How Was Christmas For You?
The Only Way Is Up
During the self-imposed “Christmas Hiatus”, when this blog underwent some superficial changes and got a new name, there was an event that I really should’ve commented upon at the time. You see, there was a “Christmas Invasion” taking place on a show that had undergone some superficial changes and with a lead who got a new name. Doctor Who returned with its first Christmas day premiere broadcast for 40 years. Rose, Micky and Jackie were all there and accounted for and stumbled around not really knowing what to do as Russell T Davies turned the tinsel up to the max. All the while, the newly regenerated Doctor (see Children In Need for details) pretty much slept through the first 3/4 of it. However, he finally woke up, stole the show, beat the bad guys, saved the world, and finally joined in on the domestic stuff too.
In many respects this was a classic Pertwee story…. invasion of Earth, UNIT step in, plenty of action scenes, heroes abducted, and everyone home for tea. But this was about far more than plot, which pleased 10.8million sherry-addled adults and excitable kids just fine… this was about RTD’s brave, new, Whovian world. Harriot Jones returned after a landslide election victory as PM but in the end lost a friend, this was a brave decision in what could otherwise have been a little overly saccharine ending. Familiarity abounded as the distinctive aspects of Who in ‘05 almost entirely hid the fact that the Doctor had regenerated.
RTD’s Doctor Who is grounded in the here and now, we have regular characters who don’t (yet) travel with the Doctor, and to whom the audience can easily relate. We view the story from the perspective of a 19 year old girl and once again see the Doctor as a mysterious stranger. Most of all we have a successful drama that we can all care about. Finally, just when you thought it was over we got the trailer for season two. I. Cannot. Wait.
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January 6th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
[...] Who’d have guessed that my 12th and final Christmas review would have been the Doctor Who, Christmas day extravaganza, “The Runaway Bride“? And it’s the twelfth day after Christmas too, genius eh?! After just two installments of a Christmas Day DW special and following the success of “The Christmas Invasion” in 2005, it would now seem that the good Doctor is becoming a fixture in the BBC1 schedules. It comes with plenty of extras too: last year we were treated to an extra, interactive, red-button episode after the main event, while this year we had a one-hour installment of Doctor Who Confidential that focussed on the series’ music and behind the scenes activity at the recent Children In Need concert, which itself was available in full on the red button. BBC Wales, you’re spoiling us! [...]