“No, wait… That’s The Lion King!”

The Christmas Invasion proudly presents audiences with their first significant viewing experience of The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant). We’d previously seen glimpses of the new Time Lord in the closing moments of the epic Dalek-fest The Parting of the Ways, and the fleeting and unnamed Children in Need special (2005); the latter concerning Rose Tyler’s (Billie Piper) allergic reaction to The Doctor’s abrupt regeneration. Thusly, this hour-long special can be considered Tennant’s debut story. Is it any good? It’s OK. Does it compare with past new lead debut tales? It’s an improvement.

The plot is unsurprisingly wafer-thin and often cringe-inducing – Easily attributed to writer Russell T. Davies. The TARDIS crash-lands spectacularly in the London Powell estate, eliciting Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and Jackie Tyler’s (Camille Coduri) – but curiously no-one else’s - attention. The Doctor springs out, bug-eyed, declaring “Happy Christmas!”, before collapsing in a form of post-regenerative coma. The next forty minutes concern a visiting homogenous alien race - the Sycorax - issuing newly-elected PM Harrier Jones (Penelope Wilton) an ultimatum: surrender Earth, or all persons possessing A+ blood will leap off the nearest edifice! Eventually, The Doctor re-awakes, and in moments, turns the seemingly hopeless situation into walk-in-the-park routine; scoffing at the Sycorax’s reliance on ye olde “blood control”. He swiftly dispatches the Sycorax leader in a blunt and uninspiring sword fight, utilizing a satsuma! The final scenes depict a demonstration of the mysterious Torchwood’s power in a morally-dubious sequence, Tennant donning his new civvies, and ‘Christmas lunch’ with the Tylers and Mick.

I’ve come to watch Davies’ outings expecting to cringe, and, inevitably, cringing. He’s a poor writer. The pre-title sequence closes with reliance on the classic/infamous (substitute as appropriate) Doctor Who joke, screeched by the cardboard cut-out representing Rose’s mother. Later, the same two-dimensional character squeals: – just to clarify her situation – “I’m going to get killed by a Christmas tree!”. Other dialogue triumphs include “Sycorax rock” and “You just can’t get the staff”. As Davies’ aim is to get the audience to accept and like the new Doctor as The Doctor, we’re provided ample allusions to past “new” adventures, a la Children in Need: Rose mentions the Slitheen – yet again – but oddly relegates the far more deadly and memorable Daleks to the end of the list. Fortunately, in addition to these inherent shortcomings, many deep and meaningful double entendres and themes are subtly expressed (again: sarcasm). “He’s not my boss, and certainly not turning this into a war”, declares Jones, of the US President. Very contemporary (and if only).

There are several triumphs in the dialogue area, like Tennant’s line regarding free radicals and tannins revitalizing him – In particular, this line is typically Davies’ Deus ex machina-style, but it’s also very Doctor Who. The Doctor can get away with such!

Davies also harbours a tendency to posit moral dilemmas without questioning them deeply – Not necessarily a bad thing, but it, too, reeks of superficiality. Jones’ decision in the finale harks back to the Jon Pertwee serial Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970). Who do we sympathize with: Jones or the quietly-irate Doctor?

So, in this context, is Tennant any good? Yes! Unlike his immediate predecessor (Christopher Eccleston), his performance is ‘effortless’, not ‘effortful’. I’ll miss #9’s more human and dark interpretation, but welcome Tennant’s quirkier and genuinely eccentric direction. Still clad in his PJs aboard the alien spacecraft, he addresses the mini-world of Sycorax war-lords with a romantic, idealistic, but generic speech concerning humanity’s potential and place in the universe. Or something. After a little thought, he acknowledges his plagiarism and corrects: “No, wait… That’s The Lion King!”. He’s a chatty character who verbalizes internal dialogue (“Who am I?”), is quietly (“That struck a chord…”) and loudly comical (“It’s a fightin’ hannnd!”); but maintains a slightly dubious side (“No second chances.”). I can relate to this incarnation more and am immensely enthusiastic about the second series. My only noteworthy complaint is that Tennant’s sometimes high-pitched voice irritates; but overall: Thumbs up! It’s well worth the forty minute wait.

