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Tag: Nine

Nu-View #13: Setting the Standard

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Dalek and The Long Game
(Series One, Eps. 6-7; 2005)
Viewed 12 Mar 2013

Doctor/Companion: Nine, Rose Tyler
Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: World War Three (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: Father’s Day (Nine, Rose)

I distinctly remember my Original Who Mentor watching my face avidly for my reaction when the trailer for Dalek ran at the end of the previous episode. Not having grown up in the UK, and not having been one of “those people” growing up, I’d never even heard of a Dalek before. He was, needless to say, somewhat disappointed.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2005 BBC

It was an entirely different sort of expression I was anticipating on the Ladies’ faces when we watched this the other night. This episode has become one of my all-time favorites, and certainly my favorite of Series One. So I was hoping for some “oh, yeah – I remember this!” looks of pleasant surprise as the details slowly dug their way out of foggy memories.

However, things were even foggier than I’d feared. “I don’t even remember this one,” jO said confusedly as the opening credits rolled. Not that it got in the way of our enjoyment. It’s a bloody brilliant episode, and I’m not sure Eccleston’s ever better in the role. First, when he encounters the Dalek in its “cage,” the consternation and terror are plain to read on his face. Once he realizes the Dalek isn’t, shall we say, fully functional any more, he does a beautiful job going off the deep end. The Doctor really is insane in those moments, and you see it in his eyes. Later, his “I killed her. … She was nineteen years old” speech is one of the best deliveries he gives throughout his tenure. Writer Rob Shearman gave Eccleston plenty to sink his teeth into, and did he ever run with it!

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Nu-View #12: New Monsters on the Block

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Aliens of London and World War Three
(Series One, Eps. 4-5; 2005)
Viewed 05 Feb 2013

Doctor/Companion: Nine, Rose Tyler
Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: The Unquiet Dead (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: Dalek (Nine, Rose)

Looking back, it’s amazing I ever became a fan at all. In all honesty, I very nearly didn’t make it past these two episodes.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2005 BBC

I watched the first five over a period of a week or two with the friend who introduced me to Who, and then it all kind of fell by the wayside. I don’t think we came back to it again for a year or more. When we did, I was reluctant. The stuff I’d seen was OK – pretty good, even – but with Slitheen as my last impression, I was, shall we say, less than keen on continuing (perhaps understandably).

I was willing to give it another shot, though – and obviously, I’m extremely glad that I did! But as I look back, these are among my least favorite episodes of this series. I think that’s partly because the Slitheen got so overused after this, both in Who and especially in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but just something about these introductory episodes has put me off.

Imagine my surprise when, upon watching them again with the Ladies, they didn’t suck as hard as I’d remembered.

The Doctor returns Rose home, a mere twelve hours after she’d left (yay, time travel!) only to discover it had actually been twelve months (“details,” scoffed jE). All of the mother/daughter stuff between Jackie and Rose is well done here, from the snarking and frustration with each other to the honest concern and regret for having caused it. RTD may have brought families a bit too much into the mix for my taste, but there’s some good storytelling around it in these episodes.

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Nu-View #11: Back to Our Roots

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The End of the World and The Unquiet Dead (Series One, Eps. 2-3; 2005)
Viewed 27 Nov 2012

Doctor/Companion: Nine, Rose Tyler
Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: Rose (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: Aliens of London (Nine, Rose)

Last month, after we finished watching The Angels Take Manhattan, we Ladies weren’t really ready to call it a night. After all, 45 minutes of Who is hardly enough. So, on a whim, we decided to watch Rose.

Needless to say, it was a huge nostalgia bomb. For three of us, it was the first episode of Doctor Who we’d ever seen. You never forget your first. We all enjoyed getting back to our beginnings with Nine and Rose, and so it was decided that we would continue on with them for a while.

So here we are, back at our beginnings.

For most of the Ladies (everyone but me), it had be a long time since they’d seen Nine in action. Much of our evening was thus spent just watching the action unfold on screen, and laughing at all the jokes. But now and again, a comment would pop out.

“Teach her not to be impressed,” jE declared as Nine finished his “welcome to the end of the world” speech. Then came the opening credits. jA commented on how this version really takes her back, and I can’t help but agree; this was my introduction to the entire Whoniverse, and there’s something incredibly special to me about listening to that first Murray Gold theme. It puts me in a special, treasured mental space.

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Confession #26: I Wish We’d Seen More of the Shalka Doctor

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Now I can by no means claim to be an aficionado when it comes to BBC webcasts, but I have to say I am rather inordinately fond of Scream of the Shalka. I say “inordinately” because I’ve only seen it the once.

Shalka holds a rather unusual place in Who history. It was first intended as an “official” extension of the televised series, released in six 15-minute parts over the 40th anniversary from 13 Nov – 18 Dec 2003. When it was announced in July of that year, it was assumed this would be the new direction for the franchise – continuing televised stories seemed like a pipe dream – so this Doctor, voiced by Richard E. Grant (known to some as the “lick the mirror handsome” Doctor from the 1999 Comic Relief special “The Curse of Fatal Death” – not to mention Withnail from the 1987 cult classic Withnail and I costarring Eighth Doctor Paul McGann), was billed as the Ninth Doctor.

Before this first new story even saw the light of day, though, it was doomed to become some sort of obscure footnote. By the end of September 2003, the return of Doctor Who to our screens had been announced. For a brief time, there was question whether or not the Shalka Doctor (as this “alternative Nine” has come to be known) would remain the Ninth Doctor (making Eccleston’s on-screen Doctor the Tenth) or not. I guess we all know how that turned out.

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Confession #13: I’m Mad at Eccleston

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Looking at the title of this Confession, you might be under the mistaken impression that I don’t like Nine. In fact, just the opposite is true. While my affections were eventually transferred firmly to Ten, Nine was the Doctor who brought me into the fold, and he truly was fantastic. I love him to pieces, and was definitely left wanting more.

So why the grumpy face? Simple. Christopher Eccleston, the actor who so brilliantly portrayed the Doctor’s ninth incarnation, never really bought into the whole bonkers culture that surrounds Who. It wasn’t for him. I suppose I can’t really fault him for that (I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), but if you’re not going to buy in, why put yourself in that position? Why take the role and then bail at the first available opportunity?

I rewatched the BBC Breakfast interview included in the Series One extras the other day, and you can tell he’s trying hard to head the critics off at the pass. He was always very complimentary to the fan base, saying that he appreciated the loyalty to the old show and the encouragement he got from the Whovians he had met while filming. Doing his best to avoid coming out with the biggest spoiler of that series (that he would, in fact regenerate at the end), Eccleston still chose to emphasize how what he’d done (“to date!” I’m sure all the viewer were thinking at the time) was already the equivalent of two series on the old show, when they did 25-minute episodes instead of 45-minute ones. You keep tellin’ yourself that, mate…

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