Doctor Who: The Complete First Series

I have been watching the new Doctor Who series on SCI-FI, and I have been pleasantly surprised. I first began watching the classic DW series in 1983, and I will admit I was rather skeptical about the prospects of bringing DW back as a regular series. Could it possibly be as good as the original? The fact of the matter is that Executive Producer/Head Writer Russell T. Davies and his cast and crew have put together an excellent TV program which retains many classic elements of Doctor Who, with some updating to bring the show into the twenty-first century. Christopher Eccleston (Gone in 60 Seconds, 28 Days Later ) makes an excellent Doctor, combining the wit and charm of Tom Baker with the vulnerability of Peter Davison’s Doctor. And Billie Piper is an absolute delight as Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s new traveling companion. Camille Coduri is also very good as Jackie Tyler, Rose’s mom, as is Noel Clarke as Mickey, Rose’s boyfriend.

Here is a rundown of Season One:

1. “Rose” Stron opening episode. Rose Tyler is introduced as an employee in a department store where she is attacked by mannequins (Autons). She meets the Doctor, and the two team up to battle the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness which controls the plastic killers.

2. “The End of the World” The Doctor takes Rose 5 billion years into the future to watch the end of the Earth as the sun is about to explode.

3. “The Unquiet Dead” Rose and the Doctor arrive in Cardiff, Wales in 1869. Gaseous being are taking over dead bodies, causing them to appear to “resurrect.” The time travellers meet Charles Dickens, who joins with them in fighting the invaders.

4/5. “Aliens of London” (Part One)/”World War III” (Part Two) The TARDIS returns to London one year after the Doctor and Rose had left at the end of “Rose.” Rose is believed to be dead, and her boyfriend is a suspect. But when an alien spacecraft crashes into the Thames, the entire world goes on red alert, anticipating an invasion. The aliens are a criminal family called the Slytheen, who plan to reduce the Earth to a nuclear slag heap and sell it at an outrageous price.

6. “Dalek” The TARDIS materializes in Utah in the year 2012. The Doctor and Rose find themselves underground in a private museum of extraterrestrial artifacts owned by billionaire Henry Van Statten. Van Statten has one live specimen in his collection – the last surviving Dalek. The Dalek escapes, and against an army of Van Statten’s security personnel, it is not the Dalek who is at a disadvantage.

7. “The Long Game” The Doctor and Rose arrive aboard a space station in the year 100,000 A.D. People go up to certain floors of the station and do not come back.

8. “Father’s Day” Rose wants to go back and see her father, who died when she was a baby. When she interferes with time and saves his life, strange winged creature called “reapers” appear, drawn to the wound in time.

9/10. “The Empty Child” (Part One)/”The Doctor Dances” (Part Two) Set in London, 1941 during a German bombing raid, this two-part adventure recently won a Hugo Award. This story introduces John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, a former time agent-turned-con man from the future.

11. “Boom Town” The Doctor, Rose and Jack return to present-day London where they discover that a surviving member of the Slytheen is behind plans to build a nuclear power plant in Cardiff. The facility is being built on top of a time rift discovered in “The Unquiet Dead,” and the Slytheen is planning to use the power plant as a means to destroy the Earth and flee our solar system.

12/13. “Bad Wolf” (Part One)/”The Parting of the Ways” (Part Two) This tw0-part season finale offers a great spoof of reality shows, namely “Big Brother,” “What Not to Wear” and “The Weakest Link.” The Doctor, Rose and Jack find themselves involved with each of these reality shows aboard the space station from “The Long Game.” As people are eliminated, they are killed by a disintegrator beam, or so it seems. The Doctor finds a more sinister plot behind it all involving the Daleks. He has a plan to stop them, but it could involve the destruction of the Dalek fleet AND the Earth.

This five-DVD set contains some great bonus features, including commentary tracks on all thirteen episodes, plus an interview with Christopher Eccleston and several featurettes including “Making Doctor Who,” “Designing Doctor Who,” and “Deconstructing Big Ben.”

Season One has been great, and I am looking forward to Season Two with David Tennant (Harry Potter’s Barty Crouch, Jr.) as the Tenth Doctor. This new DW series has been a very pleasant surprise, indeed.