Piper has less to do once Tennant emerges. Throughout the first half, she acts basically as a stand-in, although she doesn’t possess the ability or experience to persuade a horde of alien invaders to pull a prompt U-turn. Mickey isn’t particularly memorable, but not a caricature as previously depicted. I care more for Penelope Wilton’s performance this time around – Haircut, perhaps? The Sycorax, led by Sean Glider, are an ‘acceptable’ addition to the rogue’s gallery. Danny Llewellyn (Daniel Evans) is somewhat emotionally-bipolar: Initially he’s profoundly enthusiastic about the Guinevere Martian probe, yet is later equally worrisome about the yuletide invasion. He also serves as a reminder that Doctor Who’s gone Welsh! Chu Omambala plays Major Blake, boasting a UNIT insignia. Oh, and Lachele Carl reprises her American newsreader role from World War Three (2005).

It’s all fun overall, if feeling like a usual episode stretched into an hour-long one; and the hype doesn’t do it justice. The closing credits offers us an orchestral reworking of the main theme, re-integrating the (in)famous ‘middle eight’. Sadly, the whole piece is flat and unmemorable. The teaser for series two peppers our retinas with distinctly unimpressive aliens, Anthony Stewart head looking clinically insane and Hannibal Lecter-esque, Tennant kissing Piper (Not again! Why, oh why?!), K-9 and Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen), and… A weighty-sounding Cyberman. I’ve no doubt Davies’ll continue to disappoint me, but the new Doctor, Rose, a fast-paced series and promise of the Cybermen and K-9 will maintain my curiosity and enjoyment. [***.5/5]

Well, well, well, even the best of us can be wrong!

Let me tell you, I had decided to compensate for my terrible fears for Series 2, and Doctor Who’s whole future, by drastically lowering my expectations. I fully expected this to be rubbish – I had to, or I just couldn’t bear the disappointment (ignoring the malicious voice which kept saying “but surely it can’t be worse than ‘The Parting of the Ways’! Can it?”).

Imagine my surprise when, instead of a frothy high-camp Christmas satire in which the Doctor is even more sidelined than usual, I got another James Hawes spectacular! The effects, it has to be said, were great. That, and the direction, went a long way – it really felt like a fresh start, and was consequently immeasurably better than that previous episode in the summer, at whose name I shudder, which looked tatty and awful, as if all that remained of the dwindling series budget had been spent on a bunch of unnecessary and not-particularly-good-looking space shots, rather than sets or actors. (Still on PotW here, if you’re puzzled)

Aherne was all Who-ed out on that one, it seems to me, but Hawes, after the triumph of ‘The Empty Child’, is still fresh as a daisy, and very well suited to the show. His depiction of the controlled humans, and the UNIT headquarters at the Tower, were simply excellent. The sense of scale was enormous, and the episode gained extra credibility from it. RTD produced by far his best script as well, that much is obvious.

Of course, his legendary (notorious) wit misfired at times, as you would expect: the ever-more loopy Harriet Jones’ insistence on introducing herself as “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister”, to her immediate subordinates was one of those bits you just sit through in polite silence, the indulgent smile on your face slowly growing more strained (although it did lead to a funny moment where even the alien leader knows who she is).

Although Billie Piper shone – again, who’s surprised any more? – as Rose, who filled the ‘dramatic glue’ role, holding the whole thing together with assurance and panache, David Tennant was really at the centre of this episode – both in terms of our expectations, which were largely focussed on him, and literally: he motivated much of the plot. It is to Russell’s credit, though I doubt he’ll keep it up, that he managed to both: a) keep the necessary tradition of post-regenerative trauma going, and b) tone down Rose’s capabilities sufficiently to allow the Doctor, when he does get his get-up-and-go back, to take over the story. And this he did, in incredible style.

Tennant is probably the best Doctor since Davison already, in terms of sheer quality of acting, definitely outshining Eccleston, and Colin Baker and McGann, pretty much – maybe even McCoy at his sinister best! This (and the CiN special) have been one of the highlights in Doctor-performances in this dreary post-“Androzani” world; something of a treat! Plus, the dialogue achieved classic (if cheesy) status at times - “Did you miss me?”; “Witchcraft!... Time Lord!”; “It is defended!”. The only thing really conspicuous by its absence was the Sycorax leader exclaiming “WHO ARE YOU???”, and the Doc replying dramatically “I am the Doctor!” If I had been writing it, I’d have put that in! (this isn’t a criticism)

