Doctor Who - Best of Season 1 (MAJOR SPOILERS)

[HellCat]

With a week to go before the TARDIS is once again spinning it's way into danger, I thought it'd be interesting to look back at the season past and discuss the highs and lows.
For US fans, please note that this thread is more targetted at those of us who have seen the season in full and so spoilers (for this season only) will be openly discussed.

[Divv]

Dalek for me. It wasn't til this episode that I realised how truly great the new Who was. I'm so hyped for next week!

[The Guitar Slayer]

Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. EVERYONE LIVES!

[IanC]

Easy one this, Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways.

[Lord Dalek]

Gotta go with Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways. That last hour was just so mindbogglingly brilliant.

[James]

Specifically POTW. It has so much rewatch value. I love the ending, the rescue, the tension, the dialogue... everything. Not keen on the "I think you need a Doctor" line which just seemed excessive, but this is Chris' strongest performance with some great little subtle bits of acting. Bad Wolf isn't as strong, but a good companion nevertheless. Kicking ending too.

[Undrave]

Parting of Ways was great but as a whole I still liked the two parter in WWII. Why wasn't the Christmas Invasion included here? I know it's technically betweem the two serie but it was still aired before you started to poll. I would have vote for it if it had been there.

[HellCat]

Parting of Ways was great but as a whole I still liked the two parter in WWII. Why wasn't the Christmas Invasion included here? I know it's technically betweem the two serie but it was still aired before you started to poll. I would have vote for it if it had been there.

Technically, Christmas Invasion is a seasonal special and not an episode. It also aired several months after season 1 had finished.

[HellCat]

Come on people, where's the drama? The hair pulling? The threats of legal action! :p

I'd have to go with The Empty Child 2 partner. Brilliant script- suspensful, witty and plot twists I didn't see coming. In comparison the finale left me cold, especially uber Rose and that "You need a doctor" line.

[MR.MXYZPTLK]

Bad Wolf/Parting of ways. Great twist, great action

[James]

I liked "The Doctor Dances" too, it was very "new Who" akin to the books and audios post 1989; moving the concept and forumula away from expectation.

But I just found POTW pulled the action and emotional punches far more satisfyingly for me. I'm not a Rose fan in anyway, but from... (and I'll add a tag in case some fool clicks the wrong Doctor Who thread and gets the shock of his life....)

the Doctor's determination in the teaser, to the valiant and McCoyesque no messing with the "Logopolis" trick on the Dalek saucer, to the emotive parting of the Doctor, his TARDIS and Rose, to the heroism of the reformed Jack, to the frustration of Rose back on Earth and the uniting of her family, to the death of Jack and the merging of Rose and the TARDIS.. to ...

Well, as much as I HATED the "You need a Doctor" line, Eccleston's performance is fantastic - to slip in an unintentional pun. Watch his face.

From the knowledge of his mortality as he breathes the vortex back into the TARDIS, to his fake chirpiness with Rose as he masks his sadness (and IMO) slight fear of "dying". It's a really beautiful performance.

So yes, The Doctor Dances is great stuff and I hope the next series follows it's trend, but the chemisty, emotion and drama of POTW can't be beat for me.

[HellCat]

I just think the finale tried to cram too much in and the resolution left me cold. The Doctor sending Rose back was logical (and brilliant acting in that whole sequence from Eccleston) but the whole plot of her trying to get back and needing to convince Jackie and Mickey to help her dragged. To be honest, I felt as annoyed as they did when she kept moaning about being unable to live out a normal life because of what she now knew. Rose the character has been generally well handled but in Davies' hands she becomes very annoyingly Mary Sue-ish.

The resolution to what Bad Wolf was...well, the fact that they've said in interviews that they were making it up as they went along speaks volumes. It didn't work for me and throwing in a god-like Rose to defeat the threat at the last minute was cheap writing.

[Conan-san]

I'm going to be totaly off the wall and say "Fathers Day".

I meen, with other shows that deal with Time Paradoxes, you have people fading and all sorts, here? Mother-Fuddin' Monsters that look like they hit Ridely on the way down to the ugly tree that are unstopable and eat anything that moves.
No wonder Campbell sounded like he was requiring a change of pants when Snake did it.

Then you have the whole "I'm not supposed to be here" thing which was handeled brilannitly.

Though, I will say, that the Finale (Bad Wolf/POTW) was also cool, but I will use the Tactical thermal nuclear device if they DARE attempt to thorw in another gameshow dealy with this seasion.

