Heading into the 60th anniversary specials of Doctor Who, I had never seen a single episode before. In fact, I don’t think I had ever even seen a real clip of the show. At least, none that do come to mind.

So once I finished watching the 60th anniversary specials, I knew with 100% certainty that I wanted to go back and start watching Doctor Who from the beginning. In the situation, when I say “beginning” I’m referring to the beginning of the “New Who” with Chris Eccleston since that is what I can easily watch on Max.

And look, it can be at times a little difficult to go back in my mind to what science fiction CGI looked like on television in 2005, but the cheapness of everything doesn’t bother me at all. I can see why some people who would be new to Doctor Who wouldn’t want to go back nearly 20 years to watch bad CGI, but it didn’t really bother me that much as I said.

I really like the wild energy that Eccleston brought to the role of the Doctor. You just really got the sense that he had seen some shit out and about on his adventures before he met up with Rose. I really like how they let the Doctor talk about things to establish a history of things that I’ll never see. It really gave everything the feeling of “he’s been going on adventures that have changed him as a person for good and for bad”.

And speaking of Rose, give it up for Billie Piper. I thought she was fantastic and brought a lot to that character. In a little bit of research that I’ve done about the show (I’ve been trying to kind of go and blind to everything to experience it for the first time, but I wanted the basics so I looked up what the companions are.), she continuously challenged the Doctor to remember who he is at his core, and that’s a good person. It was great stuff.

And, I’ll be honest, Captain Jack Harkness won me over big. I enjoyed John Barrowman in the Arrowverse as Malcolm Merlin, so I was pleasantly surprised when he showed up. Then, to find out there’s a spinoff! I will definitely be checking out Torchwood.

The standout episodes were hands down “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances. It was spectacularly creepy, weird, and terrific. Spooky little kids are terrifying. Both episodes made me uncomfortable but were great.

The worst stuff involved the Slitheens. I say that with love, too. I love terrible looking aliens. Those costumes though … Woof. ✌️

Overall, I did enjoy this season. I’m a little bummed that Eccleston didn’t get a second season under his belt, but I’m looking forward to David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.