2.0 - The Christmas Invasion

When it was announced Christopher Eccleston was leaving Doctor Who I was disappointed, especially with the timing seeming to risk the newly returned series being able to continue. Then David Tennant was announced as his successor and, having never actually seen him in anything, I made a judgement Tennant was wrong for the role (from clips I had seen advertising a show he was in) and dreaded his arrival. How wrong I was! This debut completely changed my view and made me an instant fan of the 10th Doctor. Exactly as with Jon Pertwee's 3rd Doctor this regeneration has the Doctor spending a lot of time unconscious but just like Pertwee's debut Spearhead From Space it is a terrific story which keeps the interest while the Doctor sleeps and then benefits from a fantastic performance and characterisation once he leaps into action.

The story is clever, interesting, funny and exciting. It features aliens - the Sycorax - making contact and threatening the earth and a large amount of mankind being controlled via clever means. The brilliant Penelope Wilton returns as Harriet Jones (having appeared in Aliens in London), this time as Prime Minister and Rose, Jackie and Mickey help[ with the transition providing fun and humour in between scenes of threat, action and alien contact.

The Sycorax are a great alien menace with an excellent design. The script is great and whenever the Doctor has moments of activity he is funny, superbly acted and engaging. Once fully awake Tennant grabs the role by the scruff of the neck and established 10 as a thoroughly heroic, brave, witty, clever Doctor with a dark, serious edge beneath his endearing and humorous exterior.

The climactic confrontation is simply superb with excitement, some real laughs and some proper drama.

I am shocked it does not have a better rating.

This is an awesome debut for an awesome Doctor. 10/10

Fairly fun and light stuff , new doc takes time to get moving but frankly it was all quite exciting patiently waiting for him to get up.

Sycorax look great and must admit I’d never complain if I saw them again. Stories very basic, but does hint at things to come

I'm going to be generous and give this one a 6 as, it's really a let down, no where near as good as it could've been and the ending was stupid. "The monsters are coming the human race" umm. Doctor they were going to destroy the planet and all she was doing was being safe... sorry if you haven't watched the episode you wont understand what I'm talking about.

So 70% of the episode you'll forget after the first viewing as there's nothing all that interesting beside the doctor in this one and he spends 90% of the story in bed asleep. The confrontation with the monster at the end was the best part of the episode. Rose is acting like an idiot most of the time. Mickey does nothing, nore Jackey. Yeah I wasn't really enjoying this one. The 10th doctor seemed okay. Until he said the final words to Harriot Jones. It was kind of boring so yeah, I'm being generous.

The Christmas Invasion was the first story of the Tenth Doctor era, although the Doctor was unconscious as he recovered from regeneration from the prior story.

The first two thirds of the story is good enough, though nothing really special. The idea of an invasion of Earth happening when the Doctor wasn't around isn't all that original. And the other plot thread of companions being confused by regeneration is par for the course. The only companions who adjusted rather easily was Sarah Jane Smith (who had been told of regeneration by the Brigadier and a friendly hologram.) Though certainly it may have been a tougher blow for Rose given that her feelings had grown romantic towards the Doctor.

While Rose's reactions were natural they do seem to represent a step back for the character. Also Mickey could be a bit annoying by being very whiny that Rose isn't talking him when Rose has real reason to be confused, concerned, and uncertain about what happened to the Doctor.

Two performances really make this work. First is Penelope Wilton who plays Harriet Jones. The character is far more confident than the one we met in Series 1. She's fully engaged and in command but still feels the need to flash her ID. It's a great performance and very fun to watch.

However, what ultimately makes this work are the final twenty minutes in which the Tenth Doctor awakes: fights for the planets, topples the government, and chooses a new wardrobe and all time for Christmas Dinner. The rest of the story is okay, but Tennant elevates the entire piece with a mesmerizing performance that perfectly previewed what the Tenth Doctor would be like in every aspect both good and bad. It's a spell binding turn that takes an average alien invasion story and makes it a landmark for a new era on the series.