The only really dodgy bits were the threat of Christmas mass-suicide, broadcast for a family audience – although we can’t really complain, we want Doctor Who to be weighty drama, after all! – and the ending, an apparently deliberate snub from atheist Russell to the whole notion of Christmas spirit, and the idea of the redemptive ending. After Mrs Thatcher… sorry, Harriet Jones… blows up the aliens, and the pretty-pretty, Bridget Jones snow begins to fall, we are told that it’s actually ash, and the accompanying meteors are bits of spaceship. Hmm, nice. What should have been a perfect, utterly romantic ending, is spoiled rather grotesquely. It would have been really nice if RTD had let us have our happy, indulgent, white-Christmas-and-meteor-shower ending. But no, he’s a serious writer. (I console myself with the thought that the aliens weren’t actually very nice, really, and the ash is at least frozen ‘cos it’s been so high up)

But it remains good for all that, very good. Near-perfection is all the more annoying for falling a little bit short, but this time I’m not going to let myself dwell on how amazing it could have been – I fell into that trap with “Rose”, and, later, “Dalek”. Instead I’m going to do my best to relish the Doctor’s epic sword duel with the Sycorax leader, the sense of impending doom in the first half of the story, the TARDIS’ telepathic language circuits re-engaging and leading up to the Doctor opening the doors, the Doctor re-growing his severed hand and proving himself categorically a better hero than Luke Skywalker – and of course the Doctor defeating the warlord with a satsuma...!

I expect if I rewatch it I will begin to find Jackie’s manic monologue, the spinning Christmas tree, the ‘Lion King’ bit, the “Sycorax rock” line, Rose blathering about Gelth Confederacies (or something) and particularly that damn ending, intensely annoying. Solution: don’t rewatch it! Preserve the memory of a happy Christmas reunion with the Doctor, just as I remembered him. (Got to rewatch the trailer though, with the Face of Boe, Sarah Jane, K9, and the Cybermen! Oo-wah!)

So yes, for the moment, it’s good. And the key to it all is, that the Doctor was just so… well… proactive. It’s the first time since the McCoy years, Hawes’ previous (Steven Moffat-authored) masterpiece excluded, that he’s actually done something, wrested control of the story, influenced events, had an effect, busted a gut, prevailed through his wit and strength and mysterious Time Lord powers!

It was just lovely to get who I regard as ‘the proper Doctor’ back, after all this time. It was like awaking from an unpleasant, leather-jacketed, “fantastic” nightmare to find that the Doctor is back with us again, God is in his heaven, and all’s right with the world – at least for now. Henceforth (if this happy trend continues) I will be pleased to regard Series 1 as an intermission. Hmm, let me see now, what shall we call it…?

A ‘hiatus’.

Well well. The 14th episode of 2005 broadcast on the big day itself, and it actually beat Coronation Street in the ratings...remembering the dark days of the late-eighties when the soap repeatedly slaughtered Doctor Who in the ratings really brings things home. Blimey,it's been quite a year, really, hasn't it.

Cutting to the chase, the important stuff...I could've *sworn* I saw Robert Carlyle as an 'extra' in one of the crowd scenes with the 'A-positives' heading for the nearest high building. It wasn't a turkey overdose-induced hallucination, honest!

Sorry. The *really* important stuff. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did I rate David Tennant's 'proper' debut as the tenth Doctor? OH yes.

Having the Doctor struggling with a difficult regeneration as others drove the plot reminded me very much of 'Castrovalva' (a favourite) and I think this worked well here too. Rose was an emotional mess, Mickey increasingly proactive and brave and Jackie came over all nurturing in the quieter moments; I noticed her placing a cup of tea next to the Doctor as he lay unconcious; as it turns out, rather a good idea! Nice little character developments here...but all leading up to that wonderful scene where the TARDIS doors open, and the Doctor enquires "Did you miss me?" I am so encouraged that from this moment on, the episode belongs to David Tennant completely...the initially off-hand Fourth Doctor-esque attitude towards the alien threat; his warm if rather addled reactions to Rose, Mickey and Harriet Jones; the instinctive way that he knows what needs to be done here...pressing the "great big threatening button" (love the way he says "button") and challenging the Sycorax leader; the heroic 'duel' fought in his pyjamas....indeed more Arthur Dent than Captain Kirk, and thank heavens for that. (no offence to the original, splendid Star Trek series, mind)

But there is still a steeliness there. No second chances for the Sycorax leader, and cold fury when Harriet Jones fails to live up to his expectations. The former, very Ninth Doctor, the latter very Fifth.

