Rose - Series 1

I've decided that during this huge lull before we get new Doctor Who episodes, I'll write about some different new series companions, because they're the ones who I first met, but I may throw in some classic series companions as well.  However, we only just got up to Wheel in Space, so I'm limited in who I can really discuss.

Rose is the person who introduces/reintroduces us to the Doctor.  She's young, has no ambition, and leads a boring, monotonous life.  Like all companions, she meets the Doctor completely by accident and has no idea who he is, which is perfect, because people who never watched the classic series (like me) really didn't know who the Doctor was, either. 

From what I can tell on the various Doctor Who forums, you either love Rose or hate Rose.  I love Rose, but again, she introduced me to the series, so I had zero expectations of what a companion was or should be.  I think a lot of the flak that Rose gets is unfair, especially after watching the first few series of classic Who, in which most companions are stupid (Dodo) or do nothing but run around screaming (Susan).  Some companions are fantastic at times, but at others, are completely helpless (Victoria).  And yet, these are all still beloved characters (well, maybe not Dodo).

Here are Rose's episodes from Series 1, and a brief look at her strengths and weaknesses in each.

S1E1 Rose:  This is where we meet Rose and Nine.  She is confused by the Doctor, but takes the initiative to research him on the Internet.  She is bewildered when Mickey is replaced by an Auton, and the interior size of the TARDIS is shocking, but she still jumps right in.  She is responsible for saving the Doctor from the Nestene Consciousness, even if it is the ridiculous and over-played "I was a gymnast!" resolution.  Hell, I was a gymnast, but I doubt my skills would ever come in handy to save the Doctor, or knock out a velociraptor.  Still, she shows bravery and innovation.  She also berates the Doctor for not caring whether Mickey was alive or dead, so she clearly isn't going to have trouble speaking her mind.  However, when the Doctor offers her a trip in the TARDIS, she initially turns him down, but then changes her mind when he says it's a time machine.  I think it's terrible that she's willing to leave Mickey, but at the same time, this is probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to her, and let's face it - we would all do the same thing in a heartbeat.  At the time, she didn't know they'd be going on lots of adventures - they were going on one trip, so I'm sure it didn't occur to her that she was abandoning her boyfriend.

S1E2 The End of the World:  The Doctor takes Rose to see the destruction of Earth, but they discover that something strange is going on.  Rose investigates Cassandra, and ends up being knocked out and in danger of being fried up from the sun's rays.  While the Doctor does have to save her life, Rose again shows quick thinking by preventing Cassandra, who orchestrated the whole problem, from leaving Platform One.  As a consequence, Cassandra dries out and ruptures.  So, instead of giving up and crying, Rose has the presence of mind to not only call the Doctor to tell him she's trapped, but she also captures the villain.

S1E3 The Unquiet Dead:  The Doctor and Rose end up in Cardiff.  Rose is kidnapped, but then saved by Charles Dickens and the Doctor.  Nothing really spectacular happens with Rose in this episode, but she does show a lot of compassion and empathy towards Gwyneth.

S1E4 Aliens of London/S1E5 World War III:  Rose is returned twelve months after she leaves with the Doctor to find that she's been reported as missing.  I do like this, because in the classic series, there is no mention of the strange fact that these companions just go missing.  It hasn't been an issue (up to the point I'm at, anyway) and in retrospect, I like that it forces Jackie to become part of the Doctor's world.  A spaceship crashes into Big Ben, and the Doctor and Rose end up at 10 Downing Street with Harriet Jones.  Again, Rose demonstrates that she can handle tough situations - she and Harriet discover the Prime Minister's body, after all.  Though Rose, Harriet, and the Doctor are trapped at 10 Downing Street, Rose is able to contact Mickey and tell him how to hack into UNIT and help destroy Downing Street (and the Slitheen).  The Doctor invites Mickey to join him, but he declines.  Rose, however, decides to continue traveling with the Doctor.  Again, Rose shows her resilience and the ability to take danger in stride. 


