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After my son and I caught up with season 13 in time to watch the S14 specials in the right order, we decided to go right back to the beginning of New Who, because it's AGES since we did that. I don't actually know how long but at least several years, enough that we were really looking forward to it.
We've now watched the first two episodes and were not disappointed.
Rose is a really strong episode, and is a fantastic introduction to the world of Doctor Who. It does have quite a lot of annoying things, many of which I detailed in my first rewatch waaaay back in 2007: https://unfeathered.dreamwidth.org/10883.html (I watched the run on its first airing but didn't get into fandom until early 2007 when Torchwood was airing, so hadn't rewatched any of the first two seasons until this point). Interestingly, before I re-read this review, this time around I had several of the same thoughts, especially: 1. the Doctor's inane grinning was really over the top and annoying, 2. Mickey really was presented as extremely dumb in this one, so no wonder I didn't like him for a long time, and 3. Billie’s ‘common’ voice almost as bad as Sophie Aldred’s (I never realised, when watching Ace at the time, that she was supposed to be 'common' because she sounded so posh, and that's definitely my impression in more recent rewatches, and Billie suffers from a very similar problem).
But I really loved the episode this time round, and not *just* for nostalgia reasons. It's a really good, really strong story.
And then you get The End of the World and, woah, everything takes off! I agree a lot less with my original review (here: https://unfeathered.dreamwidth.org/12554.html) on this one. Mainly, I feel like I focussed on a lot of little stuff in that review when my main impression on this viewing was that I’d forgotten – or never realised – just how huge this episode is. It’s been so long since we started our last rewatch and I’ve forgotten so much of what I used to know. I remembered the characters and the basic outline of the plot, and even some of the lines, but I don’t think I ever realised before just how big this all was for Rose. As she says to the blue plumber girl, she’s basically accepted a lift from a complete stranger and she was *totally* unprepared for anything like this. Even in the first big scene, I was very aware of her gradually and steadily becoming completely overwhelmed by the arrival of alien after alien, each different from the last, and it’s very clear to me (now) just how out of her depth she feels, and rightly so. I don’t remember any Classic Who companion (or any other New Who one for that matter) having it brought home to them so quickly just how alien the Doctor is and how cavalier he is with other people’s lives. Even if he does (obviously) come good in the end.
And yes, I did remember that the Doctor took Rose there in a rather cackhanded attempt to make her feel even a tiny part of what he feels about having witnessed the end of his planet, but this time that all really came through so loudly, and just how horrible it was of him, and just how desperate he must be to resort to that. And I’d forgotten how quickly he transforms from inane grinning Doctor to grim, angry Doctor in this one story, just the second story of the run. As I said: huge.
I did like how well Rose handled it all, though. Rather than panicking at the start, she went off to get some space and some perspective (from a viewing platform, heh), and then when the Doctor finds her in the viewing lounge there's a really rather wonderful scene with the two of them picking at each other, so very awkward and uneasy but both trying - and managing - to find some middle ground and work things out. I'd never really understood before just how plucky Rose is and how well she handles people. I've never been much of a Rose fan (I was always put off by how young and common she was, though actually I seem to be a lot more open-minded nowadays and neither of those put me off any more) but she really does prove her worth here. I'm glad the Doctor has her.
We've now watched the first two episodes and were not disappointed.
Rose is a really strong episode, and is a fantastic introduction to the world of Doctor Who. It does have quite a lot of annoying things, many of which I detailed in my first rewatch waaaay back in 2007: https://unfeathered.dreamwidth.org/10883.html (I watched the run on its first airing but didn't get into fandom until early 2007 when Torchwood was airing, so hadn't rewatched any of the first two seasons until this point). Interestingly, before I re-read this review, this time around I had several of the same thoughts, especially: 1. the Doctor's inane grinning was really over the top and annoying, 2. Mickey really was presented as extremely dumb in this one, so no wonder I didn't like him for a long time, and 3. Billie’s ‘common’ voice almost as bad as Sophie Aldred’s (I never realised, when watching Ace at the time, that she was supposed to be 'common' because she sounded so posh, and that's definitely my impression in more recent rewatches, and Billie suffers from a very similar problem).
But I really loved the episode this time round, and not *just* for nostalgia reasons. It's a really good, really strong story.
And then you get The End of the World and, woah, everything takes off! I agree a lot less with my original review (here: https://unfeathered.dreamwidth.org/12554.html) on this one. Mainly, I feel like I focussed on a lot of little stuff in that review when my main impression on this viewing was that I’d forgotten – or never realised – just how huge this episode is. It’s been so long since we started our last rewatch and I’ve forgotten so much of what I used to know. I remembered the characters and the basic outline of the plot, and even some of the lines, but I don’t think I ever realised before just how big this all was for Rose. As she says to the blue plumber girl, she’s basically accepted a lift from a complete stranger and she was *totally* unprepared for anything like this. Even in the first big scene, I was very aware of her gradually and steadily becoming completely overwhelmed by the arrival of alien after alien, each different from the last, and it’s very clear to me (now) just how out of her depth she feels, and rightly so. I don’t remember any Classic Who companion (or any other New Who one for that matter) having it brought home to them so quickly just how alien the Doctor is and how cavalier he is with other people’s lives. Even if he does (obviously) come good in the end.
And yes, I did remember that the Doctor took Rose there in a rather cackhanded attempt to make her feel even a tiny part of what he feels about having witnessed the end of his planet, but this time that all really came through so loudly, and just how horrible it was of him, and just how desperate he must be to resort to that. And I’d forgotten how quickly he transforms from inane grinning Doctor to grim, angry Doctor in this one story, just the second story of the run. As I said: huge.
I did like how well Rose handled it all, though. Rather than panicking at the start, she went off to get some space and some perspective (from a viewing platform, heh), and then when the Doctor finds her in the viewing lounge there's a really rather wonderful scene with the two of them picking at each other, so very awkward and uneasy but both trying - and managing - to find some middle ground and work things out. I'd never really understood before just how plucky Rose is and how well she handles people. I've never been much of a Rose fan (I was always put off by how young and common she was, though actually I seem to be a lot more open-minded nowadays and neither of those put me off any more) but she really does prove her worth here. I'm glad the Doctor has her.