I am – Hercules!!
It looks like we Americans will get our first look at the acclaimed new “Doctor Who” series when the 27th (or the first, depending on who you ask) season hits Region 1 DVD shelves on Valentine’s Day.
The filthy British, meanwhile, are almost ready to start watching season 28 (or 2) on something called the BBC. The Christmas special Gaspode describes below airs on Christmas Day, and serves as a bridge between the 2005 season and the 2006:
Herc:
Didn't know if anybody has sent you a review of the Doctor Who Christmas special yet, which airs on the BBC on Christmas Day, but here's a review fromt he press screening on Monday if you want it.
The Christmas Invasion
Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by James Hawes
Way back in 1965, the BBC interrupted their epic Doctor Who serial ‘The Dalek Master Plan’ for the one-off Christmas story, ‘The Feast of Steven.’ At the end of the episode, then-Doctor William Hartnell broke the fourth wall and addressed the viewers directly with a holiday message of good cheer.
Four decades later, writer/producer Russell T. Davies has created a new holiday special, ‘The Christmas Invasion,’ which will air on BBC1 on Christmas day. This past Monday, a group of journalists were invited to a special screening of the episode in London, along with several members of the cast and crew, including the new Doctor himself, David Tennant. For Davies, the big challenge was to create a story that successfully introduced Doctor #10, and that’s no small feat. As anyone who’s been watching Doctor Who over the years will tell you, regeneration stories are usually pretty lame. Don’t believe me? Try watching Colin Baker’s introduction in’ The Twin Dilemma’ again, or Sylvester McCoy’s debut in ‘Time and the Rani.’ Even Tom Baker, who quickly became one of the most popular actors in the show’s history, had to wade through four episodes of ‘Robot before moving forward. Let’s face it, a regeneration story usually consists of the new Doctor running stumbling most of the time, before finally discovering a costume and personality at the end.
So how does Davies deal with this problem in introducing Tennant’s Doctor? Let’s address that issue later on, for now talking about the episode itself. The pre-credit sequence starts with Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) decorating her crappy little London flat. A few blocks away, Mickey (Noel Clarke) is talking to his mates, when he suddenly hears the familiar sound of the TARDIS materializing somewhere. Both Jackie and Mickey rush out just in time to see the police box appear, caroming against the sides of buildings in its descent until it finally comes to rest. The new Doctor triumphantly sticks his head out of the TARDIS only to pass out a few moments later.
As any Doctor Who fan already knows, the Doctor is still suffering from the stress of his recent regeneration, but neither Jackie nor Mickey understand who the new guy is. Even Rose (Billie Piper) is still having trouble wrapping her head around the concept. Although she understands intellectually that this is the Doctor, her heart still misses the Eccleston Doctor, with whom she’s been adventuring in time and space these past months.
With the new Doctor tucked up in bed at Jackie’s place, new dangers begin to emerge. An innocuous trio of music-playing Santas suddenly attacks Rose and Mickey with flamethrowers and explosives. And the Christmas tree in Jackie’s living room turns into a tinsel-covered buzz saw, destroying everything in its path until a momentarily revived Doctor eliminates the threat.
As it turns out, the Killer Clauses are actually ‘pilot fish’ of sorts, scavengers who usually travel with a much larger fish, who in this case want to kidnap the Doctor and use the post-regeneration energies in his body to power their alien ships. Something big is coming, warns Mickey, and it doesn’t take long to discover he’s right.
The big fish in this case are the Sycorax, a race of alien warriors who want that energy source for themselves, and the rest of Earth thrown in for good measure. To show they’re serious, they put nearly a third of the Earth’s population under hypnotic control, commanding them to march to the top of the nearest building where they await a command to jump. It’s really all too much for the newly elected British Prime Minister Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton), who gets ready to surrender, but just in time, the newly revived Doctor arrives and after a battle with the Sycorax leader, manages to save the Earth just in time for Christmas dinner. Hooray!
Okay, I deliberately tried to keep that little synopsis as spoiler-free as I could, but in the end, it’s the characters and not the action set pieces that make ‘The Christmas Invasion’ work. Billie Piper turns in a wonderful performance as Rose, who not only feels she’s lost the Doctor, but is also powerless to stop the alien menace. Coduri is annoyingly daffy as Rose’s mom, who informed about the Doctor’s two hearts, wonders if the time lord has two of anything else under his pajamas. And Noel Clarke finally begins to take Mickey out of the buffoon category, giving him a much more proactive role, although how he manages to hack into the government security computers with his laptop is still beyond me! Still, it’s hard not to feel sorry for Mickey, who always knows he’s going to be second best as long as the Doctor is around, and it’s just a matter of time before Rose gets back in the police box and disappears again.
There are also a few nice guest performances, particularly from Penelope Wilton as PM Harriet Marsh. Davies throws in a few none-too-subtle political references about the problems of a western world leader who’s suddenly in way over his head, as well as a thought-provoking coda about the moral costs of bombing the shit out of an enemy just because you have the superior firepower to do so.
But how good is Tennant as the new Doctor, I hear you ask? Well, the producers make the controversial decision to keep their leading man offstage for the most of the first half, a move that reportedly annoyed at least one BBC bigwig, but that decision also ratchets up the tension nicely, so that when a fully-regenerated Doctor finally throws open the TARDIS door, it’s one of the episode’s high points. Kudos by the way, to both Davies and director James Hawes for that scene, which I won’t give away here, but it’s beautifully done.
And make no mistake about it, when Tennant’s Doctor takes center stage, there’s no doubt whatsoever who’s in charge (no pun intended). In addition to standing toe to toe with the Sycorax leader, he also lets Harriet Marsh know that he can bring down her government with just a few choice words if she chooses the wrong path.
For me, Tennant’s biggest talent is the way he can deliver a speech, with the perfect combination of deadpan seriousness and twinkle-in-his-eye humor. There’s a wonderful scene where he lectures the Sycorax leader on the nobility of mankind, only to catch himself in the middle, realizing, ‘Sorry, that’s from The Lion King!’ And there’s a throwaway reference to Arthur Dent that will have fans arguing for months, those without lives, that is.
Having said all that, ‘The Christmas Invasion’ is not perfect by any means. There are a few rough patches of editing, which suggest an occasional shot or two might have been missed during shooting, and I’m still not quite sure why the alien Sycorax, who apparently have been pillaging worlds of their technology for quite some time, would resort to primitive broadswords for the final duel. There’s also a potentially terrific Empire Strikes Back moment that could have been milked for much more emotional impact, which is thrown away far too quickly.
But these are minor quibbles. As a holiday special that also introduces the new Doctor, ‘The Christmas Invasion’ is a thoroughly entertaining hour of television that will definitely whet viewer appetites for the upcoming season.
Oh yeah, about that season. I don’t know if this will air after the Christmas special or not, but after that screening, we were also treated to a quick trail from upcoming episodes, revealing some tantalizing clips of K9, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), a villainous Anthony Stuart Head, a very cool-looking race of cat creatures, and an all-too-brief look at the new Cybermen. If that collection of clips was anything to go by, the upcoming season should be very cool indeed.
Submitted with plant-like enthusiasm,
>Your friend, Gaspode
