(Bob & Rose, Casanova, Children's Ward, Cluedo, Doctor Who, The Grand, The House of Windsor, Linda Green, Mine All Mine, Queer as Folk, Revelations, The Second Coming, Springhill, Touching Evil)
Cast:
The Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler: Billie Piper
Clive Finch: Mark Benton
Mickey: Noel Clarke
Jackie Tyler: Camille Cadouri
Well, the wait is over and Doctor Who is back on our screens for the first time since 1996.
With an established actor as the lead, a series of fans writing and producing
the series how can it go wrong?
Well, having seen the first episode at the weekend, I am afraid it is at best
average. First lets be clear and state that I'm a fan of the original series
and that I fully realise that the new version is not aimed at me. The series
is now apparently targeting eight year olds (so why are all the trailers on
late at night) and I'm somewhat older.
However, I really wanted to like this first episode and found myself bitterly
disappointed. Christopher Eccleston (right) is a fine actor and has some
impressive moments as the Doctor. He has a few genuinely amusing lines at the
beginning of the episode when he is the bedroom with Camille Coduri as
Rose's Mum.
There is also one excellent speech about the fact that he can feel the rotation
of the Earth which may cement him as an alien in the same way as Ton Baker's
speech about indomitable homo sapiens did in The Ark In Space.
For the most part however he simply doesn't convince as the Doctor. It's not
the wardrobe or the Northern accent (although his explanation about why aliens
have a northern accent is cringemaking), it's the fact that he doesn't have the
authority or the presence which, to me, the role requires. Of course, it can be
argued that other Doctors - especially the wonderful Patrick Troughton - have
lacked this but they weren't written as though they had it. This is particularly
apparent in the Doctor's confrontation with the Nestene consciousness at the end.
In fairness to Eccleston, the first one is very much an introductory episode
for Billie Piper's character Rose (right). I must confess that I was one of
those who was dead against the casting of Piper but she is surprisingly
effective. I still don't buy her as the great actress that she is sometimes billed
as but she is natural and engaging despite some risible dialogue.
The main problem is the script.. it's derivative, unfocussed, rushed and silly.
The action begins almost immediately (after a typically naff sequence in which
Billie is a "girl about town" - the sort of stuff they have in Hustle.)
in the basement of a department store. Eccles appears with a bomb and we are
thrown into situations with no knowledge of the characters or who they are.
There are a couple of nice set pieces but they don't hang together. Additionally,
action sequences seem to have been edited down to fit the 7pm slot and the
8-year-old target audience.
One of the best sequences is Billie's reaction to the first viewing of the
TARDIS interior... unfortunately the remodelled console room is appalling.
It's a cheap remodelling of the '96 TV Movie console with a few ideas nicked
from Farscape. Horrible.
The new arrangement of the theme and titles are ho-hum and for those who
desperately want to know, Eccleston's face doesn't appear.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Well, the wait is over and Doctor Who is back on our screens for the first time since 1996.
For the most part however he simply doesn't convince as the Doctor. It's not
the wardrobe or the Northern accent (although his explanation about why aliens
have a northern accent is cringemaking), it's the fact that he doesn't have the
authority or the presence which, to me, the role requires. Of course, it can be
argued that other Doctors - especially the wonderful Patrick Troughton - have
lacked this but they weren't written as though they had it. This is particularly
apparent in the Doctor's confrontation with the Nestene consciousness at the end.