2019 was supposed to be the year that I revisited some of my favorite British television.  Doctor Who.  Spaced.  Downton Abbey.  Sherlock.  The movies of Edgar Wright.  Simon Pegg movies not directed by Edgar Wright.  The claymation of Nick Park.   That kind of thing.  But January kind of got away from me, and February has been its own beast, too.  I did just start the first “new” series of the rebooted Doctor Who from 2005.  I wasn’t a big fan of the series when it first aired . . . on Sci-Fi, I believe.  It was hit or miss for me.  And it’s been a while since I’d seen any of the series one episodes, so I thought it would be a good place to start.

What a great series!  True, it’s no where near as “polished” as successive seasons.  And there are some small plot holes that I think of as evidence that they were still “making it up.”  But it’s really nice to see a Doctor not question every. single. move. he. makes. in any given episode.  Beyond that, it’s cool to see the show through the eyes of having been in England a few times since.  For instance, I had totally forgotten about this scene from “Rose.”

The show really does feel “stripped down.”  The sets and shots are simple.  The effects aren’t all that great (but maybe weren’t intended to be).  And the cast is appropriately small: pretty much the Doctor and Rose.  None of the bloat of some of the more recent stories.

I’m not sure how far I’ll get with my British “re-invasion” in 2019.  But it’s been a nice start.  (I watched the second episode last night, a very “Restaurant at the End of the Universe” episode.  Surprisingly touching, really.  Not sure how I’ll feel after revisiting the Charles Dickens episode, though.)