Rose (2005)
The villain was solid, not particularly scary but you could see its motivations and where it was coming from (Time Wars f*cked everyone over, not just Time Lords and Daleks). The Doctor's conversation with the Nestene consciousness is a nice reference to the Time Wars and will be later developed in the RTD era.
I liked the introduction of Rose with a sort of a montage of her daily routine and I also liked her interaction with Mickey. I did find it odd that it took her until the scene at the restaurant to realize Mickey was acting off. I also liked the fact that she's heavier than the average TV female and comes off as quite beautiful. Her personality is not that much developed in this one, since this is the first episode and first we much get all the necessary questions off the table before we can see her personality (next episode, most probably). What we did see is that she is stuck with an...interesting mom and is also seeing Mickey, who is a bit of a goof.
The Doctor steps to the stage and it's immediately evident that this is the Doctor, and no one else. He doesn't cater to Rose's needs and is not there to please anyone: he's the Doctor who's been through the Time Wars and all he wants to do is save the Earth from getting obliterated. He doesn't care if Rose thinks her boyfriend is dead, he's got more important things on his mind. He gives the Nestene Consciousness a chance to negotiate with him, even though he could have simply poured the content of the vile into the pool of lava that it seemed to be. I really liked that and the fact that his attempt to save both the Earth and the Nestene consciousness got him captured, because it gave Rose something to do.
I thought it was brilliant to add some back story to the Doctor's influence to historic events and get Rose some idea of the Doctor through the character of Clive. I was saddened to see him die, especially in front of his wife and kids, because I saw an alternative ending to it where the Doctor would introduce himself to Clive and he'd find out he wasn't a nutter after all.
What I found weird about the ending is that while it was pretty obvious Rose was going to go with the Doctor, the conversation she had with Mickey was a bit off-putting to me.
Rose: "Thanks."
Mickey: "For what?"
Rose: "Exactly."
I thought Mickey was a rather nice boyfriend without any huge flaws, so I didn't quite understand that part.
Overall I liked this episode, despite its at times weird dialog and some odd pacing (how many reaction shots do we need from Rose before she springs to action?). The villain was menacing, we got the introduction of a new Doctor as well as a new companion in the same episode without it feeling crowded. We also met two recurring characters, Rose's mom and Mickey, whom we'll meet again later. It was a fun, adventure-filled episode that accomplished quite a lot within 40-45 minutes.
Right, and we *almost* got an "it's bigger on the inside" quote from Rose, but not quite. See you next time.