Whoa. That was a pretty intense episode! I’m really going to miss Christopher Eccleston… I hope the new guy is as good.
I wonder if Rose and the Doctor will ever have a romantic relationship? I mean with that kiss… and then the new doctor body being a bit cuter in the traditional way…I could see it happening.
Back when Peter Davison took the role, it was the first time that the Doctor had been relatively young, so the producers apparently insisted that his female companions dress in an overly conservative manner to squelch any thoughts of romantic entanglement.
Then again, that was over 20 years ago.
A little too deus ex machina for my tastes, otherwise I liked it. I hope this marks the final appearance of Mickey, because he irritates.
Well, now that Captain Jack is out of the way…he and The Doctor’s kiss was way hotter.
Sorry to say, but Mickey is going to be in a handful of episodes next season, but don’t worry because he tags along with Rose and the Doc, they end up in a parallel universe, and he decides to stay behind. Since they only happend upon it by a fluke, they’ll never be able to go back again (well, this is Doctor Who, so never say never, right?). So it looks like Mickey is gone for good after next season.
And I concur, the new Doctor is quite the cutie-pie.
He’s better. IMHO, YMMV
An air hostess uniform is overly conservative?
I think they loosened up after a while. Nyssa, I definitely remember she was more than adequately clothed.
I am sad to see Christopher Eccleston go, he is the only Doctor I liked since Tom Baker. I never really enjoyed any of the others shows. This season was great. I really enjoyed it and my kids really enjoyed it.
For a final episode it was a little Blah, I could live without seeing anymore Daleks.
Has Captain Jack’s spin-off gone on the air yet in the UK?
Jim
I just wanted to say that this was the second episode ever of Doctor Who I ahve ever watched (last week’s being the first.) So what a random time to start watching, eh?
I missed a bit after the last commercial break. What was that white light that was sucked into Rose that allowed her to kill the Daleks and revive the Captain? And how did the Doctor get it back? And why did he say it was killing him because no-one can contain it, if it showed him “giving” it back to the ship thingy? (I forget its name already.) It seemed they writers killed him for no reason other than to show off the neat little effect the Time Lords have of not dying and just being reborn in a new body. Is this the new thing for the new series? Each doctor only lasts one season?
(I’m going to get flamed for this, but…)
And what the heck is up with the Daleks? From what I read on Wikipedia, there only purpose currently is so fans can go “Oh, man, I remember those in the original Doctor Who! Sweet!” But they seem like pretty stupid aliens. Yes, they can kill you with one shot of the death ray…but they can’t go up stairs! (Except the few times they show them hovering, but Wiki says the non-climbing stairs part has been used as plot devices before.) I know that the effects people and directors kept them looking that way as a nod to the original series with its limited budget and special effects methods, but really, I think we can do better. There would probably be an easy way to make them look similar to the old style but not like a cheesy twilight zone episode robot.
And who were those two people Rose was with in, what I guess was, our time? I think I gathered that the blond was her mother, but who was the other guy? Just a friend? The obviously both know about the Doctor, were they former companions, or just there when Rose was asked to join the Doctor and learend all about him? And I still never understood what “Bad Wolf” mant and how it related to that white light.
bouv Some attempts at answers to your questions:
I missed a bit after the last commercial break. What was that white light that was sucked into Rose that allowed her to kill the Daleks and revive the Captain?
That light was the Soul of the Tardis. Definately Deus ex machina.
And how did the Doctor get it back? And why did he say it was killing him because no-one can contain it, if it showed him “giving” it back to the ship thingy?
I am not sure, someone else will probably be able to answer this one.
(I forget its name already.) The Tardis
It seemed they writers killed him for no reason other than to show off the neat little effect the Time Lords have of not dying and just being reborn in a new body. Is this the new thing for the new series? I think there has now been 9 or 10 Doctors, It has been happening since the mid-1960’s. 
Each doctor only lasts one season? No this was one of the shortest lived Doctors.
(I’m going to get flamed for this, but…)
And what the heck is up with the Daleks? From what I read on Wikipedia, there only purpose currently is so fans can go “Oh, man, I remember those in the original Doctor Who! Sweet!” But they seem like pretty stupid aliens. Yes, they can kill you with one shot of the death ray…but they can’t go up stairs! (Except the few times they show them hovering, but Wiki says the non-climbing stairs part has been used as plot devices before.) I know that the effects people and directors kept them looking that way as a nod to the original series with its limited budget and special effects methods, but really, I think we can do better. There would probably be an easy way to make them look similar to the old style but not like a cheesy twilight zone episode robot.
I am also no fan of the Daleks “just for nostalgia reasons”, but I am a casual fan. They are far too vulnerable for great feared creatures. They have been overused like the Borg in Star Trek.
And who were those two people Rose was with in, what I guess was, our time? I think I gathered that the blond was her mother, but who was the other guy?
He is Rose’s old boyfriend. She has left him dangling. He is a bit of a git but well meaning otherwise.
And I still never understood what “Bad Wolf” mant and how it related to that white light.
Bad Wolf was actually a message that Rose with the powers of the soul of Tardis[sup]TM[/sup] sent back throughout time to draw the younger Rose to the right time to stop the Daleks and save the Doctor and Captain Jack.
