The name of the episode in question Barbara, was "The Christmas
Invasion"
(The best place I know for a complete timeline of The Doctor is
http://www.drwhoguide.com , but DON'T go here if you don't want to spoil
things for yourself)

I am so glad someone has bothered to start the ball rolling in regard to
their opinions of the new show. Nice on Barbara, and by your comment at
the end about the world cup, can we take it you are also an avid
football fan (or is it that your partner has been hogging the TV for the
last month ;-))

Overall I like the new Doctor Who (after watching the first series) It
is fresh, tries to keep to the rules of the show (as outlined in the
previous incarnations) yet is up to date and very watchable for the 21st
Century (it doesn't get bogged down in being TO close to the old show to
be boring). But of course nothing is perfect (else we wouldn't have
mailing lists, well only boring ones where everyone agreed, no fun in
that), and I have a few niggles myself about certain things they do in
the new show that I don't think quite fit, but I am sure I will (bore)
enlighten you with many of these another day...but not now.

After the first episode I felt that the new doctor was a bit camp (this
is me being PC), and I did not really like the way he was portrayed, but
hey I will give him a chance (and after watching a few more episodes I
can safely say I am warming to Mr Tennant, I say no more about this and
will ignore any further questions on this subject)

For me the story was a bit weak, and appeared something slapped up to
fit in with the fact this episode was screened (in the UK) on Christmas
day ( hence the title). It was good to see the whole cast bought in for
this one (ie Mickey and Roses Mum, very re-occurring characters as was
the same last series), and they actually did seem to do the best of a
bad situation, I guess this episode was more a "Rose" as the main
character, and Billie, I feel, did a great job as the lead, another
change I see from the old days, with the "Companion(s)" being given a
more forceful role (not just screaming a lot, or getting in trouble).
It was also funny to see another repeat character in the (now) British
PM Harriet Jones, but a bit of a gripe here is that I feel they changed
the character of 'Harriet Jones' from being a nice friendly person to
now being a Bit power hungry, really if they had stuck to her character
she would of listened to the Doctor as she would of seen him as a true
allies and friend...but again this change was just shoved in to fit with
the new theme of the 2nd series .."Torchwood" (like the Bad Wolf of the
1st series), another gripe this Torchwood as it doesn't seem to fit in a
continuity with the show..but I won't bore your with this here.

Oh and Barbara..in regards to your niggle.. The Aliens were called The
Sycorax, this was first revealed when they found a way to translate what
the creatures were saying.
And the reason they came to earth was because of the doctor, or more
correctly the energy that they doctor was emitting during his
regeneration, this was disclosed when the Doctor awakes after the
Christmas tree attack, and is on the balcony with Rose and Mickey, and
three 'Santa's' are down below watching him. He explains that the
Santa's are 'Pilot Fish' and wish to kill his protectors so they can run
their batteries off his body energy..

Well that's enough for now, hopefully this spiel will spark of a bit of
discussion..

Simon




________________________________

From: kiwifansofdoctorwho@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:kiwifansofdoctorwho@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of kiwibushbaby
Sent: Friday, 7 July 2006 17:08
To: kiwifansofdoctorwho@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Kiwi Fans of Doctor Who] Re: Kiwi Fans Update



Ok I suppose I should have started a new thread but I can't
remember
the name of last night's episode and I'm not going on the net to
find
out. I want to watch this season like the old days with no more
info
than the Listener gave more than a week ahead.
I was a bit worried about the start with the Doctor appearing
unwell,
but as this is my first regeneration thought maybe we are
getting new
info (like better fxs) so this is supposed to be how it was, but
I
knew David Tennant did more than 1 story so that was ok.
Nice to see a female PM who is prepared to stand up to the U.S.
but I
didn't think she needed to order the weapon to be fired.
I liked the sword fight. There haven't been any decent ones on
tv
since Robin Hood IMHO.
Bit worried about the reasoning of order to fire weapon but I
was
brought up on westerns where there were always someone trying to

prove they were better than the best gunslinger. I was worried
it
might encourage more aliens rather that repel them.
Only niggle was who the aliens were and why they thought they
had the
right to enslave the earth.
Unfortunately I can't make the chat tonight but am looking
forward to
next week's show and with the World Cup out of the way I might
be
finally able to watch the end of last year's shows.
Barbara







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