By: Russell T. Davies
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet watched this
special, please go and do so before proceeding.
This
special starts, appropriately enough, with Jackie Tyler decorating the flat for
Christmas; a Christmas she’s not sure if Rose will even be alive to see. Poor
Jackie really misses her daughter and, considering the way they last parted, is clearly worried about her. So, after a glimpse of Jackie the screen cuts
away to the garage where Mickey works. Please remember that blaring Christmas
song. You will be hearing it often on the Doctor Who Christmas Specials. You could
make a game out of it; one free glass of eggnog for whoever spots it first.
(This game could also be played with ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ as that song
is played not only in every Christmas special, but in every Christmas themed
episode as well.) Anyway, Mickey somehow manages to hear the TARDIS over the
racket and races out of the garage to meet up with Jackie in the street and
watch for the blue box.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts
So I’m just going to throw it out there: The Doctor’s
driving is abysmal. I’ve seen kids on tricycles have a better grasp of the
principles of steering! This one can’t even be blamed on the TARDIS mucking
about with coordinates to pay him back for hitting her with a mallet. But I
suppose we should let his hazardous tendencies slide without too many jokes
because he was suffering a neuron implosion at that moment. At least he managed
to land and get out before he collapsed. And they had to slip in a ‘Doctor
Who?’ joke, didn’t they?
- Gosh...I forgot just how early we saw the snappish-Rose-jealously crop up. For all her complaining about how she thought she knew him about how he’s not really The Doctor, she’s awful possessive, even about a (mostly) innocent comment from her own mother.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts
So I’m just going to throw it out there: The Doctor’s
driving is abysmal. I’ve seen kids on tricycles have a better grasp of the
principles of steering! This one can’t even be blamed on the TARDIS mucking
about with coordinates to pay him back for hitting her with a mallet. But I
suppose we should let his hazardous tendencies slide without too many jokes
because he was suffering a neuron implosion at that moment. At least he managed
to land and get out before he collapsed. And they had to slip in a ‘Doctor
Who?’ joke, didn’t they?- Gosh...I forgot just how early we saw the snappish-Rose-jealously crop up. For all her complaining about how she thought she knew him about how he’s not really The Doctor, she’s awful possessive, even about a (mostly) innocent comment from her own mother.
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- At
least they manage to have a civil conversation about Jackie’s latest boyfriend, Howard, leaving
behind a pair of men’s pyjamas that thankfully fit The Doctor and – just a moment there! Who dressed him? Clearly not Jackie and probably not Rose…so I would love to see The
Doctor’s reaction when he hears that Mickey the Idiot got him ready for bed.
- Just like in Boom Town,
I feel that the Mickey and Rose portions of this episode are definitely the least watchable. I’m
really becoming impatient with Mickey. The guy who just can’t take a hint
(even if it walks up and punches him in the gut). I
guess he’s forgotten Rose telling him that “There’s nothing left for me
here” in the last episode, but you just want to walk over and give him the heads up that
she’s not interested before things get even more heartbreaking for him. It’s
frustrating because Mickey has been written twice now (by RTD, no less) as
breaking it off with Rose because he sees that she’ll always care for The
Doctor more for him. I know you love her, Mickey. But methinks that love is
sorely misplaced. ‘Tis time to move on!
- Not that Mickey had much time to
contemplate relationships on this little shopping trip. Between explosions,
gunshots, and Rose clinging to his arm the poor man’s concentration was more
than a little divided.
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- While
we’re on the topic of gunshots, I’m just going to stop right here and say a big
thank you to Davies for trying to give me the strong and irrational fear of Jolly Old
Saint Nick. I so needed to be looking sideways at Sidewalk Santas and never
wanting to let Father Christmas get between me and a door…EVER.
- But as I re-watch this scene I can’t help but wonder why no one noticed anything
a bit odd about the Santa masks. I mean, there were no eyeholes so how were
the things inside seeing?
- Emily's Survival Rule #123: If something’s
wearing a mask and you can’t see even its eyes, don’t let it out of your sight.
