The Christmas Specials
Guest contributor David Selby concludes his new Who retrospective, this time looking at the Xmas specials, minisodes and more.
So I’ve reviewed all 6 series but that’s not it – ever since the 2005 reboot the show has had a regular Children in Need ‘Minisode’ or trailer and a Christmas special, along with other occasional short treats provided by the BBC in the suspenseful wait for the new series. First up, the Christmas specials:
The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion was my favourite Christmas Special (tied with A Christmas Carol) because it managed to achieve something which many of the other specials failed to: being Christmassy without being silly. Allow me to expand on that; during The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor and crew were plagued by the deadly ‘Pilot Fish’ who took the form of a killer Christmas tree and psychotic Santa’s – and yet this didn’t take away from the story at all, if anything it made it more interesting and entertaining. It was also a great introduction to a truly amazing Doctor, David Tennant, and prepared us for series 2.
The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride is my second favourite Christmas special (due to the fact that the first two are tied) because once again it achieved its ambition of not being over-Christmassy but still having a festive feel to it. It also introduced Donna, my favourite companion.
Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned started very well – in fact, the first half of the episode was excellent, the acting was good enough, the earth scene was very entertaining and the special FX were excellent. However I was disappointed with the resolution, for a start, it was a Christmas special so it should have been way more uplifting (far too many people died), and the villain turning out to be Max Capricorn was a huge disappointment.
The Next Doctor
The Next Doctor was my least favourite Christmas special – for a start, there could have been a more exciting resolution than Jackson Lake just thinking he was the Doctor, and this wasn’t then helped by the misuse of the Cybermen and the Cybershades, plus the slightly embarrassing moment when everyone at home thought, “Hang on, wouldn’t a great big stomping giant robot be accounted for in history books?” Mm… Not sure this was your best, Mr. T. Davies…
The End of Time – Part 1
Now don’t get me wrong, The End of Time Part 1 would have made a perfectly decent penultimate episode – only it wasn’t. it was a Christmas special, and in my opinion a Christmas special should be about Christmas in some way and should be a bit happier than this. I found the Doctor’s miserable attitude to life in this episode rather sad and touching; he was old, tired, sad and lonely, he was scared of death and yet in reality wanted to die – now as clever as this idea was, was it really necessary for a Christmas special? I’m sure usually at Christmas by the end the Grinch is happy… only he wasn’t.
A Christmas Carol
As I stated earlier, A Christmas Carol is tied with The Christmas Invasion as my favourite Christmas special. It was, for the first time in a while, very Christmassy, it was an emotional and interesting story about a man who had his heart broken, and how that affected him, and of course the Doctor coming to help. What Christmas in the Whoniverse is all about!
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
As an episode, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe wasn’t bad, however for the one of the first times I put this down to the actual script, not necessarily the idea, but the words. Humany-wumany was in all honesty cringe-worthy; an overuse of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (even spacey-wacey was pushing it), which made the episode seem like a bit of a last-minute job, and some of Madge’s crying scenes seemed awful unnecessary and over the top.
So, I’ve taken a look at the Christmas specials, which aren’t the best of Who, but arguably not the worst either.
So I’ve reviewed all 6 series but that’s not it – ever since the 2005 reboot the show has had a regular Children in Need ‘Minisode’ or trailer and a Christmas special, along with other occasional short treats provided by the BBC in the suspenseful wait for the new series. First up, the Christmas specials:
The Christmas Invasion
The Christmas Invasion was my favourite Christmas Special (tied with A Christmas Carol) because it managed to achieve something which many of the other specials failed to: being Christmassy without being silly. Allow me to expand on that; during The Christmas Invasion, the Doctor and crew were plagued by the deadly ‘Pilot Fish’ who took the form of a killer Christmas tree and psychotic Santa’s – and yet this didn’t take away from the story at all, if anything it made it more interesting and entertaining. It was also a great introduction to a truly amazing Doctor, David Tennant, and prepared us for series 2.
The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride is my second favourite Christmas special (due to the fact that the first two are tied) because once again it achieved its ambition of not being over-Christmassy but still having a festive feel to it. It also introduced Donna, my favourite companion.
Voyage of the Damned
Voyage of the Damned started very well – in fact, the first half of the episode was excellent, the acting was good enough, the earth scene was very entertaining and the special FX were excellent. However I was disappointed with the resolution, for a start, it was a Christmas special so it should have been way more uplifting (far too many people died), and the villain turning out to be Max Capricorn was a huge disappointment.