I adored the costume room/ Christmas dinner sequence very much. Beautifully directed and edited, and soundtracked by one of Brian Wilson's mid-sixties pop symphonies...wow. I love the Doctor's new look and grinned even more when he put on his spectacles. Reminded me of Hartnell, Davison and Jarvis flamin' Cocker all at the same time! (That's never happened before...!)

Moving on, Billie Piper again appears to be incapable of giving anything other than a superb performance, and I personally thought Camille was hilarious and actually rather loveable here, although I'm sure others will disagree! (Her hug with the Doctor and whispered "Are you better" at the end was rather sweet, I thought.) This Doctor clearly does do "domestic", and I was relieved that the possibly twee "everyone's safe, it's Xmas and, oooh look, it's snowing!" ending was a little more than that. ("That's not snow...it's ash.")

I thought the plot was pretty generic and simple (The Sycorax were VERY Star Trek-y), but necessarily so...a big invasion story with Christmas-y elements that was fun and dramatic and, most importantly, a successful introduction to a new Doctor. Some parts didn't work 100% for me (Thought the 'pilot fish' stuff was a bit vaguely explained, for example) but,as an 'old' fan (Do you mind?!) I am used to the regeneration process, and obviously it is crucial that the 'new' generation who adored 2005 'Who' are kept on board and take to Doctor Number Ten....with this fun hour of television with a terrific Tennant debut, I think things are going to be fine.

As for the 'Coming Soon...' clips; Phwoar. 'The Guardian' had a snippet the other day saying that Whovians (who they?) are already worried about the 'Rose kisses Doctor' clip...oh, come on! Context is everything; yer a good paper, stop making things up!

Speaking of context, as a 'bridge' between Doctor Who 2005 and 2006; Doctors Nine and Ten; I think this deserves a cheery 8 and a half out of 10.

Roll on spring.

I watched series one. I even enjoyed quite a bit of it. But there was one thing increasingly disturbed me on the way to episode thirteen.

I really didnВ’t like what the Doctor had become.

ItВ’s not Christopher EcclestonВ’s fault, although he never seemed to catch the inherent oddities of the character to me. He was given a set of scripts that turned a hero into a time-travelling chauffeur, carrying the real star of the show to whatever time and place her greater common sense and interpersonal skill could be best used to save humanity.

Billie Piper was outstanding, and thatВ’s not something I expected to find myself saying when her casting was announced. But what the Hell had Mr Davies, that self-proclaimed Doctor Who fan, actually done to the Doctor?

Maybe my lowered expectations for The Christmas Invasion worked in my favour. The first forty minutes may have dragged at times (especially with Rose was wailing on her motherВ’s shoulder about the Doctor abandoning her) but boy, did it pick up when the Doctor got going!

I had my doubts when David TennantВ’s casting was announced. I knew very little of him as an actor, but I knew his age, and I knew what he looked like; and in neither respect did he fit my mental picture of the Doctor. ThatВ’s as good a call on my part as doubting Ms Piper proved to be.

From the moment he pulls the electrocuting whip thing out of the SycoraxВ’s hand with an indignant line about its more trivial danger, the Tenth Doctor absolutely owns The Christmas Invasion, amply atoning for the length of time weВ’re made to wait to see him. Darting around the highly impressive interior of the spaceship, talking at a million miles an hour, attention flitting between Rose, the Sycorax and Harriet Jones, heВ’s instantly the Doctor, and immediately in charge. ItВ’s a joyous performance, infecting even the lines which ought to make you groan. "CanВ’t get the staff," he says, deadpan, before debunking the blood control threat in the last way you could be expecting. Wonderful.

I loved the Lion King speech, with its emphasis on admiration for humanity. I loved the Doctor suddenly pulling himself up on being rude, something his last incarnation appeared to take pleasure in. Most of all, I loved the payoff to RoseВ’s sulk about tea. "The solution to everything" indeed.

Tennant is obviously at home in the role, more so in twenty minutes than Eccleston appeared in a whole series. The Doctor has his old love of being the Doctor back, and that is the best piece of news since it was first announced he was returning to our screens.

