Prior to seeing The Christmas Invasion, I was largely of the opinion that it was going to suck. Yes, such an articulate viewpoint. To be more specific, I thought David Tennant was going to be brilliant, but that the story would suck. Now IВ’ve seen it, I know that I was right and I was wrong. David Tennant is brilliant, and the story was a wonderful piece of entertainment.

We all saw those clips of Santas with machine guns and killer Christmas trees. And we were told it would be a Christmas-themed Doctor Who story. How could that not be nauseatingly bad? Well, simply because it isnВ’t really as much of a Christmas-themed story as we were led to believe. The Saint Nick hitmen feature only briefly in the beginning, and thereВ’s only one killer tree В– and most of us probably saw that scene already prior to the screening. ThatВ’s really the extent of it. What we really have is an alien invasion story that merely takes place over the yuletide, and we spend more time with the prime minister trying to deal with it than we do with scenes of cracker-popping and carol singing.

The Doctor spends a good deal of the episode comatose, with only a couple of brief spells of consciousness in the first 40 minutes, no doubt in order to prevent the audience going completely mad waiting to see the acting tour de force that David Tennant is as the new Doctor. So when weВ’re not watching Harriet Jones and her staff coming to the quick realisation that no amount of В“We donВ’t need the Yanks В– weВ’ll handle this ourselvesВ”-style nationalism will stop the Sycorax from turning humans into cattle, weВ’re watching Rose facing the possibility that her Doctor is gone, and no-one will save the Earth.

While I think Russell T Davies the executive producer has done wonders in bringing back the show for the 21st Century, I had not been too chuffed with Russell T Davies the writer during Season 1. This is the man who decided that what Doctor Who needed was farting aliens, Earth-centric stories, and melodramatic soap opera. But I have to concede that even during disposable fluff like Aliens Of London, Davies the writer is never boring, the dialogue is electric, and characters come to life. However, things improved with Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways, and they reach even greater heights in The Christmas Invasion. I just couldnВ’t help but be drawn in, and 60 minutes later, was annoyed because I wouldnВ’t get more of it until about March.

As to the alien invasion plot, itВ’s fairly standard. Aliens want the Earth for all the natural goodies it can bring them, for the chance to make use of an inferior race as slaves, and because conquering planets is what they get off on. And unless the mysterious Torchwood get their act into gear, thatВ’s exactly what will happen. So here we get our first sniff of what Torchwood will be all about. TheyВ’re kind of like the Foreign Hazard Duty of the comics, or the Section 31 of Star Trek, though at this stage Earthbound. ItВ’s not really until the end of the story, when the prime minister orders them to destroy the Sycorax ship that we see just what kind of a force they are. I can just picture the real leaders of the country watching that and thinking, В“Hmm, you knowВ…В” I have to say I was really annoyed at Harriet JonesВ’ rapid descent into megalomania. Yes, it wouldВ’ve been unrealistic to have a virtuous prime minister, you know, one that isnВ’t a completely egocentric fundamentalist who thinks the world works in black and white, but I like Penelope Wilton, and had hoped sheВ’d be around a bit longer. The DoctorВ’s В‘six wordsВ’ maneuver, which ends her career almost instantly however, is just wonderful. A classic example of what makes the Doctor different from other action heroes В– a few words can do far more damage than say, a sword fight. Speaking of whichВ…

I just had this feeling that David Tennant would be good as soon as I heard he was to take over from the В‘fantasticВ’ Christopher Eccleston. I donВ’t know why that is. All IВ’d heard from him at that point were a few Big Finish performances. Then when I saw him at the end of Episode 13, I was convinced. So I was hardly expecting to be even more convinced in The Christmas Invasion, but ever second Tennant is on screen, heВ’s just marvelous. Energetic, quirky, humorous, powerful, confidant, and the very image of someone whoВ’s clearly enjoying himself. As soon as heВ’s revived by a cup of tea, he strides out of the TARDIS and takes command of the situation at a pace that is effectively Tom Baker x2. I loved the way he verbally takes time to figure out who he is, while at the same time engaged in a sword fight with the Sycorax leader on the roof of their ship Star Wars-fashion. And it all culminates with that great В“No second chancesВ” line, where we see the undercoating of steel beneath the 10th DoctorВ’s cheerful exterior, minutes before we get another taste as he destroys Harriet Jones. But perhaps the greatest example of where he differs from EcclestonВ’s Doctor comes as the end, where, while his former self wasnВ’t into В‘domesticsВ’, the new Doctor happily sits down with the В‘familyВ’ for Christmas dinner. And it really does look like a family. This is a Doctor even Jackie likes. Thank god. If sheВ’s not verbally jousting with him, she can only be less annoying.