The Next Doctor
The Next Doctor was my least favourite Christmas special – for a start, there could have been a more exciting resolution than Jackson Lake just thinking he was the Doctor, and this wasn’t then helped by the misuse of the Cybermen and the Cybershades, plus the slightly embarrassing moment when everyone at home thought, “Hang on, wouldn’t a great big stomping giant robot be accounted for in history books?” Mm… Not sure this was your best, Mr. T. Davies…
The End of Time – Part 1
Now don’t get me wrong, The End of Time Part 1 would have made a perfectly decent penultimate episode – only it wasn’t. it was a Christmas special, and in my opinion a Christmas special should be about Christmas in some way and should be a bit happier than this. I found the Doctor’s miserable attitude to life in this episode rather sad and touching; he was old, tired, sad and lonely, he was scared of death and yet in reality wanted to die – now as clever as this idea was, was it really necessary for a Christmas special? I’m sure usually at Christmas by the end the Grinch is happy… only he wasn’t.
A Christmas Carol
As I stated earlier, A Christmas Carol is tied with The Christmas Invasion as my favourite Christmas special. It was, for the first time in a while, very Christmassy, it was an emotional and interesting story about a man who had his heart broken, and how that affected him, and of course the Doctor coming to help. What Christmas in the Whoniverse is all about!
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
As an episode, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe wasn’t bad, however for the one of the first times I put this down to the actual script, not necessarily the idea, but the words. Humany-wumany was in all honesty cringe-worthy; an overuse of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (even spacey-wacey was pushing it), which made the episode seem like a bit of a last-minute job, and some of Madge’s crying scenes seemed awful unnecessary and over the top.
So, I’ve taken a look at the Christmas specials, which aren’t the best of Who, but arguably not the worst either.
The 2009 Specials
And now on to the 2009 specials.
Planet of the Dead
Planet of the Dead was, in my view, a slightly better version of the second half of Midnight. You had a number of ‘ordinary’ people breaking down in a vehicle and becoming stranded in a dangerous and unfamiliar situation. The reason I say it is more successful is because they actually got outside, and developed a Doctor/companion relationship whilst utilising the set which they had paid for. However, I must admit that I was glad to see that the Lady Christina was not to be the new companion. She lacked the morals of a companion and was a little irritating at times, and… she was a thief. End of. The BBC shouldn’t exactly go around promoting burglary on a Saturday night program which is popular with… children. Yes, exactly.
The Waters of Mars
OK, I’ll get it out now. The Waters of Mars is by far my favourite ever episode of Doctor Who. For once the Doctor was left on his own and became quite a terrifying character. Also, having a longer running time did wonders for this episode, you got to have a climatic and heart-breaking ending and still have a build-up beforehand. I would probably call this episode “adult drama”, due to the dark themes explored in this episode, but I was only 10 when I saw this and I still was left shocked by Adelaide’s surprise suicide at the end of the episode.
The End of Time
Well for a start, many regular commenters will know that I love The End of Time because it has my favourite Doctor Who character in it: The Master – and I did love it. The episode actually gave me tears for the first time ever on a television program as I watched the Doctor helplessly suffer at the hands of his best friend. Despite this though, a little more Master would have made the episodes more to my liking, and I’ve always said that if you are going to bring back the Time Lords, you need to do it properly. Still though, The End of Time Part 2 remains one of my favourite episodes. As for the mysterious lady though, I’m glad it was left a mystery, on screen. Some things are better left to our imagination.
So, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Series 4 and the specials, which did the Tenth Doctor and the Russell T. Davies era justice.
Planet of the Dead
Planet of the Dead was, in my view, a slightly better version of the second half of Midnight. You had a number of ‘ordinary’ people breaking down in a vehicle and becoming stranded in a dangerous and unfamiliar situation. The reason I say it is more successful is because they actually got outside, and developed a Doctor/companion relationship whilst utilising the set which they had paid for. However, I must admit that I was glad to see that the Lady Christina was not to be the new companion. She lacked the morals of a companion and was a little irritating at times, and… she was a thief. End of. The BBC shouldn’t exactly go around promoting burglary on a Saturday night program which is popular with… children. Yes, exactly.
The Waters of Mars
OK, I’ll get it out now. The Waters of Mars is by far my favourite ever episode of Doctor Who. For once the Doctor was left on his own and became quite a terrifying character. Also, having a longer running time did wonders for this episode, you got to have a climatic and heart-breaking ending and still have a build-up beforehand. I would probably call this episode “adult drama”, due to the dark themes explored in this episode, but I was only 10 when I saw this and I still was left shocked by Adelaide’s surprise suicide at the end of the episode.
The End of Time
Well for a start, many regular commenters will know that I love The End of Time because it has my favourite Doctor Who character in it: The Master – and I did love it. The episode actually gave me tears for the first time ever on a television program as I watched the Doctor helplessly suffer at the hands of his best friend. Despite this though, a little more Master would have made the episodes more to my liking, and I’ve always said that if you are going to bring back the Time Lords, you need to do it properly. Still though, The End of Time Part 2 remains one of my favourite episodes. As for the mysterious lady though, I’m glad it was left a mystery, on screen. Some things are better left to our imagination.
So, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Series 4 and the specials, which did the Tenth Doctor and the Russell T. Davies era justice.