THE PLOT
Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is a fairly ordinary London teen. She works in a shop, she lives with her mother, she has a nice, if ordinary, boyfriend (Noel Clarke). Her life is running along a fairly acceptable, if unexceptional track. Then, as the employees close up the shop and are on their way out the door, she is tapped to lock up the day's lottery winnings. She heads down to the basement... and is set upon by living mannequins. It's an encounter she only survives thanks to the intervention of a mysterious man calling himself "The Doctor" (Christopher Eccleston).
Intrigued, she uses her boyfriend's computer to learn more about the Doctor. But as her search brings her closer to him, it also brings her closer to the Autons. What happens next will change her life forever - if she survives!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Christopher Eccleston's debut as the Doctor, and he's terrific. Eccleston probably has one of the more successful pre-Who careers of the various Doctors, having played a wide range of roles in films ranging from Elizabeth to 28 Days Later. His relatively high profile helped sell the show's revival to the public, and he brings a lot to the part. He has a manic energy. When he's grinning and joking, there's a sense of something slightly dangerous around the edges. He's strongest when he drops the grinning and is either harsh or sad. I particularly liked the hint of desperation in his eyes as he asks Rose to come with him, his body language and tone of voice trying to project confidence even as his eyes betray his need. It's an excellent debut performance.
Rose: I'll admit up-front that I was never a huge fan of the Rose Tyler character, and was perhaps further alienated by all the hype making her out to be the "best companion ever!!!" Thankfully, years and multiple replacements later, that hype has died down, making it a lot easier to view both character and actress for what is there. Billie Piper does a perfectly fine job of bringing Rose to life. She sparks reasonably well off Eccleston, and she manages to keep the character likable throughout. Characterization is largely in broad strokes at this point, but there's room to build on what's here.
Mickey: Speaking of broad strokes, Mickey is downright annoying in this premiere episode. Noel Clarke is a good actor, but the writing for his character is buffoonish. Things with Mickey reach their low point when he is briefly replaced by an Auton duplicate - who is shiny plastic with a plastic grin - and it isn't until he actively tries to kill her that Rose even notices the difference. The character is the source of one of the few genuinely funny moments, however, when he refers to the Doctor as a "thing," and the Doctor adds: "He's not invited."
The Autons: The Autons are resurrected to launch the series, probably because they are not a monster requiring a lot of explanation ("living plastic!") and because of the inherent strength of the visual - mannequins coming to life. Oddly, despite these Autons really looking like living mannequins, they are somehow less effective than the original Autons. Some of it may be the frenetic pacing of the episode as a whole, not allowing the sight of them marching and shooting to really sink in the way it did in their 1970 debut. But I honestly think their look less creepy than their original design. In any case, they work in so far as they fulfill their function, but Spearhead from Space remains their most effective use.
THOUGHTS
"Broad strokes" is probably the phrase I would most apply to Rose. The defense of this episode's weak story always seems to be that Russell T. Davies is focusing on the characters. But the characters here are in little more than sketch form. Rose is an "average girl" and not much more (save for an oversold Buffy riff at the end). Her boyfriend and mother are practically cartoons. Even the Doctor is little more than a character sketch at this stage! If characterization is the excuse for the thin plot, then I would at least like to see a few strong character beats. Those will come in later episodes... but they just aren't here in this one.
What the episode does well - exceptionally well, in fact - is to lay down a foundation for the series to build on. The core characters are introduced, we get a genuinely good scene with Clive the Internet guy (Mark Benton) in which some exposition about the Doctor is laid out, and we even get our first mention of the Time War. All of this is introduced with an emphasis on action, making it painless exposition. There's enough new mythology that viewers familiar with Who will not feel like they're having to wait for new viewers to play "catch up" while the episode pauses to lay everything out.
The introduction of the TARDIS is particularly well-done. At the start, we just see Rose dashing past it, barely registering it. Then we see the Doctor walking toward it as Rose walks away from him; when she looks back, both he and it are gone. Then we see the interior, and Rose's reaction to it. Only at the very end do we actually see it dematerialize. It is as good, and carefully paced, an introduction to the TARDIS as has been seen since An Unearthly Child.
Where the episode falls down for me is in tone and pacing, much of which I think can be laid at the feet of director Keith Boak. He just doesn't seem to have a sense of how to pace this show, when to hold on a moment for an extra beat or two. As a result, the pace isn't so much sprightly as frenetic. His direction also hurts the character work. In one very good scene, we see Rose appalled at the Doctor's callousness toward Mickey's likely death. Less than two minutes later, she is running hand-in-hand with him, grinning. These moments simply should not be right next to each other. The shot itself isn't bad, but the placement of it is downright awful.
So a mixed reaction from me. Russell T. Davies' script does what it needs to do as a pilot. The exposition is doled out, the characters are introduced, there's enough action to sell this as an adventure show, and the foundation is laid for better episodes to come. Unfortunately, as an entity unto itself, I just don't find Rose particularly satisfying. It's entertaining, but it's also unevenly paced and a bit scattershot. It's certainly a better pilot than The TV Movie was, but I'm not sure it's a particularly better episode.
Rating: 5/10.
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