christopher eccleston

(S01E09)

Captain Jack: Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock!

The Doctor: Mr Spock?

Rose: What else was I gonna say? You don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of The Doctor? Doctor Who?

The Doctor: Nine centuries, I'm coping.

Cree-py!

If there is one word that describes this episode of Doctor Who it would be the word you see above. Oh, I could also use adjectives such as romantic, funny, mysterious and, um, blitzy. Yet, they would be secondary to creepy. Credit this to writer Steven Moffat and director James Hawes who used every trick in the Stephen King book of suspense to get that chill up your spine while The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) investigated the mystery of a homeless child who really wasn't.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. So, jump at the sound of the gong to find out what the episode was all about.

 

(S01E08) If your mother has told you once, she's told you a thousand times:  Don't mess with the time stream! Apparently, Rose (Billie Piper) never listened to her mum, or watched an episode of Star Trek (original or Next Generation) or any film in the Back to the Future series. Because, if she did, she would have realized that messing with the timeline can cause some serious consequences. In this case, by saving her father from a premature death, she opened the planet up to alien beings who cleanse Earth of all corrupted objects; i.e. humans.

See? Always listen to your mother!

(S01E07) For a couple of episodes now The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) have been slumming around our humble planet Earth in about a one hundred year time span. This episode we get off of good ol' Terra to a satellite hovering around the planet in the year 200,000. Joining the intrepid travelers is Adam (Dalek's Bruno Langley).

From the beginning you could tell that this episode would be different from last week's dark,  introspective episode. The Doctor, Rose and Adam land on Satellite 5, which broadcasts news of the entire Earth Empire (Yes! We're still great even in the future!). News gathering is performed by one person, whose brain is one big storage unit, while subordinates put the reports together using small mind chips. An 'Editor-in-Chief' oversees everyone on the satellite and in the entire empire through a control room manned by zombies.The whole thing reminded me a bit of Max Headroom.

Anyone who performs well gets promoted to floor 500. However, after they get promoted they are never seen again. And there, dear readers, lies the mystery that The Doctor must solve. Because, not only does he need to find out where these people go, but why their technology is so backwards (for the year 2000,000 that is.)

 

(S01E06) All right, let's get this out of the way so we can proceed with the review. Here we go . . .

I didn't like Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. Call it blasphemy, call it satanical, but I just didn't get the vibe with Baker as I did with some of the other doctors such as Jon Pertwee (third Doctor), Peter Davison (fifth Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (seventh Doctor). Maybe it was the scarf.

Having said that, I am really enjoying these new Dr. Who adventures that are appearing on the Sci-Fi Channel while their normal Friday night schedule is taking a hiatus. To paraphrase... it's not your father's (or grandfather's) Dr. Who. While there are some occasional cheesy aliens and special effects, this version of the show is definitely the one of the most slickly produced in the series' 43-year history.

The Sci-Fi Channel has always treated me well by managing to air zombie flicks right when I'm in a Romero mood and having a show about plumber-by-day ghostbusters (so what if I like Ghost Hunters?). And now, my dear, dear Sci-Fi Channel is going to start airing Doctor Who. Flippin' sweet indeed. Starting in March, the channel will begin airing the Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor) version of the cult classic. Not much news on whether or not they'll air the David Tennant (latest) version yet but, according to the article, the channel has an "option". I'm assuming they'll gauge the response to the Eccleston version before deciding on anything else? Well, no matter because, finally, the Doctor is coming! Woooo-Who! Alright, that's enough out of me. I'll shut up now before I make some dated "Exterminate!" jokes.