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Rose Tyler

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Rose Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies. With the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Rose was introduced in the eponymous series one premiere as a new "companion" of series protagonist the Doctor, in his ninth and later tenth incarnations. The companion character, intended to act as an audience surrogate was key in the first series more so than any other to introduce new viewers to Doctor Who, which had not aired regularly since 1989. The series saw Billie Piper receive top billing alongside Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, both of whom portrayed the Doctor. A regular companion of the Doctor for all of series one and series two, Rose also returned in the programme's fourth series having developed much in the interval.

In the series' narrative, Rose is introduced as a working class shop assistant from London, introduced alongside her own supporting cast in the form of her mother Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) and her boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke). Whereas the classic series refrained from exploring romantic connections between the Doctor and his companions, Rose grows increasingly trusting of the Doctor and comes to realise she has fallen in love with him. The two appear to be forever separated in the 2006 series two finale, although Rose eventually returned late in the fourth series.

Conception

After the announcement that the show would be returning, the BBC revealed the name of the new companion, Rose Tyler, on 28 March 2004. It was announced at the same time that former pop star Billie Piper was being considered for the role.[1] Writer/producer Russell T Davies frequently uses the surname "Tyler" in his work. A family named Tyler is featured heavily in his Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novel Damaged Goods, and Davies has created characters named Tyler in other series he has written, including Ruth Tyler in Revelations (1994), Vince Tyler in Queer as Folk (1999), and Johnny Tyler in The Second Coming (2003).

The casting of Piper as Rose was announced on 24 May 2004,[2] and was welcomed by fans of the show.[3] Actress Georgia Moffett, daughter of Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison and who would later appear as the title role in the series 4 episode "The Doctor's Daughter", also auditioned for the role.[4]

Rose appeared in every episode of the first two series of the revived Doctor Who, starting in 2005 with the episode "Rose" and ending with "Doomsday" in 2006 (though the character made very brief flashback stock footage appearances in the later "The Runaway Bride" and "Utopia").

Appearances

Television

Rose is introduced in the revived series of Doctor Who's eponymous premiere episode (2005), where she is saved by the mysterious alien Time Lord, the Doctor (Eccleston) from an Auton invasion of Earth and assists him in defeating the Nestene Consciousness.[5] Following this, he offers Rose the option of travelling with him, and takes her to see the end of the world, and also gives her a "superphone" so that she may remain in contact with her mother, Jackie, and boyfriend, Mickey. On their travels through time and space, Rose learns the importance of not tampering with history, when she attempts to save the life of deceased father Pete Tyler (Shaun Dingwall) when she was a baby. Throughout these journeys, she and the Doctor are haunted by two mysterious recurring words "Bad Wolf" which she, the Doctor and new companion Captain Jack (John Barrowman) come to understand the meaning of when they come face to face with an unstoppable Dalek army on space station Satellite 5. To return to the Doctor, after he has sent her home to Earth in the series finale "The Parting of Ways", she is forced to tear open the TARDIS console and stare into its heart, and becomes suffused with the power of the time vortex. Returning, she uses her power over the infinity of time and space to spread the words "Bad Wolf" over its entirety, to lead herself to this moment where she can save the universe from the Dalek invasion using godlike power. Rose resurrects Jack, who died from Dalek fire, and destroys the Dalek fleet before the Doctor drains the energy out of Rose - by kissing her - to save her life from its harmful effects. Rose is horrified as the Doctor appears to die, and regenerates into a new man (played by David Tennant) who proceeds to take the TARDIS and a terrified Rose to Earth, abandoning Jack on Satellite 5.

