‘Not
bad for a man in his jim-jams…!’
Can
the best Doctor Who stories be summed up in a question?
Is
what was missing from every Christmas Day TV schedule of your childhood
basically this..?
Best
moment for Old School Who?
It’s
a UNIT story about an alien invasion on Christmas Day, and a post-regenerative
Doctor recuperating just like Jon Pertwee in 1970 – except he didn’t have to do
it in Jackie Tyler’s back bedroom.
Best
new thing?
There
are Christmas songs on Doctor Who, and the Autonesque monsters are dressed as
Santa when they attack the crowds in the Christmas markets. This is classic
Doctor Who stuff with unashamed baubles and tinsel on. Doctor Who in the 70s
and 80s seemed to happen in a separate dimension where no one celebrated
Christmas or ever took heed of what was happening here on Earth. Now we’ve got
a Doctor who comes round, all dressed up, for Christmas dinner and a Dr Who
family like we haven’t had since about 1976.
They’d
never have got away with that in the 20th century…
The
Doctor becomes famous. There’s a turning point for the whole series here – when
Harriet Jones (Prime Minister and Spokesperson for the whole Earth) addresses
the nation on Christmas Day – she puts out a last desperate plea for the Doctor
to come and help. This, in the context of a very public alien invasion, marks a
special moment for The Show. The UNIT years happened under a veil of secrecy.
Invasions were stealthy, hushed-up things. But now the invasions are on the
telly and the Doctor’s name is bruited about as our only possible saviour. It’s
an exciting moment. The Doctor is becoming a celebrity inside his own fiction.
Where will this take us..?
Hurray
for Jackie Tyler – best guest moment?
Oddly,
best guest moment is David Tennant’s. He’s new amongst an already-established
cast, all of whom we love and are already very familiar with. Here’s the new
boy – being silly (‘I need you to shut up!’) and intent (his expression when he
blasts the deadly Christmas tree!) and unnerving (‘No second chances.’) He
assumes the mantle of Doctorishness effortlessly. It’s a wonderful debut –
twitchy, larky, action-packed, no holds barred.
The
‘I love me Nan…’ moment
Maybe
we get a bit much of Rose sobbing about having lost her Doctor. He’s still
there! He’s under the bedspread in the back bedroom! Give him a chance, love!
But obviously, the trauma of the past season’s climax is weighing heavily on
her and naturally she sobs on Jackie’s shoulder. But shouldn’t Jackie have a
few questions about stuff like the Dalek Empire and everything Rose was fussing
on about, last time she saw her? And what about swallowing the Time Vortex, eh?
But all those explanations get swept aside in proper Dr Who fashion, because the
Christmas tree has come to life and is chewing up the sitting room. Rose
wallows – but not for too long, thank goodness. There’s too much to get
through in an hour.
What?!?
Fifteen
hours after a regeneration and he can still grow another hand. There’s almost a
hint of sorcery about the way Time Lordishness is portrayed here… along with
the golden breath that escapes him and draws the alien invaders to London… As
the new series continues to build its mythology, there’s a bit of unabashed
magic swirled into the mix.
Huh?!
The
extra fifteen minutes rounds out this story a treat. It just makes me think
that every episode needs that bit of elbow room. Even so, it would have been
fun to see the Sycorax stick around a little longer. UNIT don’t do a whole hell
of a lot. After their years of doing things on the quiet I wanted to see them
suddenly going public. And just why have they been superceded by Torchwood, who
are suddenly thrust violently to the fore here? (Another great example of the
new show gradually creating its own mythos.) There are always further stories,
branching off from what we get… obviously I want to see Sarah and Harry and K9
and Ace and Jo and Ian and Barbara all watching TV on Christmas Day and
startled to hear their old friend being mentioned on the news… What’s the Brig
up to? Why doesn’t Harriet try phoning up Rose in the first place? But never
mind. The momentum of what we have is impeccable and fab. And I love the idea
of Earth being attacked every Christmas Day and companions of old watching it
all unfolding on the telly…
Where
was I?
Christmas
2005 was our first proper Christmas in this house. Doctor Who at Christmas was
just one of those perfect things that should always have happened. I adored
this one from the first – a fizzy, festive rewrite of both ‘Rose’ and ‘Aliens
of London’ – but funnier, sillier and more macabre than both. And with a Doctor
who was both more flippant and perhaps more in tune with and comfortable with
this very particular (and ultimately silly) genre. Eccleston was wonderful but
the whimsy and camp at the heart of Doctor Who was not really his thing. It’s
clearly Tennant’s.
Singlemost
fabulous thing
Lots
of moments stand out for me. But the Doctor having a dressing-up-moment in the
TARDIS wardrobe, just as many earlier incarnations did, and then turning up for
Christmas dinner – suddenly at home in his new form, and in the company of
others – that’s the clincher. The episode ends and it’s a whole new beginning for the series.
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