It worked when they were using it as a tool of opression (Like how I feel with Big Brother and such) but once is enonough.
I've seen plenty naked Capt. Jack to last me, thank you.

[The Guitar Slayer]

I've seen plenty naked Capt. Jack to last me, thank you.

Then you are part of a distinctly small army. :p

[James]

ITo be honest, I felt as annoyed as they did when she kept moaning about being unable to live out a normal life because of what she now knew. Rose the character has been generally well handled but in Davies' hands she becomes very annoyingly Mary Sue-ish.

Bear in mind she is RTD's character, so how he handles her is the most true of all. There is no doubt she'd complain about being left out. Hell, people complain when they miss a party, imagine living in an endless war which is both frightening and exciting and you are pulled away from your friends who you've bonded to like family themselves. How are you going to react? You aren't going to settle back in at all. When soldiers come back from war they have precisely the same problem. I don't see her as being Mary Sueish at all, she's there to fit a central role, it's not RTD over using her, it's the intent of the character; to become a larger bridge between audience and story.


The resolution to what Bad Wolf was...well, the fact that they've said in interviews that they were making it up as they went along speaks volumes. It didn't work for me and throwing in a god-like Rose to defeat the threat at the last minute was cheap writing.

I don't think so at all. It worked well. All the hype and speculation was thwarted by making it something utterly different. It made sense and meant that there was no "Bad Wolf" that would dominate or be suffocated by an episode which was meant to be about Daleks. It was genius. Any other resolution would have just got over complicated.

The God like Rose was fine for me. It was set up in Boomtown so the idea of the Tardis vortex wasn't utterly out of the blue, it also helped again drive the character story home; the tenacity of humans, specifically Rose. It's what makes Rose special to the Doctor where other humans fail to meet expectations. The other family members wanted to give up, Rose didn't.

Now I'm not a Rose fan. I've always felt the writers loved her more than the audience, but I appreciate the intent behind the character and the more companion driven WHO we've seen since the late 80s. It makes sense to have a the companion drive the plot, it gives the audience a more substantial character to empathise with and allows the Doctor to be distanced a little from the viewer making him a little more alien.

I'll be glad when Rose is gone. I've known girls very much like her so she's well written, but maybe too well written. Bubblily, yet dominated, honest yet slight manipulative able to push people's buttons. I just don't see her as being THAT much different to some of his other companions, so I fail to see why she's so much more special. Ace would have fought for the Doctor as much as Rose. As would have Ian, as would have Jamie, as would have Sarah Jane.

I don't think that issue damages the stories as she's written true to form and thereby while I don't like her as a person, I think she's very well crafted - as are her family. Probably why they are so annoying.

[HellCat]

Bear in mind she is RTD's character, so how he handles her is the most true of all. There is no doubt she'd complain about being left out. Hell, people complain when they miss a party, imagine living in an endless war which is both frightening and exciting and you are pulled away from your friends who you've bonded to like family themselves. How are you going to react? You aren't going to settle back in at all. When soldiers come back from war they have precisely the same problem. I don't see her as being Mary Sueish at all, she's there to fit a central role, it's not RTD over using her, it's the intent of the character; to become a larger bridge between audience and story.



I don't think so at all. It worked well. All the hype and speculation was thwarted by making it something utterly different. It made sense and meant that there was no "Bad Wolf" that would dominate or be suffocated by an episode which was meant to be about Daleks. It was genius. Any other resolution would have just got over complicated.

The God like Rose was fine for me. It was set up in Boomtown so the idea of the Tardis vortex wasn't utterly out of the blue, it also helped again drive the character story home; the tenacity of humans, specifically Rose. It's what makes Rose special to the Doctor where other humans fail to meet expectations. The other family members wanted to give up, Rose didn't.

Now I'm not a Rose fan. I've always felt the writers loved her more than the audience, but I appreciate the intent behind the character and the more companion driven WHO we've seen since the late 80s. It makes sense to have a the companion drive the plot, it gives the audience a more substantial character to empathise with and allows the Doctor to be distanced a little from the viewer making him a little more alien.

I'll be glad when Rose is gone. I've known girls very much like her so she's well written, but maybe too well written. Bubblily, yet dominated, honest yet slight manipulative able to push people's buttons. I just don't see her as being THAT much different to some of his other companions, so I fail to see why she's so much more special. Ace would have fought for the Doctor as much as Rose. As would have Ian, as would have Jamie, as would have Sarah Jane.

