Doctor Who - The New Series - Vol. 1 Reviews

dr who

christopher eccleston what a dr, second only to tom baker, this new series is a mind blower, i've never enjoyed a series so much, billie piper was an inspired choice for the role of rose, i dont know how they can top this, just the right mix of humour and horror, excellant, this is a much watch series.

It's Who Jim, but not as we know it...

Your view on Doctor Who for the 21st Century will clearly be informed by your experience of the original series. If, like me, you were weaned on late Jon Pertwee/early Tom Baker episodes, you will probably lament the loss of many mainstays of the Classic series. Gone are the traditional cliffhangers, the Gothic plotlines (with which we were already so familiar) and the feeling that quite a lot of excitement was being generated on a miniscule budget. Instead we are treated to a slyly subversive (and frankly camp) take on the world that is the hallmark of chief writer Russell T. Davies. You also cannot help but see that the BBC has finally woken up to how big a franchise it neglected for so many years. And Doctor Who?s newfound massive budget is nowhere more evident than in the second (and best) episode on this disc, where a host of CGI effects create something akin to Science Fiction as it is experienced on the cinema screen.

Yet there is also an unnecessary and unwelcome lurch towards consciously pleasing (as well as scaring) the child audience. As a consequence we get moments of infantile silliness ? e.g. the first episode has a burping wheelie bin (eclipsed only by the farting aliens on the next release) and the second underscores the apocalypse with a track by teen sensation Britney Spears. There is also a conscious effort for the Doctor to be working class and Northern (like earlier Doctors could have chosen to play the role in anything other than RP). A terrific actor, Christopher Eccleston seems divorced from the benevolent alien of my childhood, but at least he is no longer marked out as a superhero, unencumbered by either ridiculous clothing or a stupid robotic dog. Instead he has Billie Piper, who just gets better and better with each passing episode. So if your experience of Doctor Who is the disastrous 1996 TV movie, then you really are going to love what has been achieved here. And there should still be enough for a longer-term devotee of Doctor Who to get their teeth into as well?

haven't watched this tital yet.

watched the first few episodes on bbc and am hooked again.

it's not the same as 20-30 years ago as the episodes seem to conclude quickly as 1 or 2 programs not the old 5 or 6 for a series.

the choice of doctor was a good choice as christopher relates to it very well.

wasn't sure about our billy but she has turned out to play the part of rose very well.

yes it's not the same as before but they have brought back the daleks, im am now waiting for the cybermen and others.

can't wait for it.

This is worthy of a bright future.

The first episode is a bit of a test but once you get past that you start to get into it again. Sure it?s not perfect and I wasn?t expecting it to be ? the earlier series weren?t either, but the BBC has done a great job at reviving one of their best known franchises. Hopefully they will be able to get enough profits from sales to foreign networks & DVD to justify keeping the new series going.

A new lease of life for the Doctor

The relauch of the Doctor Who franchise was always going to be a risky gamble. The same dated budget sci fi which endeared the series to its original fans, also served to to put a nail in its coffin. How to breathe life into a long dead concept. Well Christoper Eccleston is a big start. He captures the character of the Doctor so effectively and lends credibility to the whole series. Add to this a much bigger budget and more advanced technology. Link with some great supporting cast memebers, and a real surprise package in the form of Billie Piper, and this series not only pays a respectful homage to earlier series but it also takes it to a whole new level - not to mention a whole new audience. Pure quality.

Fantastic!

At last it is here on DVD - Volume one of the new adventures of Doctor Who.

This contains the first three episodes:

Rose - ****/5

The End of the World - *****/5

The Unquiet Dead - *****/5

But alas, not a single extra for us die hard Who fans!

The episodes themselves are all very good - The Unquiet Dead being the standout "classic style" Who adventure.

Even if you've seen them on tv, it's worth revisiting to see if you can spot the subtle build-up to the series mind blowing finale (pay close attention in episode 2)

The Doctor's back, and it's about time!

Dr who is great

I never really got the whole dr who think thought people who watched it were a bit geeky.

But a friend told me to watch the new series and wow, christopher ecclestone is sooooo sexy and billie piper is really good.

Think the empty child and the doctor dances are my favourite episodes so far but have only seen up to volume three so volume four might be even better. The daleks are great this time and making them levitate is a master stroke always thought their inability to handle stairs was a bit of a draw back.

Anyway i thoroughly recommend this new series.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Entertaining if bored

It's amazing to think how much you pay for your TV licence and see the BBC put so little money in their special effects for such a cult serie.

On the positive side it's quite funny and Dr Who is quite an interesting character and well played.

The Best is Yet to Come

This DVD contains the first three episodes of the new series. The best episodes are yet to come and we must make allowances for the fact that these are the opening episodes and new faces and relationships have to be established. However, there's no escaping the fact that the first two episodes are not as good as they should be.

In 'Rose', we follw an apparently typical day in the life of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). We see her at work in a department store; we see her meet her boyfriend for lunch; we see her alone, locked in the store's basement as several shop window dummies come to life. Oh, all right. Not such a typical day. And thankfully, she's not quite alone: the Doctor (Christopher Ecclestone) is on hand to save her.

Ecclestone suffers with some awful dialogue in this episode. When he confronts the Nestene Conciousness (the organism that is able to control the world's plastic), he utters this excruciating line: 'I seek audience under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation.' What is he? A one-man intergalactic version of the United Nations?

Everything is rushed in this episode, a fact that is exemplified by the overbearing incidental music. The introduction of the characters makes the story too compressed. In my view, a better option would have been to expand the story over two episodes.

If the frst episode is too pacy, the second suffers from the opposite problem. There's pretty much no pace at all. 'The End of the World' has the Doctor taking Rose five billion years into the future to a space station the acts as a ringside seat for Earth's destruction. Plenty of interesting looking aliens are introduced, but they mostly just stand around not doing anything. However, one of them is bent on sabotage. And Rose gets herself locked in a room again. That's pretty much it.

Things finally click with episode three, 'The Unquiet Dead' in which victorian Cardiff is visited by Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) and some restless corpses. This is an excellent episode with a good story and strong performances. And needless to say, Rose finds herself locked in a room again.

There is much to look forward to because many of the subsequent episodes are very good indeed. The biggest plus for the series is Billie Piper who brings a blend of streetwise youth and edgy wonderment to her role. Christopher Ecclestone's portrayal of the Doctor returns an air of mystery to the character. The fact that the Doctor is an alien whose sense of morality does not always concur with Rose's is a welcome development that recalls William Hartnell and Colin Baker's time in the Tardis.

This DVD is worth renting for the third episode and obviously as an introduction to the new series. The lack of extras is very disappointing, though.

top dvd and top acting

watched this on bbc when it aired and I have to say this is the best Dr who yet. Much better than the old ones. well worth viewing even if you not a dr who fan...