LogFAQs > #965162624

3. Series 1 (The Doctor: Christopher Eccleston, Companion/s: Rose Tyler)

*SPOILERS BELOW FOR SERIES ONE OF DOCTOR WHO*

Best Episode: Father's Day
Worst Episode: Aliens of London

It is a shame that Christopher Eccleston was only contracted for a single season (and that, following said season, he had a massive falling out with Russell T. Davies over press coverage of his single-season status), because is great in the role. Not only is he great for playing the Doctor in the immediate aftermath of allegedly destroying his entire race to end the time war, but he manages to do what I've complained that Matt Smith cannot. Eccleston is able to convey the kind of goofy energy one would expect from someone who is so above everything that he just wants to sit back and laugh at the universe around him. But at the same time, he's able to come across as deadly serious when he needs to. Ultimately, I think the latter is more important, because the former is more necessary in terms of putting up a facade more than anything else.

While Eccleston is great in his role (particularly for a storyline that we don't see come to fruition on-screen until the end run of Matt Smith's tenure), I have to give credit to Billie Piper's Rose as well. While she becomes a bit of an annoyance in his relationship with Tennant's Doctor, I think she is a perfect companion to hook viewers into the show back in that first season. First off, she's young enough to fill that role of someone who needs the Doctor's guidance and tutelage when it comes to matters of space and time, but she's also a very down-to-Earth person. She works in a shop, and she lives...I'm not sure if it'd be considered a council estate, but it feels like a lower middle class flat. She's a perfect audience surrogate, is what I'm saying. She has a strong personality, but not so much so as to completely overshadow Eccleston as the Doctor. What I'm saying is that, while Rose isn't my favorite companion (I'd put her around 4th...but SPECIFICALLY series one Rose), she's a perfect addition to THIS season.

Now, I'm just going to get my one major criticism of series one out of the way, because my top three seasons are all REALLY good, and it's minor things that earn series one a bronze medal, instead of silver or gold. All three seasons have their weak points; there is not a single series in the show's run that is without flaws in terms of clunker episodes and whatnot. But in the case of series one, the bad episodes stand out more because of their placement in the overall season. Series four and eight are more spread out, whereas with series one, if you swapped Dalek and Long Game in the broadcast order, you would have a clean cut dividing line with the entire first half of the season being far and away the weakest group of episodes.

The starting trio is pretty standard: aliens in present day, trip to space in the future, trip to Earth in the past. None of these three episodes are top tier or anything, but they're fun enough and fine enough. Unfortunately, then we get to the farting aliens, which are terrible. Aliens in London is an extended fart joke, and it's pretty rough when you consider that it leads into a two-parter. This is the first two-part episode of the reboot, and it's absolutely terrible. Fortunately, World War Three is somewhat better since it's played more seriously, but it's still rough. And Long Game, after introducing Adam in the previous episode, just has him be a self-centered scumbag in a lazy storyline that completely wastes the comedic talents of Simon Pegg.

All that being said, the season DOES pick up tremendously when we hit episode six. Dalek is the first truly amazing episode of the reboot, and it's not even the best of the season, in my opinion. Up until this point, Eccleston has been intense, yet goofy. But this is the episode where we really learn about his past and what happened with the Time War, and it's just extremely good to see the Doctor's character on full display. Plus, for the first introduction to the Dalek race (of the reboot), they manage to both give us an unstoppable killing machine, AND give us a parallel with the Doctor, sad about being the last of its race. The whole story is great.

Father's Day is my personal favorite episode of the season soon after, where we're coming off Adam's self-centered reasons for time traveling, and now we get to learn more about Rose. I'm a sucker for father/child relationships, and seeing Rose try to save her father from his impending death, and learning that he's not the perfect guy her mom portrayed him as made for some emotional television. Having Pete sacrifice himself to save the day at the end, and giving Rose closure as he didn't have to die alone...I'm tearing up just writing this sentence. It's a good story and one that I'm willing to look past its flaws.

Empty Child/Doctor Dances gives us a great horror story, and is the farting aliens were a bad introduction to two-part episodes, this duo gave us the first of five straight seasons in which the writers just hit it out of the park with their late-season two-part episode. Again, aliens with rules (don't touch them, they're all turning into the physical symptoms of a dead child) are my jam, and this story just has everything. Introducing Captain Jack gives us a little bit more fun in an otherwise dark story, and he winds up being a fan favorite overall as a result.

Boom Town is clearly an example of budget restraints needing a simple and cheap story, but despite reusing the farting aliens, they made the great choice to bring back the best actress from the earlier two-parter, and gave her an emotional, character-driven narrative that let her really showcase what she could do. The first half of the finale is goofy fun, particularly as a fan of reality TV, but the finale itself...it's a tough call between Parting of the Ways and The Doctor Falls in terms of the best finale the show has ever produced.

Eccleston gets to make two different heroic sacrifices, but can't bring himself to commit genocide again, not after his efforts to end the Time War led to the annihilation of the Time Lords. Meanwhile, Rose, who has been relatively meek all season, finally develops some personal strength and fights to return and rescue the Doctor. Baring her soul to her mother and Mickie, and wiping out the Daleks through sheer force of TARDIS energy feels earned, since she's grown and changed as a character over the course of the season. The kiss is a BIT weird, since Eccleston feels like more of a father figure than a romantic interest through most of the season...but again, it's a satisfying way to see Eccleston go into his regeneration, and it caps off an EXTREMELY strong back half of the season.

If the bad (or just weaker) episodes were more interspersed, I think I could overlook them more, but as it stands, with the episode schedule the way it is, I can only give series one third place, behind two titans of the shwo, in my opinion.