25TH DECEMBER 2005
(60-MINUTE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL)
Well that
was good, don’t you reckon? Such sentiments certainly appear to be
rife amongst devoted Doctor Who fans and casual telly watchers
alike; even old Nannan Wolverson was waxing eloquent about the merits of
The Christmas Invasion at our Boxing Day brunch. Indeed, Christmas
in
our little flat was firmly structured around the broadcast of Doctor
Who’s first bona fide Christmas special - and after seeing it,
justifiably so!
After Christopher Eccleston bowed out in one the greatest and most epic
episodes that the series has ever produced, the pressure was really on for
Russell T Davies and company to deliver with this much-hyped
sixty-minuter. As soon as the episode began it reminded me of just how
fast Doctor Who is these days; not just when compared to its small
screen rivals but also to feature films, which I find increase in length
and slow in pace every year.
The opening sequence is glorious to behold. After some brief but
nonetheless beautiful CG shots of the planet (a strange fusion of the
opening shots of Rose and the EastEnders title sequence!)
Jackie and Mickey find themselves putting their lives on hold once again
as the TARDIS materialises in mid-air and then crashes down spectacularly
on the Powell Estate!
The special’s early scenes - where David Tennant’s new Doctor lies in bed
as Rose and Jackie dote on him - have so much in them. Without realising
it, the viewer assimilates a huge amount of information (Jackie has a new
bloke; Harriett Jones, now Prime Minister as the Doctor predicted, has
sent a probe to Mars; Rose accepts that this man lying in bed is
the Doctor, yet she still grieves for Eccleston’s Doctor) yet it is all
written with such heart and humour that it is completely credible.
Moreover, not a word is wasted – everything said is vital to either the
‘A’ plot of the impending Sycorax Invasion or the ‘B’ plot of the Doctor’s
regeneration and his adopted family’s reaction to it.
You
really have to admire Davies’ skill.
“There’s no-one to save us. Not anymore.”
I was pleased to find that the special’s overtly Christmassy scenes were
over with in the first quarter of an hour or so. No matter how wonderfully
executed, a full hour of ‘Invasion of the Killer Santas’ didn’t really
appeal to me. The brevity of these scenes, however, certainly did not
lessen their impact; if anything, the opposite is true. The scenes
featuring Rose (who, it has to be said, is looking stunning in this
episode) and Mickey being attacked by the brass band of Santas were
explosive in every sense, particularly as I was not expecting so much
action so early on in the story. Seven minutes in, and already a bunch of
Santas were firing flamethrowers (disguised as musical instruments) at our
heroes!
I know what you’re thinking: heroes – plural? Mickey? You
bet.
I have been a fan of Noel Clarke’s character ever since his coming of age
in the Aliens of London two-parter, and I am tremendously impressed
with how he is being developed as the series progresses. Unlike Rose,
aliens and monsters really bother poor Mickey. Even in this special, as
the Santa’s attack it’s clear that he’s visibly shaken. However, unlike
the quivering wreck that Rose left behind in a dark 2005 alleyway, Mickey
is now learning to conquer his fears and show that he can be just as brave
as his former girlfriend if he really has to. Just look at the way in
which he grabs a chair and tries to fend off that murderous Christmas Tree
in the Tylers’ flat!
That
said,
it was Camille
Coduri that very nearly stole the show for me; she certainly had the
lion’s share of the script’s more comic moments, more so even than usual.
“Is there anything else he’s got two of?” and the whole “…he hasn’t
changed that much” / “he gets hungry in his sleep?” sequence both stand
out as being particularly memorable.
“I’m gonna get killed by a Christmas Tree!”
