Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor
Year: 2005
Created by: Russell T. Davies
Starring: Christopher Eccleston & Billie Piper
Episodes: 13 (1 Series)
BBFC: 12
Published: 16/06/21
Created by: Russell T. Davies
Starring: Christopher Eccleston & Billie Piper
Episodes: 13 (1 Series)
BBFC: 12
Published: 16/06/21
If you keep up to date with my reviews, you’ll know I recently watched BBC’s Sherlock series for the first time, and it brought back a lot of good memories from my younger years watching Doctor Who. Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Russell T. Davies (who I also recently was reacquainted with thanks to It’s A Sin) were the BBC’s golden boys back in 2005 when they revived Doctor Who, after the show had been on hiatus since 1989 (minus a mediocre 1996 film). Their plan was to utilise modern CGI technology in combination with the practical visual effects the series had been known for and present a truly modern Doctor with an emphasis on modern storytelling, and modern social issues. I loved Doctor Who in my pre-teens, but I stopped watching shortly into Matt Smith’s run of being The Doctor for multiple reasons. But I want to get back into it and take a trip down memory lane in the process. So, sixteen years after its revival and Doctor Who is still going strong, but how has the Ninth Doctor’s era held up under modern scrutiny.
The year is 2005 and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is a sales assistant in a London department store. When closing up one night Rose is attacked by aliens that disguise themselves as mannequins. She is rescued by a man who calls himself The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), a Time Lord, the last of his kind, and he travels throughout time in a spaceship called the TARDIS. He likes to help people, and he ensures that species that are unable to protect themselves against other extra-terrestrial threats get the help they deserve. Rose decides to join him in his adventures and gets the opportunity to explore different planets and different time periods. Together they battle dangerous alien races, solve mysteries, and help those who are struggling.
The year is 2005 and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is a sales assistant in a London department store. When closing up one night Rose is attacked by aliens that disguise themselves as mannequins. She is rescued by a man who calls himself The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), a Time Lord, the last of his kind, and he travels throughout time in a spaceship called the TARDIS. He likes to help people, and he ensures that species that are unable to protect themselves against other extra-terrestrial threats get the help they deserve. Rose decides to join him in his adventures and gets the opportunity to explore different planets and different time periods. Together they battle dangerous alien races, solve mysteries, and help those who are struggling.
Although Eccleston’s era of Doctor Who is titled ‘Series One’, the show does canonically follow on from 1989’s ‘Series Twenty-Six’. However, you don’t need to know what has happened in every episode since the series started in the 1960’s, and the 2005 reboot fills viewers in on any information they might need to know.
The Doctor and Rose spend the majority of the twelve-episode series either fighting the Slitheen, a body-snatching crime family who pose as members of the UK government and plan to kill the human race and sell Earth to the highest bidder; or the Daleks, an old enemy of The Doctor and perhaps the show’s most iconic villains.
Approximately half of the series is comprised of standalone episodes, that whilst having self-contained stories gradually build on the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, and develop each of their backstories. The other half are episodes featuring Slitheen or Dalek encounters which are initially framed as standalone stories, but begin to connect as more information comes into play later in the series.
The problem with structuring the series like this is it feels like episodes that don’t contribute to the central conflict of Slitheen or Dalek often feel like padding, because although these episodes primarily serve to flesh out character details, they don’t actually add anything that couldn’t have been explained in a few lines of well written dialogue. Then the episodes that do deal with Slitheen and Dalek initially feel like they too are padding, until the final few episodes where the pieces start to fall into place. As a result, the first series of the revived Doctor Who can feel a little disjointed and sluggish.
The Doctor and Rose spend the majority of the twelve-episode series either fighting the Slitheen, a body-snatching crime family who pose as members of the UK government and plan to kill the human race and sell Earth to the highest bidder; or the Daleks, an old enemy of The Doctor and perhaps the show’s most iconic villains.
Approximately half of the series is comprised of standalone episodes, that whilst having self-contained stories gradually build on the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, and develop each of their backstories. The other half are episodes featuring Slitheen or Dalek encounters which are initially framed as standalone stories, but begin to connect as more information comes into play later in the series.
The problem with structuring the series like this is it feels like episodes that don’t contribute to the central conflict of Slitheen or Dalek often feel like padding, because although these episodes primarily serve to flesh out character details, they don’t actually add anything that couldn’t have been explained in a few lines of well written dialogue. Then the episodes that do deal with Slitheen and Dalek initially feel like they too are padding, until the final few episodes where the pieces start to fall into place. As a result, the first series of the revived Doctor Who can feel a little disjointed and sluggish.
But the real appeal of Doctor Who that will keep you coming back for each new episode is the fantastic chemistry between Eccleston and Piper. The dialogue can be a little lacking, and a lot of it feels like it came from an Eastenders script, but the physical performances of Eccleston and Piper make the characters convincing and relatable. Along the way we’re introduced to a handful of recurring characters, most notably Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in the back end of the series. Whilst engaging, these characters never manage to get quite enough screen time or development to be as appealing as The Doctor and Rose. Thankfully Jack makes a return in future series and even gets his own spin-off (Torchwood, which I will review at a later time) which help make his character a true standout later down the line, but fir the first series the spotlight is firmly on The Doctor and Rose.