The new Doctor and Rose arrive on Earth on Christmas Day, where he passes out from the strain of regeneration in the midst of a Sycorax invasion in the 2005 Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion". Having woken up and saved Earth, Rose enjoys Christmas dinner with the Doctor before once again departing with him to parts unknown. In the second series (2006), Rose and the Doctor grow increasingly dependent on and close to another as this series progresses. The reappearance of former companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) in "School Reunion" shocks Rose, as the Doctor has never mentioned having companions before her (much to Mickey's glee). In Sarah Jane, Rose sees what she may be in the future and is introduced to the downside of travelling with the Doctor for the first time. She is also conflicted when the Doctor agrees to take on Mickey as a companion as well, at Sarah Jane's suggestion. In "Girl in the Fireplace", the Doctor appears to completely forget Rose in his infatuation with Madame Pompadour, leaving Rose and Mickey seemingly stranded on the spaceship after riding back to rescue her. Rose, Mickey and the Doctor become stranded in a parallel universe for a time, where Rose is reunited with a rich, entrepreneur version of her father who never died. However, Rose loses Mickey when he decides to stay behind in this world to battle Cybermen, and look after the alternate universe counterpart of his grandmother. Alone with the Doctor again, they face amongst other things, the mythical Beast (Gabriel Woolf) who prophesies that "the valiant child" will die fighting at the Doctor's side. This day comes when the clandestine, anti-alien Torchwood Institute's director Yvonne Hartman (Tracy-Ann Oberman) is responsible for accidentally allowing the Cybermen army and Dalek Cult of Skaro into our reality, where they begin an all-out war. Despite the Doctor's attempt to send her away with her family and keep herself, Rose manages to transport back, determined that the Doctor will not save her as he did in "The Parting of Ways". However, while sealing the Cybermen and Daleks back into the 'void' through which they came, Rose is almost sucked into the 'void' herself. She is saved by the alternative Pete Tyler, but ends up stranded in the parallel universe as the walls between realities seal forever. She hammers on the wall, desperately telling them to take her back, but travel is now impossible. The Doctor is able to transmit Rose one last message of goodbye, during which she reveals to him she is now working for this universe's Torchwood, and confesses to him that she loves him. Before he is able to reply, their connection is cut out and Rose is stranded alone in tears.

Piper as Rose was greenlit to be the star of the spin-off series Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, set on her parallel universe and to air as a bank holiday special, but Russell T Davies deemed the concept "a spin-off too far" after Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Rose's absence, and the Doctor's pained estrangement from her proves a point of contention for the Doctor's new series 3 (2007) companion Martha (Freema Agyeman), who has fallen in love with the Doctor herself; when Martha protects the Doctor, living as a human without his memories, it is still Rose that he dreams of. In spin-off series Torchwood (2006-), the audience learns that Rose's act of resurrecting Jack cursed him with never-ending life (he is unable to die and comes back after each "death"). When he and the Doctor are reunited in "Utopia", Jack discloses that he often visited the Powell Estate to watch Rose growing up in the 20th century. When the Doctor is reunited with Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) in the show's fourth series (2008), Rose begins to mysteriously appear in his life: first seen only to Donna, and later in silent video messages which the Doctor fails to notice. However, when Donna is tricked by an alien fortune teller (Chipo Chung) into creating a timeline where the Doctor has died, it is Rose who arrives from her parallel world to correct the timeline, working alongside paranormal military organisation UNIT to return Donna to where the timeline was changed and to tell the Doctor two words: 'Bad Wolf'. In the corrected timeline, the Doctor knows that 'Bad Wolf' is a message left by the omnipotent Rose and a signal that the walls of reality have broken down, and that the world is ending. In the midst of Davros' (Julian Bleach) plot to obliterate existence, Rose is reunited with her love and unites with the Doctor's companions Sarah Jane, Donna, Martha and Captain Jack to assist him in defending the universe. Having saved it, Rose challenges the Doctor on the words he never got to say but this time he resists. His part human alternate self, however, whispers the words in her ear and she immediately kisses him, as the fully Time Lord Doctor leaves to allow Rose and her mortal, ageing Doctor to live out their lives together happily ever after, once again trapped in the parallel universe as the walls between realities are repaired.