ItВ’s just as well Tennant is so good, since the first two-thirds of the episode are spent showing how much the Doctor is actually needed. So much for Rose, the equal companion. Full marks to Billie, she gives it plenty of lip-tremble, but the character has guts, and the actress is at her best when showing them. Her scared, defiant little speech to the invading hordes was her best moment of the episode, but it all pointed up the same thing. SomeoneВ’s gotta be the Doctor, as she said; pity only the Doctor can be.

Much has been made of the DoctorВ’s power, bringing down a Prime Minister with six words, but really, didnВ’t Harriet Jones destroy herself? What hope for a national leader who appears live on television admitting she canВ’t cope with a crisis? It doesnВ’t take a political correspondent to estimate the life expectancy of that kind of creature, even if she did hint at the kind of masculine genitalia her factual equivalent could do with displaying to his fellow "statesmen". The suspension of disbelief has its place in Doctor Who, but it works better for me with images of great big alien spaceships casting shadows over two great British fighting men than with an implausible PM pressing the self-destruct button on her career.

Still, Penelope Wilton is an actress who doesnВ’t know how to give a bad performance, and just when the incessant introduction was beginning to grate came the payoff. The translated "Yes, we know who you are" was one more clever Russell T Davies touch. Like the Sycorax leader (a bravura turn from Sean Gilder) suddenly spouting English, making Rose and everyone else turn to the TARDIS. Like the revelation of the Sycorax on JackieВ’s television screen. He may have difficulty constructing a coherent plot at times, but the Head Writer certainly knows how to grab his audience.

Speaking of plot, I thought The Christmas Invasion RTDВ’s best to date. I donВ’t pick through every episode; if itВ’s entertaining and it hangs reasonably, I wonВ’t mind the odd unanswered question (such as, what was the point of the pilot fish, except to add a bit of festive colour?). I could do without his obsessive interest in the Tyler domestic angle; Jackie still irritates, despite Camille Coduri getting one perfect moment in the kitchen. Just watch her look of hurt when Rose snaps at the inevitable "is he a different man?" question. IВ’ve seen that look on my own motherВ’s face, more often than I care to remember. A few seconds of real relationship adds immeasurably to any programme. More, and youВ’re watching Eastenders.

IВ’m no expert on special effects, but bashing up the Gherkin raised a cheer, and the Sycorax ship, like the Sycorax themselves, impressed. The image of still, silent figures ready to jump from great landmarks like the Coliseum was a bit grim (especially for a Christmas broadcast) but admirably effective in conveying the scale of the Sycorax threat. I couldВ’ve done without Murray GoldВ’s crescendo of music as the TARDIS doors opened up, but thatВ’s a nitpick. Otherwise, I barely noticed his work, which I mean as a compliment. Background music should remain that; itВ’s only noticeable to me if it jars.

I havenВ’t mentioned Mickey. Which means he didnВ’t make me want to put a foot through the screen. ThatВ’s an improvement on last year. Thanks, Noel Clarke.

And thank you, Russell T Davies for restoring the natural order of Doctor Who (with a bit of help from David Tennant). For the first time, I felt like I was watching my old favourite again. 8 out of 10!

What do you get if you cross Independence Day with Time And The Rani?

To be fair, it would do The Christmas Invasion a great disservice to compare it to either of the above, although there are certainly elements of both present. However, this episode is far more coherent, intelligent and entertaining than either.

The Christmas Invasion has to satisfy several requirements, not least of which is convincing nine million people that it is still part of the same show which starred Christopher Eccleston a mere nine months ago. Repeating the opening shot from his first episode, and then focussing most of the first half on the characters we already know and love (Rose, Mickey, Jackie and Harriet) is therefore a wise move and works very effectively. Less effective, though, is the danger they are quickly put in, with the attack of the Santas and the Christmas Tree. There are no explanations as to why or how these "pilotfish" (what a gorgeously bizarre term that is) take these forms, or how they arrive on Earth in advance of the main threat, or how they are so easily disposed of. The Santas are very sinister, however, and Murray Gold's hyperactive Jingle Bells music plays an immense part in making the tree so scary. More chilling than either of these is the instant hold the Sycorax have on a third of the population, and the idea that they could kill them with the touch of a button.

The arrival of the beautifully designed Sycorax spaceship allows for some of the best effects yet seen in Doctor Who, as both the Powell Estate and yet another prominent London landmark are extensively trashed. The effects triumph extends to the Sycorax themselves, who are one of the most impressive looking (if very slightly rubbery) aliens to appear in the show for a very long time.

