#7 (1.8): Father's Day.

Peter Alan Tyler (Shaun Dingwall):
An ordinary man who should not be alive.

1 episode. Approx. 43 minutes. Written by: Paul Cornell. Directed by: Joe Ahearne. Produced by: Phil Collinson.


THE PLOT

Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall), Rose's father, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1987. Rose begs the Doctor to take her to 1987, so that she can be with him when he dies. "He can't die alone," she pleads. Despite his misgivings, the Doctor agrees - only to watch in horror as Rose sprints out into the street and pushes her father out of the path of the oncoming car.

"There's a man alive who wasn't before... That's the most impotant thing in the world!" The Doctor recognizes the significance of what Rose has done. When he storms back to the TARDIS in anger, unlocks the door, and discovers that the inside has become na empty box - At that point, his worst fears are confirmed. Rose's actions have damaged time. Now the Reapers are coming to clean the wound... by destroying all life on Earth!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Somewhat ironically for a story in which he spends much of the running time furious with his companion, this is overall the gentlest characterization the prickly 9th Doctor has yet received. For all his anger at Rose, he still instinctively wants to protect her. He may snap at her, but he has no intention of allowing Pete to die again, even though he realizes that his death would end the Reapers' rampage. He also shows genuine compassion for the young couple whose church wedding becomes the site of the final standoff. When the bride asks if he can save them, he surveys this very ordinary young couple, asks a few personal questions, then gives them a warm smile as he assures them that he will do everything he can to get them out alive.

Rose: Has built her father up in her mind to a degree that insures that the real man will disappoint. "I thought he'd be taller," she says upon seeing him in person for the first time. No doubt the Imaginary Pete in her mind towered above all others. Why not? In the stories told by her mother, Pete is nearly perfect, clever and creative and "the most wonderful man in the world." The real Pete is not a bad man by any means, but he is ordinary: His so-called inventions are largely junk destined to go nowhere, and he has no problem with flirting with other women (and possibly more than just flirting) despite his marriage. When Rose describes him as the perfect father, Pete listens, then sadly admits, "That's just not me." 


THOUGHTS

"I'll get it right, love. One day soon, I promise you, I'll get it right."
-Peter Alan Tyler, on the last day of his life

Father's Day is very well-placed in the season. The Long Game ends with a would-be companion booted from the TARDIS for misusing time travel for his own gain. That is fresh in the viewer's mind as Rose does the same thing for different reasons, and therefore there's at least a doubt as to whether the Doctor does truly mean to leave her at this point. It's not a serious doubt - we'll always forgive those we love a lot more than those we barely tolerate - but even the slight doubt wouldn't exist if this had been placed any earlier in the season.

The episode highlights one of the largest divisions between the old series and the new: Emotion. Classic Who was rarely driven by emotion. The stories were external threats, almost invariably faced down by the regulars with courage and resourcefulness. Any emotional material had to squeeze itself around the plot.

This story is driven by emotion. There is no external threat, not until Rose's impulsive actions bring a threat into being. Even then, when the Reapers surround the church leaving the survivors under siege, they are not the story's focus: Rose and her father are. Just as Rose brings the Reapers down by saving her father, the Reapers are driven away by her father saving her and everyone else. Their two acts - one instinctive, the other thought out - bookend the threat, with both deeds based on their relationship as father and daughter.

Paul Cornell's script is manipulative, brazenly so. It's a good script, though: tightly structured, with no real fat at any point, and populated by characters who feel authentic. Pete is as flawed as his marriage to Jackie, which makes him feel real, and makes their marriage feel real. All of this makes the viewer's connection to him and to them so much stronger than might have been. The writer's heavy hand may be very evident, particularly near the end, but that doesn't stop it from packing a wallop.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Story: The Long Game
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#4 (1.4 - 1.5): Aliens of London.

The Doctor has the weight of the world on his shoulders.  Again.

2 episodes: Aliens of London, World War III. Approx. 87 minutes. Written by: Russell T. Davies. Directed by: Keith Boak. Produced by: Phil Collinson.


THE PLOT

The Doctor returns Rose to her London council flat, present day... er, ish. A mix-up with the dates has him delivering her 12 months after they left rather than 12 hours, which makes Rose's homecoming more than a little awkward. Before there's much chance to try to smooth things out, something much bigger happens. An alien ship appears in the sky, smashes through Big Ben, and finally crashes in the Thames.

With the city in disarray, the streets blocked off, and the Prime Minister nowhere to be found, the government falls into the hands of an obscure Member of Parliament (David Verrey) - whose first act is to cancel the airlift of the rest of the leadership, declaring that they would "only get in the way." Meanwhile, when an alien body is pulled from the wreckage, the Doctor discovers that the alien corpse is actually an Earth pig, altered to appear alien.

The crash has been faked. But the technology is unquestionably alien. So the question, so succinctly put by Mickey, is why aliens would fake an alien crash-landing...


