Doctor Who 2005 - Season 1

I had bought the DVDs of the first new season of Doctor Who for a while now, but had not had time to watch it. I did in the last few days, and it was a blast! I had loved the show as a child, at least the few episodes they showed on greek national TV (just 2 national channels at the time!)

I am sorry that the season had just 13 episodes. It ended and I wanted more. More Eccleston, more Jack, more of everything! And I was sorry to see Eccleston leave at the end of the season. He is quite handsome!

I have loved the new Doctor Who, from the way it looks to the stories and the characters. Christopher Eccleston did a wonderful job as the new Doctor, the 9th Doctor. I was really happy when I heard that there would be a new series of Doctor Who, and was hoping for a good show, and I got more than that.

Eccleston's Doctor is handsome, I would say heroic, as most Doctors were; he is a caring individual, he cares about his traveling companion, Rose, and tries to spare her at the end of the season. He doesn't like to hide, and dashes in, sometimes, or better most times without a plan. The new Doctor is mysterious and charming, he is a Doctor for a new millennium, but also a Doctor that appeals to the older generations.

As for his companion, Rose, she is a young woman full of life, she is a human being first of all, and shows it all the time. She has no problem going to meet the unknown, and is taken on the ride of her life by the Doctor. There is also something more between the two, but it's not that explicit in the series, I don't know if there is the same chemistry with the 10th Doctor, David Tennant.

I loved the new look of the TARDIS in the interior. It looks like a real mumbo jumbo of a spaceship, of adaptations from the Doctor, since he is the last of the Timelords, the rest of them killed in the Time War. The Time War between the Daleks and the Timelords, had a very high cost for the Doctor, and in the series it shows. It is meant to be shown in the first season, so that we at least try and understand his own feelings and hurt. He says it was not his choice to live, and maybe there is something to discover in that mystery.

The Daleks are back in the series, in 3 episodes, and I thought those were the best episodes of the season. And finally, the Daleks have solved the stairs problem! How can you be one of the most feared races in the universe and not be able to go up a flight of stairs? Simple: no money for special effects in the old series! And this stairs problem was also an in-joke in the first of the Dalek episodes, from which the above photograph was taken.

And of course, I shouldn't forget, Captain Jack Harkness, the ex time agent turned con-man (or is he?) that Rose and the Doctor meet in one of their adventures. Not only do they meet him, but he becomes part of the crew for the rest of the season. But who is Jack? A 51st century man, a bisexual or better a pansexual, as he is a 51st century man, when mankind has reached to the stars and has met with various species. Jack doesn't hide his sexuality at all, he is who he is and is very comfortable with it. I applaud both the series producers and John Barrowman for this; the issue of one's sexuality is important, and in the show, it is portrayed in the right kind of light, without being vulgar. On the contrary, you almost immediately like Captain Jack Harkness and you don't even have to try. He is likeable, dashing, and charming!

And of course, Jack did get his own series (which I hope returns in 2010), named Torchwood. Well, I know what I will be watching after I finish with Doctor Who!

As far as the episodes go, my favorite are the 3 Dalek episodes. After that, the second episode, The End of the World is one of my favorites. The Doctor takes Rose into the future, 5 billion years into the future, at the time when the Earth will die, engulfed by a dying Sun, when he becomes a red giant. Mankind has gone to the stars and the Earth is just another rock in space... Will we ever be able to go to the stars?

And of course, Father's Day. Rose and the Doctor go back in time when Rose's father dies. Rose saves him and creates a time paradox. Time creatures attack to cleanse the Earth not only from the time paradox but from the human race as a whole.

A good season, this first one with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. I just started to watch the second season with David Tennant, and for the first few episodes, I like it. More when I finish the second season.