The new Doctor finally appears for his first confrontation, and here's where things start to go runny. The tension of the moment is utterly spoiled by the lengthy and all-too-self-aware dialogue he spouts whilst the evil alien menace simply stands and watches him reintroduce himself to everybody before he bounds about their ship like Bugs Bunny. We then suddenly learn that the Sycorax's plan to kill a third of humanity won't actually work, which makes you wonder why exactly they bothered.

Nevertheless, the Star Wars-esque sword fight which follows soon puts the show back on track, and allows Tennant to show a tougher side to his Doctor, as he defeats the leader and delivers some truly wonderful dialogue. This combination of dark ruthlessness ("No second chances") and manic comedy ("Not bad for a man in his jim-jams") make him more comparable to the Seventh Doctor than any of his other predecessors, although Tennant seems to have slipped into the part far more effortlessly than McCoy, or indeed most of the others, did.

There's a sting in the tail for The Christmas Invasion, however, as our Brigadier-replacement Harriet Jones orders the destruction of the defeated Sycorax, just as Lethbridge-Stewart did with the Silurians. It's done in a somewhat unconvincing way (and once again, Star Wars comes to mind, as the laser effects are strongly reminiscent of the Death Star in that franchise), but it allows Tennant to show his dark side again. Shaky though her position appears to be at the end of the show, we know from World War Three that Harriet Jones wins the next two elections anyway, so I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her. Penelope Wilton is such a superb actress that I'm looking forward to her next appearance already.

There's many, many wonderful touches in this episode (the TARDIS crash landing; the wardrobe room moment; the final scene) that help to make this the most impressive debut for a Doctor since at least Castrovalva (and arguably since The Power Of The Daleks). Tennant seems to have a good grasp of the role (although he does need to calm it down a bit to keep it believable) and the 2006 series looks incredibly promising.

8/10. Here's to the future...

Oh, come on - all I did was change!

Watching these seven minutes of pure characterization, it suddenly struck me - if this little story was scripted, filmed and recorded after The Christmas Invasion, what would it be like to go straight from the end of The Parting of the Ways to the Christmas special? We have for the first time a proper retcon, a story written to plug the gaps. Had Children in Need not wanted this sketch, what would have happened?

Unless this sketch (which I intend to call Afterlife), is merely the first scene of The Christmas Invasion shown a month early how well the Tenth Doctor's debut would have fitted with the Ninth's swansong?

Without it, we would have lost the crucial re-affirmation that the cute bloke with the floppy hair was the big-eared Northerner new viewers had tuned in for the previous series. Without seeing these first few minutes of culture shock between Rose and the new Doctor, without the establishing of just why the hell The Christmas Invasion is set at Christmas (instead of, say, The November Invasion, which is where the Mickey/Jackie scenes seem to take place in The Parting of the Ways), how much would leave us scratching our heads. It would be as jarring as The Twin Dilemma as it opens, not on a rerun of the regeneration, but two idiots we've never seen before playing backgammon.

The thought occurred to me right away. Only able to view Afterlife on a tolerant internet cafй RealPlayer, it is unlikely that this charity sketch will be screened on Australian TV and definitely no time soon (indeed, at time of writing, the story appearing on DVD is not one hundred per cent confirmed).

Having managed to see Dimensions in Time at a Doctor Who convention I at last shared the horror of other Doctor Who fans at the last Children in Need special, and RTD's script shows someone who learned the lesson - assuming he needed teaching at all. With seven minutes, there's no way in hell you can tell a decent story, and there's also the small matter that it can't spoil the upcoming Christmas special. The answer? A character piece, simple but not unimaginative.

The idea of the story solely concerning showing Rose accepting that David Tennant is the Doctor for better or for worse is a cunning one. It's disposable enough to miss, but casual viewers will be able to grasp the point immediately and they and new viewers will watch to see what this new incarnation is like (the rest of us fans would have watched anyway).

It's hard to judge the Tenth Doctor's character on this single viewing, but that's precisely the point. He's meant to be vague, nothing more than an extrapolation of the toothy madman pronouncing "Barcelona" in that strange way he does. The new Doctor manages a great range of facets. His snapping at Rose recalls the first Doctor, hopping around the console reminds us of the eighth, while his suspicious cover story about Captain Jack reminds us of the manipulative seventh, and overall Afterlife is a kind of condensed cross between Castrovalva and The Twin Dilemma, with a shockingly young and vulnerable-looking Doctor suffering manic moments of insanity.

