"Merry Christmas!" New DOCTOR WHO season starts tonight on Sci-Fi!

When we last saw the Doctor and Rose, they were flying through time/space in the TARDIS having just destroyed the Dalek Emperor. Unfortunately the Doctor had to make a self-sacrifice and absorbed a LOT of energy that was slowly destroying his body. He had some poignant words for Rose (Billie Piper), telling her that she would never be able to see him again... well, at least "not like this, not with this daft old face". The last thing he told Rose was that she was "fantastic. Absolutely fantastic! And do you know what? So was I!"

And with that, the Doctor (who had been played by Christopher Eccleston) regenerated... and became the new Doctor: played by David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

People in Great Britain have already seen what happens after that on Doctor Who. Tonight, American fans will finally get to see the further adventures of the Doctor and Rose. It all starts tonight at 8 o'clock with last year's holiday special "The Christmas Invasion" (I downloaded it the day after last Christmas: click here for my review of it). Taking place immediately after the last moments of last season's finale "The Parting of the Ways", the TARDIS crashes near Rose's old home just in time for Christmas. Tennant's Doctor walks out and collapses outside and Rose spends much of the episode trying to convince Jackie and Mickey that this is, indeed, the same Doctor that she had been travelling with. As the Doctor recovers from his regeneration, aliens arrive and start trying to take over. Won't say anything more than that but there are some really crazy visual gags you have to see to believe in this episode.

"The Christmas Invasion" lasts an hour and a half, and will be followed by the first real episode of Season 2 (or 28 if you're reckoning from old-school Who), "New Earth". Which I didn't think at the time that this was all that strong an opening for a new season of Doctor Who but it does have two things going for it: another appearance by the Face of Boe. And it has the return of the Lady Cassandra: arguably one of the most bizarre Doctor Who villains of all time ("Moisturize me! Moisturize me!"). There are some really excellent episodes coming up though in the next few weeks (like "Class Reunion") and I'll be posting more about them as they're about to broadcast. In the meantime, sit back tonight and enjoy some the newest season of Doctor Who... which is coming about six months earlier than most of us were expecting!