So far Whovians have been treated to 10 New-Who Christmas specials. 5 (or 6 if you count The End of Time P.1 & P.2 seperately) with David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, 4 with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and 1 with Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, with the upcoming The Husbands of River Song adding another Christmas episode to Capaldi's tenure.
The Doctor Who Christmas specials are a HUGE part of Christmas Day in Britain, especially for me. While my family are playing games, I can be found watching Doctor Who, no exceptions. Here are some summaries and general thoughts about the Christmas specials so far, in anticipation of the 2015 Christmas special 'The Husbands of River Song'.The Christmas Invasion
The first Christmas special of New-Who, this follows the Ninth Doctor's regeneration into the Tenth Doctor. With the Doctor suffering post-regeneration side effects, it's up to Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith and companion Rose Tyler to help him recover, and eventually save the day, alongside returning character Harriet Jones, played by Penelope Wilton who previously starred in Aliens of London. The Sycorax invade London, and following an attempt by Rose to bluff the leader, The Doctor is all better and defeats the Sycorax leader in a duel, in his pyjamas. The episode is fun and quirky which perhaps gives an insightful look as to who the Tenth Doctor is following a darker regeneration, despite the Doctor allowing the Sycorax leader to fall to his death. It's a decent episode which lends itself to a few plot lines in future episodes (Donna becoming the Doctor-Donna to be specific), however it doesn't stand out in comparison to future Christmas specials.
The Runaway Bride
The Doctor, Donna Noble, and... a giant spider woman; the Empress of Racnoss. Donna gets teleported while walking down the aisle, which leads to an amusing conversation when Donna has to jump from a car to the TARDIS, in which she yells "I'm in my wedding dress!" to which the Doctor replies by complimenting how nice she looks. Lots of things happen, eventually leading to the final showdown where The Doctor almost commits genocide only to be stopped by Donna. It's a greatly comedic episode, however saddening the ending may be with the loss of Donna's fiancé (however evil he ended up being, it was still sad), and Donna's heartbreaking declining of the Doctor's invitation to be his companion. Nevertheless, it's one of my favourite Christmas specials, it's funny, Catherine Tate's initial one-off appearance is brilliant (side note - Donna returning as a companion was also brilliant).
The Voyage of the Damned
The Voyage of the Damned is my favourite Christmas special, with the surprising and unusual addition of Kylie Minogue (and Duke off of Tracy Beaker) being a benefit for the episode, adding some unexpected spontaneity. Set on an interstellar replica of the Titanic (as well as a small bit of London with some Wilfred Mott), the episode sees the Doctor team up with potential companion Astrid (Minogue) and some other characters (Duke from Tracy Beaker and Bannakaffalatta) take on the Heavenly Host (actually quite terrifying) and Max Capricorn, only to see Astrid sacrifice her life to defeat Capricorn, returning for a quick goodbye as 'stardust' (aka sentient atoms) only to fly off and roam space as energy, a heart-warming yet sad farewell to Astrid. This episode is highly dramatic, with many supporting characters losing their lives (the Van Hoff's being a particularly sad one), as well as the death of Astrid and the Doctor's final farewell to her. The Voyage of the Damned is a truly exhilarating yet touching episode, and is not only my favourite Christmas special, but one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who as a whole.
The Next Doctor
This is a fun episode, and the setting was was nice, however I have a hard time coping with the inclusion of the Cybermen in this episode, which brings it down. The addition of David Morrisey's Jackson Lake as a man who believes he's the Doctor and Rosita as his companion helps the episode come alive, however as mentioned before the the inclusion of the Cybermen, while necessary for the episode to have an antagonist, is perhaps overdone, more specifically the 'CyberKing', which even in the Doctor Who universe where we have living fat and a robot dog, seemed a bit too silly. While the Jackson Lake-storyline is interesting, it's slightly obstructed by the Cyber-inclusion and thus brings the episode down.
The End of Time Part 1 & 2
I'm still sad about this two-parter, because it destroyed my heart. The End of Time is the Tenth Doctor's swansong, and manages to culminate in a dramatic return for Rassilon and The Master, bringing Gallifrey along in the meantime (which is, however, later lost, again). The episode follows the Doctor and Wilfred Mott attempting to defeat the Master, Rassilon returns with Gallifrey and a few other Gallifreyan characters including one disputed to be the Doctor's mother. Gallifrey looms over Earth, threatening the horrors of the Time War, which leads to a dispute between Rassilon, the Doctor and the Master, leading to Rassilon attempting to kill the Doctor only for the Master to sacrifice himself for the Doctor. Gallifrey is in a Time-Lock, but Wilfred it locked in the Gate's isolation chamber, so the Doctor sacrifices his life to save Wilfred. The Doctor is about to regenerate, but not before he visits previous companions such as Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, and Donna, as well as Captain Jack and Verity Newman. He then regenerates into the Eleventh Doctor, my favourite, played by Matt Smith, but not before the Tenth Doctor's final words... "I don't want to go". Tears, non-stop tears. This is an epic story and a true highlight of the Tenth Doctor, who is well-deserving of such an intense, Gallifreyan story. The acting is superb, and the Doctor's farewell tour visiting his old friends is a delightful way to end the Tenth Doctor's story. The End of Time is a superb story.
