Good first regeneration episode

The Doctor is out of action for most of this story but when he is awake he is the center of focus. This episode emphasizes the difference in personality regeneration can bring

Humanity is having to deal with aliens once again, Harriet Jones seems to handle it well at first but then murders the retreating Aliens, causing the Doctor to turn on her

It is absolutely so much fun rewatching NuWho now that I've seen a bunch of the classic series. This special surprised me with how many funny lines it packs into almost every scene! Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor did the heavy work of bringing The Doctor back after the time war so that David Tennant could accidentally quote The Lion King to the Sycorax. Brilliant stuff!

2025 Rewatch

• I don't know what this episode is about, but I have no interest in it. As a Christmas episode or a general story, it's not one for me
• The Sycorax are cool; they look awesome! But I dare say wasted a little, they make demands stand around and one of them battles the Doctor, yeah? okay cool
• I always wonder about the creative choice behind creating Harriet Jones, making her a likable character, then making her unlikable or have the Doctor take a different approach to her
• I would feel slightly hypocritical for liking Castrovalva for having the 5th Doctor out of action, but I found this a strange concept to have the doctor out of it for a bit, considering the shorter runtime. I know it's Tennant, and he commands any room he walks into. It just feels a little unnecessary
• How is it that the Sycorax know to attack the Tyler family with Christmas-themed robots, Santas, and a tree? a little bit on the nose and fun, but I don't buy it lol

Side-lining the new Doctor in his regeneration story is a bold choice, which mostly pays off. Using Rose as an audience surrogate experiencing the confusion and fear themselves for the first time to introduce the concept to a new audience is a smart choice, and helps keep the momentum of the story going, and this should be commended. Additionally, the Sycorax are threatening enough to be a decent threat. Furthermore, the use of the extended characters is good.

But, while what we do see of the Tenth Doctor is enjoyable, and we see the flashes of his character we do come to expect, we needed more to aide this transition - we needed to see this in more depth, to become attached to the character. Compare this to Deep Breath and The Eleventh Hour, within those stories we know the incarnation really well, but here, we haven't seen enough of this Doctor enough.

However, these nit picks aside, there is nothing not to enjoy here - its solid, festive, fun and exciting.

You can't trick me into thinking he wasn't hot before, Russell.