From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
From Address: jphalt{at}aol.com
Subject: Rose (2005 TV episode): my review

Having finished with the first set of 8th Doctor reviews, I'm now
going back to television for the start of the new series, with my
first set of 9th Doctor reviews:

Rose
The End of the World
The Unquiet Dead
Aliens of London/World War III


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 the Doctor, 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 out 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 else, something slightly
dangerous. He's strongest when he drops the grinning and is either
harsh or sad. I particularly liked the hint of sadness 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 project a certain near-
desperation. 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 from the character
by all the hype making her out to be the "best companion ever!!!"
Thankfully, years later that hype has died down as she has had
multiple replacements.  That makes it a lot easier now to view both
character and actress for what is there. Billie Piper does a perfectly
fine job of bringing Rose to life. She does spark reasonably well off
Eccleston, and she manages to keep the character likable throughout.
Characterization is largely in broad strokes, but there's room to
build on what's here.

Mickey: Speaking of broad strokes, Mickey is a downright annoying
character in this premiere episode. Noel Clarke is a good actor, but
the writing for his character is overly broad and buffoonish in this
episode. 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
Autons in Spearhead from Space. 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 here is somehow less creepy than their
original design. In any case, they work in so far as they fulfill
their function, but their debut remains their most effective use in
the series.


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 sketched in as simply
"average girl," and not much more (save for an oversold Buffy riff at
the end). Her boyfriend and mother are practically cartoons. All of
these characters will become better in later episodes, but 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 a few strong character beats. As far as I can see, they
just aren't there.

What the episode does well - exceptionally well, in fact - is to lay
down a foundation for the series that follows. The core characters are
introduced, we get a genuinely good scene with Clive the Internet guy
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 (the new characters, the Time War) 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. It isn't helped by an uneven tone, which plays
moments that could have been suspenseful (the Mickey Auton) for
laughs. Moments such as these end up feeling more like "Season 24 with
a decent budget" than like "2005 science fiction adventure hit."

I think Boak's direction also hurts the character work. One moment,
Rose is appalled that the Doctor isn't sparing a thought for Mickey's
likely death. Less than two minutes later, she is running hand-in-hand
with the Doctor, grinning. These moments simply should not be adjacent
to each other. The shot itself isn't bad, ut the placement of the shot
makes it feel memorably "off."

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 this
episode particularly satisfying. It's entertaining, but it's also
unevenly paced and a bit scattershot. It's easily 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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