S1E6 Dalek:  Rose's ability to show sympathy to aliens results in her resurrecting a dormant Dalek.  We see the Doctor fall apart when he discovers its existence, and it becomes clear why he needs a companion, and Rose specifically.  She really can't be fazed, even in the face of the complete unknown.  Also, she can stop the Doctor when he's gone too far (a theme that is repeated with, of all people, Donna).  Yes, she is trapped again, but it is really her empathy for the Dalek that saves her, and not the Doctor.  It's becoming clear that Rose is far from helpless.

S1E7 The Long Game:  This is really one of my least favorite episodes, so I don't have much to say about it.  Plus, nothing really interesting happens with Rose.  The new companion, Adam, does some really stupid stuff and ends up being forced off the TARDIS after just one trip.  Hey, at least he didn't die, like so many companions did in the span of just a few episodes towards the end of the First Doctor's run.

S1E8 Father's Day:  This is the episode that really makes Rose seem like a moron.  She convinces the Doctor to take her back to the day her father dies, but she intervenes and saves his life.  This creates a paradox that makes time go all crazy (pay attention, Moffat!) until Pete dies as he was meant to. After the Doctor tells Rose not to touch Baby Rose, she stupidly lets Jackie put Baby Rose into her arms, creating another paradox.  Really, this entire episode just discounts all the smart decisions she made in the previous episodes.

S1E9 The Empty Child, aka the episode that still gives me nightmares/S1E10 The Doctor Dances:  Rose ends up hanging from a barrage balloon (yes, another ridiculous idea), but it results in her meeting Captain Jack Harkness (swoon).  Because the Doctor doesn't really fit into her idea of what a time traveler should be, she calls Jack a "professional".  It's a bit bratty, but I think it's more funny than anything.  Realizing that Harkness is responsible for the object they were chasing through space, Rose cleverly gets Jack to meet up with the Doctor.  Rose continues to be impressed by Jack, which annoys the Doctor to no end.

S1E11 Boom Town:  The Slitheen are back, this time in Cardiff.  Meanwhile, Rose has asked Mickey to meet them there - it turns out she's missed him.  I think it's a really sweet moment when she tells him that, as it shows that she hasn't just completely abandoned him.  Yes, life with the Doctor is more exciting, but she does care about Mickey, just maybe not as much as he'd like.

S1E12 Bad Wolf/S1E13 Parting of the Ways:  Rose is kidnapped by the Daleks (okay, I agree, her being held prisoner gets old).  Rose comes up with a way for them to beat the Daleks, and while the Doctor initially says it won't work, he changes his mind and sends Rose into the TARDIS.  As soon as she enters, he sends the TARDIS back to London.  She arrives and completely freaks out about being sent home.  She realizes that being with the Doctor hasn't just been exciting, it's helped her discover that she has potential, that she can be a better person.  Mickey and Jackie help to remove the panel in the control room and she looks into the heart of the TARDIS, then flies it back to Satellite 5.  She destroys the Daleks, but to save Rose, the Doctor has to absorb the power from the TARDIS by kissing her.  This almost seems ridiculous, except that you have to remember that Christopher Eccleston didn't want to continue with Doctor Who, and they had to make him regenerate somehow.  I'm not saying it couldn't have been done differently, but I like it.  Anyway, Rose is terrified by the regeneration, but she doesn't scream or faint, she just takes it all in.

Personally, I think that throughout the entire series, Rose does show weakness, but she also shows that she is very strong.  She can reel in the Doctor when he goes too far, she can think on her feet, she doesn't lose her head in a tough situation.  She possesses the empathy that the broken Doctor lacks.  She's human, and the Doctor is so detached after the Time War, he needs someone to keep him grounded.  I can absolutely understand why some people hate her, but I think that in some ways, the criticism that the character receives is unwarranted.  I know a lot of the problem is that she is in love with the Doctor, and honestly, the Doctor changed Rose's life so much, of course she's going to hero worship him.  I think that no matter who had been the next companion, there would have been a lot of people unhappy, just like a lot of people hate Christopher Eccleston, even though he's my second favorite Doctor.  No one will like every character.  I mean, look at Amy.  I think she's a vapid moron, and yet there are classic fans who love her.  It's all really a matter of taste, isn't it?

Oh, and by the way, in case you didn't realize:  I'M A GIRL.

Well, time to say goodbye to Nine, and move on to Series 2.

