Doctor Who New Series 2.0 - 'The Christmas Invasion'

Plot - Rose and the newly-regenerated Doctor crash land in present day London. Meanwhile, deep amongst the stars, a race intent on enslaving mankind sails toward planet earth. Harriet Jones - now Prime Minister of Great Britain - urges the Doctor to save humanity from the deadly Sycorax. The only problem is, the Doctor's in a coma in Jackie's apartment, sleeping off the side effects of his recent regeneration. 

How does a show survive the departure of its leading star? For many television programs, the idea of continuing after such a situation arises would be seen as an act of madness. Sure, it's not unheard of for a program to go on after such a departure occurs, however more often than not, if a leading man or woman left after just one series, the plug would be pulled and everyone would move on to something else entirely.

Fortunately, change is an aspect which works wonders for Doctor Who. The premise thrives off its freedom to twist and turn into something entirely new from time to time and is what has allowed it to remain a member of the pop culture club for almost 51 years (and still counting). Just because Christopher Eccleston decided he'd had enough after the first 13 episodes of his run didn't mean the story had to end there. In fact, it gave New Who a chance to explore a different direction with a new star piloting the scripts. Less than one year in and already the producers have been offered an opportunity to show audiences that Doctor Who can not only work in the 21^st century, but that it can do so with a new Doctor at the helm.

Despite this, however, Eccleston's departure is a rather unfortunate occurrence for a number of reasons. Firstly, it means that the ninth Doctor's era is possibly the most briefest to date. Ok, so Paul McGann only ever appeared in two televised events – the abysmal 1996 movie and the wondrous 2013 mini episode Night of the Doctor – yet the eight Doctor's legacy survived countless years through its vast quantity of spin off novels and audio adventures. The ninth Doctor, on the other hand, wraps up after just 13 episodes and six tie-in novels; giving us very little time to learn enough about this particular incarnation of the time lord and the sorts of stories it could explore within the limitations of this version of the character. Each Doctor has their pros and cons, yet we're never really given the space to explore those within the wider context of Doctor number nine.

Second frustration is the fact that we're never able to find out where Russell T Davies and co were planning on taking the story of the ninth Doctor. By the end of series one, the gradual development of the Rose, Jack, Doctor trio suggests that the initial intention was to flesh out the three of them and include Jack on board the TARDIS for a far longer period. All of this is a mere guessing game of course, as we really don't have enough evidence to declare where things would have headed if Eccleston decided to remain for series two. Having said this, however it is highly unlikely that the show would have gone down the same route in the long term if Eccleston had stayed. David Tennant is a far different kind of actor to that of Eccleston – particularly in terms of how kinetic and expressive his performances can be – meaning that the writers would have been influenced by the types of ticks and tools each performer brought to this role.

Even though it is arguably quite easy to picture Eccleston appearing in the scripts written for series two, it's hard to say the same with regards to series three. None of the writers had any material for Tennant as the Doctor prior to his run, so the best bet was for them to pen series two as if they were penning another year of Eccleston. That way they could learn what worked and failed based on the outcome of that year. By the time series three aired, the Tenth Doctor already had 14 episodes for writers to go on, so they'd write the role to suit Tennant's stronger points.

Yet despite all this talk of a series two with Eccleston, history decided it was never to be. On 25^th December 2005, The Christmas Invasion aired on BBC One and the reign of the tenth Doctor begun.

Such a series may thrive on change, but the production team still had a hell of a task when it came to making this story. Remember, the whole point of the first series was to show off to a new audience what Doctor Who could do, yet Doctor Who can be many things. They may well have introduced a new generation to bizarre looking life forms, time travelling phone boxes and evil pepper pots, but the concept of regeneration was still to be addressed. What if the television viewers of today didn't warm to the idea of their beloved hero altering their personality and appearance on the spot? What if David Tennant turned out to be a clanger of a choice? What if audiences were alienated after the leather-jacketed northerner turned into the suit-wearing romantic? New Who would fall dead on its ass, that's what.

