Doctor Tennant
Along with all the usual Christmas stuff, we couldn’t help watching the Christmas Doctor Who special—-The Christmas Invasion. I loved Christopher Eccleston so much in the role (and the chemistry that he and Billie Piper generated), that I watched the programme with a mixture of hope and dread. (Warning: some spoilers ahead.)
I think that my brief verdict is that it could have been a lot worse. The sharp, witty writing is still there. At one point, The Doctor starts saying something that sounds rather pompous and portentous, then looks puzzled for a moment and stops—-“No, wait, that’s The Lion King”. There was also a nice running gag from the previous series, in which Harriet Jones kept holding up her ID badge and introducing herself as “Harriet Jones, Prime Minister”, whereupon the person she was addressing would say, “Yes, I know”. It doesn’t sound that hilarious, I know, but the finale of the joke when she used the same line on the aliens, and her ‘right hand man’ read out the aliens’ translated reply on his handheld (YES. WE KNOW.) was pretty good.
There were also the requisite child-terrifying moments, and full marks to the writers for planting the seeds of potential Christmas phobias in the kiddies with the flame-throwing Santa band and the buzz-saw Christmas tree. I also felt that this particular episode was rather a good political satire. Harriet Jones’s robust response to the un-named US President had us punching the air, yelling “YES!”, and wishing that she was our real Prime Minister. We were still thinking that right up until the point when she had her ‘Torchwood’ moment and started acting like the genuine article.
Now for the downside. When I went to start my car on Christmas day so that we could go and visit Mr. Bsag’s folks, I turned the key in the ignition and…nothing. No spark. Lifeless. That was more or less how I felt about David Tennant’s Doctor. It wasn’t that his acting was bad (though his accent veered annoyingly between Mockney and vaguely South East England-ish), but it just didn’t have any life to it. Near the beginning, Rose wondered if this was her Doctor, then near the end she had supposedly decided that he was, but I wasn’t convinced that she was convinced, if you see what I mean.
Perhaps I’m being harsh. He did spend more than half the show unconscious in his jim-jams, with glowing ectoplasm coming out of his mouth (something that left limited scope for demonstrating his acting abilities), and it does sometimes take a while for a new Doctor to establish himself, but I was convinced from Eccleston’s first line that he was the real Doctor.
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I thought the whirling dervish of a Christmas Tree was superbly hilarious, oxymoronic I know, but it hit just the right level of serious/comedic violence.
He should have spoken with his normal Scottish accent (I don't think Scots are banned from being Time Lords). I have watched Dr Who on and off since the first ever epidode in 1960 whatever, and you will get used to the new one just in time for him to regenerate again.----- I thought he did OK.
C. Eccleston was extremely good in the role - certainly the best Doctor since (the great) Tom Baker.
Mr Tennant hasn't had much opportunity to make his mark yet - but I feel pretty confident that he'll find his place among the better of the post-Baker Doctors.
Personally, what I'm most excited about is the return of the Cybermen!
by Paul @ 28/12/2005 6:12 pm • Permalink •
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The Cybermen? Roll on K9, that's what I say.
My feelings about Tennant were that he did a very good job. Although Christopher Eccleston was very good, I've always had him pinned as a 'serious' actor in the sense of an actor who takes the art of acting very seriously. Although there were some great laughs in the last series, I don't think he's the natural comedian that Tennant is.
The great thing about Tennant is that he can do the gags - pretty effortlessly - yet he can also do the roundedness and depth. Nor does he look like a Hamlet who's got lost on the way to the Old Vic, as Eccleston sometimes does.
by Bill Hilton @ 28/12/2005 6:12 pm • Permalink •
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I'm a hardcore Eccleston fan, and I was worried â but after the Christmas Invasion I'm completely sold on Tennant.
If you listen to the commentary available on the BBC's site, they talk a bit about their reasons for keeping him down for so much of the episode. In short, they wanted him to have a fast-paced, energetic entrance (wake up, have a sword fight, save the world with a satsuma and bring down the government) and didn't feel it would be as effective if he'd had an hour to do it in.
