The Christmas Invasion

[salvorhardin]

So, has everyone seen the latest Doctor Who Christmas special? What's everyone think of David Tennant as the new Doctor?

[Emperor_Norton_II]

1. Just got it from the internets

Great stuff. It would've been nice if the Doctor hadn't been in a freakin' coma for the first 40 minutes, but I suppose you take what you can get in an uncertain world...

Tennant's Doctor was a bit over the top, but I suppose that's part of the whole "Meet the new guy" scenario. Overall, he reminded me a lot of Sylvester McCoy, which I think bodes well for the series.

And... SARAH JANE! K-9! CYBERMEN! EVIL TONY HEAD! QUEEN VICTORIA RUNNING FROM EXPLOSIONS! Bring on Series 2!! :crazy:

[salvorhardin]

2. Tennant

Starting with Peter Davison's Doctor they brought in the idea that for a while after the Doctor regenerates he's a little discombobulated. I suppose that makes sense when every cell in your body, including your brain has died and a new one has grown to replace it. I can see where that would play havoc on memories and personality. :-)

Yeah, I agree, about the Doctor being in a coma. Jackie and Mickey are best taken in small doses.

I was a little disturbed about the turn they took with Harriet Jones character but it was a nice turn that allowed us to see more of what this Doctor's personality is going to be like. You're right about the comparison with Sylvester McCoy too I think.

As for the rest... Whee! Sarah Jane, K-9, cybermen! Arrgh! I can't wait for spring.

This is the best thing about Doctor Who to me. Despite all the new age mumbo jumbo, despite the hokey aliens (sometimes), despite the camp, despite the discontinuity (sometimes too) -- despite all of that, Doctor Who makes me feel like a kid again.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

3. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister! (yes, we know that...)

I was a little disturbed about the turn they took with Harriet Jones character but it was a nice turn that allowed us to see more of what this Doctor's personality is going to be like.

I thought it was a perfectly reasonable stance on the part of the PM: the Sycorax were a threat and couldn't be trusted not to just turn around and come back after the TARDIS took off. The best option was to take them out before they could regroup and/or tell others about Earth.

At the same time, the Doctor's stance is also perfectly reasonable: shooting the Sycorax in the back with a huge Death Star laser is dirty pool at best, outright murder at worst. Not to mention possibly counterproductive; if there are other Sycorax out there, they may come looking for vengance.

Personally, my more pragmatic instincts tell me that PM Jones made the right call in defending the planet, and that the Doctor made the right call in defending the planet from her. Six words and a government falls. Brilliant.

[salvorhardin]

4. It's not that I disagree

It's just that I really liked Harriet Jones' character.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

6. Well, I do too.

But at the same time she was pretty much a one-note joke in Aliens of London, so to have her come out and actually be a hard-nosed politican - somebody who could be "architect of Britain's golden age" - instead of the sort of well-meaning but ineffective person we first met her as was welcome.

[salvorhardin]

8. True

I'd like to see her come out of this having learned a lesson but staying on as PM.

[Deja Q]

5. Tennant's WHO persona is by far the best thing in that story...

outpostgallifrey.com has a forum filled with discussion on this story...

The story itself is another typical RTD-penned story (expect a schizophrenic writing style that contains a few interesting gems), but at least the Doctor (when we finally see him properly) is uber-Doctorish. Quite a refreshing change, actually.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

7. OG still ranting about RTD's EBIL QUEER AGENDA?

I swear, that pit of ding-dongs makes the 9/11 forum here look like a bastion of reasonableness and sanity...

[Deja Q]

9. Nope. Everybody is blindly drooling over anything RTD scribbles up...

The anti-gay crowd is quite few, fortunately.

[Nye Bevan]

10. I thought it was pretty good

Good old-fashioned aliens, with a good old-fashioned motive. The blood-group control idea was quite clever.

Downside: the killer Santas and the Christmas Tree. What the heck did they have do to with the aliens? I don't think that was ever explained.

BTW I just saw "Match Point" (new Woody Allen movie) and it was funny to see Harriet Jones popping up!

[trotsky]

11. He's good.

I think I'll like him. Sometime around the announcement he would play the Doctor, there was the latest Harry Potter movie where he plays Barty Crouch Jr. and was a real lunatic in the role. I knew then he'd probably be able to pull it off, and he comes through bigtime in the Christmas Invasion.