Summer Falls

Yeah I feel he did it enjoyed it but wants to move on

L i N d $ @ y

And that's fine of course. Peter is up there with David as one of my favorite doctors.

DigificWriter

Time to finish off Series 1 of Modern Who with a review of David Tennant's debut as the 10th Doctor, The Christmas Invasion.

The Christmas Invasion
* Even though I get the concept of In Media Res storytelling, it's still jarring to me that RTD starts this Special after the events of something that most audiences aren't likely to have seen; Rose breaking down later on in the episode also doesn't make quite as much sense as it might have had the story picked up immediately after Nine's regeneration in The Parting of the Ways

* Having the new Doctor be incapacitated for a good chunk of the story os a nice callback to Classic Who, and also allows RTD to focus on Rose, Mickey, Jackie, and the impending threat of the Sycorax

* I challenge anybody viewing this Special to watch Rose's break down into tears and then try to deny that she was as romantically interested in Nine as she will shortly be in Ten

* Given the offhanded mention of the Torchwood Institute in Bad Wolf, I think RTD missed an opportunity for Rose to have heard the name mentioned and to react to it

* Although I do think that Modern Who ends up milking the Christmas theme a bit too much from this point forward, it does still work here

* Harriet Jones was at her best in Aliens of London/World War Three, IMO, although it is fun to see her in charge here

* Although Nine was somewhat casual about risking the changing of history in episodes like The Unquiet Dead and Father's Day, Ten catalyzing the deposement of Harriet Jones feels different

* In reviewing the Seventh Doctor Era, I compared him to the Tebth Doctor on more than one occasion, and stand by that assessment

* It's Interesting to me that, despite not being as overtly and outwardly psychologically damaged, Ten is still somehow more ruthless than Nine

* The Chtistmas Invasion is a nice way to end Series 1, serves as a fun proper introduction to Ten, and is both a callback to and echo of Classic Who stories like Spearhead from Space, Castrovalva, and The Twin Dilemma (which is the only other time that a season has closed with a new Doctor's first proper introduction episode); for those reasons, I'm giving it a rating of 4.5 out of 5

Summer Falls

Amen to that

^ David era haha

L i N d $ @ y

And David is my first Doctor so he has a special place for me in this fandom.

DigificWriter

I'm back with my next set of reviews.

New Earth
* One of the benefits of treating The Christmas Invasion as the conclusion to Series 1 is being able to hit the ground running, and that's what RTD does with New Earth; it also helps that he relies on familiar elements like the Lady Cassandra, the Face of Boe, and the Year 5 Billion setting

* Speaking of Lady Cassandra, RTD wisely gives us a little bit more insight into her even though the story doesn't really require him to

* Knowing that the Face of Boe is Jack Harkness makes the fact that he summons the Doctor to New Earth much less random, which is good

* Despite this story being Rose and Ten's first proper adventure together, RTD wasn't even trying to hide or be subtle about their mutual romantic interest in one another, which refutes the notion that said interest wasn't a carryover element from Series 1

* I like the fact that Rose's first adventures with her two Doctors both feature the Year 5 Billion, Lady Cassandra, and the Face of Boe because it makes for a neat little mini-arc

* The way Ten cures the Sisterhood of Plentitude's infected human experiments is a nice echo of the end of The Doctor Dances and also reminded me of the cleverness of the Seventh Doctor in that it's a solution that I could absolutely see Seven coming up with

* I've always liked New Earth, but rewatching it with the full knowledge of the Face of Boe being Jack and with an eye turned towards the ways in which it echoes The End of the World and the general Seventh Doctor Era, sets up future stories, and builds on the overall romantic arc between Rose and her Doctor(s) actually increased my enjoyment of it, and so I'm giving it a 4 out of 5

Tooth & Claw
* After leaning fairly heavily into lingering elements from series 1 in New Earth, this story lets RTD set up the big 'recurring reference mystery' for Series 2 with the official origin of the Torchwood Institute and give us a fun Pseudo-Historical that echoes stories like The Time Meddler, Terror of the Zygons, Pyramids of Mars, The Visitation, and The Haunting of Villa Diodati

