Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1 Christmas Special - The Christmas Invasion

Revisiting Doctor Who – Series 1, Christmas Special - The Christmas Invasion

Earth. That big blue planet with greenery. Zooming in to it, Jackie Tyler is hanging baubles on the Christmas tree and looking mournfully at a present from Rose. Mickey is working as a mechanic when he hears the noise of the TARDIS, as does Jackie. They meet at the council estate, sure now that Rose is alive, although the way the TARDIS materialises in the sky and smashes into loads of buildings it can’t be reassuring them much. The Doctor stumbles out, greeting Jackie and Mickey, who are confused as hell, having not heard of regeneration, beyond inner city building projects. He knows that there’s something important to tell them, but he faints after proclaiming ‘Merry Christmas!’. Rose explains to them that he’s The Doctor, but Jackie asks ‘Doctor Who?!’.

Cue title sequence…

The Doctor is lying in bed, being attended to by Rose and Jackie, the latter of whom wants to take him to hospital. Rose refuses, saying that they’d dissect him and that one bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race, so she’s obviously been paying attention to what he’s been telling her. She checks both his hearts which are fine, and after dismissing Jackie’s queries about if he has two of anything else, they leave him to sleep, missing a tiny bit of regeneration energy that escapes from his mouth, travelling off into space. Rose and Jackie debate whether he just has a new face, or whether he’s a whole new person, and Rose laments how it’s as if she’s lost him yet she hasn’t. Jackie begins to explain about how Howard from the market has begun staying over, but Rose overhears Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North on the TV, learning that she is now Harriet Jones, Prime Minister. She’s helped usher in Great Britain’s ‘Golden Age’ apparently, which has left Jackie £18 a week better off. She’s disagreeing with a journalist about the Guinevere 1 Space Probe, saying that it represents Britain’s achievements. We see the probe itself heading for Mars, but suddenly it crashes into an asteroid, although the door that opens within it, sucking the probe inside, suggests it’s not your average hunk of rock.

On the streets of London, Rose and Mickey joke about her tales of the TARDIS. As she worries about The Doctor, he begs her to forget about him for a few minutes and enjoy Christmas for a while. The camera focuses rather heavily on a marching band of Santa’s with plastic faces, as does Rose, which turns out to be a good thing as they suddenly fire flames out of their trumpets at her. Rose thinks they’re after her and Mickey, which seems pretty accurate, unlike the Santa’s aim as one of them squashes himself with a Christmas tree. As Rose and Mickey dodge the gun fire and flee into a taxi, they try to inform Jackie, but she’s on the phone for a change. She’s convinced that they’re after The Doctor, who is expelling more regeneration energy. As they reach the flat, they try to convince Jackie to flee to the Peak District, before spotting a Christmas tree that wasn’t there before, and none of them have brought in. I smell trouble…It lights up and starts spinning towards them, chopping up a table, and they run to avoid being the first people ever Christmas tree-d to death. They try to wake The Doctor unsuccessfully, as the Christmas tree barges into the room, but when Rose puts the sonic screwdriver into his hand and whispers ‘help me’, he sits bolt upright, using the sonic screwdriver to destroy it. ‘Remote control,’ he declares. ‘But who’s controlling it?’

‘Who’, indeed. Ha. Get it? Fine, I’ll move on.

Leaping out of bed and heading outside, The Doctor points the sonic screwdriver at the Santa’s in the courtyard who are holding a remote controller, sending them back to their mothership. They’re ‘pilot fish’ apparently, although before he can explain he doubles over, explaining that he was woken too early and is still regenerating, before burping out more regeneration energy. The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away, wanting to capture him to use as a battery. After repeated attempts he finally manages to get Jackie to shut up so he can explain, The Doctor tells them that the pilot fish means something is coming (invasion style), before he collapses again.

Back in bed, he’s burning up a fever, as Mickey looks pilot fish up on the internet, and Rose and Jackie watch the news about Guinevere 1, which has made contact again and landed on Mars. The first pictures are transmitted live just as Mickey learns pilot fish come alongside a much bigger fish, and it’s a bit of a shock to see an alien face shouting. First contact! Woo! Although maybe not, as it’s a bit scary. At least we can claim the Britain discovered aliens.