Now as it happens, the ‘killer Christmas Tree’ scene was one of the
highlights of the special for me, Davies taking the familiar and turning
it into the stuff of mistletoe-strewn nightmares. In what other show would
you have a hysterical Jackie Tyler screeching “I’m gonna get killed by a
Christmas Tree” as a very fast, very creepy version of Jingle Bells
plays and a razor-sharp, rotating Nordmann fir tries to slice her up? Just
as I’m sure the writer intended, ‘the one with the Christmas Tree’ will no
doubt endure in viewers’ memories for just as long as ‘the one with the
green maggots’ and the like; perhaps even longer.
And
of course, it was at this point in The Christmas Invasion that we
first became properly acquainted with the tenth Doctor. Despite having
starred in November’s Children in Need mini-episode, so far as most
of the audience was concerned this was David Tennant’s big hello, and so
I’m pleased to say that he acquitted himself admirably – all business.
Leaping into action at Rose’s request, he quickly sorts out the rampant
evergreen with his sonic screwdriver before turning on the Santas who were
controlling it from just outside. But then, with his companions safe for
the time being, the new Doctor takes another turn for the worse and is out
like a light again.
Now
although I don’t really have any major bones to pick with The Christmas
Invasion, one minor quibble that I do have is to do with the nature of
these ‘pilot fish’ Santas. They appear to have very little to do with the
Sycorax invasion. In fact, if I were a cynic I’d say that Davies just
shoehorned them into his script so that he could explain away a killer
Christmas Tree!
“Sycorax rock!”
Fortunately though, the Sycorax invasion itself is well worth the wait. As
the face of an alien (and not just any alien, but
a
roaring, raging monster)
is inadvertently broadcast live on BBC One, The Christmas Invasion
suddenly kicks into top gear.
Harriett Jones is marched into UNIT Headquarters where she learns that
these ‘Sycorax’ have approximately a third of the world’s population under
their voodoo ‘blood control’ and that, unless the planet accedes to their
demands, they will cast themselves from the worlds of the rooftops like
lemmings.
Davies
evidently had a great deal of fun writing these UNIT scenes. Some of the
dialogue
is very
playful indeed - we have lines about
an act
of Parliament preventing publication of Harriett’s autobiography,
the beautifully matter-of-fact Major Blake dismissing Llewellyn’s
‘Martian’ speculation
with “Martians look completely different”, and even the running “yes, I
know who you are gag” as the ever-humble Harriett introduces herself to
all and sundry.
I also like how the modern UNIT soldiers revere the Doctor as “the stuff
of legend”, and how this mysterious ‘Torchwood’ organisation is frequently
mentioned, yet not so much as for it to stand out. Because of all the fuss
over Harriett asking for the Doctor’s help, you don’t really give much
thought to Torchwood or what it might bring to the table.
“Surrender or they will die…”
However, the humour of the story is dwarfed by the enormity of the events
portrayed, which director James Hawes has done an outstanding job of
capturing. Images of the hypnotised Londoners marching slowly but
resolutely towards the tops of the highest buildings would have been
powerful enough in themselves, but the epic scope that shots of cities
like Paris and Rome add to the sequence put the The Christmas Invasion
right up there with anything that you could see in the cinema.
Similarly, the spectacular sonic boom that accompanies the Sycorax ship
entering orbit is cinematic in its splendour. And
though my fiancée was adamant that the ship looked like ‘a big turd’, I
was very impressed with it – a very natural design, incredibly well
realised on a television budget. And as it came over London, I wonder how
many of you noticed Big Ben surrounded by scaffolding, being rebuilt after
the Slitheen crash? The thought and the detail put into each and every
shot really is mind-boggling.
Many people have likened The Christmas Invasion to the movie
Independence Day,
and there are indeed clear parallels… only this is much, much better
of course. Depending on what you class as ‘an episode’, this is at least
the fourteenth episode of the revived series, and as such as an audience
we are now well and truly invested in the regular characters, giving the
whole production an emotional weight that a one-off movie like
Independence Day could never hope to have.