* This story also reminded me of non-Pseudo-Historical stories like The Daemons, The Sea Devils, and Horror of Fang Rock

* Even though I watched the animated version of The Faceless Ones, I could still recognize Pauline Collins here, and being familiar with her previous performance as Samantha Briggs actually made me appreciate her portrayal of Queen Victoria more

* The reference to Jamie McCrimmon that Ten pulls out here is fun, especially now that I've seen more stories featuring that character

* It was a smart choice to back off from heavily and overtly leaning into the Doctor and Rose's romantic attraction because the story didn't need that element and it helps keep things from progressing too quickly and becoming overwhelming to the rest of the storytelling

* I like that Ten just sort of forgets to use a Scottish accent as the story progresses, and I also like that Queen Victoria clocks it and calls him out on it

* The reference to Rose having been the Bad Wolf was nice, but I think RTD missed a major opportunity to have Ten reference having previously encountered a lycanthropic alien (Mags) in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

* Even though I was able to appreciate the character a little bit more than I had done previously due to my having seen Pauline Collins in The Faceless Ones, I still wasn't really happy with the harshness of Queen Victoria's reaction at the end of the episode and still feel like it was a hamfistedly written overreaction to the situation

* I don't think this story is quite as good as New Earth, but it's still a over average and earns a 3.5 out of 5

School Reunion
* This rewatch of early Modern Who marks the first time that I've seen this story with the full context of who both Sarah Jane and K9 are, and having that knowledge completely shifted my perspective on several elements of the story

* Because I'd not seen much, if any, of Sarah Jane's adventures with the Third and Fourth Doctors at the time I first watched (and rewatched) this story, I took Mickey's quips about Rose and Sarah Jane being the "missus and the ex" (respectively) at face value, but this time I was able to recognize that comment as being a completely wrong read of the situation on his part, which made it work so much better

* Being familiar with the full extent of Sarah Jane's adventures in the TARDIS also helped recontextualize the scene where she finds the TARDIS and recognizes "John Smith" as The Doctor on several levels, one of the more notable being the fact that she rather heavily implies that she hadn't seen the Doctor again since his Fourth incarnation, because looking at The Five Doctors in light of this story pretty clearly sets up her appearance in that story as having happened, from her POV, while she and the Third Doctor were still together and not after the Fourth Doctor had (accidentally) left her in Croydon

* Being familiar with Sarah Jane's adventures with Three and Four also helped me read her comment about there not being any men in her life since the Doctor less as implying some kind of romantic interest in her two Doctors and more as yet another reflection of the overall impact that Four leaving her behind had on her life

* Having now seen how integral to the Fourth Doctor's adventures K9 was, Mickey calling himself "the tin dog" really makes no sense and kind of negatively impacts his narrative growth arc for the remainder of his appearances on the show, which is unfortunate because I did actually like him as a character

* Lassar/Finch and the Krillitanes were fun villains, and I'd like to see them somehow return

* Toby Whithouse and/or RTD missed a major callback opportunity by not setting this story at Coal Hill School, which is a shame

* I always liked this story, but as has been the case a couple of times already even this early on, being much more familiar with Classic Who increases my enjoyment of it and nets it a 4.9 out of 5 (I deducted a point for the negative impact that Mickey's 'I'm the tin dog' comment has on the rest of his subsequent appearances)

**

I'll be back next week with four Tenth Doctor reviews covering The Girl in the Fireplace, The Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel, and The Idiot's Lantern.

Summer Falls

New new new new new new York lol

I love Cassandra.. moisturise me

L i N d $ @ y

LOL I think we talked about this before and I remember you saying how much you like her.

Summer Falls

Haha oh I did say it ?? Lol

He is so sweet

L i N d $ @ y

Yes because I laughed so much when you said that.

Summer Falls

She was awesome

L i N d $ @ y

I think she was voiced by Zoë Wanamaker who's a famous British actress.

Summer Falls

Madam hootch lol

Waldfrau

I didn't realize!

L i N d $ @ y

Yes her!!! And Baghra from Shadow and Bone.