Billie Piper will reprise her role as Rose Tyler in the last of the 2009-10 Doctor Who specials.[6]

Literature

Although the exact relationship between the television series and ancillary media is uncertain, the character of Rose has been expanded upon in literature related to Doctor Who. The Doctor Who Annual 2006, published by Panini Comics in August 2005, gives further biographical information on Rose in an article written by the programme's chief writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, including the middle name "Marion", and information about her mother, school life and ex-boyfriends.[7] The character appears in short stories featured in the Doctor Who annuals for 2006 and 2007, as well as in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine,[8] and in comic book sequences which feature in the annuals, the fanzine Doctor Who Magazine, and children's magazines Doctor Who Adventures and Doctor Who - Battles in Time; the character also cameos in a panel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight's second story, "No Future for You".[9][10] In hardback and paperback literature, Rose is featured in the first twelve New Series Adventures novels and the first Quick Reads Initiative novella, I am a Dalek. In the novels, some elements of Rose's backstory are fleshed out; for example, Only Human reveals she was once engaged to be married.

Personality

Rose was the first television companion of the Doctor with a fully fleshed-out personal life and background that the audience actually saw on screen in her debut story, as opposed to something developed over time. For the first time since the first Doctor Who episode, "An Unearthly Child", "Rose" was told largely from the companion's point of view. It was also the first time the television series has examined the consequences of a companion leaving with the Doctor; for the year she was away, she was considered a missing person and Mickey was briefly suspected of her murder.[11]

Rose is unique in that she is the first companion whose immediate family and/or a close friend knew of her travels with the Doctor while they occurred. Mickey was aware of her new occupation and tracked her movements through his website. Jackie found out about the life her daughter was leading[11] and, despite pleading for her to stay, Rose continued to travel with the Doctor.[12] She was able to communicate with her mother via her "Superphone" and Rose would often phone home during her travels and let her mother know her activities.[13]

Rose cares deeply about, and loves, the Doctor, romantically as is proven in the series four finale. She states on several occasions her desire to stay with the Doctor for the rest of her life,[14][15] and chooses to stay with the Doctor, even though it means forever leaving her mother and Mickey on the parallel earth.[16] In their final moments together, Rose tells the Doctor that she loves him; he begins to reply but only manages to say her name before his transmission is cut off and the two are parted indefinitely.[16] Julie Gardner said on the commentary for the episode that she will "confirm to the world" that he was going to "say it back."

Rose is not the first companion whose affection for the Doctor at least suggests romantic interest as well. Sarah Jane Smith hints at possible feelings for the Doctor in "School Reunion" when he asks her if she had ever married and she tells him she hasn't ("I travelled with this man...but he was a tough act to follow."). Grace Holloway makes a joking reference to having fallen for the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 TV movie. In "Army of Ghosts", Rose also indicates her intention to stay with the Doctor "for ever", a sentiment never before expressed by previous companions, many of whom were reluctant travellers, though echoed by companion Donna Noble in "The Doctor's Daughter".

References

  1. ^ "Piper in line for Doctor Who role". 2004-05-24. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  2. ^ "Billie Piper is Doctor Who helper". 2004-05-24. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  3. ^ "Doctor Who fans back Billie Piper". 2004-05-28. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
  4. ^ Georgia Moffett - Biography
  5. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson (2005-03-26). "Rose". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Billie Piper returns to Doctor Who to see David Tennant bow out in all-star show". Mail Online. 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  7. ^ Davies, Russell T: Doctor Who Annual 2006, page 38, "Meet Rose". Panini Books, 2005; ISBN 1-904419-73-9
  8. ^ "Voice from the Vortex". Doctor Who Magazine #364.
  9. ^ Brian K. Vaughan, Joss Whedon (executive producer) (w), Georges Jeanty (p), Andy Owens (i). "No Future for You, Part One" Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, vol. 1, no. 6 (September 5 2007). Dark Horse Comics.
  10. ^ "Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6". comicsbulletin.com.
  11. ^ a b Writer Russell T Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson (2005-04-16). "Aliens of London". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Keith Boak, Producer Phil Collinson (2005-04-23). "World War Three". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Dan Zeff, Producer Phil Collinson (2006-06-17). "Love & Monsters". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Writer Matt Jones, Director James Strong, Producer Phil Collinson (2006-06-03). "The Impossible Planet". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson (2006-07-01). "Army of Ghosts". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ a b Writer Russell T Davies, Director Graeme Harper, Producer Phil Collinson (2006-07-08). "Doomsday". Doctor Who. BBC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
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