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

I LOVE Sherlock.  If it weren't for Sherlock, I'd probably be burning effigies of Steven Moffat (not really, I'm just being dramatic).

I also LOVE the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre.

And, I do not like the new Doctor Who (you may have noticed).

Put all those together, and what do you have?  The funniest 4:55 I have seen in a long time.  I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt, and I had to keep rewinding the video (rewinding? WTF, Lynette, is this 1985?) to catch bits that I'd missed.

If you like it, PLEASE go to their YouTube channel and follow them.

2011 Christmas Special: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

 We start out in space - and apparently, there is sound in space.  Take a lesson from Joss Whedon, Mr. Moffat.  There is no sound in space!  Okay, the Doctor runs through the exploding spaceship - very exciting!  I do love this music.  But wait!  He's now hanging off of the spaceship, breathing, groaning, talking, yelling.  Why does he need the space suit?  I guess for reentry?  Are spacesuits built for reentry?

But I'm deviating away from my normal "let's save the nasty comments for the Dislikes section".  Maybe I should start over.

So the Doctor is on this exploding spaceship.  He ends up on the outside, and as he lets go of the ship, he spies a space suit.  He and the suit both hurtle through space, and he crash lands somewhere in England.  Madge, a housewife, finds him, but because he put the helmet on backwards and now it's stuck, she doesn't see his face.  She helps him get to the TARDIS.  Back home, she discusses the impending war with her husband.  A few years later, he is a pilot in World War II, and he disappears over the English Channel.

Madge receives the news at Christmas, but she promises Cyril and Lily, her children, that their father will be coming home.  They all go to their uncle's mansion in the country, apparently to escape the bombing.  They are greeted by the Doctor, who calls himself the Caretaker.  He has specially prepared the house for them in a ridiculous display in an attempt to cheer them up (though we don't know yet that he knows about their father's death).  Madge sends the kids out of the room and tells the Doctor that their father is dead.

The children find a giant Christmas tree downstairs and equally giant present, which glows eerily like the TARDIS.  That night, Lily wakes up and starts to sneak downstairs to look at the present, but instead, she wanders into the Doctor's room.  She starts flirting with talking to the Doctor about the TARDIS, which he calls a wardrobe.  Meanwhile, Cyril does go downstairs and open the present, which is really a doorway to Narnia a mystical wood.  Of course, he enters the wood.  Lily, however, tells the Doctor that her brother is in bed asleep.  This eases the Doctor's mind, because now he can get some alone time with Lily he can continue to work on rewiring his wardrobe.  But then an alarm goes off, and he knows that Cyril has gone into the wardrobe present.  He then pulls Lily into the magical wood as well, and tells her that it's a dimensional portal thingie.  She smiles alluringly innocently at him.  They start following Cyril's footprints; Cyril, in the meantime, is following ever-growing footprints.

Cyril ends up at the witch's castle a tall tower which has a lion's face in the door handle.  He goes inside, where a statue of a treeman sits in a throne.  He decides then to climb up the tower, and as he does so, the statue blinks (I actually was typing that as a joke, and then the statue blinked).  As Cyril climbs the tower, there are flashing lights in the sky, and some kind of transport vessel lands in front of Madge, who'd been following all the footprints.  Some entirely irrelevant soldiers climb out to provide some comic relief.

Back at the ranch tower, Cyril finds a room with a treegirl standing over a throne, holding a crown.  The Doctor and Lily enter the tower and he tells her that the entire building is a group of trees disguised as a building.  Lily holds the Doctor's hand (for the second time, I might add).  Bow chick a wow wow.

Back to the soldiers for some more comedy.  They aren't going to shoot Madge for trespassing, and they lower their guns.  But Madge pulls one out and tells them she's looking for her children.

In the tower, the treegirl is trying to put the crown on Cyril's head, and the Doctor and Lily try to get into the room.  Lily notices that their are stars coming out of the forest, and the Doctor says it's life.  The treegirl places the crown on Cyril's head, and the king statue starts climbing the tower.

Madge is in the transport ship - the soldiers tell her that the entire forest is about to be burned with acid rain to make battery fluid.  The soldiers evacuate the ship.

