The Doctor's Christmas Carol
I think perhaps it was because of the brilliant ending of the fifth season of Doctor Who regarding the Big Bang episode written by Stephen Moffat that I expected so much more in the Doctor Who Christmas.
I suppose one was a little spoiled by the dazzling cosmic plot about universes ending and beginning again that it left your senses numbed. So I was expecting more of the same. But it is a little different this time.
The Doctor Who Christmas special for this year didn’t do that for me. It wasn’t a grand scale episode that dealt with the mysteries of the universe. Instead, it went for the small hook of a story: regarding an old man who lost his spirit for Christmas.
In this respect, it is a well done reworking of the now familiar Christmas Carol that so many people have come to love and cherish. It is like getting a heartwarming present all over again. But I can’t help wondering how many more times can they pull off a Christmas special before the novelty of it wears off. How many times before we get bored of the idea of Christmas for Doctor Who?
I don’t like to think about that.
So I’ll try to deal with the ghost of Christmas present for now.
Stephen Moffat writes this time around by working a few clever time travelling gimmicks. This is what Moffat is best at. He knows how to deliver a good plot… and wrapping it around with plenty enough plot twists to keep the story going. My favorite bits are how the Doctor manages to bring the future and the past together through some interesting visuals.
The story revolves a honeymoon trip with Amy and Rory coming to a crash on the planet that is covered with an icy atmosphere in the skies. It’s more dangerous for the ship to come down without any proper guidance. It’s not a fun distress call for the Doctor to receive. But he needs to convince a scrooge-like Kazran Sardick to help the people on the doomed ship.
However, the entire cloudscape is mapped to Sardick’s biological system. And he doesn’t give a rip about the rest of the population on the planet who he considers a low form of life. He lives in a towering castle-like presence that overlooks the rest of the city as if he is a god. And the others are mere people for him to crush.
What a happy guy.
But it doesn’t stop the Doctor. He thinks of some clever ways of using time travel in hopes of convincing the old man that it is worthwhile to save these people on the ship. It’s these little gimmicks of time travel that made this particular special so much fun. Because the Doctor needed a combination to a lock to open up a cryonic chamber, encasing a woman, the Doctor tricks Sardick into giving the combination number by using time travel. You’ll need to see the show to enjoy the scene.
The cryogenic chambers which keeps the people in limbo belong to families who “owe” money to Sardick… and therefore he keeps the people as lending material before he could be paid up in full. But the Doctor releases the young woman in the chamber. Her name was Abigail Pettigrew and she begins to form a romance with a younger version of Sarcick.
They make a promise: that they’ll share every single Christmas with Abigail as much as possible. There are some fun moments. The fez returns for an appearance: the eleventh Doctor’s favorite type of hat. And you get to see him wearing the long, trailing scarf from the Tom Baker days in one scene as well. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
Despite everything, the old man is a stubborn mule. Burt the Doctor manages to figure a way to rectify the situation by bringing the old man to meet his younger self. Flashes of his father abusing him as a child on a cold Christmas day reduces him to a chattering, crying man. And he agrees to help the crashing ship to land properly.
The story isn’t particularly complex. But it’s a fun and enjoyable romp that is still fairly fresh. The acting performance by Matt Smith alone is worth the ticket right here. He is ever as enthusiastic about the role of Doctor Who as he was in the first moments… he is like the brightest light guiding us through all of time and space. He seems overjoyed, slightly pompous and always creative. His traits are easily seen here… he seems to be more of a human Doctor than ever before.
There is also the acting presence of Michael Gambon, also known for his role as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter fims, who lends a great performance as well. Smith seems to be at his best when acting opposite of an older actor. And here, neither disappoints when they carry on the Christmas cheer between them. And there is nothing wrong with this.
It is becoming quite a staple for Doctor Who to be part of the Christmas celebration. Let’s hope for many more years of it.
I suppose one was a little spoiled by the dazzling cosmic plot about universes ending and beginning again that it left your senses numbed. So I was expecting more of the same. But it is a little different this time.
The Doctor Who Christmas special for this year didn’t do that for me. It wasn’t a grand scale episode that dealt with the mysteries of the universe. Instead, it went for the small hook of a story: regarding an old man who lost his spirit for Christmas.
In this respect, it is a well done reworking of the now familiar Christmas Carol that so many people have come to love and cherish. It is like getting a heartwarming present all over again. But I can’t help wondering how many more times can they pull off a Christmas special before the novelty of it wears off. How many times before we get bored of the idea of Christmas for Doctor Who?
I don’t like to think about that.
So I’ll try to deal with the ghost of Christmas present for now.
Stephen Moffat writes this time around by working a few clever time travelling gimmicks. This is what Moffat is best at. He knows how to deliver a good plot… and wrapping it around with plenty enough plot twists to keep the story going. My favorite bits are how the Doctor manages to bring the future and the past together through some interesting visuals.
The story revolves a honeymoon trip with Amy and Rory coming to a crash on the planet that is covered with an icy atmosphere in the skies. It’s more dangerous for the ship to come down without any proper guidance. It’s not a fun distress call for the Doctor to receive. But he needs to convince a scrooge-like Kazran Sardick to help the people on the doomed ship.
However, the entire cloudscape is mapped to Sardick’s biological system. And he doesn’t give a rip about the rest of the population on the planet who he considers a low form of life. He lives in a towering castle-like presence that overlooks the rest of the city as if he is a god. And the others are mere people for him to crush.
What a happy guy.
But it doesn’t stop the Doctor. He thinks of some clever ways of using time travel in hopes of convincing the old man that it is worthwhile to save these people on the ship. It’s these little gimmicks of time travel that made this particular special so much fun. Because the Doctor needed a combination to a lock to open up a cryonic chamber, encasing a woman, the Doctor tricks Sardick into giving the combination number by using time travel. You’ll need to see the show to enjoy the scene.
The cryogenic chambers which keeps the people in limbo belong to families who “owe” money to Sardick… and therefore he keeps the people as lending material before he could be paid up in full. But the Doctor releases the young woman in the chamber. Her name was Abigail Pettigrew and she begins to form a romance with a younger version of Sarcick.
They make a promise: that they’ll share every single Christmas with Abigail as much as possible. There are some fun moments. The fez returns for an appearance: the eleventh Doctor’s favorite type of hat. And you get to see him wearing the long, trailing scarf from the Tom Baker days in one scene as well. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
Despite everything, the old man is a stubborn mule. Burt the Doctor manages to figure a way to rectify the situation by bringing the old man to meet his younger self. Flashes of his father abusing him as a child on a cold Christmas day reduces him to a chattering, crying man. And he agrees to help the crashing ship to land properly.
The story isn’t particularly complex. But it’s a fun and enjoyable romp that is still fairly fresh. The acting performance by Matt Smith alone is worth the ticket right here. He is ever as enthusiastic about the role of Doctor Who as he was in the first moments… he is like the brightest light guiding us through all of time and space. He seems overjoyed, slightly pompous and always creative. His traits are easily seen here… he seems to be more of a human Doctor than ever before.
There is also the acting presence of Michael Gambon, also known for his role as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter fims, who lends a great performance as well. Smith seems to be at his best when acting opposite of an older actor. And here, neither disappoints when they carry on the Christmas cheer between them. And there is nothing wrong with this.
It is becoming quite a staple for Doctor Who to be part of the Christmas celebration. Let’s hope for many more years of it.
posted by K.M. Paters at 4:23 PM
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