A Christmas Carol
This was a nice episode, it felt the most Christmas-y of the episodes so far, despite the shark. No, seriously, a shark. Michael Gambon is a surprising addition, playing a cruel and Scrooge-like character Kazran Sardick, who has been in love with Abigail (played by Katherine Jenkins in her acting debut) all of his life, with Abigail being cyrogenically frozen since Kazran's youth. Abigail has an incurable disease, and thus Kazran is devastated that he cannot let her out anymore. Amidst all this, Amy and Rory are hurtling towards Earth after the ship they are on has been struck by lightning. The Doctor visits Kazran at various stages in his life in an attempt to make him kinder and help save Amy and Rory, and following a whole kerfuffle and a shark eating the sonic screwdriver, Kazran does so by letting Abigail out one last time to sing... which somehow saves Amy and Rory...? As mentioned before, this episode is heartwarming and very Christmas-y in comparison to previous episodes. It's definitely one to check out, if you can cope with the bizarre inclusion of fish in the atmosphere. (Legit)
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of this episode. It seems a bit unnecessary, although it means well (a touching WWII story) and helps set up future stories. It's a 'silly' and bizarre episode, however heartwarming it is at the end, with the family reunited with their father and the Doctor shedding a tear when he visits his companions Amy and Rory. However, the episode under uses the killer cast it has, which includes Bill Bailey, Alexander Armstrong, Arabella Weir and Sam Stockman, which is why this episode tends to be overlooked, despite its moral compass.
The Snowmen
Potentially one of my favourite episodes for Jenna Coleman who returns as another splinter of Clara Oswald, in this case, a Victorian barmaid/governess Clara Oswin Oswald. The story follows a reclusive, post-Manhattan (death of Amy and Rory) Eleventh Doctor in Victorian England, aided by Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax (the Paternoster Gang); the Doctor learns of the 'snowmen' and decides to help Clara after she intrigues him following a sequence of coincidences. In come the Great Intelligence (voiced by Ian McKellan) and Dr Simeon, alongside the Ice Governess and the Snowmen. After a whole kerfuffle, the Ice Governess climbs up the staircase leading to the TARDIS which is parked on a cloud, the Governess pulls Clara off the cloud. Clara dies after saying "Run you clever boy and remember", setting up the 'impossible girl' storyline and ending a rather dramatic and enticing Christmas special. To summarise, The Snowmen is a very memorable Christmas special for Doctor Who for many reasons - Jenna Coleman's return to Doctor Who after playing 'Not-A-Dalek' Oswin Oswald, Ian McKellan's (brief) Great Intelligence voice-over, the Paternoster gang, as well as a darker, grieving portrayal of the Doctor by Matt Smith.
The Time of The Doctor
Coming to this episode knowing this would be my favourite Doctor's final story, I anticipated a huge, fulfilling story and my expectations were high. While the story was complex and seemed to round up a lot of loose-ends throughout the Eleventh Doctor's run, it seemed underwhelming as a farewell for what is one of the best Doctors of all time. The story itself is perhaps suitable for the tone of the series and the 50th anniversary trilogy episodes, it just didn't seem suitable for the Eleventh Doctor, perhaps being a more suitable end for the Twelfth Doctor if the story were adapted to fit his overall story arc, as the Eleventh Doctor, while dark at times, was mostly quirky and loving. The Doctor and Clara travel to the town Christmas, on Trenzalore, where a prophecy says that the Doctor will spend the last of his years. The Doctor realises that the 'crack in time' is a message from the Time Lords on Gallifrey, and so sends Clara back home so he can spend thousands of years fighting lots of aliens (including the Weeping Angels, Cybermen, and ultimately the Daleks), only for Clara to return to find the Doctor is about to die and so convinces the Time Lords to give the Doctor a new regeneration cycle. Then, it happens. The Doctor begins to regenerate in the Tardis, dropping his bow tie and saying a final goodbye to Clara and a hallucination of Amy Pond, as well as saying "I will always remember when the Doctor was me" and then regenerates into Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor. The episode is redeemed by Matt Smith's performance during his regeneration, notably his final speech, and this sequence has quickly become one of my favourite scenes from Doctor Who's entire history, however much I may disregard the rest of the episode. To summarise; while the episode itself doesn't really stand out for me, the regeneration scene does in a way that moves me and makes me appreciate just how brilliant Matt Smith was as the Doctor.
Last Christmas
Can you get any more Christmas-y than having actual Santa in the episode? Nick Frost is slightly underused in the role, however, in comparison to Natalie Gumede and Faye Marsay who stand out particularly well out of the supporting cast members. So, in this episode, Clara wakes up to find Santa Claus on her rooftop, yep. Santa Claus. The Twelfth Doctor turns up and whisks Clara away in the TARDIS. Meanwhile, at the North Pole (a lot of Christmas for a Christmas special, right?) a group of scientists try to save their fellow personnel from crab-like creatures... a truly bizarre episode, right? The crabs induce a dream state while devouring a person's brain. However, all of this ends up being a dream, so everyone escapes after dreaming that Santa is flying them home (?!) Everyone wakes up, until Clara is the left whereby the Doctor removes the crab from Clara to find that it's been over 60 years since they last met, until Santa appears which makes the Doctor realise that it's, again, a dream. Everything becomes real again and the Doctor asks Clara to rejoin him, to which she accepts. Last Christmas is a fun, if not bizarre, and quirky story with slight hints of darkness throughout which encompasses all things Doctor Who. This episode stands out amongst a few others in all 10 of the Doctor Who Christmas specials so far, and rightfully so, seeing as it embodies all things Christmas.
The next Christmas special:
The Husbands of River Song
Be sure to check back for my review of The Husbands of River Song, which airs on Christmas Day. The episode will feature Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, as well as Alex Kingston's long-awaited return as River Song, as well as guest stars Matt Lucas and Greg Davies amongst a few others.
The review will be posted in the next day or two.
Thanks for reading! I'll be posting some more Christmas themed content throughout December!
Bye!
Totally Culture
Curtis
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