The New “Doctor Who” First Season Episode Guide
Although the SciFi Channel initially decided against bringing “Doctor Who” to the U.S., management finally saw the light and SciFi is almost finished airing the new “Doctor Who” episodes. They also come out on DVD in the U.S. on July 4, so save up your pennies (the boxed set is a bit pricey). Now all we have to do is wait for the second season!
1. “Rose” (March 26, 2005): Young Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is introduced to the Doctor (Christoper Eccleston) when, after a typical day at her job at Henrik’s department store, she is attacked by living mannequins. He rescues her but blows up the store in the process. After yet another encounter with the mysterious man, Rose does some Internet research to find out who he is. While she visits with a conspiracy theorist she meets online, her boyfriend Mickey (Noel Clarke) is replaced by a being of living plastic. The duplicate questions her about the Doctor. Turns out that the alien Nestene Consciousness wants the Earth because its own planet was destroyed in a war; it will use a massive transmitter to control the world’s plastic and take over the world. After the adventure is over, the Doctor invites Rose to come with him on his travels.
2. “The End of the World” (April 2, 2005): The Doctor takes Rose to the end of the world—that is, the day the Earth will be destroyed in the year five billion. A reception is planned on the observation outpost of Platform One, and the Doctor and Rose mingle with some unusual guests. Rose gets a little freaked out, but the Doctor rigs up her cell phone to be able to talk to people in her own time. There’s a dastardly plan afoot, however. Metallic spiders begin to “hatch” from egg-like gifts given out by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme. One of the spiders lowers the sun shields and gravity shields that keep the station safe. Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman), one of a race of tree people, helps the Doctor get to the engine room to repair the shields. Rose takes a real disliking to “the last human being,” a piece of skin stretched over a frame who calls herself Cassandra.
3. “The Unquiet Dead” (April 9, 2005): The Doctor takes Rose into the past this time: Cardiff, 1869. At a local undertaker’s, the body of a woman named Mrs. Peace becomes reanimated, kills someone and heads for a theater where Charles Dickens is giving a reading. There, the entire audience is treated to ghosts that fly all over the place and a mass panic that attracts the Doctor and his companion. Sneed (Alan David), the proprieter of the undertaking company, and servant girl Gwyneth (Eve Myles) attempt to get Mrs. Peace back—and chloroform Rose when she gets in the way. The Doctor chases them, hijacking Dickens’ cab in the process. They rescue Rose, but discover that bodies at Sneed and Company have been infiltrated by gas creatures. The doctor uses Gwyneth as a medium to discover that the creatures are the Gelth, a race that became extinct during the Time Wars. They exist in a parallel reality and want to use the dead bodies to exist on Earth—it’s their last hope. At least, that’s what they tell the Doctor, but their real intentions are more nefarious.
4. “Aliens of London” (April 16, 2005): The Doctor and Rose return to Rose’s own time—except that the Doctor has miscalculated and brought Rose back a year later instead of a day later. Rose’s mum Jackie (Camille Coduri) has been frantic, and Mickey has been interrogated by the police. While they’re sorting this out, an alien spacecraft crashes into Big Ben. The Prime Minister disappears, putting a low-level MP (David Verrey) in charge of both the country and the protocols dealing with alien invasion. The Doctor takes the TARDIS into the hospital where the bodies from the crash have been stored, just in time to discover that a doctor has been attacked. He leaps right into the fray, giving orders to the military and discovering that the “alien” is a genetically enhanced pig. A soldier shoots it dead. Meanwhile, MP Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) spies on the new PM and two of his cohorts inside 10 Downing Street, only to discover that they’re actually aliens called the Slitheen. The Doctor is putting two and two together, and UNIT gets involved, but Jackie panics calls an emergency number to turn the Doctor in.
5. “World War Three” (April 23, 2005): The Doctor escapes the trap set by the Slitheen, Mickey rescues Jackie from the Slitheen that’s come into her apartment and Rose and Harriet escape too. There’s one of those chases “Doctor Who” is famous for, in which people keep running in and out of what looks like the exact same area, and finally the group is reunited upstairs in the Cabinet room, which luckily is designed to withstand bomb attacks. They lock themselves in after finding out that the Slitheen are a family of scavengers who want to blow up the Earth and sell the debris as fuel. The Slitheen begin to welcome other family members to 10 Downing Street, and they request the UN release launch codes to the UK for weapons to defeat the alien threat. Mickey uses Rose’s cell to call the Doctor, who helps them figure out who to defeat the Slitheen who’s chasing him and Jackie. After they’re out of danger, the Doctor has Mickey help him activate a missile—and aims it toward 10 Downing Street, where he and his friends are still trapped.
