Enter the trendy new Doctor Who
- Publication: Express & Star
- Date: 2005-03-25
- Author:
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- Language: English
The Time Lord returns to BBC TV tomorrow, ROGER CLARK, founder of a Black Country Dr Who fan club, has had a time-warp sneak preview. This is his verdict
HE travels through time and space in an alien ship disguised as a 1950s police telephone box. He has saved the universe countless times but in the end lost out in a fight for survival with the BBC bigwigs.
But you can't keep goad Time Lard down. Doctor Who is back.
Tomorrow sees his return to BBC1 prime time in the firt regular series since 1989. There was the American coproduction in 1996 and the odd fleeting appearances (who can forget Rowan Atkinson's Comic Relief sketch?) but for the majority of the tune he's been kept alive by loyal fans buying new adventures in the form of books, original cast CDs and comics.
However, you don't need to know everything about all those to enjoy the new series.
It's bold, it's brave and boy does it move fast. It keeps the old stalwarts from the original show such as the theme tune, the Tardis, the Daleks (who have been able to go up stairs since the 1980s despite what others say!) and the Doctor's quirky nature.
It re-introduces the show to a new generation and, while some of the might not like it, there are some of the fans that are squarely levelled at the kids - something forgotten to a large extent since the late 1970s.
How do I know? It appears an unfinished copy of the first episode slipped into the hands of some fans who promptly posted it on the internet.
Attracted
There's something amusing about the first episode of a tame-travel show slipping out into the public domain before its due. I'm sure the Doctor would approve.
In this first episode we are introduced to Rose Tyler, played by former-pop-star-turned actress Billie Piper. Here we have a very contemporary character bored with the treadmill of everyday life. She is soon attracted to a mysterious stranger known as the Doctor.
And he is very different to what we've known before.
Gone are the silly question-mark costumes that made the latter incarnations look like some spoof of an American superhero. Here we have a Doctor who is wearing a trendy leather jacket and is not at all warned about using slang.
The role is brought to life by Christopher Eccleston, more widely known for his TV work in Our Friends in the North and Cracker.
Here he relishes in the Doctor's sense of humour and shifts effortlessly between the frivolous and the dramatic. There is also an instant chemistry between Eccleston and Piper that shows clearly on screen.
For me, Piper is the biggest surprise of the series. Forget the pop star business. She can act.
She plays her role with conviction and some of the expressions used at the Doctor's actions are genuinely funny without going too far.
For the find episode we are brought face-to-fare with the Nestene; an alien force that can bring plastic to life.
You may remember the shop dummies (Autons) breaking through windows to attack shoppers. Well, the memory cheats a bit here in a wonderful piece of budget-saving ingenuity from the time - we never saw the windows smash, just heard it and saw the reactions of a policeman.
Here, we see lots of windows smashing as hordes of Autons attack shoppers. There's even a cheeky nod to the viewers of old as we don't even hear the word Auton throughout the episode!
As you're probably gathered, the BBC have finally thrown some money at the special effects. In their day, the old effects were good enough but we've now been spoilt by Buffy, Star Trek and Babylon 5.
Winners
The Doctor is now able to compete with the best, thanks to computer imagery brought to the screen by Oscar winners who supplied the effects in Gladiator.
But there is always a down-side. It could be argued that the middle of the firm episode sinks too far towards a children's show.
Two main seems both involving Rose's boyfriend are unconvincing. Hopefully this will he put right in the final edit before it airs.
We are assured that the scripts will stand up with the best that current drama has to offer.
We have episodes from Russell Davies who is also Executive Producer. Don't know the name? How about Casanova, Queer As Folk or Second Coming?
Other writers include League of Gentlemen's Mark Gattis, Casualty and Coronation Street's Paul Cornell and Coupling's Stephan Moffatt.
As well as attracting the cream of today's writing talent, the show also has its fair share of famous faces in front of the camera including Zoe Wanamaker, Simon Callow, Simon Pegg and Richard Wilson.
Overall, his first episode works. Considering what it has to do, it's hugely enjoyable. It's fast-paced, funny, well made and all the other things you could ask of a new drama from the BBC.
As the series goes on, it may become a bit darker and develop into should be - the BBC's flagship show enjoyed by millions across the country and not a few fans.
Captions:
The Doctor a back. Long may he stay to entertain us.
The new 13-part series starts on BBBC1 at 7pm tomorrow
The Tardis - only way to travel
An encounter with the Autons
Christopher Eccleston Billie Piper in the new Doctor Who series
Fun Roger Clark - series preview
Spelling correction: Steven Moffat
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- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Enter the trendy new Doctor Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Enter_the_trendy_new_Doctor_Who | work=Express & Star | pages= | date=2005-03-25 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=15 April 2025 }}</ref>
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