The chap who’s been doing the announcements (Mr Llewellyn) about Guinevere 1 arrives at U.N.I.T. HQ. A cover story has been put out, suggesting a hoax by students, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister tells him that it’s far from a hoax. It’s a whole new species, at least one that we haven’t met before. Another worker, Sally, tells them that the transmission didn’t come from the surface of Mars, and so Mr Llewellyn guesses that the aliens too might not be Martians – of course they’re not, Martians look completely different. The ship that the transmission is coming from is heading to Earth, fast. Mickey has somehow hacked the government and is tracking it too, just as the aliens start broadcasting a message in…alien I suppose. It all sounds very menacing. Rose is confused as the TARDIS isn’t translating it to English, which is possibly because The Doctor isn’t fully healed. Back with Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, she’s informed that the President of the United States wants to take over, but she responds with a message to bugger off and stop trying to turn it into a war. The translation software is taking a long time, but they still have about five hours until the ship arrives. News reports refuse to believe it’s a hoax, and Harriet Jones, Prime Minister frets about how The Doctor hasn’t turned up, and orders the  U.N.I.T. Major assisting to get Torchwood involved, which she isn’t meant to know anything about. Meanwhile, the translation software reveals the aliens to be the Sycorax who require humanity to surrender or ‘they will die’, because apparently the Sycorax rock. We don’t know yet who ‘they’ are, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister wants to respond by telling them to come in peace, and that Earth will never surrender.

Back in the flat, Rose laments how the ‘old’ and proper Doctor would wake up and save them, and though she doesn’t respond when Mickey states that he knows she loves the Time Lord, she does turn round and bury her face in his chest, so that’s something.

The response comes to U.N.I.T. from the Sycorax, which appears to be them playing with a funky lightning gun, which actually turns out to be some technology that suddenly  controls a third of the staff in U.N.I.T., and a third of the world’s population, including one of Rose’s neighbours. They’re all heading for tall buildings, and when they get to the roof they all stop at the edge. Looks like this could be a bit of bribery by the Sycorax…This is the ‘they’ that the Sycorax were talking about. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister asks for a Torchwood update, which apparently is still in the works, but they have what is needed (whatever that is). Checking medical records, it turns out that all the people being controlled are A+ positive blood groups, which is the blood group contained in a blood sample on Guinevere 1, and now being used to control those humans. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has one more thing to try, which is a public address in lieu of the Queen’s Speech. She pleads for calm, and then for The Doctor. It all gets a bit much for Rose, who thinks that The Doctor has left her, just as explosions rock the world, from a sonic wave as the spaceship hits the atmosphere. Going to be a bit of a clean-up bill there. The skies begin to darken as the ship flies overhead. It’s a big massive, this ship. It parks right above Rose’s flat, and so they flee inside to get The Doctor and take him to the TARDIS. On screen at U.N.I.T., the Sycorax ring again asking for humanity’s leader, and Harriet Jones, Prime Minister steps up to the challenge, being teleported to the ship along with the U.N.I.T. Major, Llewellyn, and her right hand man who’s name I missed. They see thousands of Sycorax staring down at them, and then one of them takes off his helmet to reveal what can happen if you have too much plastic surgery. Llewellyn pleads that they are like children in need of help and compassion, but he gets strangled to death with a death whip, as does the Major, leaving behind nothing but smoking bones. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister shows the Sycorax her ID, and asks how surrendering would be better – as the Sycorax puts it, slavery or one third dead, her choice.

Rose and Mickey carry The Doctor outside as Jackie ensures they have enough food, as the Sycorax aboard ship demand humanity surrender. Finally in the TARDIS, they lay The Doctor on the floor, Jackie making tea as they wait around, which is all very British. Jabbing a few buttons, they accidentally cause some beeping which the Sycorax take as being machinery hidden by humanity – they teleport the TARDIS on board, leaving Jackie behind as she’d popped out for more supplies. Oblivious to this, Rose and Mickey discuss her being a grumpy guts,

 They finally realise Jackie has been taking a while, and then Rose steps outside only to be captured immediately by a Sycorax. Mickey falls into the same trap, leaving The Doctor unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. Worry ye not though, for a leaky flash of tea drips onto something underneath the main console, and I’m fairly certain it’s going to be a positive outcome, or else Britain’s obsession with tea drinking in bad situations isn’t worthy of the legend we’ve created around it.