6. “Dalek” (April 30, 2005): The TARDIS materializes in a museum of alien artifacts circa 2012—and the Doctor and Rose are quickly surrounded by guards. They discover that Gencomtex, owned by Henry van Statten (Corey Johnson), has put together this facility, and it includes one live specimen—a Dalek. The Doctor is stunned, and attempts to kill the Dalek, but is stopped and interrogated. Rose gets to know an employee named Adam (Bruno Langley) and feels pity for the Dalek. But when she touches it the Dalek samples her DNA and this allows it to recharge, escape and kill. It eventually takes Rose prisoner but doesn’t kill her, using her as leverage instead. Her DNA has changed it and it reacts to the sunlight. Adam joins the TARDIS crew. Consider this the “I, Borg” episode of “Doctor Who.”
7. “The Long Game” (May 7, 2005): The TARDIS lands in the year 200,000 (or thereabouts) on an orbital broadcasting platform called Satellite Five. The Doctor discovers that all of the data known to man is passed through a network link room in which six journalists sit while the seventh accesses a data stream beamed directly into her head. A journalist named Suki (Anna Maxwell Martin)—actually an Earth-based freedom fighter trying to figure out the truth—is “promoted” as the Doctor watches, and goes to Floor 500. She discovers that the Editor (Simon Pegg) uses reanimated corpses to run the operation—and soon becomes one. Adam decides to get the same data implant the journalists use, but this allows the Editor to discover the Doctor’s true nature. He, Rose and journalist Cathica (Christine Adams) have made it to Floor 500 and discovered the Editor’s boss, a massive alien creature using Satellite Five to manipulate the human race. Cathica connects herself to the data link on Floor 500 in an effort to help them. Incensed, the Doctor drops Adam back on Earth.
8. “Father’s Day” (May 14, 2005): Rose convinces the Doctor to take her to the day her father Pete (Shaun Dingwall) died in a car accident—but instead of just watching, she saves him. This causes all sorts of bad things—the fabric of time starts to change. People disappear and strange creatures begin to attack people at a wedding Rose’s family is attending. They’re the Reapers, parasites who destroy things that exist in wounded time. The Doctor is able to get the survivors into the church, but Rose makes another mistake and touches the baby version of herself, allowing the Reavers to get in. Pete realizes that this is all his fault, and steps up to save the day.
9. “The Empty Child (May 21, 2005): The Doctor and the TARDIS pursue a cylinder through the Time Vortex, thinking it is an emergency craft headed for Earth. He can’t catch up with it, but lands in London of 1941 at the height of the Blitz. Rose tries to help a child crying for his mother while the Doctor searches for the craft. She follows a voice only to discover a former Time Agent turned mercenary named Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). The Doctor, meanwhile, meets a philanthropist named Nancy (Florence Hoath) who steals food during air raids. The mysterious boy Rose was trying to find, whom Nancy calls “empty,” comes to them. Then the Doctor discovers a mysterious plague has stricken the community and meets up with Rose. He finds that Jack is a con artist trying to pawn off the cylinder, which is actually a Chula medical transport ship and somehow related to the plague. The plague victims revive as zombies and the Doctor and his friends are trapped in the hospital. This is the episode that made the words "Are you my mummy?" into a catchphrase.
10. “The Doctor Dances” (May 28, 2005): The Doctor, Rose and Jack find a room in the hospital where they discover “the empty child”’s connection to the plague--unfortunately, this room is where all the zombies are headed after the Doctor told them to go to their room... Jack teleports out of the hospital, then comes back to rescue the Doctor and Rose while she attempts to teach the Doctor to dance. They free Nancy, who was caught while trying to break into the crash site. The Doctor soon realizes that the Chula ship was carrying nanogenes. These nanobots used the empty child as a model for their repair work on damaged tissue and are turning everyone into something resembling him. And a whole army of zombies calling for their mummies are chasing the doctor, Jack, Rose and Nancy now. And there's a bomb, too. Will they all survive this?