I donВ’t have much of an opinion of the Sycorax themselves, frankly. Like the Autons, they just arenВ’t given enough screen time to be anything more than goofy Klingons. And the translation pieces in the Sycorax В‘great hallВ’ are very Star Trek VI. Their menace is well-established though when they nearly make 1/3 of the world walk off buildings, and it was at that point I felt the story was really getting good. But you know, perhaps it doesnВ’t really matter if the Sycorax arenВ’t fully developed as fully-fleshed evil villains, since it really transpires that the greater villains are possibly a lot closer to home. And itВ’s far easier to feel threatened by villains in the human guise.

The anti-war message is about as subtle as the anti-media message in The Long Game, ie В– not very, but Wilton and Tennant act it beautifully. I look forward to seeing further clashes between this Doctor and the government in the future. Very reminiscent of what we saw with the 3rd Doctor back in the 70В’s, but darker. And it all suggests that the Torchwood spin-off will be far more interesting than IВ’d previously thought.

So overall, IВ’d say this is textbook example of why itВ’s stupid to pre-judge something before youВ’ve even seen it. Unless weВ’re talking about David Tennant, whom I just know is going to make Season 2 an unforgettable experience. We even got the bridge back in the theme music. Please tell me that's a permanent change.

And of course, there was the Season 2 trailer. A brief snifter of things to come, in which we see among other things, tantalizing clips of Sarah Jane SmithВ’s return, a truly battered K9, and a nanosecondВ’s glimpse of the new Cybermen. I canВ’t wait. Looks like next January and February are going to be every bit as painful as last time.

The Christmas Invasion has an important question to answer: we all know David Tennant's the new Doctor, but is he the new Doctor? He's already auditioned for Russel T Davies, and this episode sees him audition before the post-Eccleston Who-watching public.

The episode is cleverly structured to answer this question, with several characters' reactions to the regeneration mimicking our own and echoing the cries of eight-year-olds across the country: "But he's not my Doctor." Tennant has big shoes to fill, but for most of the episode he's laid up in bed exhaling orange smoke - not the best way to make a good first impression. With the Doctor out of action it's left to the other players to keep things moving: Billie Piper plays Rose's loss of faith in her hero convincingly, Mickey runs around looking gormless and aliens try to take over the Earth, again.

Thank god for Harriet Jones (Prime Minister) - the only good thing to come out of the dreadful farting aliens debacle in series one - who makes a welcome return here. I adored Harriet in her first appearance, and it's wonderful to see they've preserved her subtle character touches here. Such a likeable and inspiring politician could only exist in science fiction (or an episode of The West Wing). Harriet is never arrogant enough to presume people will know who she is, even though she's now Prime Minister (she constantly flashes her ID card when introducing herself), and even in a crisis she's considerate to the people around her, offering to make them coffee and always ensuring she knows the names of who she's working with. As an intelligent, enthusiastic and principled leader she's almost the Doctor's human stand-in for the duration of his illness in this episode.

The aliens I'm ambivalent about. The Santassassins (sorry) and the killer Christmas tree are nothing more than silly devices to make the episode vaguely Christmas-themed; fortunately both are dispensed with early on. The Sycorax themselves are a fairly predictable bunch seeking Earth conquest, while the means by which they attempt it - putting Harriet Jones in the position of choosing between slavery and the deaths of one third of the population - makes for some enjoyable tension. But like the Sycorax's plan itself this is all just a ploy, an attempt to distract us long enough until the Doctor gets out of bed and shows us he can save the day just as well as his big-eared predecessor.