I don't think that issue damages the stories as she's written true to form and thereby while I don't like her as a person, I think she's very well crafted - as are her family. Probably why they are so annoying.

I don't blame her for being upset, that's perfectly logical and if I was in her shoes I'd feel the same. But I think Mickey's line "Why, because you're better than us?" speaks volumes. He's been selfish at times but he's also the everyday man in this story. Rose has had her eyes opened and found a greater destiny. She's the character who's meant to be the window for the audience but she now accepts the fantastic as common place. She's not the same person she was at the start and that has good and bad sides. For the latter, she's going to have a hard time fitting in back at home and she has on some level put herself and The Doctor on a pedestal.
Part of what I enjoyed about Father's Day was that Rose finally does wrong and is on The Doctor's bad side for a change.

As for her part in the finale- back during the original talkback, alot of people defended the idea by saying it worked because it was unexpected. To me, that's the same logic as me writing a mystery novel and then at the conclusion revealling a 6ft tall blue rabbit was the killer. No one saw it coming, so that apparently makes it work, right? Regardless of already showing the TARDIS being alive, for me that doesn't make it any better. The Daleks were set to win and it was a situation where the heroes were almost set to fail. Resolving that by in the last 5 minutes giving Rose total power over reality is a cheap solution to the threat. It's overkill.

[James]

I don't blame her for being upset, that's perfectly logical and if I was in her shoes I'd feel the same. But I think Mickey's line "Why, because you're better than us?" speaks volumes. He's been selfish at times but he's also the everyday man in this story. Rose has had her eyes opened and found a greater destiny. She's the character who's meant to be the window for the audience but she now accepts the fantastic as common place. She's not the same person she was at the start and that has good and bad sides. For the latter, she's going to have a hard time fitting in back at home and she has on some level put herself and The Doctor on a pedestal.

I don't think she's putting herself on a pedestal, she's saying - as you'll find a lot of war vets do, that once you are taken out of everyday life and thrust into life/death situations with a platoon/squadron or simply just colleagues, it's very hard to go back. Some never readjust and what's worse, the people at home don't understand it either. They've not experienced it on the same level and can't empathise. For those reasons, I think it's a very strong scene.


Part of what I enjoyed about Father's Day was that Rose finally does wrong and is on The Doctor's bad side for a change.


Yes, and she got out ofthat too easily! He shouldn't have apologised!

The one think I did like about that show for Rose is - as with POTW with Jackie - we see her pushing buttons. Manipulating in a very base and *****y way. That is very real and some damn fine writing from both RTD and Cornell. She's not sweetness and light. She treats Mickey poorly and doesn't even really realise it, she manipulates the Doctor's loneliness for her own righteousness, and when she's feeling hurt and angry in POTW, she lashes out at Jackie about her dad. She doesn't just tell her, she leads Jackie in, relishing that upper hand on a topic that Jackie has always controlled. She's not nasty, she's not evil, she just reacts and acts very realistically. She is an irritating character and I guess that's a testament to good writing - most people are irritating! :)


As for her part in the finale- back during the original talkback, alot of people defended the idea by saying it worked because it was unexpected. To me, that's the same logic as me writing a mystery novel and then at the conclusion revealling a 6ft tall blue rabbit was the killer. No one saw it coming, so that apparently makes it work, right? Regardless of already showing the TARDIS being alive, for me that doesn't make it any better.


That's only the case when it makes no sense. There had been no hints to who the villain was, so no clues. So it wasn't a mystery leading to a major villain. The only person looking for a villain is the audience. That's the beauty. The show offers nothing but the clue 'Bad Wolf' - so it's not a cop out at all. In fact, considering this show is about time, it makes more sense, that the enemy - or in actual fact - the saviour - is time itself.


The Daleks were set to win and it was a situation where the heroes were almost set to fail. Resolving that by in the last 5 minutes giving Rose total power over reality is a cheap solution to the threat. It's overkill.

It depends on where the focus of the drama is. The drama for the episode stems from the seperation of Rose from the Doctor and the futility of the Doctor's situation. It's not like, Dalek Invasion Of Earth where the battle of the Dalek's is the key drama focus. This is as much a character story than it is about the Daleks. The audience aren't worrying about Earth, they are worrying about the Doctor and Rose. They are wondering how Rose can make it back. So I disagree, it's not a deux ex machina when it's not a scapegoat for the actual focus of the story which is the characters. The Daleks are almost secondary to this tale. Action filler. More time is spent dealing with the Doctor's futility and Rose's attempts to get back.