11. “Boom Town” (June 4, 2005): In another Cardiff showcase, there’s a massive nuclear reactor going to be built on the site of Cardiff Castle. An investigator gets to close to the truth, then encounters new mayor Margaret Blaine (Annette Badland), the last Slitheen survivor of “World War Three.” The TARDIS arrives to get Rose’s passport, and Mickey, Rose, Jack and the Doctor go on holiday. That is, until the Doctor sees Margaret’s face in a newspaper. However, Margaret seems to be developing emotions she’s not prepared for. The Doctor catches her, but there’s a delay in taking off with the TARDIS. Jack plays with some of her technology, Mickey and Rose settle things between then, and the Doctor takes Margaret to get some food. An opportunity for escape arises, and Margaret tries to take control of the TARDIS.
12. “Bad Wolf” (June 11, 2005): “Doctor Who” meets reality TV. The Doctor wakes up without his memory inside the “Big Brother” house. Rose is on the set of “The Weakest Link,” sans Anne Robinson. Instead, a robot hosts. Jack gets to be on the future version of “What Not To Wear,” with robot hosts who want to give him a deadly makeover. The Doctor realizes players are disintegrated upon losing, and breaks out of confinement only to find himself on the Game Station, which used to be Satellite Five a hundred years ago. Rose fights for her life with help—or perhaps not—from a fellow contestant. Jack breaks out and finds the Doctor, who has learned that the station is controlled by the Badwolf Corporation. They try to find Rose—but she loses her game. Upon ending back on Floor 500, they discover the Controller and the game’s true masters.
13. “The Parting of the Ways” (June 18, 2006): The Doctor fights against the Daleks for Rose’s life, then sends her back in time to protect her. The Emperor Dalek has been using humanity to rebuild the Daleks and believes he’s a god. The Doctor tries to create a weapon that can destroy his enemies, while Jack tries to lead a defense against the Dalek’s attack. Back on Earth, Rose and Mickey discover a message at the playground and try to restart the TARDIS. It all goes batty from here—there’s a resurrection, a kiss, a vortex, a realization…and a regeneration. You’ll just have to watch.
1. “Rose” (March 26, 2005): Young Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) is introduced to the Doctor (Christoper Eccleston) when, after a typical day at her job at Henrik’s department store, she is attacked by living mannequins. He rescues her but blows up the store in the process. After yet another encounter with the mysterious man, Rose does some Internet research to find out who he is. While she visits with a conspiracy theorist she meets online, her boyfriend Mickey (Noel Clarke) is replaced by a being of living plastic. The duplicate questions her about the Doctor. Turns out that the alien Nestene Consciousness wants the Earth because its own planet was destroyed in a war; it will use a massive transmitter to control the world’s plastic and take over the world. After the adventure is over, the Doctor invites Rose to come with him on his travels.
2. “The End of the World” (April 2, 2005): The Doctor takes Rose to the end of the world—that is, the day the Earth will be destroyed in the year five billion. A reception is planned on the observation outpost of Platform One, and the Doctor and Rose mingle with some unusual guests. Rose gets a little freaked out, but the Doctor rigs up her cell phone to be able to talk to people in her own time. There’s a dastardly plan afoot, however. Metallic spiders begin to “hatch” from egg-like gifts given out by the Adherents of the Repeated Meme. One of the spiders lowers the sun shields and gravity shields that keep the station safe. Jabe (Yasmin Bannerman), one of a race of tree people, helps the Doctor get to the engine room to repair the shields. Rose takes a real disliking to “the last human being,” a piece of skin stretched over a frame who calls herself Cassandra.
3. “The Unquiet Dead” (April 9, 2005): The Doctor takes Rose into the past this time: Cardiff, 1869. At a local undertaker’s, the body of a woman named Mrs. Peace becomes reanimated, kills someone and heads for a theater where Charles Dickens is giving a reading. There, the entire audience is treated to ghosts that fly all over the place and a mass panic that attracts the Doctor and his companion. Sneed (Alan David), the proprieter of the undertaking company, and servant girl Gwyneth (Eve Myles) attempt to get Mrs. Peace back—and chloroform Rose when she gets in the way. The Doctor chases them, hijacking Dickens’ cab in the process. They rescue Rose, but discover that bodies at Sneed and Company have been infiltrated by gas creatures. The doctor uses Gwyneth as a medium to discover that the creatures are the Gelth, a race that became extinct during the Time Wars. They exist in a parallel reality and want to use the dead bodies to exist on Earth—it’s their last hope. At least, that’s what they tell the Doctor, but their real intentions are more nefarious.
