DOCTOR WHO (2005): Rose

Everything old is new again... but the magic remains the same

By Robert Lydecker     March 29, 2005

After fifteen years of rich original prose, daring audio performances, colorful comic adventures, and the 1996 TV movie, DOCTOR WHO has returned to its original medium as an ongoing series for Saturday-night family viewing on the BBC. "And it seems not a moment too soon." Under the skillful command of Russell T. Davies, the new series has captured the indefinable magic of the original series while discarding the trappings that might tether it to the TV screens of the past. With a marvelous new Doctor in the form of Christopher Eccleston, and Billie Piper's Rose set to give Ace a run for her money as the best-developed onscreen companion, things have gotten off to a triumphant start.

Like the original series, the new DOCTOR WHO begins with a girl. Rose Tyler is an absolutely ordinary Londoner working at a department store, living with her mum, and dating a bloke who's best suited for snacking in front of a football match. One night, the ordinary girl finds herself in a rather unordinary situation and meets a rather extraordinary man, or rather Time Lord, and life as she knows it will never be the same again. To label Rose ordinary is a failing of the reviewer's vocabulary. As she proves over the course of the pilot, she's anything but an ordinary human obsessed with the banalities of Earthly existence. When given an opportunity, she rises to her full potential, embodying the intrepid human spirit that most workaday folks are rarely afforded the opportunity to display. This makes her ideal for the uses of an ongoing series that perpetually places its protagonists in bizarre and dangerous situations. Her rather narrow world view (only one world, the Earth, to be precise) allows the Doctor an opportunity to explain the fantastic nature of the story, but her quick wit and speedy grasp of the situation will prevent her from appearing ignorant or obtuse in the audience's eyes. Her ability to get herself, and even the Doctor, out of a sticky situation will elude the charges of sexism that have often been leveled at the show's portrayal of companions.

As for the Time Lord himself, Eccleston's portrayal of the Doctor, newly regenerated from Paul McGann's Fox incarnation if throwaway lines are to be given credence, is, like his predecessors, making the role his own in a marvelous and unexpected way. With a manic smile that makes Tom Baker look tightlipped by comparison and a boundless energy worthy of Troughton tempered by the stillness of McCoy, Eccleston echoes the incarnations of his forbears without acceding to their interpretations. His alien nature assured, the Doctor's love for Earth returns with force as defends his adopted home from an alien invasion that pays homage to the original series without wallowing in continuity to the detriment of new audiences. The story is fast paced with an air of horror, a wisp of fantasy, and the surreal magic that drives the best of the original episodes. Corridors abound, danger lurks within every shadow, and a marvelous adventure is guaranteed to all who step back into the blue box.