- And then Rose, the poor
girl, can’t get hold of her mother. We’ve all been there, right? There’s
something urgent (or, in this case, dangerous) going on and the person you’re
trying to contact just won’t get off the phone. Maddening, that.
- Gold's music is quite annoying here too as it cuts from The Doctor's sad, mystical theme to the snappy chase music with no sense of a smooth segue whatsoever, resulting in the effect of a jump caused by a faulty CD. It is terribly jarring and breaks the mood, both the mysterious and the frantic. Usually, aside from the occasional overdramatic choir number that bludgeons you over the head (generally employed when Daleks are involved), I rather enjoy the themes that Murray Gold comes up with. So I was surprised when watching this episode just how distracting the music is. And it's a shame because the cab ride back to the flat is a rather fine sequence, aside from that unfortunate music glitch.
- I don't trust pre-lit Christmas trees any more. Honestly, you never know when one might go berserk on you - merrily spinning its destructive way through your house accompanied by a disgustingly cheerful Christmas song. I'm telling you, 'Jingle Bells' has never sounded more threatening!
- Also Mickey's weapon of choice appears to be a chair of all things. Just look at it! What does he reach for every time there is a threat in the flat with him? A chair. Eh, I probably shouldn't make fun of him since that particular piece of furniture seems to be effective not only as something to smash over a Slitheen's head. I just never realised that it could also fend off possessed holiday decorations.
- And now we can touch about the scenes that Tennant on Doctor Who Confidential called his best piece of work. Surely it's hard to act out being unconscious. Particularly when in a soft, plush bed as you have to be careful that you don't fall asleep for real and miss your cue to 'wake up'. He would have had to listen hard for that cue too - for once Rose did away with the sniping or yelling (And people complained about Donna?) in favour of whispering in his ear "Help me." Well, I'm not going to hate it because apparently it worked (either that or the sonic screwdriver sent a jolt of electricity up through his nerves to his brain and momentarily roused him).
- I wonder what that
Artron energy smelled like? Seriously, it's a legitimate question considering poor Jackie and Mickey got a
face-full of it. One must at least hope it was eau de banana or
something like that!
- We need more Jackie and Doctor interaction, particularly when Jackie is panicking like that. It’s both frustrating and absolutely hilarious and it would seem that Jackie is accepting this new doctor a bit better than her daughter is as she fusses over whether he wants vitamins or a soup and sandwich to help stop a neuron implosion. Gotta love Jackie!
- The apple in Howard’s dressing gown (this Doctor is easily distracted...even from little niggling details like dying) is rather funny and once again shows off Tennant’s excellent sense of comedy and timing.
- So he banishes the ‘pilot fish roboSantas’ and promptly collapses under the pain of his still-regenerating brain. It’s rather sad that in this scene he can’t even really talk…especially when you consider Ten’s legendary gob. But I’m sure the sweating-in-bed-with-a-fever scene has inspired several fangirls to go scurrying to their keyboards. Oh I can just see the Hurt/Comfort sick!fics now…
- Now this is where you really need to pay careful attention because the seeds of the 10th Doctor’s sometimes reckless arrogance begin here as he scoffs that Blood Control is harmless – useful only to scare the pants off someone but no more. That same arrogance will also be shown (to a greater degree) later in this episode when Harriet Jones orders Torchwood to shoot down the retreating Sycorax ship, in fear that they will return with their armada and The Doctor really won’t be there that time. Ten doesn’t respond so well, arguing fiercely with Harriet until the frustrated Prime Minister finally snaps out this line: "And what does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?”
- So do we get
our happy, fuzzy, Christmas-good-feelings ending? Well, sort of. Rose heads
back to the flat with her mother and Mickey to eat Christmas dinner while The
Doctor makes a beeline for the TARDIS wardrobe to ditch Howard’s duds.
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- Also Mickey's weapon of choice appears to be a chair of all things. Just look at it! What does he reach for every time there is a threat in the flat with him? A chair. Eh, I probably shouldn't make fun of him since that particular piece of furniture seems to be effective not only as something to smash over a Slitheen's head. I just never realised that it could also fend off possessed holiday decorations.