If you look at previous Doctors, there's always an adjustment after regeneration. With Eccleston, we didn't see the regeneration â it was made clear in "Rose" that it was fairly recent, but at Eccleston's first line, he was already saving the world.
I'm sad about Harriet Jones. I think it was good storytelling, but I wanted to see more of Penelope Wilton.
by Dan Ridley @ 28/12/2005 6:13 pm • Permalink •
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I never saw eccleston as the doctor, I kept missing it when it was on tv, but I did enjoy the christmas special. Especially the Arthur Dent line, considering I had just said the exact same thing to my dad!
by Clair @ 28/12/2005 9:12 pm • Permalink •
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I'm clearly in the minority here because I really wasn't convinced about Eccleston but struggled through to enjoy the first series, on the whole. I could have been that there was too much humour in the show that grated with me (so it was the writers' fault).
I don't know whether it's the idea of Doctor Who looking younger than me that's taking a lot of getting used to, but unless they're going to clone William Hartnell I suppose I should get used to that.
by Em³ @ 28/12/2005 9:12 pm • Permalink •
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Seems like I'm in the minority. I think that the problem is that (for me) Christopher Eccleston set the bar so high, that anyone coming after him would seem like a mild disappointment. I suspect that if Tennant had done the last series, I still would have been delighted with it.
by bsag @ 29/12/2005 6:12 pm • Permalink •
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I remember as a kid it was the law to dislike the new doctor for at least 4 episodes.
Cracking writing though, and can't wait for K9.
by Alastair @ 29/12/2005 6:13 pm • Permalink •
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I think you may well be in the minority as regards Tennant's performance, even amongst Eccleston lovers.
Me, I loved Tennant. From "Miss me?" onwards, he just owned that part in a way no-one else has since... well, since Tom Baker. His enthusiasm and pure joie de vivre shone through with every line, and unlike Eccleston (Purely my opinion, of course) he could switch between funny and serious in a way I thought the 9th Doctor found uncomfortable. Eccleston can do serious at the drop of a hat - ask him to do funny and it looks fake.
Anyway, I thought the Christmas Invasion was the best one yet, and am firmly of the belief that Doctor Who is entering its New Golden Age (tm)!
by Mr Whiskers @ 30/12/2005 12:13 am • Permalink •
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I loved it! I enjoyed the previous season, but I never really warmed to Christopher Eccleston. I was too young to pay attention the last time Doctor Who was on TV, and I know that the first Doctor you watch is supposed to be the one you never forget, but I never really felt that he was MY Doctor. After a single episode of David Tennant, I feel that he IS my Doctor, and I know I'm going to love him! The only sour note for me was the ending - I felt that poor Harriet was only doing what she thought was right and the Doctor shouldn't have been so harsh. He could use her as a friend.
by Llin @ 01/01/2006 11:02 pm • Permalink •
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I thought Tennant was good, but I miss Eccleston. I'm American, and had never seen nor heard of Eccleston before watching the first episode of season one, but from the moment he said "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you. Run for your life!" I was 100% sold. Tennant didn't sell me, and in some places I got the impression he was trying to pull an Eccleston line ("Fantastic!") and doing very poorly at it. (Yes, that's probably the writers' fault)
But I think Tennant will make a fine doctor. I just miss Eccleston.
by Hans @ 06/01/2006 9:02 pm • Permalink •
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Like someone above, I was bothered by him being younger than me, but I think he did a pretty good job. As to how quickly they captivate us, or don't: remember that we'd had very long wait for Chris Ecc (as we like to call him in my house).
And I might just add that my kids seem to like Tennant, despite the fact that the immediately after the regeneration sequence at the end of 'The Parting of the Ways' the four-year old turned to her Mum and said, "Mummy, I don't like the new Doctor".
by Martin McCallion @ 11/01/2006 1:02 pm • Permalink •
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