4. “Aliens of London” (April 16, 2005): The Doctor and Rose return to Rose’s own time—except that the Doctor has miscalculated and brought Rose back a year later instead of a day later. Rose’s mum Jackie (Camille Coduri) has been frantic, and Mickey has been interrogated by the police. While they’re sorting this out, an alien spacecraft crashes into Big Ben. The Prime Minister disappears, putting a low-level MP (David Verrey) in charge of both the country and the protocols dealing with alien invasion. The Doctor takes the TARDIS into the hospital where the bodies from the crash have been stored, just in time to discover that a doctor has been attacked. He leaps right into the fray, giving orders to the military and discovering that the “alien” is a genetically enhanced pig. A soldier shoots it dead. Meanwhile, MP Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) spies on the new PM and two of his cohorts inside 10 Downing Street, only to discover that they’re actually aliens called the Slitheen. The Doctor is putting two and two together, and UNIT gets involved, but Jackie panics calls an emergency number to turn the Doctor in.
5. “World War Three” (April 23, 2005): The Doctor escapes the trap set by the Slitheen, Mickey rescues Jackie from the Slitheen that’s come into her apartment and Rose and Harriet escape too. There’s one of those chases “Doctor Who” is famous for, in which people keep running in and out of what looks like the exact same area, and finally the group is reunited upstairs in the Cabinet room, which luckily is designed to withstand bomb attacks. They lock themselves in after finding out that the Slitheen are a family of scavengers who want to blow up the Earth and sell the debris as fuel. The Slitheen begin to welcome other family members to 10 Downing Street, and they request the UN release launch codes to the UK for weapons to defeat the alien threat. Mickey uses Rose’s cell to call the Doctor, who helps them figure out who to defeat the Slitheen who’s chasing him and Jackie. After they’re out of danger, the Doctor has Mickey help him activate a missile—and aims it toward 10 Downing Street, where he and his friends are still trapped.
6. “Dalek” (April 30, 2005): The TARDIS materializes in a museum of alien artifacts circa 2012—and the Doctor and Rose are quickly surrounded by guards. They discover that Gencomtex, owned by Henry van Statten (Corey Johnson), has put together this facility, and it includes one live specimen—a Dalek. The Doctor is stunned, and attempts to kill the Dalek, but is stopped and interrogated. Rose gets to know an employee named Adam (Bruno Langley) and feels pity for the Dalek. But when she touches it the Dalek samples her DNA and this allows it to recharge, escape and kill. It eventually takes Rose prisoner but doesn’t kill her, using her as leverage instead. Her DNA has changed it and it reacts to the sunlight. Adam joins the TARDIS crew. Consider this the “I, Borg” episode of “Doctor Who.”
7. “The Long Game” (May 7, 2005): The TARDIS lands in the year 200,000 (or thereabouts) on an orbital broadcasting platform called Satellite Five. The Doctor discovers that all of the data known to man is passed through a network link room in which six journalists sit while the seventh accesses a data stream beamed directly into her head. A journalist named Suki (Anna Maxwell Martin)—actually an Earth-based freedom fighter trying to figure out the truth—is “promoted” as the Doctor watches, and goes to Floor 500. She discovers that the Editor (Simon Pegg) uses reanimated corpses to run the operation—and soon becomes one. Adam decides to get the same data implant the journalists use, but this allows the Editor to discover the Doctor’s true nature. He, Rose and journalist Cathica (Christine Adams) have made it to Floor 500 and discovered the Editor’s boss, a massive alien creature using Satellite Five to manipulate the human race. Cathica connects herself to the data link on Floor 500 in an effort to help them. Incensed, the Doctor drops Adam back on Earth.
