Mark Watches ‘Doctor Who’: The Christmas Invasion

In the first Doctor Who Christmas special, the Doctor regenerates into a new body and immediately suffers the effects of his entire body reforming into new cells. Incapacitated inside Rose’s house, the world is attacked by a ruthless race of aliens, and it’s up to some familiar faces to save the day.

I already miss Christopher Eccleston, since he was my first real introduction to Doctor Who, but it’s not going to be hard to like David Tennant. The changes we see in the Doctor in “The Christmas Invasion” are subtle (personality changes, catch phrases, sense of humor) to quite drastic (physical appearance and outfit, for one). I found it pretty realistic that this special spent so much time on Rose disbelieving the regeneration process, or at least feeling that this “new” Doctor wasn’t the same one as before.

For the opening “episode” for the Tenth Doctor, we return to a place of familiarity: Cardiff. [AUTHOR’S EDIT: Clearly this is fucking London. What the fuck is wrong with me.] The effects of the Doctor’s regeneration cause him to go a bit wonky and he sends the TARDIS back to Rose’s home on Christmas Eve, where he promptly passes out after greeting Mickey and Jackie. Left without any real options as to what they could possibly do while the Doctor is unconscious, Mickey and Jackie head out to do some Christmas shopping.

There’s still a large part of me that wishes that Mickey would be invited along with Rose and the Doctor aboard the TARDIS. I’m beginning to like his character a lot and it still makes me sad to see that he’s basically Rose’s back-up plan in a way. I get the sense that even though he tried to see someone else, it just didn’t feel the same way as it did with Rose. I think a lot of people (myself included) take their relationships and friendships with people for granted. What would you do if they just up and disappeared one day, only returning at random points of time to see you?

It’s a frustrating scenario and I appreciate that Russell T Davies and the other writers have spent so much time on it. This particular episode is another example of how the plot is sort of secondary to the illuminating character development Doctor Who showcases. As Mickey and Rose walk around the shops in Cardiff, he asks her to please spend just a moment with him without talking about the Doctor; clearly, he’s intimidated by the fact that it’s sort of hard to compete with a spacetime-bending Time Lord who travels in a telepathic police box. So when those creepy Santa Clauses attack Rose and Mickey, I was more excited to see how the relationship between the two would be affected than seeing why these things were stalking them.

We do learn what is causing them to be attacked after they return home and a Christmas tree comes to life and nearly chops them to pieces. Rose wakes the Doctor up before he’s finished his regeneration process and they manage to obtain some information from him before he passes out again. These strange beings are merely scouting in a way; the energy that the Doctor is releasing has attracted much larger fish in the sea, to follow through with the logic used in the episode.

I don’t know if it’s ever explained why the Sycorax are attracted to the energy that the Doctor releases, as it’s not once referenced once they begin to invade earth. (Again, correct me if I’m missing something.) It seems that the probe that was sent out into space is what attracted this brutal alien race to Earth, especially since the aliens use the blood on the probe to “control” a third of humanity.

Plot-wise, this episode is so-so. We’ve already seen earth be invaded by the Slitheen and this plot doesn’t really differ significantly until the end. It was wonderful to see Harriet Jones again, this time as the Prime Minister after her work in “World War Three.” The character twist towards the end creates a stunning new dynamic between her and the Doctor…but we’ll get there in a moment. It seems that I really don’t care as much for the plot as I do the dialogue and the characters, and I’m ok with that. This episode, to me, explores Rose’s life without the Doctor in a way that the series one finale did. Rose simply doesn’t have the same knowledge as, say, Romana, a previous companion of the Doctor, and she is left feeling helpless and listless. How does she fight an alien invasion without the Doctor? How does she live her life in the best way possible without him around?

In a larger scope, this special also explores what the Universe would be like without the Doctor’s random interventions. I suppose the thought never really crossed my mind, but this show presents the idea that there is probably not a living thing that has affected the entire universe in a more positive manner than the Doctor. Is he bigger than Jesus. Wait, has there been an episode where the Doctor meets Jesus or do the writers generally think hey we’d like to keep our viewers and not piss off the entire world. These are my thoughts. I am sharing them with you.

Back to the Sycorax! So far, they’re my favorite aliens and their costumes/spaceship are just IMMENSE. Huge props to the crew who designed both of these things, because they were entirely believable, even if the plot attached to them seemed a bit nonsensical. (Seriously, you guys chose earth? What the fuck do we have that you can use?) The fake language they used was also goddamn awesome and creepy, and the electrical whip thing? TERRIFYING FOREVER. Oh god, AND THE TEETH. The teeth. Never again, I swear.

Best moment of the episode? When the lead Sycorax suddenly starts speaking English. I didn’t get it at first, but the reveal that the TARDIS started working (BECAUSE OF A CUP OF TEA, THE MOST BRITISH PLOT TWIST OF ALL TIME), I actually screamed FUCK YEAH to my television. Out comes the Doctor, completely regenerated in a new body, and ready to deal with the Sycorax with a healthy dose of sarcasm and wit. And that’s all we really wanted, isn’t it? He calls the Sycorax’s bluff (no one could have actually committed suicide, as the blood control was more akin to hypnotism) and then challenges the leader to a duel, which he, of course, victoriously wins.

The end of this episode, though, sets an interesting tone for the series to come. Harriet Jones and her assistant had mentioned “Torchwood” a few times as some sort of organization that could be contacted regarding the alien invasion. After the Doctor warns Harriet that all the probes and radio waves we are sending out into space are making us a “noisy” planet, she gets through to Torchwood and orders them to fire, effectively murdering the Sycorax. It’s our first chance to see David Tennant play the Doctor in a fit of rage and he’s somehow even more intimidating than Christopher Eccleston. I have to say, I didn’t expect Harriet Jones to do what she did, especially after the Sycorax left Earth. It’s a horrifying political move, but the Doctor returns with just six words to dismantle her government:

“Don’t you think she looks tired?”

God bless the Doctor.

THOUGHTS

• The Sycorax ship sure had a lot of ill-placed buttons just hanging around.
• According to Wikipedia, Tennant’s accent is Estuary English. Neat! I had no idea.
• “Aww, I wanted to be ginger. I’ve never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me. Oooh, that was rude. Is that the kind of man I am now? Am I rude? Rude and not ginger?”
• “There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than–no, hold on…Sorry, that’s The Lion King. But the point still stands!”
• The reoccurring joke of fruit being left in Howard’s robe = AMAZING.
• “Tea. While we’re waiting for the world to come to an end. Very British.”
• “And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential, when you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you them them this: IT. IS. DEFENDED!” bamf bamf bamf