Rose review [Russell T Davies]

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." - The Doctor

Rose Tyler is an ordinary teenage girl. She goes to work, she spends lunch with her boyfriend, she comes home to her mum. The same thing every day. But there's an invasion coming. A consciousness from outer space has its designs on Planet Earth, and the Doctor is on his way to stop it.

The Good:

• The "zooming from space into London" sequence becomes something of a Doctor Who cliche in the modern series, but here is its first use - opening the episode. We don't start with Rose's regular working-class life in a regular British city but instead from the bigger picture. We see the marvels of the wide world before becoming trapped in Rose's claustrophobic and stressful life. With the montage of her daily life we quickly learn all about the character, her relationships and her motivation for why she might want to travel aboard the TARDIS. We get this again with Martha in Smith and Jones, Donna in Partners in Crime and, to a lesser degree, Bill in The Pilot, whilst we meet a young Amy in The Eleventh Hour. Clara goes without which proves a major hindrance in feeling close to the character, or at least feeling that we know her. Davies does it just right.

• Eccleston is instantly believable as the Doctor. He approaches the Nestene as a politician or a lawyer, something none of his predecessors ever did, but then perhaps he feels he needs all this to keep him in check after the war. It's something we've not seen of the Ninth Doctor since but he remains diplomatic. Generally.
• The companion has been a role since An Unearthly Child, generally (although with notable exceptions) being ineffectual screaming girls. Rose isn't one. Rose is Ace+, with a working class accent, a family and friends and not being afraid to save the Doctor or herself. Unlike Ace or Mel or Tegan, she feels like a real person, which is exactly what a companion should be. It helps that she's performed wonderfully by Billie Piper, easily one of the best actresses to play the role of companion.
• A number of classic companions showed very little surprise when entering the TARDIS for the first time ("That's funny. Very peculiar indeed" - Tegan), so Rose's reaction is a breath of fresh air to the almost blase reactions of previous companions. 
• The moment when Rose declines the Doctor's offer is an upsetting one, with the Doctor clearly very disappointed in losing a potential travelling companion and having to go on alone.

The Bad:

• The Autons in Rose aren't nearly as scary-looking as those seen in Spearhead from Space, especially when they do the robot before crashing out of the shop windows and again after the Nestene is killed. 
• Some of the CGI in this episode isn't great. The CGI of the Henrik's explosion, the superimpositions of the Doctor into the photographs, Mickey and the bin, the Nestene... They aren't all too embarrassing, though.
• When Eccleston has to rise above the dark and tortured role he plays so often he can come across as slightly awkward. Take, for example, his "hello!" to Rose when waving the Auton arm at her. This is only a minor gripe and one that's quickly mended this series.

• Are we really supposed to believe that Rose didn't notice there was something strange about Auton Mickey? He looks ridiculous, especially when he begins wielding his chopping board hands and starts smashing up tables for no reason.
• The Doctor struggling to break free from the Autons isn't very convincing, going on for far too long.
• The Auton invasion happens too late into the episode, beginning and then being over in a flash. The invasion not having begun gives the Doctor the chance to be diplomatic with the Nestene but having it begin earlier would have increased his urgency and added some much-needed atmosphere to the episode.
• Mickey Smith is boring in this story, being an unendearing comical coward. The only way is up for Mickey. As for Jackie, she comes across as somewhat one-dimensional in this episode but her brief scene with the Doctor in her bedroom is a highlight.

The Ugly: Rose's bedroom is disgustingly pink.

A Good Quotation: "I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go… That's who I am." (The Doctor)

A Bad Quotation: "I can't believe that your shop went up!" (Mickey)

When Are We?: It's not been long since the War Doctor regenerated into the Ninth Doctor (The Day of the Doctor) given how he doesn't seem to have seen his reflection since getting this new face. However, we know that The Bleeding Heart and The Oncoming Storm take place before Rose, so it's not quite as soon after regeneration as we're led to believe. The End of the World takes place immediately after.

This Reminds Me...:

• An Auton invasion heralding the introduction of a new Doctor and companion? (Spearhead from Space)
• Walking around the TARDIS whilst trying to comprehend its dimensions will later be done by Clara Oswin Oswald. (The Snowmen)
• "I am talking!" the Doctor tells the Nestene. The Eleventh Doctor will later say the same thing to an alliance of his enemies. (The Pandorica Opens)

His Constant Companion: Wilson is presumed dead by the Doctor, killed by the Autons, as is Clive. The Nestene is killed after Rose unwittingly knocks the anti-plastic into it.

I'll Explain Later: 

• Why do Nestenes look like lava monsters now?
• How come all the shop window dummies have guns?
• Why can't Rose understand the Nestene? She's been in the TARDIS so surely it should be translating for her.

Verdict: A decent introduction of a new Doctor and a new companion for a new century, this episode is otherwise rather flawed. Having the story experienced through the companion is something that hasn't been done since An Unearthly Child and it's pulled off very successfully, allowing us to get to know Rose and to meet the Doctor as a mysterious and dangerous man. Plot and atmosphere is sacrificed for character, for understandable reasons, so as a standalone episode without context the episode is okay. As such, Rose earns a C.

Doctor Who (Series 1)

The Movie  |  Rose  |  The End of the World