Jim
TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimensions in Space
The Light: The temporal-spacial singularity bit that powers the TARDIS. In this series, The Light has been endowed with The Force (apologies to Star Wars) -like mystical qualities. The proper context for The Light traces back to the first Time Lords, including the guy who first engineered the effect, now known as Omega.
Regenerations: When a Time Lord wants to, or needs to, he/she/it can regenerated his/her/its body. The result, depending on the circumstances of the regeration, is effectively a new persona, with core memories and basic personality traits being retained: it’s a matter of a new body, not a new Time Lord.
As for this regeneration, it is controversial Eccleston quit the series after one season, giving the BBC people and early opportunity to show the new effects. But in all of the series, there have been multiple regerations, the first being forced by the death of the first actor. Then, whyenever an actor leaves the role, a new actor is cast, and a regeneration is written into an episode, usually under apocalyptic/baaaaad conditions. In the old series, during the Tom Baker/Scarf Doctor, a Time Lord comanion, Romana, also a Time Lord herself, seemed to purposely regenerate, just for the Hell of it. She even “tried on” different bodies, presenting each one for opinions.
I feel rather sorry for the ex-boyfriend/Doormat, and Rose’s behaviour towards him seems either maliciously or obliviously cruel. Then again, she’s 19, and beautiful, and presented as being a fairly careless person who has been growing up since her time travels. And the doormat is written as a fairly timid, useless, plodding git.
The scene is not liked by most Whovians, who don’t think regeneration should be so easy. It gets a pass because Douglas Adams wrote it (the scene, not the episode it appears in), but people pretend it doesn’t exist. Also, it was previously established (in “The War Games”) that the doctor could have some choice in what he looks like (The second doctor was asked to choose). Generally, the doctor only regenerates after a life-threatening event.
Re The Daleks and stairs: it was always implied they could climb them* ), even though it was never actually shown until pretty far into the series. They are certainly dangerous – the show indicated how it was next to impossible to kill them without some sort of immense energy weapon. It makes them pretty formidable, even if they are a 60s design.
*Except when that became a plot point in the same episode where Romana regenerated, “Destiny of the Daleks.” IIRC, though, despite the Fourth Doctor’s taunts, it was just a stairway, but rather one clogged with rubble that would have been difficult to climb even for people.
I take your point, but it isn’t clear whether Hartnell was fired, quit, or whether his arterioschlerosis and health forced him out.
At any rate, there are two remaining regenerations to go, unless the BBC’N’Freinds work out a trick to give the Doctor more options.
So, what’s the total count of “Doctor Who’s” to date?
I remember watching Tom “The Scarf” Baker years ago, he was very good, had small petite women as companions.
So, how many doctors, and is there going to be another season with someone else as the doctor?
The current fellow is the tenth “official Doctor,” including the McGann 1996 post-McCoy Doctor. Under the official 12-regeneration rule, there can be two more actors, unless of course, the writeres figure something else out. Even so, the typical tenure for an actor in this role is usually something like four years. Eccleston, McGann and the like did the job for a brief period, and Tom Baker did the job longest, at seven seasons. So, assuming that the current guy and his successors each stay for at lease three years, we’ve got another decade or so to go before there’s a necesssary regeneration crisis.
In the UK, they’re up to doctor #10. Ecclestone was #9:
William Hartnell
Patrick Troughton
Jon Pertwee
Tom Baker
Peter Davison
Colin Baker
Sylvester McCoy
Paul McGann
Christopher Eccleston
David Tennant
Doctor #10 seems to be on the air in the UK right now.
[quote=cerberusyour point, but it isn’t clear whether Hartnell was fired, quit, or whether his arterioschlerosis and health forced him out.[/quote]
I’ve never seen anything about him being fired; all accounts indicate it was due to health. Hartnell was old when the series began, and often would vanish for an episode when he wasn’t up to the shooting (they were doing 40+ episodes a season back then, so it was a grind). Hartnell wanted to quit because it was wearing him down, but they wanted the show to continue, so they let the Doctor regenerate as a way to bring a new actor in.
AFAIK, the only doctor to actually be fired (or close to it) was Colin Baker.
ISTR an episode, possibly jon Pertwee’s Planet Of The Daleks where The Doctor climbs up some sort of shaft. The Daleks have to get an anti-gravity device before they can follow him. I think The doctor dropped something down the shaft that sent the Daleks crashing down. Or something.
So, we have to assume that Dalek technology has developed since then, allowing every Dalek to carry his own Anti Gravity unit.
I can see it now, in the episode we just watch the Doctor took on the Soul of the Tardis briefly. They could use that as a reset if they wish and say the current Doctor is the First incarnation of a fresh dozen.
On Captain Jack Harkness and John Barrowman the actor who plays him, I found this on the IMDB:
The Spin-off will be called “Torchwood”
Status: Pre-production
Comments: “Filming is due to start early in 2006, with transmission for a post-watershed BBC Three audience in the autumn” (BBC News report)
Jim
And don’t forget Peri
She of the large knockers, long legs, bikinis, shorts, and halter tops! Sure, she was mostly in Colin’s reign, but she started with Peter.
As a fan boy who got my start with #3, saw all of #4, #5, & #6, am catching up via DVD with #1, #2, & #7, saw the one showing of #8, and see Tom Baker as my absolute fave Doctor ever, I can now give a firm second place to my ranking of Doctors: Christopher Eccleston. I’m really going to miss his Doctor.