Gavin WintersIt’s impressive how, with little over an hour of screen time, Eric Roberts gives us one of the campest Masters ever.
No mean feat, given the competition! #DoctorWho
Night Of The Doctor: I’m now cheating slightly by jumping ahead to this minisode but, well, you have to really, don’t you?
What a brilliant surprise this was. I still remember scaring the shit out of the cat with the yell I let out when McGann appeared. 😄 #DoctorWho
I’d forgotten just how short this is. It crams in a hell of a lot into under seven minutes, with another tantalising glimpse of how McGann’s Doctor might have been.
The dialogue is noticeably Moffat. You can’t help but picture Matt saying the “bring me knitting” line. #DoctorWho
The funny thing about the Big Finish companions getting namechecked is it means he forgot to mention any that were/will be created afterwards.
No mention of Grace either! 😆 #DoctorWho
The one minor quibble is the speed with which the Doctor abandons his policy of not getting involved in the war and wants to become a “warrior”, all over the death of one person. But the short runtime means there just isn’t time for a long character arc. #DoctorWho
Rose: right, here we go into 21st century #DoctorWho. Honestly, going from 1989 to 1996, detouring to 2013 then back to 2005 has given me whiplash.😵💫
This was a… well, “fantastic” relaunch. Eccleston & Piper both brilliant. Wise to start with Rose as the audience POV character.
One very important point I have to make about this #DoctorWho episode is…
**TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY**
…and I’m sure you’ll all agree with me on that. #DoctorWho
One curious “mistake”, if you can call it that, is the Autons still having wrist-guns, same as back in the 70s.
But these aren’t specially made Autons, as far as we know. They’re regular shop dummies animated by the Nestene signal. So… where’d the guns come from? #DoctorWho
The clear, defining approach of RTD’s relaunch was “make EVERYTHING understandable and accessible to the broadest possible audience”, so you get the Doctor attempting to defeat the Nestenes with ‘anti-plastic’. That’s it, that’s all you need. No technobabble gubbins! #DoctorWho
The End Of The World: RTD’s knack of coming up with complex-sounding yet memorable alien names is the equal of how Robert Holmes would fill in world-building background details. Both make it look so easy. #DoctorWho
And his own world-building is proceeding gradually. No info-dumps here, just a slow reveal of the new mythology of everything that’s happened to the Doctor since he was last on our screens. Clear and accessible to fans and non-fans alike. #DoctorWho
The use of Soft Cell and Britney Spears on the soundtrack was a real slap round the chops to us old-schoolers. No stronger indication that this was a whole new style for #DoctorWho! 😆
I really like the effort they went to with the font seen in this episode. At first glance it looks unfathomable and alien, then you realise you can read it. Subtly suggesting that the TARDIS is translating for the audience too. #DoctorWho
Cassandra is such a uniquely RTD creation. I couldn’t imagine any other showrunner having invented her. #DoctorWho
The Unquiet Dead: this completes the initial past/present/future trilogy, showing the series’ potential.
But I like how, this early into trying to show all of space and time, they went “ah, screw it” and set an episode in Cardiff, with Welsh actors and Welsh accents.😄#DoctorWho
The Doctor’s directions to Rose about where to go in the TARDIS, including “past the bins” was another quick eye-opening moment that made me very aware of the new style and had me thinking “Well… JNT wouldn’t have had him say that!” #DoctorWho
Rose literally setting foot in the past illustrated by the footstep in the snow is a great touch, as is the snowflakes falling from the TARDIS when it dematerialises at the end. #DoctorWho
They seemed to be trying to establish a spooky character trait in these early episodes of the Doctor quietly and mysteriously entering a scene (like popping up in a doorway) without anyone noticing until he speaks, which gets dropped later on. #DoctorWho
As enjoyable as this is, the unfortunate and unintentional message of “don’t trust refugees, they’ll come in and try to take over!” just gets more and more noticeable every time you watch it. Really should have been spotted at script stage. #DoctorWho
It only took 42 years, but finally a supporting character, Charles Dickens, asks the very sensible question about how exactly is it “goodbye” when the Doctor and companion walk into a wooden box to leave at the end of an adventure.
