Today we are launching a new series called "The Keys to the TARDIS," in which people write about the parts of the BBC show Doctor Who that they think are somehow key to the series. "Key" can be interpreted in a wide variety of ways--key to the narrative, key to a certain character's development, key to personal understanding, key to the overall conception of the show. We'll post a new installment each Friday, and we'd love to know what you think, too, so make sure to post your own choices in the comments.
In this first installment, Jen Miller writes about how "The Christmas Invasion" episode in between Series 1 and 2 of the reboot changed her thinking about the nature of the Doctor.
I'm new to Doctor Who. I just started watching this summer, and I started watching the show from when it picked back up in 2005, rather than from the very beginning. Not only that, but I haven't caught up to the current episode of Doctor Who, either. I'm not even close--I only just started watching the episodes with Martha Jones as the 10th Doctor's companion. All of this is a very long way of saying: I'm not an expert on Doctor Who, and this essay shouldn't be read as an analysis of the series as a whole.
Rather, this essay is a look at one episode that changed the way I thought about the Doctor, and thus changed the way I watched the show.
This essay is about "The Christmas Invasion."