Rose (TV story)

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Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!The Doctor


Rose is the first episode of the first series of the revived "Doctor Who". It was first shown on BBC One on 26 March, 2005 and was the first new episode of Doctor Who since the 1996 television movie; "Doctor Who".

The story deals with the first encounter between the mysterious Doctor and Rose. It takes place from Rose's point of view (who acts as the audience surrogate) as she investigates the strange man and the mysteries surrounding him.

Synopsis

Rose Tyler is an ordinary girl who leads an ordinary life. She lives with her mother in a London council flat, has a boyfriend and works as a shop assistant in a department store. Her life changes forever, though, when she meets the Doctor.

Plot

Rose Tyler works in a department store called "Henrik's". On this particular day, Rose is asked to give the lottery syndicate to Wilson (chief electrician) at the end of her shift. She takes the elevator to the basement of the building. When she gets there, she discovers that Wilson is missing. Shortly after, the piled up shop-window dummies come to life and advance on Rose. Just as Rose is about to be attacked, a man in a black leather coat takes her hand and tells her to "run!".

Once they are safely inside the elevator, going up, and the man has pulled the dummies arm off, he informs Rose that Wilson is dead. When they arrive at the correct floor, the man points a mysterious metal device at the controls for the lift causing it to short-circuit. The man then explains that the dummies are simply "living plastic" and that he is called the Doctor shortly before telling her to run for her life. While Rose runs outside, the Doctor runs upstairs and blows up the top floor using a small device. As Rose runs, she passes by a mysterious blue police box.

The next day, the Doctor appears at Rose's front door (on the Powell Estate) using his metal device to trace the plastic dummies. Rose invites the Doctor inside where (while looking in a mirror) he comments on his new face after a recent regeneration shortly before he and Rose are attacked by the plastic arm that the Doctor ripped off a dummy in the shop the day before.

The Doctor tries to leave Rose behind but she follows him. The Doctor eventually explains that the "living plastic" (a.k.a. "Autons") is trying to overthrow the human race. The Doctor then leaves Rose again and heads towards the blue box (which is now in a different location) and disappears.

Later, Rose visits her boyfriend (Mickey Smith) and uses his computer to research the Doctor. While doing so, she finds a website made about the Doctor. They go and visit Clive Finch (the man behind the website) and, while Mickey waits outside in the car, Clive invites her inside and shows her photographic evidence of the Doctor appearing at various stages throughout history.

Meanwhile, outside, Mickey is trapped by a moving plastic wheelie-bin and, when Rose returns to the car, there is a moving plastic version of Mickey inside (although Rose does not notice).

Rose and the plastic Mickey go to a pizza restaurant where plastic Mickey starts to grill Rose about the Doctor. The Doctor then appears and, using the gas from a champagne bottle, fires a cork through plastic Mickey's forehead before pulling his head completely off. The headless plastic Mickey pursues Rose and the Doctor, who escape through the back door. The Doctor explains that the mysterious metal device is called a "sonic screwdriver" and he uses it to trap plastic Mickey inside the restaurant. The Doctor then goes inside his blue box, to the bewilderment of Rose, which is now positioned in the back courtyard. Rose quickly follows and discovers that the inside of the box is bigger than the outside. The Doctor then explains that the blue box is called a TARDIS and that it and he are both alien.

The Doctor uses plastic Mickey's head to follow where the signal that is controlling all the plastic is coming from. When they leave the TARDIS it is now on the edge of the River Thames. When Rose asks why the Doctor's ship is in the shape of a police box, he replies that it is a disguise. Then, with the help of Rose the doctor discovers that the Nestene Consciousness must be using the London Eye as a transmitter to control the plastic.

