Favourite Christmas Episode

[John Darnacan]

So many to choose. Which Christmas Episode is Your Fav?

While I enjoyed The Snowmen, I really have to say The Doctor, the Widow & the Wardrobe was my favourite. It was quite touching on a number of fronts.

[Fitz Kreiner]

The Feast of Steven; well, I've only heard the audio of it and it did seem to drag a bit for me, lots of silliness in a bit too over the top way that made The Romans and The Gunfighters look like hard and serious drama.

The Christmas Invasion; well, whilst the Sycorax spaceship, return of UNIT and the Sycorax themselves were impressive, the running "gag" of "Harriet Jones, (former) Prime Minister" "Yes, I know who you are." got old quicker than Sara Kingdom in The Mutation of Time. Rose moping over the Doctor was so tiring and by this time I was already tired of her moping about him. The resolution wasn't too bad, although RTD showed that he overwrote his own continuity within months by getting the Doctor to depose Harriet Jones despite her being in office for three successive terms, by my reckoning, 12 years, not 6 months.

The Runaway Bride; Whilst Donna was my favourite companion of the Tennant years, her appearance in this story was so annoying. The re-use of the robot Santa's seemed superfluous, as did their last appearance. The whole draining of the Thames seemed hugely illogical and impossible. Surely if the entire river flowed down the hole made then the Doc and Donna wouldn't have survived, no matter how long they were down there, and the water would have come from the oceans as well as the water levels dropped. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the big bad thing Zarrof was up to in Underwater Menace?! And then we had it the other way round; the Doctor moping over Rose. *yawn* Cue the next four years of RTD Who...

Voyage of the Damned; Robots of Death meets The Poseidon Adventure. Whilst I love Robots, this was such a blatant rip off, even down to the hand stuck in the door, that it was tiring and seemed hugely unoriginal. The Characters were so hard to warm to and Banakaffalatta was hugely annoying (as, by this point, is RTDs use of unnecessarily long names). The whole Queen scene was unnecessary and hugely silly and one of several times throughout RTDs run where I felt ashamed and embarrassed to be a fan. Bernard Cribbins was one of the best things about the story, but his bit at the end shouting "Don't you dare" and waving his fist at the sky was rather embarrassing too.

The Next Doctor; It had promise, it failed to deliver. It was nice to see images of the previous Doctors, although a recent article in DWM said that RTD had only wanted images of Tennant and Julie Gardener persuaded him to use all the other actors. Good call on her part. The Cyberking was rather bad, as were the Cybershades, and some of the dialogue seemed rather corny. The resolution seemed rather strange as well, it seems that since the series passed Earthshock, the Cybermen have been somewhat of a mockery and merely a shadow of their former selves, and being beaten by a screaming woman is one of their most embarrassing moments. Let's hope Gaiman makes them as scary as he's promising this year.

The End of Time; Again, so much potential; the Master, somewhat more derranged and evil than last time, the long over due return of Gallifrey and Timothy Dalton. What let it down, the stupidly simple deus ex machina resolution, super-"Skeletor" Master who appeared to have gained a previously unheard of skill of shooting electricity from his hands and flying/large jumps. The Master Race. Oh my dear Gods, clearly the worst decision ever to have Simm drag it up and become everyone in the world. The Vinvocci were terrible comic characters and the second part became pure Star Wars. The end of the story was pure RTD self-congratulation (and subsequent interviews I've read with him he seems to think the sun shines from his britches). I should have loved this story, it had some great fan trappings, but I really didn't. The jokes fell flat and the drama made of the threat was nullified by the fact that all the Doctor had to do was shoot the machine creating the link.

A Christmas Carol; Who's Carol? But the mysterious Carol aside, this was a little better. It was an interesting take on the Dickens classic, but it was by no means Moffers best work. I think I've only re-watched this the once since it was first broadcast, by this point I was starting to find a overwhelming sense of anti-climax from Christmas specials. At least, this was the point I realised that the Christmas specials weren't overly special. Michael Gambon was a joy to watch though, and he alone appeared to make up for it. There's very little I can remember about this one, it just seems to handily bridge the gap between seasons.

The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe; One question; what wardrobe?! There was a box. I think I've only watched this the once, and that was on broadcast. Bill Bailey was quite good, as was Alexander Armstrong, but there was very little of this that stood out for me as a great story. Again, almost a re-telling of another classic (one which I tried and failed to read as a kid) but there were some nice nods to the past. Androzani anyone? Again, this was one I found anti-climactic and was really starting to wonder whether the Christmas specials were worth it. Plus, with a nine month wait after until more Who, I was starting to wonder about the state of the series, but at the same time, trying to look on the plus side.

The Snowmen; Creepy, dark, funny, Who! It had a great link to the past which didn't matter whether you knew the link or not. I was initially dubious about the re-use of Strax (who had died), Vastra and Jenny, but they worked. Vastra and Jenny were wonderfully and subtly played and Strax was a great comic character. (A spin off on the cards here?) The use of Ian McKellan's voice was inspired as the intelligence. One of the few actors (Alongside REG) who can play a sympathetic and likeable good guy and a really sinister, intimidating and formidable bad guy. (anyone seen his Macbeth?! It's stunning) Richard E Grant was also a great bit fo casting. He had a great on screen relationship with Matt and his face suits scowling down the camera (another who could play both good and bad). It's a shame to use him for just the role of Simeon as he would have made a great recurring character, maybe even great Master. Although rumours are abound that he will somehow be back in the series finale. I like the new TARDIS, has an air of the classic about it. And the Doctors outfit change is really good too. I love how he's gonna look in the next part of the series (of course, it has nothing to do with how similar it is to my own daily attire). The mentioning of the Great Intelligence made the fan geek inside me squeal with joy, and get funny looks from the missus as a result. The new credits and theme were great.

So, to sum up, for me, The Snowmen is the first Christmas Special I felt was worth a re-visit and really enjoyed and didn't feel let down with afterwards.

[Slagathor]

I have to say The Next Doctor was my pick.

Yes, I agree the Cyber King was rubbish. However, David Morrisey's performance was superb. It was wonderfully Doctor-like in a comic way, then quite touching when he goes back to being Jackson Lake.

Overall, the Christmas episodes are not my favs. It's difficult to wedge Christmas into a Doctor Who story, and vice versa. Overall the Moffat stories seem to be better than the RTD ones. Personally, I'm waiting to see one where the Doctor visits Bethlehem. Of course, we already know he got the last room in the inn. ;D

[McOod]

I don't really have a favourite. Although I'll say the Moffat ones do seem more well thought out that the RTD ones. Davies just seemed to slap stuff together. The one exception was "The Next Doctor".