Cyril tells the Doctor that the trees are evacuating.  Lily goes to the window and the Doctor explains that the life forces are trying to evacuate to leave the planet.  He holds her shoulder.  How creepy is this?  The crown is a relay, it's an escape plan for the trees.  The treepeople tell the Doctor that Cyril is weak, and the Doctor is weak, but Lily is strong.

The acid rain starts, and the Doctor tells them they have to go.  But then Cyril throws a temper tantrum and says he has to wait for his mummy.  She then comes crashing through the forest in an AT-AT.  She enters the tower, and the treegirl puts the crown on Madge.  The life forces start pouring into her brain until she has the entire forest in her head.  Turns out that Madge is strong because she's a woman and all she's good for is popping out kids she's a vessel for life.

The top of the tower takes off because it's a spaceship, and they enter the time vortex.  They have to go home, and the only way for that to happen is for Madge to think of home.  She then climaxes pictures home and her husband, but then says she doesn't want to see him die.  We then cut back to the plane, but then Reg sees a brilliant light and decides to follow it.  How he can follow that blinding light is beyond me, but whatever.

The ship lands back home at the mansion in the country.  The children are very upset, though, about Madge saying that she didn't want to watch him die.  She decides she has to tell the children the truth.  The Doctor leaves to give them privacy, but as she starts to tell the children about her father, the Doctor starts calling to them very excitedly.  They run outside and their father's plane is parked outside the mansion as well.  Apparently, Madge's having a tree inside her head led her husband home.  It's so very heartwarming.

Madge visits the Doctor up in the attic and says that she knew it was her spaceman.  She convinces him to go home to see his friends and tell them that he's still alive.  He goes to see Amy and Rory.  Amy shoots him with a water pistol.  They hug.  It's incredibly charming.  The Doctor wipes the water from the water pistol - or is that a tear? - from his cheek.  Hang on, I have to go barf.

Narnian references:

What do they teach you in schools these days?
Time moves differently across dimensions.
World War II/going to a mansion in the country to escape the bombing in London
Magical wood
Calling the TARDIS a wardrobe
The trees are talking to each other (even some of the trees are on her side)
Trying to crown the children

Likes:

1)  Madge takes him to an actual call box.

2)  Madge asks if he's the new caretaker, and he says, "Usually called the Doctor, or the Caretaker, or Get Off This Planet, though strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name."

3)  Madge really is strong.  She doesn't freak out about the whole affair.

Dislikes:

1)  How is he talking and shouting in space?  IN SPACE!

2)  How did falling from space NOT kill him?  Apparently that's an "impact suit".  But from SPACE?!

3)  Haha, Madge keeps hitting things with her car.  Women can't drive.

4)  The back of the Doctor's space helmet has breathing holes.  Are space helmets supposed to have
holes in the back of them?

5)  The "repairs" to the house are ridiculous.  This whole thing is ridiculous.

6)  He's being over the top again.

7) When the Doctor rushes around like a deranged clown shows the children their bedroom, I feel very much like Madge - just STOP TALKING!

8)  Relationship between Lily and the Doctor = CREEEEPPPY!

9)  Too many Narnia references

10) These kids are STUPID.

11) "Mummy, is Daddy dead?"

12) What the hell was the Christmas present for?  He's just going to take them into this other dimension, la dee da?

13) Did they have to put the loudmouth red head Amy back in? 

14) Humany-wumany.  It works with timey-wimey.  It doesn't work when he does it with other things, and this is the second time in this episode he's said something like "timey-wimey" that wasn't timey-wimey!

15) If she saved her husband, why did she still have the telegram? 

16)  Seriously, I think Lily was trying to get in the Doctor's pants.

17)  I just realized - the Doctor showed up because Madge made a wish.  A WISH!  Since when does the Doctor hear and respond to wishes?!?

I dislike Moffat's tenure so much.  He has completely crushed me, he's destroyed this show that I so completely embraced.  I feel cheated now that I came to it so late, that I only had one real season to watch in real time.  So quickly did Doctor Who enter my life, make it a bit more enjoyable, and then exit.  Thankfully, I have a few dozen seasons of the classic series to watch, because god knows, I'd rather watch the most horrible reconstruction than Matt Smith.

I so wish David Morrissey had really been the next Doctor.