Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2005: The Christmas Invasion

Episode:

710

|

Serial:

167

|

Writer:

Russell T. Davies

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2005

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about another episode of Russell T Davies era Doctor Who!

This one's called The Christmas Invasion because it's the first of Doctor Who's annual Christmas specials. I don't watch enough TV to know what kinds of series usually get Christmas specials and how rare they are, but I do know that the classic series never had any. Well okay, it had a Christmas episode one time in 1965, but that's only because serials would continue throughout December back then and Christmas Day just happened to coincide with one of the episodes. But since Christmas Invasion they haven't missed a year, even on occasions where they pretty much took the rest of the year off (I'm looking at you 2009 and 2016).

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point, for this story and perhaps earlier ones as well. For instance, I'm going to spoil that this is David Tennant's first episode as the Tenth Doctor.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-01: Rose

Episode:

697

|

Serial:

157

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Air Date:

26-Mar-2005

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about Rose, the first episode of modern Doctor Who. Because after writing about the first eight Doctors it seemed a shame not to write about a Ninth Doctor story.

It's kind of amazing to me that this actually features the actual Ninth Doctor instead of a new First Doctor, and they didn't reset the continuity despite the huge gap between stories. This aired 9 years after the TV movie and 15 years after the final episode of the classic series. Doesn't quite beat the 18 year gap between Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Original Series but it's pretty close.

Here's some more facts for you, to save me from writing an actual introduction:

• This is the first of just three episodes of Doctor Who to have a companion's name in the title (four if you count the Feast of Steven chapter of The Daleks' Master Plan). The others are Smith and Jones and Amy's Choice.
• The episode had the shortest title in all of Doctor Who's then 42-year history until it was beaten a couple of years later by an episode called 42. I don't think that one's in any risk of getting outdone any time soon.
• If they'd kept the numbering, this would've been the first episode of season 27.
• It's the first season opener since The Ribos Operation in 1978 to introduce a new companion, and the first to also introduce a new Doctor in the same story since 1970's Spearhead from Space.
• It's the first story since Mission to the Unknown in 1965 to not feature a single returning actor (even the TV movie had Sylvester McCoy).
• It was directed by Keith Boak, the same guy who did the farting aliens in the Aliens of London two-parter and then never came back. Though to be fair he didn't write it. The episode was written by Russell T Davies, the same guy who wrote the farting aliens in the Aliens of London two-parter. Also the producer for this era.
• I'm not actually sure if I watched this episode on the day it aired, the only Doctor Who I'd seen at that point was the 1996 TV movie, so I wasn't exactly hyped. But it seems very plausible that I walked into a room with it on, saw a wheelie bin burp and then walked back out again. (I watched it a few years later though).

This is going to be a full recap review commentary full of screencaps and SPOILERS, so I'd suggest watching the episode first before reading it. In fact, to be safe you should probably watch all 696 classic episodes as well, even though I'm sure any spoilers I drop about them will be incredibly minor. And I'll be spoiling absolutely nothing about episodes that aired after it; I won't even say the words 'bad wolf' because there's no reference to them in this story at all.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Era (1996)

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I finally get to stop writing about that bloody Twitch Doctor Who marathon I watched over the summer. I'm all out of classic episodes now, but I do have some a few lists for you and maybe some final thoughts. Also, the 1996 TV movie wasn't actually part of the Twitch marathon or the classic TV series, but it didn't seem right to leave out the Eighth Doctor, so I'm giving you a bonus review as well! You probably guessed that already from the title though.

It's weird how the Eighth Doctor's run ended just as soon as it began, but his logo stuck around in continuous use longer than any other. This slightly modernised version of the Third Doctor's logo introduced here went on to be used for things like books, DVDs and Big Finish audios relating to the classic era for 22 years, until everything was unified under the gold Jodie Whittaker logo this year. Which is good, because to be honest this is maybe my favourite logo of all of them, classic or modern.

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point for the TV movie and I might even throw in the odd spoiler for the classic series, but I'll not spoil anything that might happen during the revival series. Not even that.

Doctor Who: The Seventh Doctor Era (1987-1989)

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached the end of classic Doctor Who! This is it, these 12 serials I'm writing about here were the last ones I watched during that two-month Twitch marathon I sat through. That also means that they're presumably the most vivid in my mind, dramatically increasing my chances of remembering things that happened in them!

