The Ninth incarnation of the time-travel space explorer had one of the
highest rated premiers on the BBC in 2005. Since then, the new series
has become one of the most popular sci-fi shows on the planet. Its first
season is a blend of wit, hilarity, and enough alien madness to make any
science geek melt with happiness.
Life is mundane for Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) until one evening when she
ventures into the basement of her London job to hand over the lottery
cash gathered that day, and stumbles across a fantastic array of
mannequins, all capable of moving and speaking on their own. Just as she
is about to be pulled apart by these plastic menaces, a strange man
known only as the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) pops around a corner,
grabs her by the hand, and tells her to run. Shoving her out into the
street and telling her to make for home, he vanishes back into the
building and moments later the place implodes in a ball of fire and
smoke. Left holding a limp plastic arm, Rose heads home to tell her
overly anxious mother Jackie (Camille Coduri) and her boyfriend Mickey
(Noel Clarke) all about it.
Then the Doctor turns up on her doorstep in search of the plastic arm,
and Rose is drawn into a complicated series of events that pit her and
her new alien companion against a mighty enemy. Just when she thinks she
has seen it all, the Doctor asks if she would like to accompany him in
the Tardis, his spaceship, and travel through time. Unable to resist the
notion of excitement and danger, Rose climbs aboard. From tea with
Charles Dickens to hunting a ghostly child through the streets of a
WWII-ravaged London, to protecting the world from malevolent alien
invasion, the first season of Doctor Who introduces us to the
wonderful and wacky world of time travel. Even though it took me a
little while to adapt to Eccleston's performance, having only seen David
Tennant in the role (who replaces the Doctor by the end of the season),
he has some fabulous moments with Piper and the rest of the cast, and is
also unabashedly funny.
Watching him taunt a group of military men before darting into the nearest
lift, stop an alien female from breathing poisonous fumes on him with a
handy flick of his wrist and a small container of mint breath spray, or even
cut up the rug with Rose in the Tardis brought more than one smile to my
face. He has some great chemistry with Rose and there are quite a few
outstanding episodes that bear either an emotional punch or fantastic shock
value. One of my absolute favorite arcs for the season took them back to
WWII-torn London, and a ghostly boy who is haunting the streets. It has an
alien twist of sorts, but it is nevertheless impacting. For the most part
there is nothing significant content-wise for families to be worried about.
The show sticks to its pattern of sci-fi violence against robots and other
similar creatures, and presents peril to main characters. People are
occasionally killed -- electrocuted, shot down, or dispatched by monsters.
There are some mildly gruesome elements, such as humans being sucked into
alien forms. An arc of several episodes features flatulent aliens. Probably
the most gross thing involved is alien entities borrowing the skin of humans
as disguises. There's very little profanity, just the occasional "hell" here
and there, and minor sensuality.
After Rose turns up after being missing for a year, the police question
whether or not she has a sexual relationship with the Doctor. A
time-traveling captain is rather flirtatious with both sexes. He kisses
both Rose and the Doctor goodbye. It's also implied that he's naked in
one scene, but the audience does not see anything. However, the episode
"The Unquiet Dead" might disconcert some viewers, since the duo joins
forces with Charles Dickens to unearth why dead people are walking the
streets. A young woman who works in the morgue has psychic abilities and
performs a kind of séance in order to communicate. Alien spirits inhabit
the bodies of the dead in order to move about London. It's not as
stunning a season as those that come after it, but it was always
entertaining and nothing short of fabulous fun for sci-fi fans.