Why did no one ask that before?? #DoctorWho
Aliens Of London / World War Three: our first proper full-on alien invasion story of the revival, and they take full advantage of the bigger budget and better production values to really flesh it out and show the world’s realistic reaction to such an event. #DoctorWho
I always think that RTD having the Slitheen farting was a case of, in those early days of figuring out how to make #DoctorWho popular again, throwing *everything* at the show to try to make it appeal to kids. But it probably wasn’t necessary as everything else worked well enough.
Jackie slapping the Doctor is still very funny. As was Mickey being unable to get a date for a year because everyone thought he’d murdered Rose. 😄 #DoctorWho
One thing that’s suddenly very noticeable on this rewatch: the audio around the Powell Estate. Always full of sounds of people and families chatting, shouting, dogs barking etc. Gives it a real atmosphere of an actual place. Subsequent eras never bothered doing that. #DoctorWho
The tension and buildup of the “alien” on the loose… followed by the reveal of the space pig, is hilarious. I don’t think anyone at the time was expecting that! #DoctorWho
Hello Trinity Wells!
And UNIT! Proper ‘United Nations’ UNIT too, none of yer ‘Unified’ gubbins! #DoctorWho
I’d like to think that the actual security on a submarine with missiles is a bit stronger than something that can be hacked by one guy using a universal password that then allows him to blow up Downing Street… 😬 #DoctorWho
Dalek: now this is a textbook example of how you bring back an old enemy and make them powerful and relevant again for modern audiences.
You can tell they took delight in subverting all the tired old criticisms about sink plungers, stairs, etc, one by one. #DoctorWho
I was so glad to see Rob Shearman (on Confidential, I think) saying how he wanted to bring back *the Daleks*, not any of those silly CGI spider-Dalek things we’d seen suggested through the 90s. It just had to be the original design. Otherwise what’s the point? #DoctorWho
Eccleston’s acting in this episode, in scenes like his first encounter with the Dalek, or the “Why dont you just die?” moment, are among the finest by any Doctor actor up to this point. #DoctorWho
Henry Van Statten. Hmm, a “genius” tech billionaire with an over-inflated ego, who uses his vast fortune and resources to acquire something powerful that he doesn’t really understand, and gives it a silly name (Metaltron) because he thinks it sounds cool… 🤔 #DoctorWho
The Long Game: this was possibly the only episode of season one without a particular “hook” to it, like ‘first outer space one’ or ‘first historical’ or ‘a Dalek!’. It’s been a bit overlooked, but its theme of media and news manipulation has only become more relevant. #DoctorWho
It’s still obviously a bit of a budget-saving episode though, with some fairly noticeable re-used sets. #DoctorWho
I don’t personally count Adam as a companion. He’s the one who messed up and “failed the audition”. Plus he doesn’t actually share that much screen time with the Doctor across his two episodes. #DoctorWho
I think he’s only there to give Eccleston and Piper (who previously were in most scenes, either together or apart) a bit of a break while he goes off and takes up screen time with his subplot involving the chip in his head. A forerunner to the ‘Doctor-lite’ episodes. #DoctorWho
Father’s Day: I was always a big fan of Paul Cornell’s New Adventures novels, so was looking forward to seeing him finally write for TV #DoctorWho. He was the right choice for a story like this, that illustrates how the revived show now had a greater emotional depth than before.
Apparently RTD told Cornell not to worry about every last detail making perfect logical sense, as long as it felt right for the story.
I think the TARDIS becoming just a Police Box might have been one of those. No real explanation as to why, but its a memorable image. #DoctorWho
As is the Doctor *actually* being killed and eaten by a monster! #DoctorWho
Once again at this point the show was wary of using too much baffling technobabble that might alienate casual viewers, so we just get “it’s a paradox!” as to why Rose should not hold the baby version of herself. No ‘Blinovitch Limitation Effect’ any more! #DoctorWho
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances: hard to explain to anyone who missed it the phenomenal impact this story had at the time, and the way seemingly everyone was talking about how #DoctorWho had scared the bejesus out of them. Wouldn’t happen again until ‘Blink’.