Part of the reason for reviving Doctor Who was that Davies & Moffat truly felt like CGI was finally up to the job of being able to enhance the practical effects the show was previously so well known for. Unfortunately, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I remember even as a child thinking that the CG special effects in Doctor Who looked ugly, and now sixteen years later ten-year-old me has been proven even more correct. CG special effects are used very heavily in Doctor Who and they look rubbish, even for 2005 standards. It’s clear that the BBC’s budget didn’t stretch far enough to pay for a decent special effects team, but thankfully the practical effects are for the most part relatively good. Costumes, makeup, and set designs are superb, with concepts that push the boundaries of imagination. But the CG stuff looks like it was pulled from a budget video game. Mix this with the BBC’s trademark cheap looking camera work (that even sixteen years later has not improved very much, honestly, where do these camera operators come from?) and Doctor Who can look like ultimate B-Movie cheese very often, despite that not being the look its going for.
Part of the reason for reviving Doctor Who was that Davies & Moffat truly felt like CGI was finally up to the job of being able to enhance the practical effects the show was previously so well known for. Unfortunately, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I remember even as a child thinking that the CG special effects in Doctor Who looked ugly, and now sixteen years later ten-year-old me has been proven even more correct. CG special effects are used very heavily in Doctor Who and they look rubbish, even for 2005 standards. It’s clear that the BBC’s budget didn’t stretch far enough to pay for a decent special effects team, but thankfully the practical effects are for the most part relatively good. Costumes, makeup, and set designs are superb, with concepts that push the boundaries of imagination. But the CG stuff looks like it was pulled from a budget video game. Mix this with the BBC’s trademark cheap looking camera work (that even sixteen years later has not improved very much, honestly, where do these camera operators come from?) and Doctor Who can look like ultimate B-Movie cheese very often, despite that not being the look its going for.
I’m going to take a moment to talk about Eccleston, as I’m breaking down my review of Doctor Who to focus on different eras of the series, it’s only right to talk about the leading role and what they bring to the character and the show as a whole.
A cool thing about Doctor Who is that much like James Bond the character has been passed down to multiple different actors over the years, with Christopher Eccleston being the ninth actor to don the title of The Doctor. I don’t have an awful lot of experience with previous Doctors but Eccleston is stern as The Doctor. Whilst he is definitely up for a good time and down for a laugh, he spends much of the series being the teller of cautionary tales. Eccleston is the Doctor who has seen terrible things, done terrible things, and has become somewhat cold from the whole ordeal. He is often seen mourning the death of his race, lashing out in anger at people who take things for granted, and pushing away those who do not do what he says for fear of causing them harm. He’s generally one of the least likable Doctors as a result, and I think part of that problem is he doesn’t get a lot of time in the role. He is only the Doctor for the first series’ twelve episode run before he is replaced with David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor; and because the show needs to spend so much time explaining things, we don’t get an awful lot of time to develop Eccleston’s character beyond damaged war hero.
Returning to the first series of the revived Doctor Who is certainly an experience, but one that I don’t think many will take. It was very nostalgic for me, I remember sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday night after finishing my dinner experiencing it all for the first time, and like many people my age this was the first we had ever heard of The Doctor. But it was also a rough experience revisiting it. The cheap CGI, the cheesy dialogue, the dodgy camera work. It’s not something that has aged gracefully in the slightest, and I feel like the only people who will enjoy the early series of the Doctor Who revival are people who are already Doctor Who fans.
But it is a series I recommend checking out, like all shows it has its ups and downs, but there is something undeniably magical about Doctor Who and that’s the reason why it’s been going since the sixties, and why even after so long off the air the series managed to be successfully revived.
It’s the start of a long journey through time and space, and frankly, I can’t wait to watch the rest of it, much of it for the first time.
A cool thing about Doctor Who is that much like James Bond the character has been passed down to multiple different actors over the years, with Christopher Eccleston being the ninth actor to don the title of The Doctor. I don’t have an awful lot of experience with previous Doctors but Eccleston is stern as The Doctor. Whilst he is definitely up for a good time and down for a laugh, he spends much of the series being the teller of cautionary tales. Eccleston is the Doctor who has seen terrible things, done terrible things, and has become somewhat cold from the whole ordeal. He is often seen mourning the death of his race, lashing out in anger at people who take things for granted, and pushing away those who do not do what he says for fear of causing them harm. He’s generally one of the least likable Doctors as a result, and I think part of that problem is he doesn’t get a lot of time in the role. He is only the Doctor for the first series’ twelve episode run before he is replaced with David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor; and because the show needs to spend so much time explaining things, we don’t get an awful lot of time to develop Eccleston’s character beyond damaged war hero.
Returning to the first series of the revived Doctor Who is certainly an experience, but one that I don’t think many will take. It was very nostalgic for me, I remember sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday night after finishing my dinner experiencing it all for the first time, and like many people my age this was the first we had ever heard of The Doctor. But it was also a rough experience revisiting it. The cheap CGI, the cheesy dialogue, the dodgy camera work. It’s not something that has aged gracefully in the slightest, and I feel like the only people who will enjoy the early series of the Doctor Who revival are people who are already Doctor Who fans.
But it is a series I recommend checking out, like all shows it has its ups and downs, but there is something undeniably magical about Doctor Who and that’s the reason why it’s been going since the sixties, and why even after so long off the air the series managed to be successfully revived.
It’s the start of a long journey through time and space, and frankly, I can’t wait to watch the rest of it, much of it for the first time.