The Christmas Invasion

Ok….the Doctor is back in The Christmas Invasion (herein referred to as TCI). Well for about five minutes and then he’s asleep the next forty minutes, only to rise again to save the Earth in the last twenty. It was fun, it was slick, it was even a bit scary at points – but was it really any good?

Well the answer is yes… and no! My initial response to it is it is quite good until the Doctor wakes up. I was quite involved in the plight of the human race and Harriet Jones desperately trying to keep their collective heads above water as the Sycorax descended upon them… but as for the Tyler family melodramas….oh dear.

TCI is much better than Russell T Davies’ similar outing from season one, namely Aliens of London/World War Three. It is executed in a much sharper manner. Suspense is built up at the right pace and there are no farting aliens – thank god! The Sycorax are a race you respect, the Slitheen were a poorly realised race wrapped up in the wrong story. With the Doctor out of action of the most of the story and Rose busy dribbling at every opportunity, one can’t help but divert attention to U.N.I.T. and the PM. The characters in this part of the story are well acted and supported by (for the most part) decent dialogue. Even despite the “Harriet Jones Prime Minister” gag being repeated at every opportunity!

However on the housing estate, Davies has reduced Rose and her family to an episode of East Enders. In past reviews I had noted that he had crafted dialogue for these characters very well. Now it has become clichйd. Jackie being the one who cops it the most with lines like “I’m going to be killed by a Christmas tree” (which totally diffuses the already hard to hold credibility of the killer Christmas tree). For me however, it is when Rose drops her bundle on Jackie’s shoulder, dribbling about the place that I began to get impatient. We got the kiss thing out of the way at the end of season one, but Rose continues to carry on like she has the wedding dress on stand by in the Tardis. Boring.

The Sycorax were great! Ok, not totally original but hey, they were nasty. The make-up very well realised and with the Doctor out for the count, having them speak their language made them all the more threatening. The wheels fell off however, when the Doctor emerges from the Tardis and it all becomes a little farcical. The duel which spills out onto the “wing” of the Sycorax ship was absurd. The editing also left a little to be desired at this point with much of Tennant’s reactions becoming fuzzy. Like Rose’s “look out!” as the leader swung his sword toward the Doctor. Tennant’s reaction was lost in a sloppy jump-cut back to him, his dialogue becoming almost totally inaudible in the process.

Now onto Doctor number 10. When he is light, he is very light. Almost like McCoy in some respects. Having said that, I do believe Tennant is an extremely talented actor. McCoy was badly cast. Having seen Tennant do the heavy stuff in other shows I have no doubt he can do it. I think part of the problem lies in Davies’ indulgent writing. The Doctor’s dialogue after the steps out of the Tardis into the Sycorax ship is embarrassing (references to The Lion King???). Much of what he said could have been reduced to a few lines. The sword fight, as mentioned was tacky. As was the hand gimmick and that god awful line “it’s a fightin’ hand”. It became a silly camp spectacle.

Tennant, like Davison is just too young. I’m not for a second implying either of them are not good actors. Davison proved his worth on numerous occasions throughout his tenure. Tennant will definitely be believable and will carry off the job credibly. But how can a 34 yr old actor (and these thoughts come from someone who is only two years younger than him and who is an actor!) carry off being an alien who is over 900 years old, with all the battle scars and history that we know he has? It is a big ask. In the same way an actor of his age and life experience would struggle playing a fifty year old man who has lost his family or experienced a severe trauma. Only life experience can give you the raw materials which you can successfully mould and use as you need them in your performance.

Troughton, Baker (T), Pertwee and Eccleston (of whom I am a big supporter), all gave us performances with great depth. All of them older by at least 10 years. Going by Tennant’s performance in TCI, he lacked depth. The wisdom, intelligence and style of the previous Doctors were sacrificed for cheap gags and gimmicks. Hmm… perhaps what I wrote first is more on the money… let us hope it IS just RTD’s writing and things will improve.

So overall, despite this somewhat down beat review, I enjoyed TCI. As I have written in previous reviews, for the average family viewer it no doubt pressed all the right buttons. It looked great. The build-up to the arrival of the Sycorax was suspenseful. But it seemed a bit of a cop out at the end. Having said that, the season two trailer looked very good. Bring it on.