For instance, amidst all the panic of the alien invasion, the episode has
a moment to focus on Rose as she realises that she can’t understand the
Sycorax language, and that as such the TARDIS can’t be working, and so it
follows that the Doctor is
is not working. Mickey very poignantly asks, “you love him, don’t
you?”, to which Rose responds simply by resting her head on his shoulder –
a really touching little moment. The shots of Rose finally breaking down
in tears and crying on her Mother’s shoulder are equally affecting – “He’s
gone! The Doctor’s gone! He’s left me Mum!” It’s as if the Doctor
has actually died.
“He’s
left me Mum...”
Of course, regeneration isn’t death; in fact, it’s the Time Lord way of
cheating death. But to a human being, never seeing somebody again is a
massive thing, and even though the ninth Doctor tried to make light of his
regeneration in an attempt to save Rose this heartache and these feelings
of loss, he could never have succeed entirely. The ninth Doctor is dead
and Rose, much like the audience, is in mourning for Eccleston’s Doctor
and unsure about his replacement – his replacement who is lying in bed as
the world ends, which doesn’t help matters.
It wasn’t
until round about the forty-minute mark that Tennant made his full-blown
debut, but it
was
certainly worth waiting for. With Mickey the idiot having haplessly
managed to get the TARDIS transmatted on board the Sycorax ship, he then
goes for gold by spilling his flask of tea on the TARDIS’ floor where the
Doctor’s prone body lay. And so as Rose desperately tries to bluff the
Sycorax leader with talk of the Shadow Proclamation, the Slitheen, and
even the Daleks, suddenly the Sycorax Leader’s words start to sound
English. And if the TARDIS’
translation circuits are working again, then just maybe....
“Did you miss me?”
Healed by Mickey’s spilt cuppa and dashing about like Arthur Dent on
speed, Ten struts out of the TARDIS, defiantly snaps the Sycorax leader’s
staff weapon in two and then takes a bit of a time-out to catch up with
his old friends! And that’s all it took for me; David Tennant was
the Doctor. “Am I ginger? I want to be ginger!”, he exclaims. Quirky and
off the wall; but in the the eyes you see the danger.
Sean Gilder,
better known for his portrayal of
hardman
Paddy McGuire in the Channel 4 hit
Shameless, has obviously taken great pleasure in portraying the leader
of the Sycorax as a very stiff and proud, almost Klingon warrior
which makes him the perfect inaugural foil for the tenth Doctor. Their
initial banter is downright farcical - “Who are you?” ‘Paddy’ roars, to
which Doctor number ten amusingly apes “I DON’T KNOW”, gorilla-style!
“Am I sexy? It seems I’ve certainly got a
gob on me… Rude and not ginger… Oh look!
A great big threatening button that should
not be pressed under any circumstances…”
Davies must have had a ball writing this stuff, and Tennant must have had
even more fun delivering it. The threat of the blood control is thwarted
by the Doctor easily (too easily, I’m sure some will argue. It’s the old
sonic screwdriver / anti-plastic / Time Goddess get-out-again) and so,
after quoting The Lion King
(and forever endearing himself to old Nannan Wolverson), he accepts the
mantle of ‘World’s Champion’ and challenges the Sycorax Leader – or the
“big feller”, if you will – to a swordfight... for the planet.
Now I can stretch my disbelief to the point where I can swallow that
Davies might not have had Douglas Adams’ Restaurant at the End of the
Universe consciously in mind when he wrote The End of the World,
but I will never believe that when he wrote the Doctor having a swordfight
up amongst the clouds with a tall, masked, caped villain that he did not
have The Empire Strikes Back in the forefront of his thoughts. The
Doctor’s hand being cut off in the
midst of battle absolutely
clenched it. A lovely bit of
plagiarism homage.
“Lucky...”
