The Christmas Invasion

After the critical and ratings acclaim of the first series this hour-long festive special certainly had a lot to life up to. Not only did it successfully have to fully introduce the new Doctor but it also had to reassure viewers the show was going to be just as good. The trailers for the episode showed it was certainly going to pull out all the stops to try and make it a memorable episode packed full with special effects and creepy aliens.

You could argue that the special paid tribute or ripped of Star Trek, for the teleportation sequences which coincidentally looked exactly like the Star Trek effects, Independence Day for the huge Space Ship hovering over a city and Star Wars for the fight scenes between the Doctor and the alien leader. There were probably plenty more movies paid tribute to throughout the episode but they were the ones I picked up while watching. So even though it was a mesh, or tribute, to the science fiction genre it still felt like a good Doctor Who episode.

I never really warmed to Christopher Eccelston as the Doctor and felt he wasn’t right for the role. Had he stayed for more than one season that might have changed. However, I have instantly warmed to David Tennant and feel he’ll be a brilliant Doctor and a great addition to the show. He might have spent most of the episode sleeping but once he woke up you knew it. He had nearly everything right and the costume he picked at the end looks brilliant.

Once again Billie Piper proved her worth as Rose. Billie was one of the best things about the first series and she looks set to continue her impressive portrayal of Rose. Noel Clarke and Camille Coduri improved on their performances from the first series and their characters weren’t as irritating either. Penelope Wilton was brilliant as Harriet Jones and the writing and the acting behind the character was spot on. I loved the way she still introduced herself to everyone, a nice characterisation carried over, and liked the way she was essentially still the same woman.

This leads me to my only real problem with the piece. It’s supposed anti-war message. I didn’t really detect any real anti-war message in here at all until the end where Harriet Jones ordered the alien weapons to be fired on the retreating ship. This was of course a reference to the Falklands War and Maggie Thatcher’s bombing of retreating ships. However, in the Falklands War the enemy forces were no threat to us and it was a totally outrageous attack. In this instance however, the Sycorax, were a credible threat. They had already killed two people, right in front of Harriet Jones, and had forced millions of others to the roofs of buildings with the intention of making them jump, if Earth didn’t surrender. The firing and destruction of the ship was more of a sign that Earth is defended than the Sycorax simply telling other species of the fact. I didn’t like the Doctors reaction to Harriet at this point at all and felt it was slightly hypocritical. Had it been a Dalek ship the Doctor would have had no qualms about destroying it.

Over all this episode was much better than most of the previous season and had an excellent script, brilliant acting from the regulars and guest cast and for the most part impressive special effects. I can’t wait for the next series to begin.