But while you can point to the Doctor's delight at crash-landing and say 'That's Tom Baker, that is,' or feel a return of Troughton as the Time Lord shuts up for two minutes and lets his companion doing the talking, the only real Doctor Tennant is impersonating is Christopher Eccleston. He too was ranting, chatty, enthusiastic, apparently suicidal and any line the Doctor says in seven minutes could easily have come from his predecessor's mouth. The most obvious moment is when the Doctor finishes setting the coordinates and stands back, arms folded, mirroring the stance he used in The Unquiet Dead and Aliens of London.

There are a few moments that I think show what we might come to know of as the Tenth Doctor (but then again, I could be completely wrong - only time will tell). Just as RTD's The Second Coming had Christopher Eccleston's Steven Baxter just the Ninth Doctor with one heart (they even like the same lack of sugar in their coffee), it would be well to consider RTD's Casanova as the audition for the Tenth Doctor. The bit where the Doctor bursts out about hopping and slowly realizes that Rose isn't joining in, steadily losing his enthusiasm before finishing in embarrassment recalls the (few) scenes where Casanova's charm falls to work. His gentle teasing of Rose, breaking down her barriers reminds me of Casanova's plan to crack Henriette's faзade and get her to admit her feelings.

So, basing the Tenth Doctor on Casanova, we will have a Doctor will numerous abilities and social skills, improvising madly on the turn of a dime, with a nice line in self-depreciating wit and the ability to become a desperate man ala Davison in The Caves of Androzani. And his catchphrase will be 'That's weird.' Or maybe just 'Jings!'.

...

I'll read this again in a year's time and either gloat or squirm.

Of course, while the whole point of the skit might be David Tennant, the story is firmly based on Rose. Billie Piper hasn't lost anything in the months between series and she plays the Tyler girl nicely on the brink. Of course, the Ninth Doctor told her plainly what was going to happen but Rose doesn't blindly accept that - as she says, she's seen beings change their appearance before her eyes before. But it's not hard to see her suspicion of the Tenth Doctor is more motivated by the desire for his predecessor. It's so much easier to think the Doctor's been teleported out and locked up by Slitheen than realize her best friend has changed in body, mind and soul.

Surely no regeneration story has ever been as poignant as Rose's simple question: "Can you change back?"

The original series usually managed to skip over this by careful positioning of companions. Ben and Polly get on with the Second Doctor just as well if not better with the First, and they didn't spend much time with him anyway. There's no Jamie and Zoe to suffer culture shock in Spearhead from Space, and Tegan and Nyssa barely knew the Doctor before his regeneration in Logopolis. Crucially, Adric did and him not being present for the early days explained the alienation of those two companions. Mel's blasse reaction to the Seventh Doctor is one of the more forgivable crimes of Time and the Rani.

The exceptions are Sarah in Robot and Peri in The Twin Dilemma. In the latter, Peri takes a believable amount of time to accept the new Doctor is the genuine article, but it's undermined as its clearly not the same Peri who watched in tears as her friend died saving her life. She dislikes the Sixth Doctor but shows no real affection for his predecessor, bar a defense of his good looks. Sarah's reaction, however is more subtle - after the change, she begins avoiding the Doctor for most of the story. Time and time again she walks out of UNIT HQ, only returning because of this giant robot and fascist scientists. It is notable the only time in the story she and the Doctor share any real feelings is at the endings, when he offers her a jelly baby and the chance to travel with him again respectively - and she accepts both.

Likewise, the Doctor's casual insults of Jackie convince Rose of his identity just as much as his reminiscing of the time they first met. And its unsurprising but still affecting that the moment Rose smiles and finally begins to open up to the new Doctor he starts vomiting five-dimensional bile and running around with no hint of sanity.Afterlife is just what was needed after The Parting of the Ways, and judging about the amount of care and attention and importance in it, is probably vital for The Christmas Invasion as well. We're left with the impression that Tennant has the potential to be a brilliant Doctor, but not sure exactly what that Doctor is like, and the most convincing reaction to seeing a man change his face since The Power of the Daleks.

Oh, and they used the word 'regeneration'! You mark my words, 'Skaro', 'Gallifrey' and 'symbiotic nucleii' will be the next old series mythos to be used, it's only a matter of time!