In the main Sycorax ship, Rose and Mickey are reunited with Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, but Rose has to inform her that The Doctor isn’t really with them properly. Although the tea fumes that are rising up from the floor seem to be helping, as another small burst of regenerative energy comes out of his mouth. The Sycorax declare Rose leader of Earth because they think she owns the TARDIS, and she does her best Doctor impression, dropping some Shadow Proclamations and Slitheen Parliaments, but surprisingly it doesn’t work. Gets a laugh though. Plus a death warrant. The Sycorax leader rants and raves, but when he starts speaking English, things start to look up a bit…Hello Doctor! There he is at the door! BOOM – he catches the Sycorax leader’s whip and discards it! BOOM – he snaps his staff in half! BOOM – he tells him to wait! After greeting Mickey and declaring tea the answer (poor Jackie, missing out on his praise for once!), he’s disappointed to learn that he isn’t ginger, and that he’s quite rude when he wants to be. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has to quickly get her head around regeneration, before the Sycorax leader interrupts them, asking who he is. The Doctor responds that he really doesn’t know yet, although a big red threatening button that shouldn’t be pressed under any circumstances looks a bit tempting…Looking at the wires underneath it, he quickly realises that it’s using blood control (right you were U.N.I.T.), and figures that pressing the button might be a good move – good call Doctor, the people on Earth are no longer under control. Turns out that everyone’s survival instinct would have stopped them jumping off the buildings anyway, but he puts the Sycorax in their place good and proper. What The Doctor really wants to know is, why do they want to conquer Earth? When The Lion King doesn’t convince them, he challenges the Sycorax leader to a fight to the death as Earth’s Champion, for the planet. All still in his pyjamas.

The fight breaks outside the ship, with the Sycorax certainly looking the more in control, and when The Doctor’s hand gets chopped off, it looks a bit like we’ll see Matt Smith early. However, this helps The Doctor realise what sort of man he is – lucky. He’s within the first 15 hours of his regeneration, so there’s enough residual cellular regeneration energy to grow his hand back. From there, it’s bye bye Sycorax dude. Although he’s The Doctor, so he doesn’t kill him or anything, just makes him swear on the blood of the Sycorax never to come back. He talks happily with Rose about Christmas and how he’s found a Satsuma in the dressing gown, but we see his dark side when the Sycorax leader tries to sneakily off him from behind, and he throws the Satsuma at a button which opens a whole in the floor under the evil guy, plunging him down to Earth. ‘No second chances,’ The Doctor declares. Back in the ship, The Doctor tells them to bugger off and leave Earth alone, and that he’s guarding it. They’re transported back down to the council estate, and watch the Sycorax ship disappear.

Harriet Jones, Prime Minister and The Doctor hug it out, she asking him if there are many more species out there. The Doctor says that they are getting noticed with the probes and signals being sent out. They reunite with Jackie, delighted to learn that she was correct about him just needing tea. They even hug, Rose and Mickey not wanting to miss out either. It’s all so wonderful, and happy, and jolly, and…Oh, Harriet Jones, Prime Minister has ordered (reluctantly, I’ll concede) Torchwood to blow the Sycorax ship out of the sky. That goes a bit against the code of honour they’ve just established, although the lasers joining together from various places around the Thames would make for much better Eastenders titles. The Doctor isn’t happy, accusing her of murder, but Harriet Jones, Prime Minister defends herself saying that she’s stopping the others in the universe, who will learn about Earth from the Sycorax, from coming along and trying to invade as well. The Doctor mocks how this is supposedly Britain’s ‘Golden Age’, and despite Harriet Jones, Prime Minister’s best efforts, she doesn’t come out of this very well. In fact, The Doctor goes plain nuts at her, threatening to bring down her government with six words. She calls his bluff, getting far more stubborn than we’ve ever seen her, but as The Doctor walks away he whispers ‘Don’t you think she looks tired?’ into her assistant’s ear. The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Jackie walk away, as Harriet Jones, Prime Minster desperately tries to learn what he said. She whispers ‘I’m sorry’ to them as they go, but we get the feeling it’s too late.

Time for some happy scenes now though – The Doctor goes outfit shopping (within the Tardis), the others celebrate Christmas dinner together, before The Doctor joins them looking suave in his new suit. On TV, Harriet Jones has received a vote of no confidence, and outside it’s snowing – oh, wait, actually it’s ash according to The Doctor. There won’t be any denying the presence of aliens now though. The Doctor and Rose skirt around the issue of whether or not she’ll carry on travelling with him now he’s changed, but we know really that she will…Mickey looks glum, Jackie tells them they’re mad, and we rejoice, for it’ll all be fantastic.

Off they go!

  

So, this is the first full episode of David Tennant's era - let's face it, all anyone is really focusing on here is how he compares to Christopher Eccleston, so I'll sum it up in a couple of short sentences: Brighter, less Northern, more sorry. That should just about cover it. I loved Christopher Eccleston, but I couldn’t help smiling when we see Tennant pop his head round the TARDIS door for the first time, having crashed into building after building, only to say brightly, ‘Here we are then!’. It's that cheery, slightly cheeky, excited demeanour that he has most of the time that has left him most people's (if recent polls are to be believed) favourite Doctor, and we get it right from the off here.