Tennant carries off the new Doctor's first major scene with engaging panache: I love how the script echoes our own questions about what kind of man he is now, while his verbal disarming of the Sycorax and calling their bluff on the blood-hypnotism is a classic Doctor moment. Unfortunately I found the swordfight something of a let down after the battle of wits which preceded it. The Satsuma was a nice touch - funny without being too ridiculous - but from that point on the episode quickly deteriorates.

If anything spoiled this episode for me, it's the ending. I have no problem with Harriet Jones getting tough on the Sycorax and blasting them to smithereens: it's a nice illustration of how her character has had to toughen up since becoming Prime Minister. I also like the idea of this causing some friction between her and the Doctor about the use of force, especially since Torchwood means the human race doesn't have to be the victim of other species' whims anymore. What I find incredibly frustrating, however, is the Doctor's completely irrational reaction to Harriet's decision. She visibly struggles with her conscience before taking the decision to fire, and the evidence is stacked in her favour: the Sycorax attacked us, they wanted to enslave humanity and threatened to kill 1/3 of its populace. The Doctor himself said that the human race is becoming noticed more and more - do we want to be known as helpless victims, or as a race capable of standing up for itself? Furthermore, despite whatever rules of combat the Doctor may have entered into, the Sycorax already showed they were capable of ignoring any code of honour when the defeated leader tried to attack the Doctor after he spared his life. If the Doctor doesn't give second chances, why should Harriet?

What makes this a galling plot development (instead of just irritating hypocrisy on the Doctor's part) is the idea that somehow Harriet should or could be kicked out of office for this. Harriet has ushered in a new era of success in Britain, which even know-nothings like Jackie are happy about; not only that, but she's just shown strength in the face of a powerful enemy. She didn't hesitate to put herself forward into danger when the Sycorax asked who would represent the planet, and stood up to them when beamed aboard their ship. And when they killed two prisoners of war in front of her eyes and then tried to leave (having previously mentioned the possibility of coming back with reinforcements), she had the courage to make a tough decision and strike back at them. All of this would make her a hero with the general public, not to mention her own party; how could she be facing a no confidence vote after that? She's not Margaret Thatcher, she's Churchill with better domestic policy. The idea that the Doctor could bring her down after this - especially using the lowest tactics possible: the dirty politics of mud-slinging and rumour-mongering about the state of her health - is reprehensible as well as stupid, and it doesn't say much about the kind of man this new Doctor is. Trying to claim the moral high ground with these kinds of manoevures is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

The Christmas Invasion was a by and large entertaining episode that successfully bridged the gap between Doctors, establishing Tennant as the TARDIS's rightful occupant. Unfortunately, a clever script (I loved the joke about the Royal family) and a brilliant performance by David Tennant are undermined by a terrible ending in which the most interesting parts of the plot are crammed into a minute or so and unsatisfactorily resolved. For me this one ended on a sour note, and I'll be looking to the new series to sweeten things again.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's already watched The Christmas Invasion more than once. Just to make sure. Just to be absolutely certain that there was no mistake. It really is as amazing as it seemed first time round!

First off and most importantly, there's the new Doctor. Having enjoyed David Tennant's performances both in TV dramas like Secret Smile and in the Big Finish audios ( looking back, Dalek Empire III almost seems an audition piece) I was always fairly confident he would raise to the challenge but I was amazed at just how good his debut was. The Tenth Doctor is a quirky, fascinating and above all unpredictable character. One minute he's funny, quoting The Lion King or puzzling over fruit found in his dressing down. Then he's scary, turning on Harriet with righteous fury or calmly dispatching the Sycorax leader. And finally we have him doing what Eccleston's joyless creation seemed incapable of - delighting in the small things of life. That, more than anything, made me believe absolutely that David Tennant is the Doctor. Watching him enjoy a Christmas meal with Rose and co. it seemed like a deliberate link was being to drawn to the great Doctor moments of the past; Paul McGann's happiness at his new shoes, Sylvester McCoy's quiet musings in a cafe or Peter Davison's much quoted but timeless defence of the small and beautiful things in life.

