"Do You Want To Come With Me?"

Lots of planets have a North.

As far as re-introductions go, I don’t think I could have asked for much more from Rose, the first episode of the new Doctor Who series. Certain things, like the incidental music, the opening sequence with far too may quick cuts, and Graham Norton’s unscheduled interruption, I could have done without, but it was a strong opening. Christopher Eccleston was just great; odd, funny, and plain weird. I loved the look of pride on his face when he was talking about the TARDIS’s appearance: “It’s a disguise!” Billie Piper wasn’t as bad as I feared either. Her accent tended to jump around a bit for some reason, and perhaps she’s a bit too much like Ace (someone who has been forgotten about with all the “she’s the feistiest assistant the Doctor’s ever had!” PAH! Does she throw explosives, and beat a Dalek to bits with A BASEBALL BAT? I think not), but she was fine, and she’ll make a decent assistant on the basis of this episode.

For all the talk, though, about how this would be a “new vision” (although RTD has been playing down this in his press appearances recently), this was an episode of Doctor Who. Its greatest strength is its biggest weakness; it has a format which allows the cast to go anywhere, at any time. The problem is that when you tell a writer that, they’ll inevitably end up writing a huge epic set in Ancient Egypt, or a war story set in the far future among exploding stars and the end of galaxies. The effects department just cries itself into a drunken stupor, and does the best it can. I’m not one for complaining about old-Who effects; sure, some were ropey, but some were surprisingly decent for their time (the first regeneration sequence for example - an analogue morphing effect that still looks quite effective today). The new series has money, but not enough to make perfect-looking CGI. So the effects look a little out-of-place sometimes, but they’re on the same quality level as your average Buffy or Angel episode.

Next week: the end of Earth. Episode 5 is called Dalek. nerdglee

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