I definitely remember how glad I was that they'd changed the bloody logo. RIP that terrible neon tube logo, 1980-1986. I get the impression this 3D rendered opening title sequence isn't many people's favourite, especially considering how dated the effects look now, but I'm just happy that it was something different (plus I like the chunky metal WHO). It was nice to get a new arrangement of the theme as well, even though it's far from being my favourite.

There will be SPOILERS below, so if you don't want episodes ruined by a stream of spoilery opinions you'd best leave the article alone for now. Though I'll only ever be spoiling backwards, never forwards, so I'm going to resist the temptation to bring up Asylum of the Daleks or The Magician's Apprentice while writing about Remembrance of the Daleks.

Doctor Who: The Sixth Doctor Era (1984-1986)

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached the Sixth Doctor era of Doctor Who. Yay!

I can't believe that this logo's lasted for three Doctors now. Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker all had two logos and two opening credit sequences each, but this terrible looking neon tube logo just won't die! They did give it a bit of a glow though, plus they swapped in Colin Baker's face and threw in some colourful weirdness for the camera to fly through, seeing as he was the gaudy Doctor.

Underneath this SPOILER warning you'll find reviews for all 11 Sixth Doctor stories and inside those reviews you'll find spoilers. But only for what you've been reading so far, I won't say a word about future stories. Except for in the next paragraph where I'll mention something entirely innocuous about Army of Ghosts.

Doctor Who: The Fifth Doctor Era (1982-1984)

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing things again! I watched (almost) all of classic Doctor Who a few weeks back and I watched it wrong, racing through the whole thing in two months instead of spacing the episodes out, thanks to the marathon that Twitch showed a few months ago. I've already written about the first four Doctors and now I'm up to Doctor #5.

New Doctor, same logo, same music, and same opening titles pretty much as well. I'm guessing that they recreated the title sequence from scratch as all the stars and lens flares are different, but giant Peter Davison face aside you'd have to watch them side by side to really notice. I guess they wanted to reassure viewers that they were still watching the same show.

Contained within this very article you have on your screen right are 20 individual reviews covering all three of the Fifth Doctor's seasons and the Five Doctors anniversary special! But not The Twin Dilemma, I'm saving that for next time. There's also a lot of SPOILERS beyond this point, but only for stories that had already aired at the time of the review you're reading. So I may mention something about how a companion came on board, for instance, but I'll not even hint at how they're ultimately going to leave until they're gone.

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Era (1974-1981) - Part 3

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm still reviewing all those stories I watched during Twitch's classic Doctor Who marathon. I've reached the 80s at last, the classic series' final decade and I'm writing about Tom Baker's final season as the Fourth Doctor. That's The Leisure Hive to Logopolis for everyone who hasn't memorised an episode guide.

1980 was the point that John Nathan-Turner took over as producer and he remained in the role for 10 years until its cancellation, when he was finally freed. It was also the point where Christopher H. Bidmead become the script editor, but he only stuck around for the one season. The two of them brought a few changes to the show, but the one I feel like talking about right now is that bloody logo up there. Apparently, the designer thought that a neon sign was the ideal style to make the logo look fresh and modern, and maybe it was really trendy in 1980, I wasn't born yet, I wouldn't know. But right now it looks like it should be hanging up on a shop wall. Plus it's not even an illuminated sign, it's just glass! I hate it so much!

This era also got a new arrangement of the theme music, which was kind of a big change seeing as the original theme had been around in slightly different variations for 17 years. And I don't hate it! In fact, it really grew on me over the next few seasons. I think I still prefer the original theme better though and I'm definitely not so keen on the slit-scan tunnel being replaced with the cheesy starfield. Nathan-Turner thought that the old opening title sequence looked dated and needed an update, but I think the kaleidoscopic time vortex has actually aged better. Making new a title sequence for every season is something I can definitely endorse though, so it's a shame I reckon that they stuck with variations of this one for the next 7 years.

There'll be SPOILERS beyond this point, but not for future episodes. Only past and present ones, relative to the story you're reading. So I won't be sharing my first impressions of Jodie Whittaker's Tardis console room halfway through my review of The Keeper of Traken.