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: I enjoyed Christopher Eccleston's giddy enthusiasm after the crash. The Doctor is excited at being there for the moment at which the human race realizes that aliens genuinely exist, and the scene in which he practically gushes to Rose about humanity "growing up" is quite a charming character beat. Another good scene comes later in Part One, when the Doctor looks over the body of the pig that has been altered to fake the alien landing and becomes quietly furious that a frightened animal has been made into "a joke." We also see some of the Doctor's less likable tendencies. His winding up of Mickey, referring to him first as "Ricky" and then as "Mickey the Idiot," is almost totally unwarranted, and probably a way of marking his territory with his relationship with Rose.

Rose: For what I think is the first time in Who's history, the show actually pauses to show that there are consequences to someone running off with the Doctor. Rose returns home to find that her choice to step into the TARDIS has had an impact on both her mother (who was horribly worried) and her boyfriend (who was questioned for her disappearance). It's a no-brainer. Of course if a young woman vanishes - which has ultimately been the case for the bulk of the Doctor's companions - there are going to be family members left to carry the burden of that, and there are going to be questions. But it's also something that's never been addressed before, something that viewers have been actively encouraged to not think about or consider. That in itself is a praiseworthy move on the part of this story and this incarnation of the series.

Mickey: Thankfully, the cartoon Mickey has been replaced by a more believable character. He does still get introduced with a pratfall, but the rest of the 2-parter gradually moves him on from that. He conducts himself very well at the story's climax, effectively saving the day. I also appreciated there being a sympathetic character who refuses to go in the TARDIS, knowing that he just isn't up to it. By the end of this story, Mickey has transitioned from a joke ino a real character, something which will pay dividends in his future appearances.

Jackie: Jackie's characterization shows the same kind of improvement as Mickey's. Her reaction to Rose's reappearance is believable: shock, relief at seeing her alive, anger that she didn't call, rage at the Doctor for taking her away. It all tracks perfectly. When she discovers the Doctor is an alien, she reacts first by running away in fear, then by calling the police out of concern for her daughter's safety.  Her actions are a complication for the Doctor - but they're also rooted in reality, making her at least somewhat sympathetic this time.


THOUGHTS

To get it out of the way up-front: Yes, the farting Slitheen scenes in Part One go on too long. The flatulence does set up a genuinely eerie moment at the episode cliffhanger (the policeman's stomach gurgle) and is justified within the context of the plot. But that one scene midway through Part One, in which the Slitheen stand around farting and giggling for comedic effect, tips over into embarrassing viewing - particularly when Annette Badland exclaims, "I'm shaking my booty!"

It's far from an episode-killer, though, taking up all of about 2 minutes' screentime. Complaints that compare it to Battlefield's "BOOOOM!" are pretty much spot on, though not in the way the complainers believe. Both scenes are bungled moments that make the viewer wince.  However, both scenes are over very quickly, with their impact on the overall stories greatly overstated by fandom. If you're enjoying the story, the brief bad moment is easy enough to overlook; if you're not enjoying it, chances are that one scene wasn't what ruined it for you.

Not that Aliens of London is going to go down as a series classic. It's fairly slight, and the Slitheen simply aren't very sinister. Director Keith Boak returns from Rose, and again seems uncertain as to whether he's directing a science fiction thriller or a science fiction sendup. Fortunately, this is a better overall story than the nearly-plotless Rose was, and there is a lot to enjoy.  But a lot of it is overlit and overly jokey, and the balance of the comedy moments with the suspense would feel a lot more organic if surer hands than Boak's had been on the tiller.

One thing that proves to be a consistent strength within the story is Penelope Wilton's Harriet Jones. With farting aliens in fat-suits and a lot of running about and shouting (particularly in Part Two), it's refreshing to have a guest performance so grounded. The story does a very good job of elevating Harriet from a person of no importance to a person who gradually becomes comfortable with her own, newfound authority.  By the time she is talking to the Doctor as "the only elected official in this room," she is sharing the stage equally with Eccleston, both performer and characer having earned that status.

As is typical of multi-part stories, the first part is noticeably better than the second. It's just a natural dramatic progression, I think. First parts are always about raising questions and establishing a threat. That's much more inherently dramatic than answering the questions and defusing the threat. World War III isn't a bad episode. But with the action almost entirely confined to Downing Street, it feels smaller than the more sprawling first part. Also, there is a sense of just a bit too much running from the Slitheen - as if there wasn't quite enough story left for a full episode, leaving around ten minutes of padding to stretch out the running time.

But the new series' first 2-parter is still very enjoyable, probably moreso than fandom often gives it credit for. A few directing glitches (from a director who fortunately would not return) and a bit of padding aside, it's decent popcorn viewing.  Judged on that basis, I would rate it a success, even if it's well short of being a triumph.


Rating: 6/10.

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#1 (1.1). Rose.

1 episode. Approx. 42 minutes. Written by: Rusell T. Davies. Directed by: Keith Boak.


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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