They find the Nestene Consciousness underneath the Eye. The Doctor is captured by the Autons as the Nestene Consciousness detects some "superior technology" (the TARDIS) and discovers that the Doctor is carrying some anti-plastic (which could kill the Nestene Consciousness). With the Doctor captured, the Nestene Consciousness begins the invasion of earth causing all the shop-window dummies to come to life and to start attacking the humans. Meanwhile, below the London Eye, the Autons holding the Doctor are slowly pushing him towards the edge of the ledge that they are stood on. Rose, who has found that Mickey is alive, takes an axe and uses it to break free one of the chains on the wall and swings down to the Autons holding the Doctor. She collides with them and the anti-plastic falls down into the Nestene Consciousness killing it and stopping all the dummies from attacking.

Later, The Doctor invites Rose to join him on his adventures after she comments that he would be dead if it was not for her. After initially turning the offer down, she agrees when the doctor explains that the TARDIS can also travel in time.

Cast

Crew

References

  • The sonic screwdriver makes an appearance and is once again a major all-purpose tool.
  • Clive suggests that the title "Doctor" is passed down from father to son, and points to his website saying to Rose "that's your Doctor there, isn't it". This would seem to suggest he has information on the Doctor's other incarnations.
  • This is the first appearance of the Autons since the serial Terror of the Autons.

Story Notes

  • This is the first story in the new series of Doctor Who.
  • This is the first story featuring the new TARDIS console room which has a far more organic appearance than its predecessors. Initially questioned by fans, the later mini-episode Time Crash would confirm this as a new "desktop theme" for the TARDIS interior called "coral".
  • A copy of this story was available to download on the Internet on various p2p networks several weeks before it was released. The preview version was essentially the broadcast version; however it did not contain the new credits and had the original series theme music as opposed to the new version.
  • The word Auton is not used in the dialogue of the story but is used in the episode credits.
  • In Rose's flat, the Doctor leafs through a copy of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.
  • The surname Finch was used for Clive and his wife in the production notes but not in the on-screen version.
  • The story, like the 1996 Doctor Who: The TV Movie, breaks with what had become the tradition of including the Doctor's image in the title sequence.
  • For this the first episode the opening credits follow the UK standard of; title sequence then program, the rest of the season (other than the first episode) would include a 'teaser' before the main title sequence.
  • There were problems during the first broadcast of this episode in the UK which meant that sound from a BBC 3 program, Strictly Dance Fever hosted by Graham Norton, was heard over the scene in which Rose first encounters the Autons.
  • When searching for the Doctor on the Internet Rose uses search-wise. This is an actual web page with the same logo as on the show, but it is not actually a search engine: instead, it is a web page created by a company called Compuhire, designed for use in television and film when a search engine is required to be seen on-screen. (See their disclaimer.)
  • The Reference to the Doctor having a Northern accent relates to the media attention that has been generated around Christopher Eccleston not conforming to people's perception of what the Doctor should be like.
  • In the scene where the Doctor is in Rose's flat, the original script called for The Doctor to stick his entire head in the cat flap. But when they got it, it was far too small.
  • A special effects milestone occurs when the the Doctor is shown standing in the door of the TARDIS and the interior is clearly visible behind him. In the original series, the interior of the TARDIS was usually shown as a dark void whenever a head-on view of the open doors (a rarity) occurred. For the first time, elements of the exterior of the TARDIS -- specifically the inside of the doors and the POLICE BOX lettering along the roofline -- are visible from the console room.

Ratings

  • 9.94 million (43.2% audience share)
  • Repeat - 0.48 million (3.5% audience share)

Myths and rumours

  • It is often speculated that the Nestene Consciousness can be heard to utter the words "Bad Wolf".

