Episode #170 : The Christmas Invasion

Jackie Tyler: Well, I reckon you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble.

The Doctor: Trouble's just the bits-in-between! It's all waiting out there, Jackie. And it's brand new to me—all those planets and creatures and horizons! I haven't seen them yet, not with these eyes. And it is gonna be... fantastic!

Episode 170:   The Christmas Invasion.
Companions:   10th Doctor and, Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         25th December 2005.

It's Christmas Eve and high above London, the alien Sycorax are holding the Earth for ransom. The Tenth Doctor must recover from his regeneration in time to save the human race from slavery.

The first adventure for the 10th Doctor is also the first Christmas special. I don't know about you but after a while I get seriously fed up of Christmas specials for Doctor Who. It works for sit coms and the occasional drama but just how many times can the Doctor and chums arrive for Christmas?

The plot for this one is fairly simple. The Doctor regenerates from his absorption of the time vortex and slips into a restorative coma, leaving Rose and family to hold things together when a race of nasty aliens turning up seeking slaves and conquest. The story holds more family angst and quickly gets a bit monotonous. There is also some downright silliness that doesn't fit ranging from some of the humour down to unexplained robot killers and a murderous Christmas tree. Sometimes I wonder what Russell T Davis, the head producer, was thinking with the direction of the show at this stage.

The Sycorax as the villains seem fairly weak to me. There is no depth to them and they seem all too bland as a species or culture. I don't particularly like the look of the costumes either. All seems a bit cheap. However, it doesn't spoil the enjoyment for me. I'm just glad that so far they haven't returned.

We get our first proper reference to Torchwood and they seem to have access to powerful alien technology. At this point we don't know much other than a reference from Harriet Jones (yes, we know who you are). The idea of a recurring reference to Bad Wolf in the previous series was quite clever but did it really another meme in this one?

In this story I'm not overly fond of the new Doctor. You have to let an actor and his writers settle into a new role but he still comes across, as he puts it himself, as rude. Eccleston's incarnation was a miserable character a lot of the time and I remember hoping that it wasn't going to be a continuous trend.

I may seem negative of this episode but really it is what I have come to expect from new Who. The ideas and concepts that I loved from the classic show are long gone I think. Old fans have to adapt to a modern show paradigm.

Episode #163 : Aliens of London / World War Three

"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?"

Episode 163:   Aliens of London / World War Three.
Companions:   9th Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Air Date:         16th to 23rd April 2005.

Rose returns home to discover that she has been missing for a whole year, although for her, it's been a couple of days. However, before she can explain her absence, a spaceship crashes into Big Ben, causing a worldwide catastrophe. Worse still, the Prime Minister has mysteriously disappeared... The Doctor's investigation puts him in the spotlight with the British government, as his long history of defending Earth finally catches up with him. But there are sinister goings on at 10 Downing Street, and politician Harriet Jones' quest to get some answers brings her into a brave new world... of aliens. Meanwhile, Rose finds trouble closer to home, as her past mistakes threaten to tear her family apart.

This story introduces a concept that hasn't been seen before, dealing with the repercussions of what happens at home when a companion takes off with the Doctor. A fair chunk of the first part is taken over by this plot element. It is well done and nice to see that a plot element that has been long in coming.

Aliens of London introduces a new villain, the Slitheen family, unscrupulous aliens seeking to make a profit from the destruction of the Earth. This is first story of the new series to combine CGI and the classic "man in a suit" style creatures. I remember being oddly pleased with this adventure when it first aired for continuing to have the "man in an alien costume" approach. I had feared that we would not see that again. What makes the Slitheen stand out is the childish farting that they do. At first it is amusing but soon becomes all too silly even though within the story it is explained.

We are also introduced to new characters who would reappear later on, Harriet Jones (MP for Flydale North), and Toshiko Sato who we learn later on is part of an organisation called Torchwood. UNIT appears for the first time in the new series though the name has changed to the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. The reason for the name change is because the real world United Nations did not want to be associated with the show. I find this really odd as there is no better program to be associated with in my opinion.

Bad Wolf appears in this story as a graffiti spray painted onto the side of the TARDIS.

Aliens of London / World War Three is a fun entertaining romp though it falls into the childish at times.