ebonlock | (no subject)

Let me start by saying that I love and miss Nine, Eccleston was a treasure and re-invested me in the Doctor like nobody's business. But...well Ten made me a bit weak in the knees, and left me very glad I was watching that ep by myself for the first time. Wow. I think I'd describe the difference between the two thusly, Nine seemed a bit gruff and standoffish on the outside, but was an absolute kitten on the inside. Hard candy coating around a soft, melt in your mouth interior. Ten is just the opposite, he seems all sweet and cuddly on the outside (he instigated a group hug, won Jackie over without a single word, and didn't refer to Mickey as "the idiot" once) but on the inside he's all "Fuck with me and I'll end you."

Holy god.

Ahem, let's see, the big moments that stood out for me were Jackie's "Doctor who?", which is a joke I just never get tired of, sadly. The running jokes about Jackie's new boyfriend's eating habits, Harriet Jones, Prime Minister flashing her badge despite everyone knowing who she was, the killer Santas and tree from hell, UNIT headquarters, and of course the payoff regarding Torchwood. That is one seriously big gun, Jack is going to be all over it when that series begins.

The Sycorax were kinda silly really and reminded me a little too much of the baddies in one of the worst of the Dr. Who novels I'd read, so the less said about them the better. Fortunately they just showed up, menaced a bit, and then got blowed up real good. No problem there.

Getting to really focus on Jackie, Mickey and Rose for most of the episode was delightful, I really enjoy this trio when they get to work together and hope that the Doctor spends lots of time in London again this season. I felt so bad for Rose, whose spent so much time leaning on the Doctor that facing a disaster without him just devastates her. Her breakdown when it finally hits her that her Doctor is gone and won't be coming back, that he sacrificed himself to save her, was just heartbreaking. Hat's off to Billie for some seriously fine acting.

The subplot with 1/3 of the world's population being about to die was unsettling, particularly when they picked on us poor A+'s. Blood control or no you couldn't have gotten me that close to the edge of a building, sorry but my self preservation instinct would've kicked in well before then. But the Doctor's response to it was a hoot.

Jackie and the Doc playing an impromptu game of charades on the terrace had me howling. Another big hat tip to the actress there, she did an amazing job throughout the entire ep. I loved when she suddenly went from "the Doctor is my enemy, he stole my daughter" to "awww, poor little dear". Falling asleep with her head on the bed and referring to him as "sweetheart", yeah she's totally adopted this incarnation. And the Xmas dinner sequence was a delight. Nine would never have put up with that, ducking into the TARDIS before the festivities began. Ten, on the other hand, seemed right at home. I suspect a lot of that has to do with Nine's really damaged psyche. He was so guilt-ridden and tormented about the Time Wars that he couldn't let himself get too close to anyone. His sacrifice and regeneration seems to have helped him get over all that.

When the Sycorax leader defines Ten as "this world's champion" I actually cheered aloud, yes that's precisely what Ten is. Rose looked like she was about to swoon when he came out to rescue her, and rightly so, he was definitely swoon-worthy. Oh and earlier when the tree is menacing them and she whispers for him to help her and he pulls himself out of his regenerative coma to save the day...oh hell yeah! He may have a new face, but he still totally adores her, and by the end, she'd fallen pretty hard for him again. *happy sigh*

The scenes for what's coming up this season looked amazing, particularly the return of Sarah Jane Smith (that should be interesting) and K-9! Ooh and cat people, oh and Tony Head as a really psycho baddie, woo!

So, um, all in all two thumbs way up for "The Christmas Invasion"!

Hmm, I need a Ten icon...

BTW, this site created for the Cybermen episode rocks. The password to get to the juicy files is "nemesis", could definitely be considered spoilery. They look quite cool, but are still the fuckers who killed Adric, so we hates them, yes we does.