In relation to these concerns, Davies adopted a number of mechanics in this episode to try and ease the comfort; just in case an event in which the audience felt alienated did arise. First off, he chose to bring Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith and Harriet Jones back for this episode, planting them slap bang in the middle of the story. This was to give viewers a reference point to home in on. You can almost hear Davies shouting it's the same show! All that's different is a name in the opening credits!

Deciding to include characters from the previous series in the limelight helps to ease the blow of having a new leading act. Jackie, Mickey and Harriet serve to maintain an element of familiarity; helping to build a bridge between series one and two.

Rose Tyler can also be seen in this fashion – seeing as she is the only remaining lead role from the first series – yet she can also be seen as a mouthpiece for the boys and girls at home. She spends huge chunks of this episode doubting that the man lying in her mother's flat really is the Doctor. As was the case in the pilot episode – and for most of series one – Rose serves as an audience identification figure to guide the viewers along. As the runtime of The Christmas Invasion rolls on, Rose gradually becomes convinced that this strange bloke really is who he says he is. By the time the end credits arrive, she's accepted the fact that this stripy-suited feller really is the same northern bloke she's spent the past year or so travelling with.

The second mechanic in Davies' arsenal is his use of the Doctor himself, or the lack of him should I say. All the way back in Rose, the ninth Doctor was pretty much the heart of the entire story. Not only was a majority of the focus aimed toward him whenever he appeared on screen, but he also appeared on screen a heck of a lot. For his pilot episode, the Ninth Doctor proved himself by declaring his clout in front of a spotlight.

Yet in The Christmas Invasion, the tenth Doctor is kept out of the story for about 90% of its run. The episode opens up to a TARDIS tumbling out of the sky and a dazed Doctor mumbling to Mickey, Rose and Jackie before passing out. From then on, the Doctor spends a majority of the time asleep in Jackie's apartment. It isn't until the very end of the story - when all hope seems lost - that Doc number ten rises from his slumber and proves his Doctorishness with words, running, heroism and....erm...sword-fighting?

By leaving the tenth Doctor out of large chunks of his pilot results in creating a hook for audiences to bite onto. We know Eccleston is gone, we know that bloke from Casanova is stepping into his shoes, but what's this new guy going to bring to this character? By holding out on that question until the end of the narrative keeps the televisions at home tuned in. Davies entices his audience by holding out on the tenth Doctor until the last minute. The desire to know grows more intense as the stakes raise; meaning that when the Doctor storms out of his TARDIS within the bowls of the Sycorax's vessel during the final act, the entire moment is all the more satisfying as a result of the seemingly-neverending wait. The confidence and energy of Tennant's performance after 50 minutes of anticipation seals the deal, ushering in the shows' second era of the 21^st century.

And speaking of confidence, this brings me onto the third trick which Davies pulls out of his sleeve, which is the audacity of this story. I mentioned in my review of Parting of the Ways that even though series one was bold and imaginative in terms of its scale, there was quite a self concious feel to its execution. Stories dared to be experimental, yet they drew the line whenever they thought things were going too far. Referencing the shows' past was pretty much a no go area and the use of Eccleston gave each episode a sense of gravitas to the concepts playing out in each story. Series two, however, has a wave of confidence surrounding it that gives off an entirely different feel to that of series one; boldly taking on aspects of Doctor Who that it initially shied away from.

The use of Jackie, Mickey and Harriet in The Christmas Invasion also helps to prove this point. Davies has decided that viewers at home will recognise these characters from the previous summer. This story came out after the success of series one; giving Davies both the awareness and confidence to use additional characters from earlier episodes as a means of drawing audiences into the plot. He's brave enough to conclude that a reunion with Jackie, Mickey and Harriet will bode well with the boys and girls at home.

