Doctor Who/Recap/2005 CS the Christmas Invasion: Difference between revisions

It's become traditional for a new Doctor's first serial to deal with regeneration trauma. The Tenth's is fairly mild--comparedmild—compared to, say, [[Doctor Who/Recap/S21 E7/E07 The Twin Dilemma|the Sixth's brief homicidal mania]]--and—and consists of him spending Christmas unconscious in bed.<ref>Strangely, it's rather close to the Fifth Doctor's regeneration process, [[Doctor Who/Recap/S19 E1/E01 Castrovalva|where the Doctor spent a lot of time sleeping before running around a lot]].</ref> It's an interesting foreshadowing of what would become important themes in the next few series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and its spinoffs: what happens when the Doctor ''isn't'' there to save the day.

Mickey takes Rose out for a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping, where they are attacked by deadly robot Santas. Back at the flat, they are attacked by a deadly robot Christmas tree. The War On Christmas has never been so literal. The Doctor wakes up long enough to explain that the robot Santas aren't the threat--theythreat—they're just after the residual energy from his regeneration--theregeneration—the ''real'' threat is the Sycorax warship that's just coming into view.

Meanwhile, about a third of humanity has zoned out and started climbing to the rooftops. This includes the royal family, but [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E5S27/E05 World War Three|Harriet Jones]] (Prime Minister<ref> Yes, we know who she is</ref>) encourages the British people not to panic. This doesn't exactly work, as the Sycorax leader pops up and demands that either the leaders of Humanity sell half of the species into slavery... or that third will leap off the rooftops. Rose and her companions have been paying attention to what's going on, thanks to Mickey's hacking skills and they all slide into the TARDIS.

Luckily, however, Rose has bought just enough time for the Doctor to finally finish off his regeneration cycle. As it turns out, the tea that Mickey dropped was just enough to jump-start the Doctor back into consciousness. Within a few seconds, the Doctor gleefully bounces around their ship, gives them a speech, realizes it's from ''[[The Lion King]]'' and improvises a brief investigation instead, and decides that the Sycorax are simply bluffing -- thatbluffing—that their blood control is simply old voodoo and can't actually hurt anyone. All the while, he's running around and trying to figure out what kind of man this new body will make him. Manic and lucky, apparently. Within seconds, the Doctor challenges the Sycorax to a quick challenge for the fate of the Earth, to be decided in a swordfight to the death. You know, the usual.

Luckily, the Doctor wins the fight in his jammies and chamber gown -- "very [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Arthur Dent]]" -- but—but not before losing a hand.<ref>This will be important ([[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 S29/E12 The Sound of Drums|much]], [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 S30/E13 Journeys End|much]]) later</ref> Which he grows back, thanks to still being early in his regeneration cycle. The Doctor then demands that the Sycorax leave the Earth and tell any aliens who wish to conquer the planet that it is defended. Also, since no one can ''possibly'' deny alien life anymore, Earth has now officially made first interstellar contact. Finally. And all ends well on Christmas...

=== Tropes ===

* [[Arc Words]]: Harriet Jones calls '''Torchwood''' to take out the Sycorax warship.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Harriet Jones's has been accordingly upgraded to reflect her new status, which is met with some exasperation from everyone else--sinceelse—since when did the Prime Minister actually need to introduce herself?

** This isn't the first time {{spoiler|[[Doctor Who/Recap/S19 E1/E01 Castrovalva|the Doctor's rengeration almost failed]]}}... or, for that matter, spent a portion of the adventure sleeping.

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: Torchwood already exists in the present, despite the Doctor and Rose not having gone back to [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E2S28/E02 Tooth and Claw|inspire its creation by Queen Victoria]] yet.