Day 704 - Rose

Finally on to the new series. Well, it doesn't seem so new anymore as this is now 8 years old.

It seemed really weird to be watching the modern episodes now. I really can't believe I've made it this far!

Learning from the mistakes of the 1996 TV movie, the story is instead more focused on that of the companion, Rose Tyler, who stumbles upon the Doctor in the basement of the shop where she works as he attempts to destroy the control systems of the Auton invasion. Whereas the TV movie wanted very much to link itself to the old series by starting off with the seventh Doctor before regenerating into the eighth, here we are straight into the action with the ninth Doctor with no explanation as to what has happened to his previous form. It works really well because people can jump straight on board with the story without having to have prior knowledge of the history of the show. You could watch this without knowing a single thing about Doctor Who and still understand everything that is going on.

Rose is a much more grounded version of Ace and I like how in the new series they give her a family setting. The old series pretty much took companions away from Earth with little thought as to the repercussions of them leaving.

The first story brings the Autons back to the series. I remember being a little confused when watching this for the first time in 2005 as during a really tense scene near the start of the episode when Rose is being advanced on by a group of Autons, I suddenly heard Graham Norton's voice! This was nothing to do with the story but somehow an audio feed got mixed up from the rehearsals of Dance Fever and Norton's voice was audible during the scene! Bizarrely this is the first of two times that poor Graham would ruin a pivotal scene in Doctor Who, but more on that much later!

As well as meeting Rose, we also meet her mum Jackie and boyfriend Micky. I always think that Rose is a bit of a bitch at the end of this episode when she runs off from Micky to go travelling with the Doctor.

It's clear that they were a little nervous about the resurrection of the series which is why we get very few call backs to the past. Even the Doctor's costume is very un-Doctorish. After this first series was out of the way they would get much braver and the Doctor would be running round in ridiculously long coats and bow ties etc.

The new TARDIS is glorious. I don't think it is a stunning as the eighth Doctor's TARDIS but it's still pretty amazing.

This is what is great about watching Doctor Who for a marathon viewing. Just when you think you might be getting tired with it, everything changes! And you have a whole new show to watch and enjoy..