"No, hold on...Sorry, that's The Lion King."

The Christmas Invasion
Written By: Russel T. Davies

"What do you mean he's the Doctor? Doctor who?"

That joke really doesn't get old.

The first thing that stands out in this episode is how good the sparsely used music is. There is an almost opera-like voice in certain scenes that sounds so strange and ethereal. It adds an almost alien dimension, which is perfect for this episode. The theme is really about how an alien is the Defender of the Earth. Even Rose, who became very capable of handling herself in disastrous situations in the first series, is shown to be incapable of doing anything without him.

The episode starts with Rose's mom and boyfriend, Jackie and Mickey, both hearing the sounds the Tardis makes, and running to the source. Out of nowhere, the Tardis comes careening out of the sky, colliding with buildings and almost hitting Jackie before it crashes onto the road. Out of the door comes the 10th Doctor, wearing the 9th's leather jacket, and appearing dazed. Jackie and Tyler look on confused, having no idea who he is; unaware that The Doctor has regenerated and has a new body. They are even more confused when he greets them with familiarity, wishing them a Happy Christmas. He then collapses at their feet, at which time Rose comes out of the Tardis to inform them that he is The Doctor. Cue the classic line.

Seriously, why on Earth does Mickey continue to let Rose treat him like crap? She is rarely ever there, puts The Doctor before everyone, and is clearly infatuated with him. This was another reason it took me so long to warm up to this show. She leads him on forever! It not only makes him look pathetic, it makes her look flighty and cruel. Definitely not good character traits.


I would just like to say that the idea of a deadly Christmas tree is pretty awesome. Watching it spin through Jackie Tyler's living room, slicing through everything in its way, is great. Jackie even has one of her best lines in the show in this scene: "I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" Fantastic. This is also the last time David Tennant is awake for more than 20 minutes. In fact, he is only awake for about 25 minutes of the entire 60 minute episode. It is a great way to highlight how hopeless humans are against all the aliens in the universe without The Doctor. It's also a great way to show that the show is absolutely nothing without David Tennant. By the time he shows up again, I was getting antsy.

Harriet Jones, the Prime Minister: "Harriet Jones. Prime Minister."
Anyone she says this to to: "Yes, I know who you are."

This back and forth is used throughout the series, even when she's speaking to the invading alien leader, and it's just hilarious. The woman is so politely earnest in her introduction, not even considering the fact that everyone would know who she is since, as she keeps saying, she is the Prime Minister.

The aliens attempting to take control of Earth look pretty cool. Their way of trying to do it is pretty messed up: taking control of a third of the human population, then ordering all two billion of them around the world to climb the nearest tall building and stepping to the edge. The implication, obviously, is that if Earth doesn't surrender, the alien leader will order all of them to jump. The scenes of the husbands, wives and other family members of these men, women and children desperately trying to stop them from doing this is very touching.

Rose's feelings of abandonment and anger brought on by the new doctor lying in bed unconscious, not getting up to save the world, to save her, jump off the screen. When she says to her mom, "I don't know what to do, all right? I've traveled with him and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless," my heart breaks for her. She tries to save the world when standing in front of the alien leader by trying to string together various laws she's heard about around the universe to tell the alien leader that what it was doing was illegal. In response, the aliens just laugh at her. It is the ultimate point of how she needs The Doctor to be great.

So. All The Doctor needed to recover was some tea. How very English.

"Am I...ginger?"

After The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS to save the day, he asks Rose what he looks like. It seems weird that at 40 minutes into the episode, he still hasn't looked in a mirror.

Alien leader to The Doctor: "I demand to know who you are"
The Doctor: "I don't know"


The climax of this episode is absolutely brilliant. There is a fantastic sword fight between The Doctor (in pajamas) and the invading alien leader for the fate of the planet. Even better, it is an examination of who exactly this new Doctor is. His verbal introspection of what kind of man he is is a perfect way to introduce this new character to the audience. Plus it's just hilarious. Russel T. Davies has a tremendous talent for writing comic dialogue, and Tennant's delivery is perfect. These two men make a wonderful team.


The final few minutes of the episode are incredibly charming, and as I now realize after watching the show through Series 4, so very special. It's the first and last time The Doctor celebrates Christmas with other people. Watching him going through the massive wardrobe in the TARDIS to find out what type of clothes suit him while wearing a Tom Baker-type scarf is too cool. And the scene where Rose sees him in his pin-striped suit and trench coat for the first time is too cute.



As Russel T. Davies said in the commentary, only the British would use falling ash from a destroyed ship and corpses in place of falling snow on Christmas. Ick.


The chemistry between David Tennant and Billie Piper, who plays Rose, is sizzling in the final scene. It's even stronger than it was between Eccleston and Piper, which I didn't think possible. Proof positive that all it takes for there to be chemistry between any two actors is good acting. The way they both awkwardly try to tell each other that they each still want to continue on like before, traveling the universe, getting into one adventure after another, is goofy and adorable. It's one of my favorite scenes in the series.

Next up: New Earth