Billie Piper was her usual excellent self. It's not an original sentiment, but she really is a Sarah Jane for the 21st Century, a companion who will become a 'blueprint' for those that follow. And just as Sarah only really came into her own once she was paired with Tom Baker, I feel that the best is yet to come from Rose now she has a new Doctor to knock around the Universe with. Her long suffering boyfriend Mickey has finally stopped being an irritant. Partially it's because he no longer has to be the butt of the Ninth Doctor's endless need to prove how much tougher he is than anyone else. But more importantly, his situation has made him sympathetic. He's in love with a girl who can never stay, Pip to an intergalactic Estella. At the end when he's forced to accept that she's going to go off again, it's hard not to feel sorry for him, because unrequited love is universal.

The character of Harriet, ably played by the wonderful Penelope Wilton, is one of the real successes of the new series. In Aliens of London she was stuck with playing against the staggeringly dumb looking Slitheen. In The Christmas Invasion she finally has proper, scary monsters to confront and we begin to see the real steel that underlies her compassion. Her decision to commit to destroy the Sycorax ship whilst morally wrong is also understandable and her plaintive 'sorry' to the retreating Doctor is oddly moving. This also serves to highlight another way in which the Tenth Doctor scores over the Ninth; motivation. When Christopher Eccleston's Doctor kicked Adam out of the TARDIS and condemned him to life of misery it was the pitiful act of a character who simply enjoyed the chance for power over a young man that Rose had taken a shine to. By contrast, David Tennant's Doctor punishes Harriet not for personal reasons, but because she has committed mass murder. This bodes well for the future development of the Tenth Doctor, but I hope that we haven't seen the last of Harriet. After all, the Brigadier murdered the Silurians and was back straight away in Ambassadors of Death.

Which leads me nicely to the Sycorax. Or, as they could be called, Star Trek monsters done properly. They had all the fury of the Klingons and the hunting instincts of Voyager's Hirogen, but scored over both of them in design (shades of Faction Paradox?) and sheer, arrogant nastiness. The stone spaceship was a nice piece of design, with just the right touch of Giger and Quatermass. With any luck, we'll be seeing more of this new race. Hopefully if they do come back, we won't be subjected to the attempts to make aliens behave more like humans which bedeviled the back end of Star Trek Voyager. The Sycorax are basically bastards and all the better for it. Roll on the action figure!!

All in all then, The Christmas Invasion was a triumph. A terrific new Doctor who could well become the best, a great companion getting better and a new and horrible race of aliens. The trailer at the end whetted the appetite nicely for what is to come, especially the return of K9 and the intriguing looking cat people. Though what I really want at the moment is for our new Doctor to meet Davros...

Given the quality of the last season, and having enjoyed the short prelude to this story broadcast during Children in Need, my expectations for the Christmas Invasion were fairly high. Overall I was not disappointed. What was broadcast was a fairly entertaining story with something in it for everybody. For long term fans there were a couple of nods to the past – U.N.I.T and hints past Earth encounters with aliens. For more recent fans there were clear links to episodes from last season, particularly Aliens of London/World War Three (my favourite being the scaffolding around Big Ben). There were also some nice Christmassy elements combined with some emotional drama, light relief and a twist ending.

Other highlights included the performance of David Tennant. The Tenth Doctor is clearly an interesting character. He is very Doctorish, but was at the same time different from what has gone before. He seems to be more light-hearted than his immediate predecessor, yet at the same time he also seemed slightly more ruthless than any previous Doctor. His actions on the Sycorax and at the end against Harriet Jones show he will not tolerate any action he sees as wrong. This will make him a very dangerous opponent for his foes. Yet he also seems to have a far better relationship with humanity than the Ninth; enjoying Christmas dinner at Rose's house and being far more tolerant of Mickey and Jackie. Tennant captured this complicated character well and was clearly the ideal choice to replace Christopher Eccleston.