There’s a few of Moffat’s now familiar tropes - the fact that ultimately it all turns out to be caused by malfunctioning technology being the most obvious one, and the ‘background sound you gradually realise is something scary’, done twice in the space of minutes! #DoctorWho
And in hindsight you can see how Rose is speaking more like a quirky, flirty, Moffat-era companion, with dialogue that sounds more like it should be coming out of Amy or Clara’s mouths. #DoctorWho
“People think your wife’s messing about with the butcher, but she isn’t, is she? You are…”
Oh, the debates about that line on the old Outpost Gallifrey forum! With some *insisting* it just meant the two men were involved in black market activity together… 😅 #DoctorWho
Jack’s ‘self-cleaning’ con doesn’t make much sense if you think about it. If he’s targeting Time Agents, wouldn’t they have access to the same info he has about when exactly bombs fell during the Blitz, or when it’s Volcano Day in Pompeii? #DoctorWho
The triumphant, celebratory, “Everybody lives!” ending is one of the best ever. And while it may have become a bit of a Moffat cliche later of him being reluctant to kill anyone, at this point it was still refreshingly brilliant and joyous. #DoctorWho
For no particular reason, here’s a picture from this story you may like to see… #DoctorWho
Boom Town: this was very under-appreciated at the time, possibly because it’s a quieter episode following on from the wildly popular two-parter of TEC/TDD, but I’ve always thought of it as a highlight of the season, with some great character moments. #DoctorWho
tardis.guide@gavinwinters
Boom Town is definitely an under-appreciated gem, it’s so good.
Boom Town is definitely an under-appreciated gem, it’s so good.
RTD really loves to milk a gag through repetition, doesn’t he? It started with Eccleston’s multiple looks at the London Eye way back in ‘Rose’, and now we get Margaret’s teleport reversed several times, then all her attempts to kill the Doctor in the restaurant. #DoctorWho
But amongst all those jokes you get the whole discussion of the Doctor’s morality and whether he’s right to deliver her home to her execution or not. #DoctorWho
Some say the solution at the end with the TARDIS console opening is a Deus Ex Machina, but you could argue it was set up way, way back in The Edge Of Destruction! #DoctorWho
RTD had planned that we’d see Margaret again a couple of years later, as a newly grown child Slitheen with Annette Badland providing the voice. Maybe something that will eventually happen in his new era…? #DoctorWho
Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways: you can’t fault the impeccable structure of season one, with how it re-introduces the core concepts of #DoctorWho, adds new mythology, and then it all, even the “lesser” episodes, lead to this finale. I don’t think any season’s done it better.
Some of the game shows may be a bit specifically dated to what was popular in 2005, but RTD was clever enough that they each represent a particular *type* of show, that are eternally recognisable - reality tv, quiz, makeover show. #DoctorWho
What a cliffhanger to part one. A real “Fuck you, Daleks!” 😄 It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice that the Doctor’s “Rose, I’m coming to get you!” was deliberately echoing Davina McCall’s Big Brother catchphrase. #DoctorWho
I love the awkward, fumbling, mutual liking between the Doctor and Lynda-with-a-Y, teasing us she may be a new companion. With Rose quietly seething in the background. 😄
Until that Dalek outside the window silently flashes its lights in time with four syllables… #DoctorWho
Has anything ever topped POTW as a finale? I’m not sure, it’s still one of the greatest anyway. A tiny group of people fighting against impossible odds… the genius of the hologram turning to face Rose… the punch-the-air moment of Mickey and Jackie with the truck… #DoctorWho
@gavinwinters you can tell Russell had the idea for this brewing for many years and he gave it his all. Personally I love Journey’s End more, because it’s full of all my favourite characters, but compared to this it is a bit bloated. POTW is so clever and elegant a finale.