We really get our first glimpse of what Tennant can do when he’s fully on his feet inside the Sycorax ship, and by God is it good to see. Having watched Tennant for those three series and specials, it’s such a wonderful feeling to watch him right back from the beginning. The way he tells the Sycorax leader to wait, and then goes and heartily greets Mickey is pure gold. Already, the way that he cheerfully projects the image of being unbeatable and always in control is apparent, particularly in the way that he scoffs when the Sycorax claim they will let the third of the population who were previously under blood control live, telling them they don’t have a choice. When he does his bad-ass version of this style later in the series, it’s much closer to Eccleston's, especially the declaration of ‘No second chances’, but here it helps to set the two apart. Not that Eccleston couldn’t do this style, but I think of him in the more demanding and menacing role when it comes to telling aliens that they aren’t going to get away with their evil plan.

The humour is as good as ever, highlights including The Doctor finding an apple in the dressing gown he’s wearing, and Jackie explaining that Howard gets hungry in his sleep. It’s done in such a deadpan fashion in the middle of a supposedly tense scene, and it’s so beautifully played by Camille Coduri. I also love how the Sycorax proclaim that they ‘rock!’, in the modern sense of the world. Brilliant touch to have this evil force given a sense of backslapping machismo.

There's more classic Jackie, when she asks whether The Doctor has two of anything other than hearts.  I really love the dynamic between Jackie and Rose, the snappy dialogue between them, and the way they appear grumpy with each other but you know secretly how much they care. I always smile at the moments where they talk about such normal things in the middle of an episode, such as how Howard from the market has been ‘staying over’, which is why she has men’s pyjamas for The Doctor. It gives the show such a human core in the middle of its science fiction and alien nature.

Also, the relationship between Jackie and The Doctor is as good as ever, especially when The Doctor tries to tell her what he needs to help him through the regeneration process, only for her to interrupt him each time with suggestions, his frustration growing each time, until he tells her to keep quiet. Looking back on bits like these, it really makes you miss these characters. I've loved each and every one of the companions and mini-companions (for want of a better term), but there's something so perfect about the way The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Jackie all worked together that makes you very nostalgic for these early years. 

Nice to see Harriet Jones back, too, changing her call sign to Harriet Jones, Prime Minister! Oh how I laughed when Mr Llewellyn, then Sally, then finally the Sycorax leader himself responded with ‘Yes, I know who you are’. Absolutely hilarious. And of course this joke will continue with the Dalek invasion in the two-part Series 4 finale, when the alien response is the same.

The Sycorax are a pretty fearsome looking race, and all the more evil because of the way they threaten to have a third of the population commit suicide - of course, The Doctor rejects the idea that this could ever actually happen, but it's a pretty good threat. 

More hints towards what’s to come in Series 2 with mentions of Torchwood, which Harriet Jones acknowledges she isn’t meant to know about. It’s a really interesting moral conundrum with Harriet Jones’ actions, destroying the Sycorax ship - it certainly makes humanity look like it won't be messed with, but it's still shooting a fleeing ship who weren't going to return fire, at least not at that time. But if they hadn't tried to invade in the first place...I love having strong moral issues in the show - it makes it so much more than a children's programme.

Poor Rose, with her attempt to be The Doctor and just getting laughed at by the Sycorax. She did damn well to recall all those references to Series One and it deserved a better outcome than just being laughed at! True, she comes across about as threatening as a melted waxwork of a penguin, but she does a damn fine attempt at stepping up to the plate in The Doctor's absence.

Also, apparently Doctor Who is set in the same universe as The Hitch-hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, as The Doctor proclaims that Arthur Dent was a nice man. Lovely little touch.

Speaking of lovely little touches, Torchwood is once again mentioned, this time a lot more directly than just being a historical landmark building. They clearly have some incredible weaponry at their disposal, and the name will be Series 2's Bad Wolf, cropping up often, before it's true nature is revealed at the end of the series. It will, of course, also be the name of one of Doctor Who's spin off shows.

How Does It Fit Into The Series As A Whole

We get our first proper introduction to David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, which is surely one of the most important moments in the show's history.

Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, will lose her position after this episode, the hints of which are seen at the end.  

Humanity has officially made first contact with aliens now.

Overall

A fun episode, with some great first impressions of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. It's very, very funny in places, and raises some interesting moral questions, although it isn't the best of the Christmas specials. Tennant's introduction makes it a must-see though, and the rest of the cast are on fine form.

8/10