Starting from today, I'm revisiting all my Box sets from "Rose" up to "End of Time", one episode a Day which will (hopefully) see me through to the day the Series 5 boxset comes out.

Now we all know that Doctor Who is a work of supreme greatness but am I the only one that thinks the show doesn't really kick off until middway through the first series.

CE is a great Doctor but I can't help but feel when I revisit series 1 that things start a bit... slow.

I'm no great fan of "Rose" as a story, massive underuse of Autons, Nestene Consciousness etc...but that said, as I have said before (sorry to be dull, but consistent) the episode did everything it was supposed to in terms of character, situation and context (given RTD had 40 odd years of backstory to include) and the TEotW threw all the SFX that The Mill was going to use at the screen...and then we got to TUQD which garnered complaints from parents aplenty and did everything DW should do at teatime on Saturdays...overall, not a bad reintroduction.

Rose is a cracking good episode. Love it to bits, it's what a an opening episode of any series that's been away for 9 years should be like!!!!

Pacey, mysterious and the first part of it revolves around The Doctor without him being in there much and I love that scene where he's looking for a big circular thing in London and can't see the London Eye behind him!!!!!

What?

The End of the World...I kind of figured it was obvious following Rose but then some people like to come across as downright rude on the internet - obviously you're one of them.

Personally, I thought it kicked off 42 years before 'Rose', but maybe that's just me...

I have seen Rose quite a few times this year alone....I think its the one episde I have seen more than any....the plot may be thin on the ground, nothing note worthy clever, or mentally charging.....but its simple and just magical, it tells me asa knew fan what this show is about, yest leaves me wanting to find out more....hence me sticking to it. I still lagh at the jokes, I still get creeped out at the scene in the basment when the auton turns round out of the shadows to look at Rose, it simply introduces Rose, Mickey and Jackie without too much detail in words.....the dialogue is witty, it dares to act stupid, laugh at it self one minute, and another minute it has spine tingling dialogue that the Doctor says with utter charm...

It was something i had never seen the likes of before.....it was...as I watched more and more, and still do.....Doctor Who.....simple similar charm of the Unearthly Child, and yet very setting its goal of showing that this show is about change....it definitely won over this veiwer.....

I agree. For me, series 1 took a long time to get off the ground. Dalek was excellent I thought, but then we had The Long Game after that...my second least favourite of New Who, (the first being The Idiot's Lantern). However, The Empty child onwards are, in my opinion, outstanding. I do worry that if I had started at Rose, as opposed to series 2, I may not have continued watching and been the Whovian I am now

Exactly. Dalek is a great episode and for me probably where the series really begins to "hot up". I have to admit, my interest in Doctor Who only really increased to obsession mid way through Series 3 but even though there's some good stuff in the first 3 episodes they just don't.. excite me as much as the rest. I guess that's all i'm trying to say.


I was talking in terms of excitement and pace etc.

"Fantastic."


I guess I'm being a bit too demanding then if I say I wanted a more... exciting story? Because I remember when I first saw the episode back in 2005 and I was so ambivalent.

I kept making unfair comparisons between that and the TV Movie which I was very familiar with. I wasn't impressed with the new TARDIS. It looked small (though noticably bigger on the inside ), dark, dull and tacky. Don't look so shocked... I grew to like it in the end , And I kept comparing 9 to 8 and my biggest gripe was why we didn't at least see a flashback regeneration from 8 to 9. These were all unfair and unnecessary gripes but I couldn't help but hold them. I'm glad it didn't stop me from sticking with DW because it's a thumping great shpow.

Lucky fella. All my DVDs are in my other house, or I'd be doing the same as you. I need to revisit CE and DT doctors again. Haven't seen David's since New Year's Day and Christopher's in a over a year.

Rose had a bit of a hard job to do. As the first episode after a 16 year break (not counting the one-off TV movie) it had to introduce the Doctor to a new audience unfamiliar with him, while hopefully not alienating the existing fans. Despite burping bins and obviously plastic boyfriends (seriously, that had to be Rose's dumbest ever moment), it did succeed fairly well. The story about the Autons was never really going to be that great; the primary focus had to be on re-establishing the character.

I kind of look on End of the World as the first real new Who story, with a proper story.

In my eyes, Rose turned Doctor Who from laughable dusty old relic into something up to day, fantastic(!) and worth exploring.
It began a journey that encompassed both the old and new series.

Because of that I shall always be thankful for it. You never forget your first love eh?

There are so many sublime touches too ("someone's here to talk about The Doctor....and it's a GIRL? ) But NOTHING surpasses Clive's face at seeing the Auton about to kill him.
That'sworth the episode alone IMO. Both a "I Knew it!" and "Typical...!" all in one. Great acting!"

BBC America played CE's series again last month and I recorded the eps I just had to see again. (got the box set but its UK and not USA...and dvd players who play both ain't as easy to come by here!) really liking watching them

Still several decades earlier...


Doctor Who was never a 'laughable, dusty old relic' except to those who couldn't be bothered to look at it properly. The new series made cosmetic changes to grab the attention of a fickle new audience, then steadily moved further and further away from what the show had been. It's only now starting to get back on track.

That children is an example of TPCtKB. Why can't you just type the name of the episode? Some people love Doctor Who but are not so obsessive that they recognise every episode from an acronym.

what was rude about being confused about the acronym?,some people who are Dr Who fans dont use them and use the full name of the episodes,god help a new member asking a very simple question whilst your on,they would never come on again

The acronyms are commonly used. They're not that difficult.

out of interest did TPCtKB mean anything?

We know you prefer Series 5 to 1-4, but turning Doctor Who into a fairytale is not what I would call "getting back on track".

Except that they're not acronyms.

What?


Agree with the first sentence 100%.

Fail to see how it's now "back on track"? It's the same as it was in RTD's time, except more magic, less psuedo-science. (Not a criticism, btw, just an observation).

I'd say its just a different format, which you are free to accept...or not.



Correct.

'The Pot Calling the Kettle Black' I think...

Exactly.....any changes in series 1-4 from 1963, are no different to 1973 being very different to 1963...or the way 1989 was also different to 1963 in the same sense that 2009 was...and now 2010. Not only didn't get any strong fairytale vibe, or the types of resolutions that we got this series, we also didn't a companion throwing herself at the Doctor just for sex in a very obvious way in 1963.....


Its a case of what changes we like and what we don't.....doesn't mean its moved away in the sense that it is no more the same show...after all every era brings its own unique stance, whether that be mostly historical settings, trapped on Earth, or revolving around Earth a lot more....

Thanks.

True they're not, and they are commonly used, but it's still frustrating to us normal people who like Doctor Who, but are not obsessed. A bit of courtesy for us normals would be good.