(710) The Christmas Invasion

So today I start the David Tennant era and I yesterday I said I wasn’t going to watch it but I cant think of a proper reason why not so instead of just watching it as an episode and then waiting until tomorrow to watch the opening episode. This is technically the first episode for David Tennant although its only eight minutes long and nearly two minutes of that is taken up with the reprise and the titles. It’s not fair really to rate this episode as it only serves a purpose in telling fans what happens between the regeneration and the TARDIS crash landing in the Christmas Invasion.

David Tennant in Christopher Eccleston’s costume is odd and its good that he doesn’t stay in it for long. I suppose that one thing this episode does is get through the inevitable ‘its not the Doctor thing’ although it does carry on to a certain extent in future episodes. It’s an interesting portion that doesn’t really add anything and if you hadn’t watched it at any point then you wouldn’t have missed anything.

Due to the success of the previous series, a new series was commissioned but also a Christmas Special was added to the list. This was only the second time in the shows history that it had aired on Christmas Day but this was designed as a Christmas Special and not just a throwaway episode in a twelve part Dalek epic. At the moment its late April and the sun is shining and the weather is warm so its slightly odd that I am watching an Christmas episode now. With the special being 15 minutes longer it means that there is more time to tell the story and the opening scene is quite good cause the TARDIS crash lands and Jackie does the first Doctor Who gag of the new era. The new Doctor spends most of this episode in bed which probably wasn’t how David Tennant thought he was going to start his time.

Penelope Wilton returns as Harriet Jones but this time as the PM that the Doctor talked about in World War Three. She’s doing the same joke of introducing herself but the joke is suppose to be funnier because she’s the most famous person in Britain. Even when she’s delivering a sombre Christmas Day speech she manages to slip in some gags. She asks about the royal family and after a pause she turns to the camera and says that they are on the roof. It’s quite impressive how RTD manages to put jokes in when it seems to be totally inappropriate.

The Robot Santa’s are a wonderful design as its just a bonkers idea but one that works and it works so well that RTD brings it back the following year. Another great thing that happens in this episode is the attacking Christmas Tree. Only in Doctor Who could an aggressive Christmas Tree feature in a Christmas Day episode. The main threat of the episode are the Sycorax who are a good looking monster. They show their credentials as villains but hypnotising a group of people to walk to the edge of high rise buildings and threaten to make them jump.

When the Sycorax ship arrives on Earth the way it is shot is very much similar to Independence Day when the ship is hovering over New York City. This is when the episode starts to take a step up because its when things start to go a bit wrong. It’s quite good how they manage to get the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and the TARDIS aboard the Sycorax ship. It’s also quite good how they manage to get the Doctor up and mobile and really into the story. His first scene when he is himself is great cause it starts his time in the show properly. Tennant has a great skill of balancing drama and comedy. I had always been unsure about Christopher Eccleston’s ability to do comedy but I overcame that but I have never been in doubt about Tennant’s comedy ability and he seems to be able to do both very well and its hard not to like the Doctor when he is doing comedy.

It’s nice to see the Doctor doing a bit of sword fighting. When he was doing the fighting I was reminded of the sword fighting that Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and the Master did in The Sea Devils. This was better because it was more dramatic. This fight sees the Doctor lose a hand (something which becomes handy in Torchwood and a future Doctor Who story) but RTD creates a new piece of Timelord mythology when in the first 15 hours of a regeneration cycle he can grow back his hand.

Torchwood gets started in this episode with Harriet Jones mentioning them. It is responsible for destroying the Sycorax ship and this is an important moment because it is when the Doctor angry and it sparks the end of the Harriet Jones regime. Torchwood is the story arc for this season and it makes much more sense than the Bad Wolf arc.

I love the scene where the Doctor is trying on clothes. The song is nice and sung well and it blends in well with the Christmas dinner. Everything seems to be back to normal now and the troubles of the Doctor regenerating is sorted. The final scene sees snow falling or ash as it turns out to be but its looks like snow so that definelty makes it a Christmas special. It’s a nice end to what has been a rather good Christmas special. It did what it needed to do and did it well. It starts the Tennant era off in fine style