8. “Father’s Day” (May 14, 2005): Rose convinces the Doctor to take her to the day her father Pete (Shaun Dingwall) died in a car accident—but instead of just watching, she saves him. This causes all sorts of bad things—the fabric of time starts to change. People disappear and strange creatures begin to attack people at a wedding Rose’s family is attending. They’re the Reapers, parasites who destroy things that exist in wounded time. The Doctor is able to get the survivors into the church, but Rose makes another mistake and touches the baby version of herself, allowing the Reavers to get in. Pete realizes that this is all his fault, and steps up to save the day.
9. “The Empty Child (May 21, 2005): The Doctor and the TARDIS pursue a cylinder through the Time Vortex, thinking it is an emergency craft headed for Earth. He can’t catch up with it, but lands in London of 1941 at the height of the Blitz. Rose tries to help a child crying for his mother while the Doctor searches for the craft. She follows a voice only to discover a former Time Agent turned mercenary named Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). The Doctor, meanwhile, meets a philanthropist named Nancy (Florence Hoath) who steals food during air raids. The mysterious boy Rose was trying to find, whom Nancy calls “empty,” comes to them. Then the Doctor discovers a mysterious plague has stricken the community and meets up with Rose. He finds that Jack is a con artist trying to pawn off the cylinder, which is actually a Chula medical transport ship and somehow related to the plague. The plague victims revive as zombies and the Doctor and his friends are trapped in the hospital. This is the episode that made the words "Are you my mummy?" into a catchphrase.
10. “The Doctor Dances” (May 28, 2005): The Doctor, Rose and Jack find a room in the hospital where they discover “the empty child”’s connection to the plague--unfortunately, this room is where all the zombies are headed after the Doctor told them to go to their room... Jack teleports out of the hospital, then comes back to rescue the Doctor and Rose while she attempts to teach the Doctor to dance. They free Nancy, who was caught while trying to break into the crash site. The Doctor soon realizes that the Chula ship was carrying nanogenes. These nanobots used the empty child as a model for their repair work on damaged tissue and are turning everyone into something resembling him. And a whole army of zombies calling for their mummies are chasing the doctor, Jack, Rose and Nancy now. And there's a bomb, too. Will they all survive this?
11. “Boom Town” (June 4, 2005): In another Cardiff showcase, there’s a massive nuclear reactor going to be built on the site of Cardiff Castle. An investigator gets to close to the truth, then encounters new mayor Margaret Blaine (Annette Badland), the last Slitheen survivor of “World War Three.” The TARDIS arrives to get Rose’s passport, and Mickey, Rose, Jack and the Doctor go on holiday. That is, until the Doctor sees Margaret’s face in a newspaper. However, Margaret seems to be developing emotions she’s not prepared for. The Doctor catches her, but there’s a delay in taking off with the TARDIS. Jack plays with some of her technology, Mickey and Rose settle things between then, and the Doctor takes Margaret to get some food. An opportunity for escape arises, and Margaret tries to take control of the TARDIS.
12. “Bad Wolf” (June 11, 2005): “Doctor Who” meets reality TV. The Doctor wakes up without his memory inside the “Big Brother” house. Rose is on the set of “The Weakest Link,” sans Anne Robinson. Instead, a robot hosts. Jack gets to be on the future version of “What Not To Wear,” with robot hosts who want to give him a deadly makeover. The Doctor realizes players are disintegrated upon losing, and breaks out of confinement only to find himself on the Game Station, which used to be Satellite Five a hundred years ago. Rose fights for her life with help—or perhaps not—from a fellow contestant. Jack breaks out and finds the Doctor, who has learned that the station is controlled by the Badwolf Corporation. They try to find Rose—but she loses her game. Upon ending back on Floor 500, they discover the Controller and the game’s true masters.
13. “The Parting of the Ways” (June 18, 2006): The Doctor fights against the Daleks for Rose’s life, then sends her back in time to protect her. The Emperor Dalek has been using humanity to rebuild the Daleks and believes he’s a god. The Doctor tries to create a weapon that can destroy his enemies, while Jack tries to lead a defense against the Dalek’s attack. Back on Earth, Rose and Mickey discover a message at the playground and try to restart the TARDIS. It all goes batty from here—there’s a resurrection, a kiss, a vortex, a realization…and a regeneration. You’ll just have to watch.
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