This isn't just the case with people, as stories from the previous year are also referenced subtly throughout; lingering in the back ground and knowing full well that viewers will clock on to their significance. A Big Ben coated in scaffolding caused by the events of The Aliens of London, Rose's attempt to frighten off the Sycorax by listing names of villains she's previously encountered and Tennant uttering the word “fantastic” with a knowing smile are moments that presume its viewers know what the script is referring to.

Audacity can also be seen in the ideas executed throughout The Christmas Invasion. Robot Santa Clauses roaming through a London high street with weapons disguised as musical instruments, killer Christmas trees spinning toward Rose and Jackie, references to the Royal Family standing on the roof amongst their brainwashed subjects, the Tenth Doctor's accidental quote from The Lion King, snowflakes made out of spaceship derbies and even the climactic sword fight on the Sycorax spaceship all add to the madness of this episode. Camp, bonkers fun, playing out over a 60 minute period without ever once having to rely on a particular kind of actor's gravitas or shy away from a wacky idea at the last moment.

Murray Gold's score also adds a new element of boldness to the episode, largely due to the fact that the BBC decided to give him the National Orchestra of Wales to play with. The soundtrack sounds bigger, more colourful and deeper than ever. Gone are the monotone boinky-ploinky sounds of series one's score. Here we have something far larger in scale, making Doctor Who feel more epic and cinematic than ever before.

It's this sort of increased scale which delivers an aura of confidence to The Christmas Invasion, which is why the introduction of Torchwood can also be seen (arguably) as a way of assisting with the script's audacity. Although New Who has shied away from the concept of world building (something which can be seen most obviously in The Long Game), it can be said that Davies has made some effort in expanding the world of present day London by bringing back Jackie and Mickey in numerous episodes. Yet through series one, he only really expanded the size of the Powell Estate. It isn't until here that Davies suddenly begins to start adding larger recurring characters/institutes into the building blocks of this fictional present day London. The inclusion of Torchwood acts not only as series two's core story arc, but also opens up a bridge between Doctor Who and it's soon-to-be spinoff, Torchwood.

By adding the Torchwood institute to series two, Davies has created a new space within present day London for the show to explore in future episodes (and shows). We may not have the likes of Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones or post-Parting of the Ways Jack yet, but the institute is established here; opening up more realms inside the world of present day [2006] London within the Doctor Who universe.

Overall, The Christmas Invasion's bravery helps Tennant's opening greatly. Davies delivers a script that's essentially ballsy enough to knock its main character out for most of its narrative, throw in zany set-pieces throughout and have Rose fully transition from audience-identifying sceptic to a character who is completely certain the Doctor is still the Doctor, regardless of a recent appearance alteration.

It can be argued, that in many ways, this helped to almost fool audiences in some ways. Davies gives off the impression here that he's not striving to enchant the nation like he was last time round. Instead he's written a script that pretty much screams Doctor Who is back and more exciting than ever. It's not as if he's pleading with us to believe this is the Doctor, but it's as if he's declaring that this is the Doctor. He's not asking, he's telling.

Which is what makes the episode work. To survive the transition from one actor to another, The Christmas Invasion needed to be a roller-coaster of an episode which celebrated New Who as a whole. The fact that it managed to tick these boxes makes it difficult not to admire. It may not be the greatest episode to date, and it certainly isn't the best Christmas special (which is a long way away), but it's certainly a strong contender amongst the list of Doctor Who stories that wear their strengths upon their sleeves.

The Christmas Invasion is far from perfect, however, and Davies often falls back on a number of weaknesses that will haunt his work for the entirety of his time as head writer.

Firstly, there are a number of red-button cop-outs that occur throughout. Moments such as when the Tenth Doctor awakens temporarily from his coma so that he can point his sonic screwdriver at a Christmas tree intent on butchering Rose are moments which feel cheap and poorly thought out. Other similar moments include the Doctor throwing an apple at a button conveniently opening a hatch which kills his sword-fighting foe (although the apple is established early on enough in the story to pass the Chekhov's gun principle, the button most certainly is not), and the Doctor awakening moments before everyone trapped on board the Sycorax ship are about to meet their end. All these cop-out moments suggest Davies wrote these scenes with very little idea on how to pay them off. He raises the stakes to a point where almost every character on screen is about to face certain doom, only to then come up with a quick and simple solution which sorts out every (important) persons' problems.

