Rose

Started to watch this series again, but this time with my young kids!

They were very engrossed in this first episode. They found the Doctor very interesting as a concept, and the Autons sufficiently scary.

I think I have them hooked.

They really latched onto Rose and her life, which made me see the true strength in this show isn't the Science Fiction antics, but the humanity behind it.

Hopefully I've created a couple of life long fans.

Rewatching from 18 years in this episode's future was a far better experience than I thought it would be (except the CGI, of course). What surprised me was that I couldn't remember Mickey being so pathetic. He eventually became a hero in the series and all trace of his original personality had disappeared from my memory. It a fun story with lots of action and at the end Rose doesn't hesitate to head off with the mysterious stranger because Mickey is an A-grade idiotic a-hole. I was also surprised by the amount of flirting between Rose and the Doctor. I thought that developed later but it was there from the very beginning. The Autons were very menacing, but I couldn't work out if the man-eating dustbins were just crap or a clever homage to the 8th Doctor's reign.

These days television executive hold up Rose as an example of how to successfully revive a series even though the central plot is from Jon Pertwee's third doctor debut story, Spearhead from Space. Both stories start with the shot of Planet Earth.

Russell T Davies brings Doctor Who back for the 21st century. RTD knew that he needed to reach a new younger audience who knew little about Doctor Who and keep things in the real world. Jacki Tyler talks about compensation claims, Mickey does not want Rose to go through her emails, the Doctor flicks through the latest edition of a celebrity gossip magazine. There is a lot told in an economy of words.

Christopher Eccleston shows goofiness and has enough mystery that this is man who maybe could not be trusted, someone who is trouble as the character of Clive warns Rose.

Billie Piper is the one who astonishes the audience as the shopgirl Rose Tyler who his bored of her life and in the Doctor she can escape to a life of adventure in the Tardis.

Director Keith Boak did not quiet get the balance right between comedy, scares and drama. Maybe the burping wheelie bin was just too silly but he does keep it fast moving.

It's been a while since I've gone back to watch Rose, and my review is almost 10 years late, mehh. I can remember the anticipation surrounding this one, everyone I knew was counting down to watch it, old and new fans alike. I can remember watching it and thinking 'Is this going to work?' Back in the day I worked in the store where the interior shots were filmed, and there was a bit excitement surrounding the cast's appearance. If memory serves during the initial transmission there was a slight interruption that cut to Graham Norton. Looking back on it now I enjoyed the exuberance of the episode, the mix of sci fi and light humour, so different from Series 8 (the most recently transmitted series at the time of writing this.) Two things I possibly didn't notice back then, one, how much I loved Billie Piper's performance, and two, Mr Eccleston was actually quite attractive. I knew I was going to love Camille Coduri, Jackie was a fantastic character, so much fun. Mickey certainly developed as he went on. I was so pleased to see the return of the Autons, a heads up to the Iconic Spearhead from Space, it was a safe bet to try to appeal to the hoards of existing loyal fans. On the downside I found Auton Mickey and the bin scene would have been better suited to CBBC, would be difficult to imagine that happening in a 2015 episode. Some of the effects seem a little on the dodgy side, the photo-shopping is particularly shambolic. Are they implying Rose is particularly dense? Mickey looks rather plastic and has forgotten how to drive, she doesn't notice. On the plus, I applaud it for hooking in a lot of original and new viewers, many of which would stay with the show for years to come. We got to see Chris smile, a definite plus. We get an endearing companion with a real back story, a family, a job etc. Chris injects a bit of mystery and sadness into the role. There is some very nice music in this episode, in my opinion the music in the earlier series was much better. The opening credits at the time and music were excellent, and the TARDIS interior was beautifully created. The new 45 minute format also seems like a winner. It's hard to find many major faults with Rose, it's not exactly a masterpiece or an iconic episode, but it is fun, pacey and very entertaining, they did a good job, drafting in the lovable Mark Benton was a good move. The positives massively outweigh the negatives. Wasn't it just nice to have the iconic blue Police box back on our screens. 10.81 million viewers thought so and tuned in. A very solid 7/10

It was almost like a dream come true . Prestigious actor known for playing angry introspective characters gets cast as the most famous icon on British television in a show I'm on record as saying probably works best as a memory . Not only that but the BBC bombarded the public with trailers in the run up to this episode . There was even an news item on the BBC main news pointing out that the episode had been leaked over the net at the start of March 2005 with Eccleston stating that the fans who had seen it had hated the episode

As a fan I didn't hate this episode but I was hoping for more . It's there to set up the characters of Rose , her mother Jackie and her boyfriend Mickey so the plot featuring an Auton invasion is pushed aside and seems very rushed but that's not really important since it's an intro episode . Thankfully my parents did say they were giving it a chance to see if it the series would improve as it went along and I did go on record as saying it was entertaining but there was room for improvement . Not as good as classic stories from the 60s and 70s but certainly an improvement on many of the appalling Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy episodes

One interesting aspect is the in jokes which would be noticed by fans such as The Doctor appearing in the crowd photo on the day Kennedy was shot . If you didn't know President Kennedy was killed on the 22nd November 1963 the day before DOCTOR WHO premiered on BBC television , or that Rose thinks the Autons are a student prank which is exactly what a policeman thinks in the novelization of the 1970 adventure Spearhead From Space . Subtle humour from Russell T Davies though his plotting leaves a lot to be desired