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Tag: Rose

Nu-View #14: Strength Through Adversity

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Father’s Day (Series One, Ep. 8; 2005)
Viewed 04 Apr 2013

Doctor/Companion: Nine, Rose Tyler
Stars: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper
Preceding Story: The Long Game (Nine, Rose)
Succeeding Story: The Empty Child (Nine, Rose)

I know the Ninth Doctor isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (especially with last week’s frankly unsurprising news that Eccleston definitely will not be participating in the 50th), but great heavens, is he ever mine.


Source – bbc.co.uk – © 2005 BBC

While Father’s Day doesn’t grab me the same way that Dalek does, it serves a vital purpose in terms of character development. Of course, the “character” in this case is actually the relationship between the Doctor and Rose. (Just a heads-up, in case you haven’t seen the episode: the rest of the post is pretty spoilery.)

Rose decides she wants to see her long-dead father and the Doctor questions her motivation. When she passive-aggressively suggests he can’t do it, he responds that “I can do anything. I’m just more worried about you.” And that, effectively, is the theme of the whole piece.

But first we have to see Rose be an utter idiot (some would argue there should be an “again” in that sentence). The Doctor loves her enough (however you define that love in your own headcanon) to do something dangerous to please her. “What ever happened to the ‘you can’t cross your own timeline’ thing?” wondered jE. Of course, it all backfires. The second Rose rushes to save Pete. “Ruh roh,”says jO. The camera pans back to Nine’s furious face. “RUH roh…” (I suspect jO hasn’t seen this since I first hooked her on the show, some four years ago.)

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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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