- And now we can touch about the scenes that Tennant on Doctor Who Confidential called his best piece of work. Surely it's hard to act out being unconscious. Particularly when in a soft, plush bed as you have to be careful that you don't fall asleep for real and miss your cue to 'wake up'. He would have had to listen hard for that cue too - for once Rose did away with the sniping or yelling (And people complained about Donna?) in favour of whispering in his ear "Help me." Well, I'm not going to hate it because apparently it worked (either that or the sonic screwdriver sent a jolt of electricity up through his nerves to his brain and momentarily roused him).
- We need more Jackie and Doctor interaction, particularly when Jackie is panicking like that. It’s both frustrating and absolutely hilarious and it would seem that Jackie is accepting this new doctor a bit better than her daughter is as she fusses over whether he wants vitamins or a soup and sandwich to help stop a neuron implosion. Gotta love Jackie!
- The apple in Howard’s dressing gown (this Doctor is easily distracted...even from little niggling details like dying) is rather funny and once again shows off Tennant’s excellent sense of comedy and timing.
- So he banishes the ‘pilot fish roboSantas’ and promptly collapses under the pain of his still-regenerating brain. It’s rather sad that in this scene he can’t even really talk…especially when you consider Ten’s legendary gob. But I’m sure the sweating-in-bed-with-a-fever scene has inspired several fangirls to go scurrying to their keyboards. Oh I can just see the Hurt/Comfort sick!fics now…
- So
while The Doctor is ill and possibly dying, Britain’s first space probe (christened Guinevere 1) reaches the surface of Mars and is (apparently) sucked
into a little hatch that opens. Christmas morning arrives and the first
pictures from the probe arrive back on Earth. And instead of displaying the
expected red rocks and soil, the pictures beamed back display a roaring,
possibly multiple-headed alien life form – sparking a media hype and putting the
United Nations on red alert (also giving us our first proper look at UNIT since
the series’ reboot).
- Also take note of the second mention of the mysterious 'Torchwood' as it will be important this series.
- Scientist Daniel Llewellyn is the nervous man in charge of the Guinevere 1 project and he is a character that you really have to feel sorry for as the episode progresses. In short, the thing that the space probe got sucked into was not the surface of Mars but a spaceship in orbit around Mars...a spaceship that is now heading for Earth after Prime Minister Harriet Jones refused to surrender the planet.
- Yes, you heard that right: Prime Minister Harriet Jones, the best character to come out of the Aliens of London/WWIII fiasco, is back and better than ever. Here she gives off the vibe of a woman in over her head, desperately trying to protect her world from the deadly alien threat that is just hours away.
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- Just a quick note here: did you notice how Harriet always tries to learn the names of those she’s working with? That’s a nice throwback to WWIII and a great example of how she’s grown as a character. And while we’re talking about WWIII...I thought The Doctor wiped his files at the end of that episode. So would his ‘buffalo’ universal password still work? I guess it must if Mickey got into military files because while he may be a computer geek, he doesn’t strike me as a high profile hacker.
- Jackie's developed quite a soft spot for our poor, ailing Time Lord...
- And this brings me to the least watchable portion of
the episode: Rose and her worries over the new Doctor. I’m not saying she has
to be super cosy with him right away (in fact, I’d complain if she was) but all
of this snivelling and sobbing is really wearying to watch. I though Rose was
supposed to be the ultimate companion? I certainly don’t see Martha or Clara
whining on about “The Doctor wouldn’t do this – not the
real Doctor, the proper Doctor. He’d wake up and save us.” Or “He’s left me, Mum.”
- Sheesh, girl, get a grip! You’ve travelled with him for over a year now and he’s taught you bravery and how to have the guts to stand up for what’s right (at least, according to your big speech last episode he did). So stop your whinging and do something! Even poor Harriet, with the world literally on her shoulders and not even knowing where The Doctor is, is doing something more than just wandering around home crying things like “The Doctor left me.” On the bright side, at least all of the moaning and longing glances seem to finally have gotten the point through to poor Mickey…at least I hope he got it. Also, on a side note, based on some of these scenes we can safely say that Jackie Tyler is beginning to develop a soft spot for The Doctor. Now if only he won’t ruin it by swanning off again without so much as a ‘by your leave’ once he recovers.