I must say though, the traumatic removal of the Doctor’s hand was
definitely a ‘what the f***!’ moment, if you’ll pardon my French. Even in
the anything-anywhere-anywhen-goes world of Doctor Who there are
rules, and I’m sure that the Doctor not sporting a Skywalkeresque
prosthesis is one of them. There was a get-out of course - and an utterly
cheesy one at that - but it was brilliant all the same, emphasising once
again the Doctor’s unique physiology and also, it seems, tagging Tennant
as the luckiest of Doctors. As he was within fifteen hours of his
regeneration when the appendage was severed, he had enough residual energy
to grow himself a new hand. And guess what? “It’s a fightin’ hand!”
What can you do watching that, other than applaud?
For all
his rash exuberance though, the tenth Doctor is still the Doctor. He has
retained the sensibilities of earlier incarnations, taking the Sycorax
leader’s word that his race would leave Earth and never return, rather
than taking his life in the first instance. I’m pleased that the ninth
Doctor’s ruthlessness has been carried forward though - though Ten may
have given the Sycorax Leader a chance, as soon as that chance had been
squandered he did
not
hesitate to send him to his death, courtesy of Jackie’s boyfriend’s
Satsuma. There is something scary and yet utterly beguiling about a man
who can flit from the nonchalance of “cheers for that, big feller” to
deadly earnestness. One of my favourite shots of the whole special is the
Doctor, still wearing his ‘Arthur Dent’ dressing down, marching with
steely determination towards the camera. It is that burning intensity that
we first saw a fleeting glimpse of back in November’s Children In Need
special; magnificent.
“No second chances. That’s the kind of man I
am.”
But the
story of The Christmas Invasion doesn’t
end there. In a fascinating last-minute twist, Harriett Jones gives the
order for this mysterious Torchwood organisation to shoot down the
retreating Sycorax ship. The parallel to Maggie Thatcher’s infamous
sinking of the Belgrano in the Falklands war is patent, and says a lot
about the writer’s attitude towards past (and indeed present) conflicts,
but what I find more intriguing is the way that the Doctor reacts to this
unexpected turn of events. I expected him to be enraged; livid, even. But
to completely turn against Harriett seemed disproportionately harsh,
particularly given the tolerance and forgiveness that he has shown to
characters like the Brigadier in the past, who has been known to bomb
species into virtual extinction for far less than mounting a full-scale
invasion of Earth. It seems that the new Doctor’s “no second chances”
maxim is going to be much
more
than just a nice quote for the soundbite gluttons...
However,
I sincerely hope that Harriett is given a chance to redeem herself in the
Doctor’s
eyes; after all, she is demonstrably a good woman who was clearly out of
depth and with an impossible decision to make. The bringing down of her
government with six simple words - “don’t you think she looks tired?” – is
surely penance enough for her as, by the end of The Christmas Invasion,
she really did look tired. And
sorry.
The
closing moments of the special have a delightful sense of renaissance
about them; a tangible sense of hope and anticipation. And equally they
look to the series’
past, as the
Doctor rummages around in the TARDIS wardrobe, wearing his fourth
incarnation’s
latter-day
scarf whilst hunting for his new getup. He first pulls out
Casanova’s outfit before settling on some very trendy threads indeed -
geek chic, they’re calling it.
And so to the sound of
Murray
Gold’s
seasonally apposite Song For Ten, the Doctor sits down with his
adopted family for a good old-fashioned Christmas dinner with all the
trimmings.
Who said he didn’t
do domestics...
And the final scene is breathtaking; the fallout from the Sycorax ship
lending the scene a sombre undertone, whilst the sparkling dialogue again
looks to the future. I especially love the Doctor’s “not with these eyes”
line;
very redolent.
“That way...”
On
balance then, Tennant’s
debut story has shown more promise than any other Doctor’s to date,
Eccleston included. Stuffed to bursting with action, pathos and a whole
bucket load of humour, The Christmas Invasion was quite rightly the
centrepiece of BBC One’s Christmas Day schedule; an honour that I suspect
it will enjoy for many years to come. And
if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to go by -
Cybermen! Sarah Jane! K-9! - then for me, spring
couldn’t
come soon enough.
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