Doctor Who: 1x01 "Rose"

Welcome to the first episode review for Fandom Approved, Bechdel Tested.  I’ll be starting with a rewatch of Doctor Who.  In each review, there will be spoilers for the episode reviewed and all previous (obviously); any spoilers for future episodes will be highlight-to-read or under a “Read More” bar.

Please comment, share, and subscribe!

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE ONE: “ROSE”

I actually really like this episode.  I know a lot of people consider it sub-par as a Doctor Who episode and as a pilot, but I think without this episode I never would have gotten into the show because I didn’t know much about the show other than that it’s very, very British.  And I am not at all British.  And I need something to ground me, so having a character I can relate to as the POV character was rather reassuring. 

Doctor Who: 1x01: “Rose” Written by Russell T Davis

The Summary:

Rose is a super ordinary girl living a super ordinary life.  (And I don’t mean Hollywood I-have-a-job-people-would-kill-for-but-oh-my-god-I-hate-it-for-no-reason-cuz-that’s-what-ordinary-people-are-like-right? kind of ordinary.  Nor the-let’s-just-leave-her-as-a-blank-slate-for-the-audience-to-fill-in kind of ordinary.  She’s a nineteen year old girl who lives with her mother on an estate (public/subsidized housing for us USAmericans) and wakes up with bed head and goes to work a monotonous job and has a boyfriend who’s a mechanic and she has her own damn mind and way of observing and assessing the world.)  But then this ordinary girl’s life is turned upside down when the mannequins in her shop come alive and try to kill her!  She’s saved at the last second by a mysterious man who introduces her to the world as it is rather than as people think it is.  This wise man (who’s also a wise guy), The Doctor, reveals himself to be a gatekeeper to the universe’s mystery and wonder, but tells her to forget he exists.  This ordinary but clever and curious girl cannot be stopped and she investigates on her own, eventually regrouping with the Doctor (albeit slightly reluctantly since he just pulled off her boyfriend’s head without considering whether it would kill him… it makes sense in context).  Together, using Rose’s unique skills, they save the world.  So impressed by Rose’s quick thinking in a crisis, the Doctor offers her a chance to see all of time and space and become even more of a hero.  But wait… why does this sound so familiar?  Oh right.  Except – joy upon joy – they’ve allowed a woman to take the hero’s part!  Oh happy day!

The Women:

Rose, Jackie (remember that to count the character must be named and onscreen)

The Conversations:

1. Jackie and Rose with Debbie and Beth:  After the explosion at Henrik’s, Jackie talks with a couple friends on the phone ad interacts with Rose.  Their conversation is about Rose’s safety, the explosion and potential compensation.  They never mention a man, but as Debbie and Beth are not onscreen characters and Mickey is in the room, though not participating, the rating: 0.5

2. Jackie and Rose:  After Rose wakes up the next morning, Jackie reminds her that she no longer has a job, and the two discuss possible jobs.  Jackie harps on Rose more about getting compensation and Rose harps on Jackie about nailing the cat door down.  As much as the Doctor doesn’t want domestics on his TARDIS, I really love the domestic scenes between Rose and her mother.  The rating: 2

3. Jackie and Rose on the phone:  After the Doctor tells Rose the Nestene Consciousness is starting the invasion, Rose calls Jackie to warn her not to go into town.  Since they are on the phone, the rating: 1

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“Got no a-levels.  No job.  No future.  But I’ll tell you what I have got, Jericho Street Junior School’s Under 7’s gymnastics team.  I got the bronze.” – Rose Tyler (to herself) 

Ok, so that’s stretching the “woman to woman” part a bit, but this is one of my absolute favorite quotes of the episode, and a defining moment for Rose’s character.

The Tally:

Episode 1x01 Total: 3.5

Series 1 Total: 3.5

9^th Doctor Total: 3.5

Rose as Companion Total: 3.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 3.5

For Further Discussion: Rose’s Characterization and Motivations

Spoiler Warning: all of Series 1 

Initial Characterization:

First, a bias warning – I love Rose.  She’s my second favorite companion and I think, the best companion they could have started with – she’s ordinary, but not blank so the audience could simply project themselves onto her; instead, she has a very strong personality that combines both good and bad attributes.

The Good:  To me, Rose’s establishing character moment was when she comes up with the idea that the Autons were students.  This sets her up for what I see as her role in traveling with the Doctor.  She notices things and can apply what facts she know about the world around her and is able to quickly determine either what is going on or at least that something is going on.  She’s obviously not correct about the Autons, but I think that’s more of a deficiency of information – that aliens do exist – rather than any defect in her cleverness.

The Bad:  Rose’s second major character establishing moment is, in my opinion, in the restaurant with Auton!Mickey, when she utters the line “I’m sorry, was I talking about me for a second?”  She’s so self-absorbed she doesn’t even notice that Mickey has been replaced by an Auton.  Rose seems to consider herself superior to others and above their advice or opinions.  She ignores her mother as an ignorant money grabber when Jackie talks about compensation and ignores Jackie’s advice about finding a new job.  When the Doctor forgets about the possible death of Mickey due to his actions, Rose takes the high moral ground and yells at the Doctor for it, but in the end when she chooses to leave with the Doctor, her goodbye to Mickey is a condescending implication that he was a good-for-nothing.

What I like about these main personality traits is that they’re not linked to her femininity and especially not to her sexuality.

Motivation(s) for Traveling with the Doctor:

I don’t think Rose is immediately attracted to/in love with the Doctor.  It’s the time machine that seduces Rose, not the Doctor.  Though, without “Father’s Day,” it seems almost like Rose is playing a game with the Doctor, refusing his first offer to make him offer again.  I think Rose is looking for an escape from the life she thought she had ahead of her: no future, as she says earlier in the episode. 

So those are my opinions about it all – what are yours?