Run For Your Life, It's Doctor Who Headcanon, Season 6: Rose

Look, last season was not very good, we breezed through three different Doctors as the original series wound down to a disappointing end. Well, between seasons something called The Time War happened. We'll get a glimpse of it in the first serial, but mostly it's something referred to but not yet seen, and it changes The Doctor from that sort-of dark Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy/Peter McGann era, into a new, modern, actually fairly dark series. But it's dark and fun. Oh, finally, we are Back to Fun! This season will also take us through three Doctors, but there's one steady companion throughout. Welcome to Doctor Who, Rose Tyler, hope you survive the experience.

Season 6: Rose
(Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Paul McGann, and John Hurt)

Serial 1: Night Of The Doctor/Rose
(9, 8, War Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Autons, Sisterhood Of Karn, Daleks)
55 minutes

The foppy Doctor we saw near the end of the last season has aged into a kindly hard-ass. Apparently, there's some war taking place between The Time People and The Daleks, and people are afraid of both of them. After a ship crashes, The Sisterhood Of Karn from Season Three offer The Doctor a chance to become a warrior, as he is forced to regenerate into a different face. Flash forward an indeterminate amount of time, and he has regenerated again into a goofy leather jacket wearing guy who ends up on Earth in the 21st century, where the Autons, who we haven't seen since Season Two, are basically retrying their plans from Spearhead In Space, but The Doctor ends up meeting a girl named Rose and her boyfriend as they team up to defend Earth.


Serial 2: Aliens Of London/World War Three
(9, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Harriet, Slitheen)
90 minutes

Farting aliens trying to take over Earth does not sound like a wonderful premise, but The Doctor and Rose manage to pull it off.  And we meet a plucky member of parliament named Harriet Jones.


Episode 3: Dalek
(9, Rose, Adam, Daleks)
45 minutes

We've seen The Doctor battle multiple armies of Daleks. He was there at the beginning of The Daleks. He has survived So Many Daleks. They were even in that war that keeps getting mentioned. So how bad could just one Dalek be?


Episode 4: The Long Game
(9, Rose, Adam)

TV bad. So bad. TV make Earth humans lazy, dumb, whatever stereotype you've heard. There are several Davies-era episode where this is the theme.  This TV bad episode gives us a better look into The Doctor, though, and plants the seed for an even better better look into The Doctor in a future episode.


Serial 5: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
(9, Rose, Jack)
90 minutes

It's World War Two and The Doctor and Rose meet a bisexual time traveler named Jack, as well as a scary little boy in a gas mask. Together, The Doctor, Rose, and Jack unpack a weird intergalactic mystery that accidentally threatens the whole world. This episode is fantastic, and has one of the best climactic Doctor quotes of the whole series.


Serial 6: Bad Wolf/Parting Of The Ways
(9, Rose, Jack, Mickey, Jackie, Daleks, 10)
90 minutes

The phrase "Bad Wolf" has been following The Doctor and Rose since they met. When they, along with Jack, travel to the future, they stumble upon what they think it might mean. Oh, and Daleks. They stumble on Daleks. Lots and lots of bloody Daleks. Oh, and TV? Still bad.


Episode 7: The Christmas Invasion
(10, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Harriet)
60 minutes

The new Doctor's regeneration didn't go well, so while he recuperates, Rose, her mother, her boyfriend, and Harriet Jones must work together to fight off an alien invasion at Christmas. This episode features one of the most Badass Doctor moments near the end of it. Though whether it was necessary or cruel is very debatable.


Episode 8: School Reunion
(10, Sarah Jane, K9, Rose, Mickey)
45 minutes

Sarah Jane? And that stupid robot dog? They're back for hijinks with The Doctor's new crew of Rose and her boyfriend. They battle...Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And...is he kind of a vampire here? Weeeeeeeeeeird.


Serial 9: Rise Of The Cybermen/Age Of Steel
(10, Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Pete, Cybermen)
90 minutes

Rose has daddy issues. Maybe that's why she ran off into space with a centuries old man. But when the crew accidentally travels to an alternate dimension, she finds her father is alive. Oh, and there are Cybermen EVERYWHERE. While it would be nice, and all, to save this dimension from The Cybermen, the real issue is Can They Ever Get Back To The Dimension They Came From? Well....not all of them.


Serial 10: Army Of Ghosts/Doomsday
(10, Rose, Mickey, Donna, Jackie, Pete, Cybermen, Daleks)
90 minutes

Cybermen AND Daleks? That can't be good. That whole Other Dimension adventure totally destroyed the walls of time...or something...and The Cybermen have broken through and inadvertently released a ship of Daleks from The Time War. And get your hankies ready because Bad Wolf is back, and it means sad times for The Doctor. 


Holiday Special: The Runaway Bride
(10, Donna, Wilfred, Sylvia, Racnoss)

Modern Doctor Who regularly (but not consistently) presents a Christmas or New Year's Special between seasons. We're going to take a page out of this book to give you the adventures of The Doctor and Donna Noble, who showed up in the TARDIS at the end of last season. We get an explanation, an adventure, and The Most Over The Top Villain so far in the series. It's really not one of the greatest episodes ever, but it makes Donna's abrupt appearance later this season much more fun, and gives us a coda to Rose's story.