specifically designed and programmed to seek out the Nestene Consciousness's particular cohesive structure and attack it, causing it to disperse and lose sentience...

Just "Anti-Plastic" and you mundane humans aren't expected to understand what it does or how it works. I love it.

I'm just hoping that britain's resident affirmative action loonies don't decide that since the smooth-talking-but-utterly-ineffectual-in-a-crisis boyfriend happens to be black there's OMGRACISMBBQ and the series should be modified...

(Also, a friend of mine pointed out that there's a .ram interview with the composer of the new Doc Who theme -- the one attached to the leaked episode isn't the final version)

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

"Anti-Plastic". Yes, that was right up there with "Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow". Doesn't make a damned bit of sense, but it's the Doctor's CLEVER IDEA, which no mere human can comprehend. I couldn't stop smiling.

Alas, here in States it's going to be more about OMFG, it's a KID'S SHOW, and they're talking about SEX!!!! Never mind little things like the department store massacre towards the end, which a suitably large body count in the Doctor Who tradition (but no blood shown).

Oh, and the creepiest moment had to be the kidswear mannikins coming to life and marching out of the store....

[shadur.livejournal.com]

You said it yourself, large body counts are nothing new to Doctor Who. Heck, half of the Dalek episodes ended up that way soon enough...

And of course no mere human comprehend it. He's got how many centuries' worth of studying on us again? And that's not even counting the society he's from. Their primary transportation method is so advanced the best explanation they can give to someone of our level is "it stops existing here and starts existing there".

Clarke's law applies.

[thoughtrebel.livejournal.com]

I've never had the time to go back, watch all the old stuff, and become a true Doctor Who fan, but I enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

That's good. It means the pilot worked on the level it was supposed to, as an introducion to the world of Doctor Who for people not familiar with the series, but with enough elements from the old series (the Police Box, Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor's unconventional behavior) to hook the old fans back in.

[thoughtrebel.livejournal.com]

the only doctor who i ever saw before this was the TV movie during the 90s..in which I thought the 8th doctor was cool, but the Master (played by Eric Roberts), was just lame.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Gah. Eric Roberts should have never been near that part. Even Anthony Ainley at his worst never chewed the scenery that bad.