There were many other positive features. Billie Piper put in her usual excellent performance as Rose. Indeed none of the cast put in a bad performance in what was a very well acted piece. The visual and special effects were, for the most part, extremely good. The Sycorax and the Santa Robots were particularly well realised as were the scenes of their ship over London. The Sycorax were also quite an interesting race, although I would have liked to see more details of their culture and how the Doctor knew so much about it. Also the incidental music in this story was fairly enjoyable as was the different end theme arrangement.

However, this story had a few elements that disappointed me. Although the overall writing and direction was good, the first half contained too much silly comedy for my taste. Similarly, I felt the Doctor should have been introduced to the main action earlier. Lying in bed was a waste of the talents David Tenant and slowed the pace of the narrative. Additionally I thought the CGI space probe and the CGI TARDIS in the crash landing sequence were both too obviously computer generated. Certainly neither was up to the usual high standard of special effects the series has come to be noted for. I also found the idea of the Doctor challenging the Sycorax leader to combat too easy a resolution. That said the subsequent actions of Harriet Jones and the Doctor's response were brilliant; even if they were slightly reminiscent of Doctor Who and the Silurians.

Yet, these were really minor flaws and on the whole the story was a good Christmas romp.

"Of course not, Martians look completely different"

The Christmas Invasion was the one piece of TV programming that I was most looking forward to, albeit with a touch of trepidation with the talk of killer Christmas trees and a seasonal feel to the show. I needn't have worried.

I enjoyed the series with Chris Eccleston, but rarely felt that I was watching the Docotor I knew. David Tennant, even in the 5 minute sketch broadcast last month seemed to be already familiar to me. So I was not worried about his portrayal of the central character, but RTD's writing has not always convinced me. From my point of view I felt his episodes of the series were generally the weaker ones, with the over-reliance of 'deus ex machina' or companions saving the day.

Russel entirely redeemed himself with The Christmas Invasion. I imagine he had a good budget for this special episode, enabling the production team to use a full orchestra for the incidental music (and I am warming to Murray Gold's compositions), and to use some great sets.

I don't intend to dissect the plot, others do that admirably and most readers will be familiar with it. I will say that RTD has learned a classic Doctor Who tactic - frighten with everyday objects. The killer santas and Christmas tree were well realised (exepct the tree base which was poor CGI). I really liked the UNIT HQ, surely we will see UNIT again and hopefully in a greater capacity. I enjoyed David Lewellin's surprise that the PM and UNIT people knew of the existance of aliens, and Major Blake's line "Of course not, Martians look completely different".

"Surrender or they will die!"

The Sycorax leader and their ship were suitably impressive, though the sword fight was perhaps slow. Overall this episode had just a little Christmas feeling (enough to justify its time slot) but genuinely felt like Doctor Who of old, something RTD's previous scripts often failed to do. The humour was toned down to acceptable levels, the plot was good and the Doctor himself saved the day - which I feel is important. I've nothing against the companions occasionally saving the Doctor's bacon but that happened all too often in the Eccleston series.

It was entirely appropriate for the Doctor to spare the life of the Sycorax champion. I always felt Eccleston standing there while Cassandra died was out of character, and put that down to the Doctor being a changed man after the destruction of Gallifrey (of which I hope we will learn a good deal more). It was also appropriate for the Doctor to allow the "big guy" to die when he was double crossed.

A word for Harriet Jones, Prime Minister. Although her last minute poor decision to destroy a retreating ship may rule her character out of future appearances, what with her premiership hanging in the balance, I hope she re-appears in the future. I also hope that the references to Torchwood are kept to a minimum. I realise the BBC want to plug their new spinoff series but we don't need a reference every episode.

If I had to give a rating I'd say 7 or 8 out of 10. A very accomplished story, could have done with being 10 minutes longer so we saw more of the Santas and had some more dialogue but it was a fine piece of Doctor Who.

And so to the teaser for next year's series. All I can say is that it's got me, and the wife, anxiously waiting for spring! The brief clips from future adventures are, of course, designed to have that effect but they genuinely look exciting. The new Cyberman retains the essence of the previous incarnations while developing the concept - as has been the case since 1966. To me, he looks frightening and sad which always seemed to be the point of the Cybermen so top marks to the design team. Having rebuilt the Daleks successfully, roll on the silver baddies!

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.