Filming Locations

Mostly filmed in Cardiff, but with some location filming in London:

  • The scene in which Rose agrees to go travelling with the Doctor was filmed in Cardiff's outdoor market.
  • The Yard where the TARDIS is parked was filmed at the back of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
  • The Nestene Consciousness' lair was filmed in a disused paper mill in Cardiff.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • When Rose is making coffee for the Doctor, she picks up the milk bottle with her right hand, then it cuts to the Doctor shuffling the cards, then it cuts back and very briefly you can see that she's got a teaspoon in her right hand instead. Then it's back to the Doctor trying again to shuffle the cards, finally back to Rose with the milk in her right hand once again.
  • When Mickey opens the wheelie bin it is empty. Why would a person put an empty bin out for collection? (Perhaps the bin ate the rubbish? Or perhaps it moved itself (it was Nestene-animated)? Perhaps it had been emptied and hadn't been put back yet?)
  • There has been an tendency by some Doctor Who fans to see the fact that Clive has photos of the Doctor as being an error. The argument goes that if the Doctor has just regenerated, how has he been photographed through out history? However the Doctor is a time traveller and there is no reason why there can not be photographs of events which from his perspective have not yet happened. However, since Rose has travelled with the Doctor for the duration of this regeneration, and she has not seen these events, how could this Doctor have been there? This seems however to be a contentious issue among fans. (It is possible the Doctor went to these events at the end of the episode when the TARDIS disappeared and came back a few seconds later. Alternately, Rose - having seen these images earlier - knew to stay out of them when they were made.)
  • However the authenticity of the photo of the Doctor at JFK's assassination could be questioned as it appears to be poorly photoshopped. (Considering the debate over the authenticity of much of the official and conspiracy-related evidence related to the assassination, it's quite possible that Clive obtained a faked image (made for reasons unknown).)
  • The shop where Rose works has two different spellings in the episode; it is spelled Henrik's on its sale banners, but Henricks on the BBC News 24 report. It would not be the first time News 24 got something wrong on an emergency bulletin.
  • Rose does not notice any difference between the real Mickey and the Auton replica (even though it has a smooth plastic sheen, acts in an unusual way, and has picked up a habit of repeating various words at speed when it says the word 'babe'). (The opening of the epsiode shows Mickey kidding around with Rose. She might have thought he was just playing with her, remembering that he was skeptical about her visiting with a conspiracy theorist like Clive.)
  • Rose mentions having to tell Mickey's mother about his death, but it is stated in Rise of the Cybermen that he was raised entirely by his (late) grandmother and has no contact with his parents.

Continuity

  • People similar to Clive who are obsessed with the Doctor were depicted in NA: Return of the Living Dad. Clive is clearly corresponding by e-mail with others like himself and refers to the Doctor appearing in numerous conspiracy theories (possibly an early reference to LINDA (DW: Love & Monsters).
  • It is implied but never stated that the Doctor has just regenerated. When he is in Rose's flat he checks his appearance in the mirror as if he is unused to it. He also notes the way in which his ears stick out. This is similar to a scene in the first episode of Tom Baker's debut story, DW: Robot.
  • The Autons and the Nestene have previously featured DW: Spearhead from Space and Terror of the Autons, both of which were Third Doctor stories. The Nestenes also feature in the PDA: Business Unusual and Synthespians™ which are both Sixth Doctor stories (Maybe the Autons come and go once every three incarnations).
  • The Doctor has at some time in his past been involved in a war which led to the destruction of the Nestene Homeworld. This war is also referenced in PDA: Synthespians™.
  • The Doctor speed reads a book as he did in City of Death.
  • Rose returns to London in Aliens of London.
  • The invasion by the Autons is referenced Love & Monsters.
  • The Doctor indicates that an unnamed but presumably well-known celebrity is actually an alien in disguise. He doesn't seem too concerned, suggesting a Men in Black scenario exists in the Doctor Who universe where human-disguised or human0like aliens live peacefully on Earth in the present day. (This is later supported by the decision by Bayldon Copper, who is not from Earth, to stay on the planet after the events of Voyage of the Damned.)
  • Clive's website, Who is Doctor Who? marks the first time a character has directly referred to the Doctor by the name "Doctor Who" on screen since WOTAN in The War Machines. Unlike WOTAN's use, which is considered a continuity error, Clive's use is clearly meant in the form of a question, with "Doctor Who" being more or less a nickname.

DVD and Other Releases

See also

External Links

Template:Series 1

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