The Doctor is in

Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler.

You’ve got to love the Internet. I just got done watching the first episode of the new “Doctor Who” series.

I figured I’d never get to see the show – or at least not for a long time. It’s set to debut on the BBC later this month, but there is still no word where or if it will ever be seen in the United States.

However, I read earlier this week that the first episode had leaked out on the Internet. I managed to find it yesterday, but had trouble downloading it. I took another crack at downloading today and was successful. Although at nearly 350 MB, it took almost the entire day to download. I started the download around 11 a.m. and it was finished around 5 p.m.

The episode was pretty good. There is still plenty to nitpick about, but I think any “Doctor Who” fan that put up with the cheesiness of the original series will still enjoy it.

The production values are head and shoulders above the old show, but still seem a little low budget by 2005 standards. There were some CGI effects that didn’t quite hit home.

However, I think the biggest improvement was a very subtle effect: whether someone was standing on the inside or the outside, you could now see through the TARDIS doors to whatever is on the other side. If the Doctor is standing in the doorway, you can see the vast control room behind him. Or when he opens the doors to exit you can see the world he’s walking into.

As for the Doctor himself, Christopher Eccleston plays the character much more light hearted and humorous than I expected. I’m not that familiar with the actor and in the publicity photos I’ve seen so far he always looks fairly serious. But he actually has a wit you can’t help but compare to Tom Baker.

A good part of the plot revolves around introducing the Doctor’s new companion, Rose Tyler, and re-introducing the Doctor to us through her eyes.

There is a rather odd choice of villains for the episode. They bring back the Autons, who first appeared in a Jon Pertwee episode back in 1971. They’re an alien intelligence cable controlling anything plastic. Before you know it, department store mannequins everywhere are coming to life and attacking. That’s pretty much what happened in the original episode, except that one also featured the Master. There is no reference to the original episode or any explanation for why the Autons have returned.

In fact there are few references to the original series. The episode begins with the ninth Doctor already in place. I read that they deliberately decided not to start with a regeneration scene. The concern was that if they tied the new show in too closely with the original show they would risk alienating younger viewers who may have never watched it. Yet there was a scene where the Doctor pauses to glance at himself in a mirror and mutters, “Could have been worse,” and makes some sort of comment about his ears, seeming to imply that he only recently regenerated.

The Doctor’s moment with the mirror lasts only a few seconds, and seemed clever at the time, but was enough to spoil another scene later in the episode. As she tries to find out more about who this Doctor guy is, Rose meets with an Internet conspiracy nut who runs a Web site dedicated to the Doctor. He shows her photos of the Doctor from throughout history: the Doctor at the JFK assignation, the Doctor posing with a family moments before the Titanic launches, etc. Yet all of the photos are of the ninth Doctor. He’s been around a lot for a newly regenerated Time Lord.


Everyone's favorite writer's device, the sonic screwdriver, returns.

There was another reference to classic “Who.” The long-absent sonic screwdriver appears frequently throughout the episode.

Another nitpick: why does every store in London have the same style mannequins?

I should mention that the episode I saw appeared to be complete. However, the newly recorded version of the classic theme song wasn’t in place yet. Instead, the old Tom Baker-era music was being used. Also, the opening sequence was okay, but nothing to write home about.

All the same, for a “Doctor Who” fan, the episode was fun. I hope to see more of the show in the future, although I’m not sure if I’ll go to the trouble of downloading it every week.