- And at last the Sycorax spaceship of doom arrives in the skies over London. My only gripe with this scene is that the spacecraft looks too close to the tops of the buildings, especially given the apparent height from the aerial shots. I do enjoy the musical score here, though. Very appropriate and tastefully done, it is a score that heightens the stakes as soon as you hear it (and makes you wish for either Rose to run out of tissues or for The Doctor to finally awake from the Regeneration Sickness)
- Even Jackie thinks that Rose should do more to help, and I’m not sure why Rose thinks that being ‘stuck at home’ would render her completely useless. It’s the same brain and experience no matter where you are, honey. You just have to apply it slightly differently.
- Well, Rose decides that with an alien ship overhead
and goodness knows what going to happen to the planet the best thing to do
would be to go and hide out in the TARDIS. So she tells her mother to gather
supplies while she and Mickey cart The Doctor out of the flat, down the stairs,
and into his blue box. Of course, this proves to be a bit more difficult than
they expected so Rose, in her frustration, starts snapping at Jackie in a
manner that makes you just want to tell her to lighten up. Look, Rose, you told
your mother to get food gathered and she got you food. It’s not her fault The
Doctor is heavier than he looks. (Although, she should probably have known that
since she must have helped carry him up in the first place.)
- While this is going on Harriet Jones, Alex her right hand man, Daniel Llewellyn, and a UNIT commander are all teleported on board the Sycorax ship to negotiate with these invaders. Bad choice. You should never agree to meet with a potential enemy on their turf. You always make sure it's neutral ground.
- The design of the Sycorax is brilliant (I would say beautiful, but I do hate to lie) and it is very interesting that the grotesque ‘head’ first seen on the probe picture is actually a helmet that is removed to reveal…well…another grotesque head. With their red eyes, sharp teeth, and guttural language – the Sycorax are definitely intimidating foes, especially when one takes into account the disintegration whip that seems to be their primary weapon. That looks like a painful way to go!
- Also take note of the second mention of the mysterious 'Torchwood' as it will be important this series.
- Scientist Daniel Llewellyn is the nervous man in charge of the Guinevere 1 project and he is a character that you really have to feel sorry for as the episode progresses. In short, the thing that the space probe got sucked into was not the surface of Mars but a spaceship in orbit around Mars...a spaceship that is now heading for Earth after Prime Minister Harriet Jones refused to surrender the planet.
- Yes, you heard that right: Prime Minister Harriet Jones, the best character to come out of the Aliens of London/WWIII fiasco, is back and better than ever. Here she gives off the vibe of a woman in over her head, desperately trying to protect her world from the deadly alien threat that is just hours away.
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- Harriet Jones, how I’ve missed you! Here Penelope
Wilton returns as the ID card-obsessed MP (now Prime Minister), keeping her
character beautifully consistent with the Harriet we fell in love with while
still allowing for character growth over the time we’ve been away. Did I
mention that she also gets some of the best lines? “There’s an
act of Parliament banning my autobiography." Heeheehee!
- Just a quick note here: did you notice how Harriet always tries to learn the names of those she’s working with? That’s a nice throwback to WWIII and a great example of how she’s grown as a character. And while we’re talking about WWIII...I thought The Doctor wiped his files at the end of that episode. So would his ‘buffalo’ universal password still work? I guess it must if Mickey got into military files because while he may be a computer geek, he doesn’t strike me as a high profile hacker.
- Jackie's developed quite a soft spot for our poor, ailing Time Lord...
- Sheesh, girl, get a grip! You’ve travelled with him for over a year now and he’s taught you bravery and how to have the guts to stand up for what’s right (at least, according to your big speech last episode he did). So stop your whinging and do something! Even poor Harriet, with the world literally on her shoulders and not even knowing where The Doctor is, is doing something more than just wandering around home crying things like “The Doctor left me.” On the bright side, at least all of the moaning and longing glances seem to finally have gotten the point through to poor Mickey…at least I hope he got it. Also, on a side note, based on some of these scenes we can safely say that Jackie Tyler is beginning to develop a soft spot for The Doctor. Now if only he won’t ruin it by swanning off again without so much as a ‘by your leave’ once he recovers.
- And at last the Sycorax spaceship of doom arrives in the skies over London. My only gripe with this scene is that the spacecraft looks too close to the tops of the buildings, especially given the apparent height from the aerial shots. I do enjoy the musical score here, though. Very appropriate and tastefully done, it is a score that heightens the stakes as soon as you hear it (and makes you wish for either Rose to run out of tissues or for The Doctor to finally awake from the Regeneration Sickness)
- Even Jackie thinks that Rose should do more to help, and I’m not sure why Rose thinks that being ‘stuck at home’ would render her completely useless. It’s the same brain and experience no matter where you are, honey. You just have to apply it slightly differently.
- Well, Rose decides that with an alien ship overhead
and goodness knows what going to happen to the planet the best thing to do
would be to go and hide out in the TARDIS. So she tells her mother to gather
supplies while she and Mickey cart The Doctor out of the flat, down the stairs,
and into his blue box. Of course, this proves to be a bit more difficult than
they expected so Rose, in her frustration, starts snapping at Jackie in a
manner that makes you just want to tell her to lighten up. Look, Rose, you told
your mother to get food gathered and she got you food. It’s not her fault The
Doctor is heavier than he looks. (Although, she should probably have known that
since she must have helped carry him up in the first place.)- While this is going on Harriet Jones, Alex her right hand man, Daniel Llewellyn, and a UNIT commander are all teleported on board the Sycorax ship to negotiate with these invaders. Bad choice. You should never agree to meet with a potential enemy on their turf. You always make sure it's neutral ground.
- The design of the Sycorax is brilliant (I would say beautiful, but I do hate to lie) and it is very interesting that the grotesque ‘head’ first seen on the probe picture is actually a helmet that is removed to reveal…well…another grotesque head. With their red eyes, sharp teeth, and guttural language – the Sycorax are definitely intimidating foes, especially when one takes into account the disintegration whip that seems to be their primary weapon. That looks like a painful way to go!
- Both Daniel
Llewellyn and the UNIT fellow are killed by said whip before Mickey messing
around with the TARDIS scanner (checking to see what channels it can get of all things)
allows the Sycorax to detect and teleport them on board as well. Poor Jackie,
running back inside for some more supplies, gets left behind again.
- And now comes the scene that I have been waiting for ever since this invasion started: Rose finally gets up, stops moping, and does something in an attempt to help. My only protest is that she really should have thought a few things through before she started throwing all of those alien names and establishments out there (what if one of them was an insult or a curse in the Sycorax language?) Still, it is so nice to see her displaying non-bratty initiative that I’m going to play nice and rein in my sarcasm just a wee bit. She was the one to notice that the translator circuit (or whatever the official technobabble name is) had started working again and we all know what that means..
- Jackie should be happy that she was proved to be
right: tea was the solution to all The Doctor’s problems. Although I’m sure the
TARDIS didn’t appreciate the shorted circuits that resulted from the spill, she
was probably glad that her Time Lord was up and about again. And what an
entrance! Striding out of the TARDIS, rendering the dreaded whip useless, and
snapping the chieftain’s walking stick over his knee to the comment of “You just can’t get the staff these days”, the 10th Doctor is quickly
establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with.
- And now comes the scene that I have been waiting for ever since this invasion started: Rose finally gets up, stops moping, and does something in an attempt to help. My only protest is that she really should have thought a few things through before she started throwing all of those alien names and establishments out there (what if one of them was an insult or a curse in the Sycorax language?) Still, it is so nice to see her displaying non-bratty initiative that I’m going to play nice and rein in my sarcasm just a wee bit. She was the one to notice that the translator circuit (or whatever the official technobabble name is) had started working again and we all know what that means..
- But we’ll get to the duelling in a minute because
there is still a major plot point to be resolved and that is the problem of the
millions of people primed and ready to commit suicide unless the human race
consents to become the slaves of the Sycorax. The Doctor, while gabbing on
about how he doesn’t yet know who he is, marches right over to the big,
threatening button and proceeds to chirp out excitedly about something called
Blood Control (actually, he describes it as a cheap bit of voodoo which he hadn’t
seen for years). It is quite humorous the way he humiliates the Sycorax leader
and forces him to admit that the Blood Control was just a trick to scare the
humans into submission. Of course this comes after The Doctor tastes the blood
and identifies it as human A+ with just a touch of iron. We know, thanks to a
confession made by Llewellyn, that Guinevere 1 (the probe that started this
whole mess) was fitted with a plaque containing a message to the stars along
with all the sorts of things usually sent up (pictures, seed, music, etc.) Only
this one, in some fevered move of insanity, was also fitted with several vials
of A+ human blood. The Doctor hits the big, threatening button
and his friends cry out in horror that he killed all of the affected people
back on earth.
- Now this is where you really need to pay careful attention because the seeds of the 10th Doctor’s sometimes reckless arrogance begin here as he scoffs that Blood Control is harmless – useful only to scare the pants off someone but no more. That same arrogance will also be shown (to a greater degree) later in this episode when Harriet Jones orders Torchwood to shoot down the retreating Sycorax ship, in fear that they will return with their armada and The Doctor really won’t be there that time. Ten doesn’t respond so well, arguing fiercely with Harriet until the frustrated Prime Minister finally snaps out this line: "And what does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?”
- She is tired and has had a truly lousy day so I don’t
blame her for being a bit sharp. The Doctor, however, tells her not to challenge
him because he’s a completely new man. (Arrogance, people, arrogance.) And then
he proceeds to bring her government down with six little words: “Don’t you think she looks
tired?”
- Keep this in mind, as it will become vastly important
as the series goes on. But now back to that sword fight! So it would appear
that the Sycorax have, in addition to the technology of a disintegrator whip, a
fondness for medieval customs and weaponry. Certainly The Doctor’s challenge
that he and the Sycorax leader fight a duel for the fate of Planet Earth sounds
like it belongs in some sort of warped Arthurian Legends retelling. It is
rather epic, though, even if one contestant is a red-faced mutant and the other
a pj-clad Time Lord.
- During the course of the fight, The Doctor loses a
hand which falls to earth (presumably found by Torchwood and confiscated
by Jack Harkness) but he quickly uses up the rest of his regeneration energy to
regrow the severed appendage.
- And this hand, as he puts it, is a “fightin’ hand” which enables him to quickly defeat the Sycorax leader and present the
apple from his dressing gown to the nearby Rose. The routed Sycorax then
strikes at The Doctor’s unprotected back and the Time Lord discovers that this
regeneration doesn’t believe in second chances, quickly dispatching the
would-be assassin via a Disney Villain Death and then ordering the other
Sycorax to leave this planet forever, an order they are only too willing to
obey.
 |
| Recognise this scarf? |
- Then we are treated to the biggest change in The Doctor’s personality: he actually goes, sits down, and has dinner with the Tylers. One of my gripes with Aliens of London/WWIII is that The Doctor spurns Jackie’s wish to get to know him better and basically has Rose leave without even saying goodbye to her mother (after she’d been missing for twelve months too). Much as I complain about Rose during that scene, a big part of the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of the 9th Doctor’s prickly, anti-social outlook on life. But not so with cheery Ten!
- Not only does he manage to down Jackie’s cooking, but he dons a red paper crown from a cheap cracker. Talk about an attitude adjustment!
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Naturally the festive mood is somewhat destroyed by a
harried Harriet Jones press conference and the falling of Christmas snow that
is, in actuality, ash from the destroyed Sycorax ship. But the episode still
manages to end on a high note as Rose takes The Doctor’s hand and lets him know
that she does indeed still want to travel with him (translation: she’s accepted
his new face). How does this episode rate over all? Well, despite some
pointless moping from Rose and a climax in the form of an epic but corny sword
fight, the story was excellently written and extremely coherent, wrapping up
all loose ends and setting up the relationships for this new series. It wasn’t
fluff – and I appreciate a Christmas special that has the guts to be something
more than that. I would rate The Christmas Invasion as a 4/5 and say that all other Doctor Who
Christmas specials have some big shoes to fill.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not -
what would you say differently?
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