New Who Review for Christmas Invasion

[puppetmaker]

*Cracking her knuckles and getting ready for the next Season*

OK remember that in England this episode aired around Christmas and they didn't see the rest of the season until the spring. So there is a gap between this episode and New Earth in the gap a lot of who the Doctor is was settled before the next episode. This was a regeneration episode. We have had a couple of them where the Doctor changes and the world of the people around him change too. A couple have gone just fine and a couple have gone horribly wrong (for that episode). 5 probably had the hardest time of it but 10 was no picnic. In the introduction of 5 and 10 the writers focus a little more on the people around the Doctor rather than the Doctor himself. Rose, Jackie, and Mickey have to deal with the man they knew no longer looks like the man they knew.

Overall it is very well done. The Doctor trying to figure out who he is is fun to watch. Jackie and Mickey add a lot to the story rather than just being pushed to the background. It was nice to see Harriett Jones PM again. Billy having to deal with what she saw happen to the Doctor was well played and well written. The ideas of Christmas and family were weaved into the adventure well.

I had a few problems with how things were handled by UNIT and why it was Harriett called in because it was an English probe which I am still a little fuzzy on who owned it. Also I can't say that I am loving the Sci-Fi channel and their endless commercials and promos especially where they placed some of them which totally defused the tension that was building. This is an episode where you don't need time to think or you start to pick it apart.



"I can destroy you with a word....No six" and he promptly does so. That sets the tone for Tennant. He states it earlier with "No second chances. I'm not that kind of a man." He is a very judgmental Doctor with some set of moral rules that he is going to make the universe adhere to. But he is also a fun Doctor. His sense of humor and child-like wonder is back in force. Also I like the outfit although I have been going crazy trying to find the fabric for it.

The scene out on the balcony where he is explaining what has gone wrong and that he needs something to make it right and Jackie starts playing 20 questions with him was hilarious. I also like that Jackie inadvertently brought the one thing the Doctor needed to recover which is a strong cuppa. Anyone else catch the Arthur Dent reference? That had me giggling.

Caroline can't see the first half hour of this episode until after the Christmas tree is destroyed. But she knows that Tennant is the Doctor and she likes him.

I really like what Billy Piper did in this episode. Rose trying to hold it together for the Doctor and then totally losing it when Harriett is on the TV pleading for the Doctor to show up. Everyone was true to character and the dynamics were well played.

One of my biggest complaints about the season as a whole is that it felt like a bloody set up for Torchwood rather than a season of Doctor Who.

Next is New Earth

I am grateful that Dr. Who is back on American TV.

Comments

[michael-b-lee.livejournal.com]

"No second chances. I'm that kind of man."

That was the point where I totally bought into the new doctor. David Tennant is going to be great! (Still miss Eccleston, though.)

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I finally got the cut tag to work so the complete review is now up. *sigh* It's been that kind of morning.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I believe I was raising my fist and cheering at that point.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the broadcast, but I saw The Christmas Invasion when it aired on the local CBC affiliate late last year, and I have what's basically a bootleg DVD, which I watched last night after I got home (late) from work. I hear that SciFi cut a hilarious reference to the American president out of the episode that made me and my friends woop with glee when the episode first aired. I'm sorry you (and all my American Who friends) missed it, because at this particular juncture, it would have been both pointed and even more entertaining.

(It's a short scene. Harriett Jones is watching events unfold, standing next to Major Blake, who tells her the President wants to speak to the Sycorax. Harriett purses her lips and then says, "Tell him I said this and use these exact words: He's not my boss and he's not going to turn this into a war.")

Glad you enjoyed it though. It's a fun episode and a good introduction to Tennant's Doctor.

[auroraceleste.livejournal.com]

Nope, that reference was broadcast last night, and it made my boyfriend and I laugh ALOT.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I really love how Rose took action and tried to use all that space-jargon she'd learned in her adventures. That was just adorable.

The whole Torchwood thing kind of bugs me. Did it just not exist until..er...episode 2 of this season? Well, wait, it did exist. How come the Doctor's never run into them before? Are we to understand that simply weren't ready and didn't do anything until the Christmas Invasion?

This is probably a comment I should make in a few weeks time.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

I hope Torchwood, or the next Who ep set circa the present, deals with how the Terran balance of power just shifted. That big honkin' blast ray that took out a ship at interplanetary distances? Due to the way it was fired, every government in the world now knows that Britain has something very significant that they don't.

[jenny_evergreen]

My only complaint is that I really wish he'd gone with the last outfit he skimmed past, with the huge white ruffled collar thing; I really think it suited him. :P

[jenny_evergreen]

Oh, and there was the Arthur Dent reference, plus the slightly more obscure reference to HHGTTG (tea spilled on the ship!) and the Star Wars reference ("You cut off my hand!"), all of which I found highly amusing. :)