Doctor Who Rewind - "ROSE"

While we, the Doctor Who fans of the world, are on the Unending Hiatus (there's no word on when the next new episodes will be aired – Damn you BBC !!!! - fist shake, fist shake) I've decided to travel back in time to 2005 and do a Doctor Who Rewind.

So back to the beginning, or re-beginning if you will. We can't forget that Doctor Who actually started with William Hartnell back in 1963 and with the 50^th anniversary of the original broadcast coming up in 2013 we will have plenty of opportunities to celebrate the entire series, but for now 2005 is our focus.

2005 was the year that we were introduced to the latest incarnation of The Doctor, a dark and brooding character who had eschewed the bright colors and question marked clothes of the past for a black leather jacket, black pants and almost painfully short hair.

So here we go – in keeping with my usual format I am going to get into what I liked and what I hated while adding another segment, what we learned. I am adding that because much has been added to the mythology of Doctor Who since it's been back on the air. Mythology, in this “Post LOST” television landscape is important, more important than it's ever been. TV show mythology has always been out there, but it seems in the last decade or so, outside of the Star Trek crazies out there who live pretty much for only mythology, the continuing stories and back stories of our favorite characters have become as important as the characters themselves, even more so in a show like this.

ROSE - Season 1 - Episode 1

WHAT I LOVED

This is pretty obvious – THE DOCTOR IS BACK! I had heard rumors of a re-launch back on 2004 and sqeeeee'd – note it was all true and here on my computer screen. One thing I learned, having been a fan of LOST was the art of the torrent download from fellow LOST fans over in the UK. So this was kind of coming full circle for me. BBC America was not up to full speed, not knowing, I guess, exactly what the BBC had on their hands, so no same day broadcasts back then.

On March 26, 2005 Doctor Who returned to British screens, on March 27^th I had it here.

I loved that the Tardis Console Room had been totally remade, and had the look of a machine that was old, REALLY old and held together with bubble gum and gaffer tape. Gone was the almost antiseptic whiteness of the original series Console Room. I guess the 1996 movie kind of killed off that concept, what with The Doctor traveling around time and space in a Victorian era country estate library Console Room. Even the exterior of the TARDIS looked really beat up and on it's last leg, you could almost feel like you would get a splinter running your hands on the exterior.

IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!

WHAT I LIKED

That Rose was your every day shop girl who went home to her flat, shared with mom, she had a boyfriend, she was like everyone else, very relatable.

“Run!”

RUN!

The Doctor flipping through a trashy magazine on Jackie Tyler's coffee table, “That will never work, he's gay and she's an alien.”

“There's a strange man in my bedroom.”

The sonic screwdriver is back!

That the Mr Davies and company decided to relaunch with the same enemy that launched Jon Pertwee's run as The Doctor (in “Spearhead from Space”), the Nestene Consciousness.

Plastic never looked so good

That the companion has a home life, a mom, a boyfriend just like your average 19 year old.

The using of the London Eye as a transmitting dish for the Nestene Consciousness, very cool.

CALLING ALL MANEQUINS - CALLING ALL MANEQUINS

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

There wasn't much to not like, it was a quick and enjoyable episode, a nice re-introduction to The Doctor.

WHAT WE LEARNED

That The Doctor was hanging around in Dallas on November 22, 1963, the day President John F Kennedy was assassinated. This had to be a shoutout to the original broadcast date on November 23, 1963 the day after the assassination, then he saves a family from sailing on Titanic and is maybe responsible for the Krakatoa eruption???

That Jackie Tyler doesn't seem to work but has money to go shopping at the mall – hmmmmmm – living off of Rose???? On the Dole???? Kind of young to be a pensioner. Luring other strange men into her bedroom???? Just how does she make money?

The Rose evidently can't tell the difference between a plastic version of her boyfriend and the real one.

The TARDIS is bigger on the inside than the outside. (Kidding)

The Ghengis Kahn tried to get into the TARDIS

Lots of planets have a North!

The first hints of the Time War.