Five Years On: Series 1 In Retrospect

We're now five years removed from the events of Series 1. Time enough, I think, for a bit of a retrospective look back. One of the virtues of Doctor Who is that, given how long lived it is, we can take a look back after a period of time has elapsed and evaluate the stories of a particular season for how well they've withstood the passage of years.

Five years and all that's happened in the interval is a good break. So let's cast our memories back. Let's rescreen Series 1. And let's see what stories have withstood the test of time, and which stories have not.

You remember Series 1. You remember Rose, in the basement of the department store, encountering Autons. You remember Jade and the very flat Cassandra. You remember meeting Captain Jack for the first time during the blitz, and 'are you my mommy?' You remember Mickey (or was it Ricky?) the idiot, and Big Ben being hit by a space ship flown by a pig. You remember Rose, in 1987, finding her dad. You remember Satellite 5, in two different time periods. You remember how the Daleks came back.

What are your thoughts, five years on? What stories still have a draw for you from that first season after a sixteen year hiatus? What stories would like to forget? What memories of your first viewing of Series 1 will always be with you. Time to get in touch with your inner Wrinkly, and remember a relatively short five years, and two Doctors, ago. What say you?

CT will be running several pieces on Series 1 next month!

Looking back, my favourite memories revolve around Bad Wolf & Parting of the Ways. The last 5 minutes of BW remain amongst the greatest ever, whilst seeing PotW on the big screen at BAFTA, and the chance to really appreciate the CGI, was awesome. Looking back this may have been the peak of RTD's era, it was certainly miles of ahead of his finale.

The Co=Ordinator wrote: Looking back this may have been the peak of RTD's era, it was certainly miles of ahead of his finale.

Harsh.

I think the peak comes rather later. You already know what I think of 2005, Tony, so no CT spoilers from moi.

Nor me Dave, although I will say that your piece is excellent!

When I said it was RTD's peak I should clarify that I meant in terms of his scripts. In terms of his era the peak for me was the 4 episode run from Human Nature to Utopia, of which he obviously only wrote the final story.

@ The Co=Ordinator:
CT will be running several pieces on Series 1 next month!

Great minds thinking alike- I wasn't aware you had plans for a series 1 retrospective.

I have to qualify my answer to this question: it's actually been four years for me, since back in 2005, I had absolutely no idea Doctor Who had returned. It was first shown to US audiences on the SciFi channel beginning in March, 2006, and I caught it thanks to some heavy promotional advertising SciFi did for the show.

Dalek, in particular, ticked all the right boxes for me. Yes, the stories before Dalek had all the elements, but it wasn't until I saw a Dalek on screen that I really felt like the show was back. And what a fantastic (did I just say that?) story, into the bargain.

The most iconic memory I take from Series 1 has to be Rose dangling from a barrage balloon during the London blitz. That was so well done, and so well presented on screen, I was mesmerized.

@PatrickGreat minds thinking alike- I wasn't aware you had plans for a series 1 retrospective.

It seemed logical 5 years on from the finale for Eccleston. It's now *long enough* ago for a retrospective to be appropriate.

A fairly well known name, with regards to books on the history of Doctor Who, will be writing the piece that runs alongside Dave's.

I look back at Series 1 with great affection. I like every episode very much. There is the odd moment I don't like but that's it. What interests me though is something I became aware of this week; which is that, in my mind, the series has moved from the box labelled New Series into the big box labelled Classic Series. I mean, I always considered it the same show but labelled it differently for convenience but now I seem to have mentally put a chunk of the RTD era, possibly all of it, into that box with all the 1963-1989* stuff.

@C-0 CT will be running several pieces on Series 1 next month!

Sounds interesting. After some 30 years considering the matter on and off, I may have to join DWAS.

Unless, perhaps, I need more time to think about it...

My favourite season of Doctor Who since it returned. Possibly my favourite season of Doctor Who of all time.

I had misgivings while watching 'Rose'; the plastic Mickey looked really cheesy to me, and I remember wondering whether the bins were supposed to be a cheeky reference to the Daleks.

The 'Earth spinning' speech was wonderful. By the time the Doctor came back for Rose and we had the slow motion of her running into the Tardis I was won over.

'Dalek' was a revelation, and I still smile over the wonderfulness of The 'Empty Child/Doctor Dances'.

I bawled my eyes out during 'Parting of the Ways'. Loved it.