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

Infamy of the Zaross review [John Dorney]

"We've sort of been... We've sort of been invaded. Alright, great. Love you. Speak soon. Bye." - Jackie

The Good:

• Looking down on Earth, Jackie has a moment of clarity where she understands why Rose travels with the Doctor. Then she slaps an alien across the face.
• Rose gives a touching speech to the for-all-intends-and-purposes suicidal Jess, transcribed in its entirety in the "A Good Quotation" section. It's a mature and sensitive speech delivered emotively by Billie Piper.
• Rose standing up for Jess, telling her that she'll be fantastic and scolding Marge, is a funny and satisfying conclusion.

The Bad:

• Billie Piper has either completely forgotten how to play Rose or isn't trying. She sounded different in series 4, almost having a lisp, but here she sounds a few social classes higher than Rose is supposed to be. Is this Rose Tyler or Raine Creevy? Piper was easily amongst the best actresses to play the role of companion in the modern series, so what's going on?
• A cold open is supposed to draw the audience in with something exciting, mysterious or dramatic to get you interested from the off. The teaser here in the studio doesn't work. It would have been better to have the Doctor and Rose arriving at Marge's before the theme song.
• Rose is irritatingly smug whilst messing around in Earth Control.
• The idea of an intergalactic snuff film isn't properly utilised in this story. The Doctor and Rose show their disgust for it with the Zaross leader and Ikron, but that's about it. John Dorney missed a good opportunity for some Vengeance on Varos-esque social commentary.
• The Doctor and Rose had almost no character moments with very little of a relationship being shown between the two of them in this story resulting in something of a lack of chemistry between the two characters.

The Ugly: Rose wore a good couple of outfits during her tenure, so why was her ugly New Earth attire used on the front cover for both this story and The Sword of the Chevalier? Because Cassandra adjusts it to show cleavage? I thought Big Finish was better than that.

A Good Quotation:

• "No, it's not fake. It's scripted reality." - Zaross leader
• "No. That's not the answer. That is never the answer. Alive is always better than dead, trust me. You don't need them telling you you're worthwhile. What do they know? They're bullies. Everyone's important. They really are. Oh, you are.You're alive and you're here and there'll never be anyone like you. How is that not important? I've seen the universe, Jess, and you're as special as they come." - Rose

A Bad Quotation:

• "You order an alien nemesis with rice? Well, I've got some bad news for you. They're all out of rice." - The Doctor
• "Who did you think it was? Bruce Willis?" - Rose
• "Who'd want to watch a TV series about me?" - The Doctor

When was this?: Rose is aware of the Cybermen, meaning that this takes place between Age of Steel and Army of Ghosts.

His Constant Companion: The Zaross shoot a number of humans.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor threatens to contact the Shadow Proclamation, which the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors did a handful of times.
• The Doctor and Rose name-drop the Daleks, Sontarans and Cybermen.
• The Doctor suggests perhaps visiting the Land of Fiction next.

Verdict: A run-of-the-mill story that perhaps shouldn't have opened up volume 2 of The Tenth Doctor Adventures, Infamy of the Zaross does very little for any of the characters. David Tennant and Camille Coduri are very good, as always, but Billie Piper sounds far too posh to be Jackie Tyler's daughter. D

The Tenth Doctor Adventures (Volume 2)

Death and the Queen  |  Infamy of the Zaross  |  The Sword of the Chevalier

'Wednesdays For Beginners' review [James Goss]

Jackie Tyler of 48 Bucknall House has been feeling lonely since her daughter flew off with a Time Lord, but now she has a stalker; tall, dark and American.

James Goss previously wrote Torchwood's 'Fall to Earth', 'Ghost Mission' and 'The Torchwood Archive'.

Spoiler Zone

The drama

Jack tells us that he used to hang around the Powell Estate watching Rose grow up. Here, we see him presumably waiting for the Doctor to bring Rose home.

Jackie is at her most sympathetic when we get hints of her loneliness with Rose in outer-space. Most of the time, though, she's being funny. The first fifteen minutes are simply Jackie talking to herself or being on the phone, and they aren't at all unentertaining, adding a bit of depth to the largely comic relief character. 

Jack only really appears after the fifteen minute mark, when we find that the Powell Estate is in a sort of reality bubble in which atoms are being converted into energy. Jack was similarly absent for a large part of 'The Year After I Died'. Will these be a recurring thing in this series? Jack is as great as ever, flirting with Jackie and being a technobabbling hero, leading Jackie to compare him to the Doctor. The two have an instant chemistry.

The aforementioned technobabble and the awfully convenient resolution allowing the Powell Estate to return to N-space (a mixture of the TARDIS and the vortex manipulator somehow fixed things; Jackie shrugs it off and so should we) but overall this is an enjoyable two-hander.

A good quotation

"Mrs Tyler, this is not investigating. Our link to your universe is diminishing with every second and you're staring at my chest? You are a woman after my own heart and I like that."

Plot holes and continuity

• Jack has been watching Bucknall House since Rose was very young and Jackie's only now noticing him?
• How did Jack know that the Doctor arriving in his TARDIS was the wrong one? How does he know that Tenth is the right one? What's not right about Ninth?

Cast

• John Barrowman as Jack Harkness
• Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler