Review of The Christmas Invasion (Doctor Who 2.0)

[unfeathered]

The only thing I remembered about watching this the first time is that I came away from this episode loving David Tennant after being a little unsure at the start, because I'd never seen him in anything before.

This time, I came away in love with David Tennant (and yes, that is a deliberate change) because he's just so adorable! Right from the start: how yummy does he look in the Ninth Doctor's leather coat???? And how sweet, asleep in bed?


The part of the episode that he wasn't in, however – which was most of it – was pretty blooming boring. Jackie was relatively funny, Mickey was not annoying at all (wow, he can now hack into the military, though he didn't seem to get anywhere with the TARDIS), Rose was OK though a bit whimpery, but really not great. And the silly bits like the spinning tree just didn't do it for me.

The only thing that saved it was the bits with Harriet Jones, because I love that character. She's so level-headed and takes everything in her stride. Loved all the repetitions of "Yes, I know who you are", up to and including the Sycorax! I liked her assistant Alex too. I liked the way they made her make the hard choice at the end and that it turned the Doctor against her. That's a great scene.

There were a few other little bits I loved, like the Queen's speech being cancelled because the Royal Family were on the roof (is the Royal Family A-positive?), and the views of London with scaffolding still round Big Ben following the destruction during Season 1.

But it really didn't get going until the Doctor woke up. And then – wow. It got great. I loved all the stuff about not knowing what kind of man he was ("Rude and not ginger") and pressing the button, and the quote from The Lion King and regrowing his hand because he was still within the first 15 hours of regeneration, and "This is a fightin' hand!", and "Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" and "Very Arthur Dent". And the TARDIS wardrobe. Yep. 'Adorable' is definitely the word.

Other things of note:

The energy coming from the Doctor's mouth was so reminiscent of the Buffy episode Hush that I'd think someone on the writing team must be a big Buffy fan… Oh, yes, that'd be RTD then. *g* Honestly, though, it was exactly the same, even the same little 'shhh' noise as he opened his mouth. Even the music at those points sounded like the music in Hush! Not that there was any reason for the similarity, storywise. I suppose it was just a fan moment.

Torchwood is jolly powerful at this point, isn't it? Alien weapons that can blow up a huge ship! Bit of a difference from five people in Cardiff.

Anyway, rather boring episode with a great ending.

7/10

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I thought he was horribly mean to Harriet Jones here at the end. Loved the beginning though, DT in the leather and then passing out in front of mickey and Jackie.. but overall? *yawn*

I never did understand why the babel fish santa things randomly disappeared.

[unfeathered]

I thought he was horribly mean to Harriet Jones here at the end.

Oh, yes, definitely. The Doctor has his own very firm ideas about weapons and he likes imposing them on other people, and I don't necessarily agree with that. But it was a great confrontation!

Loved the beginning though, DT in the leather

He should wear leather more often... :-)

I never did understand why the babel fish santa things randomly disappeared.

Well, they were to scout out the Earth, weren't they? And when they'd finished scouting they went back to their masters and told them to come along and invade. At least, that's how I interpreted it.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Pilot fish not babel fish (sorry) I thought they were unrelated to the Sycorax, the Doctor'd made some comment about them feeding off the energy the doctor was putting out and use him like a battery... made some vague comment about there being something coming and then passed out again.

I just didn't get it. the Sycorax didn't seem to know the Doctor was there.. so...

[unfeathered]

Oh, yeah, didn't notice the typo! *g*

And yeah. I didn't get that either, about how the Doctor's energy related to it all - it seemed to just get forgotten. Hmmm.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

forgotten's the best excuse I can come up with. Oh well.

[smithy161.livejournal.com]

For an episode that makes no sense, this one is pretty awesome. Jackie and Mickey bore the crap out of me, but still. Doctor with a sword!

[unfeathered]

Yeah, that's pretty much my review summed up. :-)

And yeah - sword-fight! Not bad for a man still learning to use his new body!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/]

I loved all the stuff about not knowing what kind of man he was ("Rude and not ginger") and pressing the button, and the quote from The Lion King and regrowing his hand because he was still within the first 15 hours of regeneration, and "This is a fightin' hand!", and "Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" and "Very Arthur Dent".

Yes! I adored that. I went from whining that I missed Nine to loving Ten, all in...however long that part was.

[unfeathered]

I went from whining that I missed Nine to loving Ten, all in...however long that part was.

Yeah, me too. It was about 15 minutes, I think. Really could have done with him in more of the episode!

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

As an episode I can take it or leave it until the Doctor wakes up. Though I always pay particular attention, in any episode, when Rose is filling Mickey in on their adventures. Don't know why I - I've never used them as fic fodder (except for Woman Wept)

[unfeathered]

Oh yes, it's pretty nothing-y till the Doctor wakes up. And then it's brilliant.

And there you go then - when you don't know what else to write you can write Rose and the Doctor on their adventures... *g*