There will be two reasons why The Christmas Invasion will be remembered by Doctor Who fandom. The first is the series first real attempt at a Christmas special. Come on "The Feast of Steven" doesn't count. The second an introduction to the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant.
Judging the story on the second of those factors, Tennant struggles to make much of an impact for the first half hour because the Doctor's attempts to recover from the regeneration. However, with the arrival of a cup of tea, the Doctor returns to make a stronger impression in the final act.
Before the Doctor's recovery, it's up to the supporting characters to carry the action. Therefore, we have some terrifying moments when the brass band terrorise the centre of London, and some highly camp moments when the Christmas tree has a tornado like effect within the Tyler flat.
Therefore, Billie Piper, Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke carry the action having been given the chance in the Doctor's absence. This enables us to see the effect that the alien invasion is having on the rest of the population.
While this is an epic piece, barely any of the other supporting characters are given the chance to make much of an impression. Penelope Wilton makes a strong and credible job of being the country's prime minister, but she's the only one of the human characters. Sean Gilder makes an impression as the leader of the Sycorax, but the rest of the characters struggle to rise above the two-dimensional.
The talents of Adam Garcia are wasted in the role of little more than a translator, while Daniel Evans and Chu Ornambala aren't given much of a chance to impress and are little more than canon fodder for the Sycorax.
Amongst this argument, you'd be right in pointing out that this story is about the Doctor and the fact that he's changed and how Rose and her family react to the change. So maybe the fact that we have superficial characters can be forgiven.
The festive side of this story is frankly a let down. We get the brass band and the incident in the Tyler household, there's very little to separate this from a normal edition of Doctor Who. Even the snowy scene at the end is tainted by the fact that we know it's caused by the destruction of the Sycorax spaceship.
However, despite the criticisms we get some fantastic moments. I've never been that fond of the Gherkin designed by Norman Foster, so it's nice to see that blown up, while the swordfight at the end between the Doctor and the leader of the Sycorax will be an obvious highlight, while the deaths of the scientist and the major are genuinely horrific.
The Christmas Invasion is not a particularly original story, but we have the perfect way of launching the 10th Doctor. A standard Doctor Who plot about alien invasion and every day things being turned into something sinister. It's for that The Christmas Invasion is a great story.
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