Welcome back Mr. Patrick Troughton. Or, at least, that’s what I thought after watching ‘The Christmas Invasion,; the latest episode of ‘Doctor Who.’
My thoughts; uninspired up until the tenth Doctor makes his presence felt. The UNIT material was okay, although the continued lack of the Brigadier will irk me for a while, especially if Nicholas Courtney dies. Whilst the Brigadier might be continuity overload of a sort at least a passing reference to him would have been good. Otherwise it’s a little humdrum… Or it could be seen as being. Russell T. Davies, the producer, scripted this episode and like many of his stories from the previous season it just doesn’t seem to stack up all that well to the other stories he produced. This is a weirdly good thing; Davies stories are not bad but he has made the decision to hire even better craftspeople to surround him. Thus we get a good scriptwriter-turned-producer whose work looks weak compared to that of his staff.
But here is the canny part; Davies gets to characterise the new Doctor by writing his maiden story. And what a character it is (let’s ignore the fact that I am starting sentences with conjunctions). The new Doctor is friendly yet spikey; he can be hugs and kisses one minute and serious the next. There is a Second Doctor playfulness here, as well as the Troughton anger when people disappoint the Doctor. Without giving anything away there is also a return of the Seventh Doctor’s ability to cause trouble through innocent means. Davies writes this stuff well, even if he does steal lines from such magnum opuses as ‘The Lion King.’ I wonder of this new Doctor will be quoting a lot of pop culture.
(And the ‘Hitchhikers…’ reference was worth the price of admission alone.)
I’m gushing here and I’ve lost the thread of my thought. Let it suffice to say that I have high hopes for the new season and if Tenant continues to impress me I’ll be glad that he’s staying in the TARDIS for at least another season.