Secondly, the Sycorax are, quite frankly, villains of the superficial sort. They are nothing more than vicious looking beasties who want to conquer worlds and enslave other lifeforms. They are generic nasties who have no unique ideas to their name which failed to make their appearance memorable in anyway shape or form. There is nothing unique or interesting about them. They are nothing more than shouty, shooty bad guys who need killing by our beloved Doctor as soon as possible. They're not necessarily terrible villains, but they are really only there as an opponent for the tenth Doctor to prove his worth against (which isn't a bad thing as such, it just makes them boring).

My third and final problem with the episode is the Doctor's decision to oust Harriet Jones from government. The problem with the tenth Doctor – as blogger Philip Sandifer has pointed out on several occasions – is that his arrogance often gets the better of him. He has a confidence that presents him in such a way where he appears to feel as though he owns whatever place he happens to be in at that given time. He also seems to believe that his moral views are the ones that everyone else should abide by. He will happily laugh his way through horrific deaths taking place around him in Tooth and Claw – as he thinks the whole theme park history he and Rose have landed in is a right old romp – but as soon as someone does something that he thinks is very naughty, he takes it upon himself to punish the 'wrong doers' for their actions.

Which is pretty much what the tenth Doctor does at the end of The Christmas Invasion. As soon as Harriet has given the green light for Torchwood to blow the Sycorax ship into oblivion, the bouncy, smiley Doctor becomes enraged at her for what she's done. Harriet tries to explain that she did what she did for the safety of planet Earth, yet her words fall upon deaf ears. First he lectures her on what she's just done, then he gives her some speech on never firing at those who's backs are turned and finally, he utters the line don't you think she looks tired into the ear of Harriet's aid; knowingly planting the seed which will eventually result in her ousting from number 10 . Not only is the Doctor deciding that his opinion on this matter is truly the right one, but he also decides that the person in the wrong must be punished for their doings. This is bad enough in itself, but what twists the knife even further is the fact that only moments prior, the Doctor sent his sword-fighting opponent to their death, all in the name of protecting his own life.

So it's all good for the Doctor to say that awful events must never be rewritten, or that the Daleks and Timelords simply must die in order to keep the universe safe, yet the moment someone does anything he doesn't like – even in the name of self-protection – he feels it is his duty to put their wrongs to right and sentence them accordingly.

The arrogance factor of the tenth Doctor seems to have been written intentionally by Davies, as it is a character trait which grows stronger as his era moves forth (particularly by the time we get to Waters of Mars). Furthermore, the ousting of Harriet from number 10 results in a space for Harold Saxon (the Master) to become prime minister; a character who was responsible for the events carried out in Tennant's final episode. The Doctor's arrogant actions here result in triggering a series of events which inevitably lead to this incarnation's demise.

Yet despite it seeming to be an intentional trait, it is never really executed properly. Whenever Tennant shouts someone down for their actions - particularly when he's behaved inappropriately in a previous scene - he comes across as a self-obsessed know-it-all who believes he and his companion are the only ones in the universe who matter. His righteousness is never questioned or critiqued; resulting in a scar which can be seen across the entirety of the tenth Doctor's era.

The Christmas Invasion is problematic, but it certainly works as an introduction for a new leading star. The cloak of confidence that Davies wraps around this script, along with the decision to keep the tenth Doctor out of the narrative for such long stretches makes this an explosive and exciting piece of television which delivers from start to finish.

On June 18^th 2005, Doctor Who lost its leading star. In most situations, this would mark the low point for many shows. Yet on December 25^th, just six months after The Parting of the Ways aired, the show returns with more confidence than ever before. At a point where most shows would throw in the towel, Davies writes a script that screams Doctor Who is here to stay!