Friday, the SciFi Channel started showing the “new” Doctor Who, with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor – two episodes, back to back. First, the one that establishes his new identity and starts off with a fresh Companion or two, and the next one was sort of a “Restaurant At The End Of The Universe” riff. David and I both watched the first one, set in present-day London, laughed delightedly at some of the bits that were meant to be funny, and also laughed at some of the things that were meant to be “cool.” It’s a pretty good entry in the Whovian genre, if only because it dares to use cheesy special effects as if they were serious, and good special effects as if they were cheesy. The companion, Rose, is played by a girl with a lot of “oomph!” in her step – she’s not a skinny little thing, but is actually pretty lusciously curvy. And she was the one that saved the Doctor in the end, too. So, huh, pretty good. The second episode featured a lot of weird creatures, all gathered to watch the Earth be destroyed, billions of years in the future. I could swear that one alien, who claimed to be the Last Human, was played by Zoe Wanamaker. She consisted of tautly stretched skin in an open frame – her face was animated, but the rest was just a translucent pink drumhead. Very funny to watch, and of course it was a joke on beauty culture, plastic surgery, and Botoxified, taut-faced celebrities.

Sci Fi Wire has a story about Christopher Eccleston, who of course was only the Doctor for Season One of the new Who.

We’ll watch new episodes on Fridays and see how the rest of the season plays out.