Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion review (long)

[winterspel]

I finally managed to watch Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion last night, and not terribly surprisingly, I'm ecstatic! While I was waiting at Albany International Airport for my flight back home from Christmas, I watched the first ten-fifteen minutes on my laptop, and I was laughing like a crazy person. Behind the cut are my impressions with

Comments

[winterspel]

When I wrote: Harriet is very stupid to think she can go against the Doctor and succeed - I meant particularly her defiance of him - I understand why she did what she did, and I don't agree with it, but she should know better than to make an enemy of him, and that's how I think she was extremely foolish (the way she talked to him after the Sycorax had been destroyed, coldly and without remorse). She made the mistake of thinking that he was like her, and then, worse, she threatened him (her comment about him being an 'alien threat') - not too smart to do something like that to the one person who put his life on the line and became the champion for the entire planet, as he has countless times in the past (which she should know something of, if she's referring to him as a code 9 - the Doctor has worked with the British government before and helped them with previous alien threats; if she'd been briefed on this, she should have an idea of the greater picture of his involvement and his sacrifices for humanity and Earth).

The Doctor has always been as non-violent and non-destructive as possible - he doesn't do guns, he never tries to kill if an enemy can be disarmed or otherwise vanquished [which is why all the Dalek episodes were so poignant, and why his angst in "Dalek" was so horrifying and palpable]. So I understand why he reacted the way he did - for him, this was a huge betrayal of everything he stands for. Moreover, it wasn't "self-defense" - it was as though WWII Japan surrendered and then the U.S. nuked them into oblivion because they might come back and bring the Soviet Union along for the ride. I think he feels that there are better ways to deal with these things than murder.

The Doctor has definitely been short-sighted in the past, and has made horrible mistakes that have led to tragedy and destruction, and indeed bringing Harriet Jones down might be one of these such circumstances. You're right of course - who will take her place? The scary possibilities of that future are just as disquieting as ashes of the Sycorax falling to Earth and being mistaken for beautiful snow.

[un4scene]

Ya know, Harriet's cold reaction and threats after her decision I took as her trying to put up a front, maybe even justify her actions. "Yes, we can take care of ourselves."

As for the Doctor being an alien threat, I guess he kind of is for exactly the reasons you point out. He's uber non-violent and expects the best from folks that maybe ought not be trusted and by doing so puts us in danger (Unquiet Dead).

And on the subject of Japan, the Sycorax were going off to possibly bring back who knows what, Harriet's imagination is not limited to just Russia. She was making a statement by not allowing them to get away that the earth will not allow any kind of alien trespass go unanswered. While I was shocked by her decisions, I guess I am more on her side. I know, shocking! Think I'm working too close to the White House, I'm starting to think like them. Yipes!