Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010)

I normally don't do reviews, but I couldn't pass this one up. This Christmas special was simply brilliant. For me, it's hands down the best Christmas special to date. It's a truly magical Christmas fairytale-ish story, done in somewhat atypical Who-niverse fashion. I just loved it. I had no issues whatsoever with the characters, the casting, the story... it was all just brilliant. Even the "personal timeline" stuff didn't bother me in the slightest - it made for a compelling and somewhat awe inspiring storyline that I really enjoyed. And besides... yeah, the cardinal rule of not crossing personal timelines... rubbish, really. True Who fans can probably cite off the top of their heads a half dozen examples of when the Doctor blatantly violated that rule, going all the way back to the 3rd or 4th Doctor even. The way I looked at it was that this was not ordinary Doctor Who anyway... this was the Christmas special... and I thoroughly enjoyed the Who crew taking it a bit further than previous norms. It's the unexpected that makes this show so exciting.

If you take the letter 'C' off the word 'Carol', you're left with 'Arol', the Welsh word for backside, and it pretty well sums up the 2010 'Dr.Who' Christmas 'Special'. Since Steven Moffat took over as showrunner, there has been a noticeable drop in script quality and ratings. The new Doctor and his companions ( Rory exempted ) are not likable, and it is impossible to care what happens to them. 'Special' did nothing to reverse the decline. In fact it was rivalled only for sheer inanity by 'The Big Bang' which consisted basically of people running around inside an empty building. I know money is tight at the B.B.C. right now, but come on! The basic idea - a crippled space liner with 4,000 passengers ( Amy and Rory among them ) careering towards catastrophe - is essentially a pinch of 'Voyage Of The Damned', the far superior 2007 Special. The only man who can save the vessel is Kazran Sardick ( Michael Gambon ), a miserly individual who keeps the 'surplus population' entombed. The Doctor gets nowhere with him, so he decides to go back into the man's past and tinker with it in order to turn him into a nicer person. So why did he not think to do this before with say Davros or any other of the nastier 'Who' villains?Unlike previous Specials, this is not even an adventure story. We all know Moffat thinks of the show as a fairy tale ( he's wrong ) which presumably explains why he thinks its okay to dispense with the show's format. Wrong there too. 'Dr.Who' is either science fiction or it is nothing. Had Russell T. Davies ripped off the plot of an 1843 novel for one of his scripts, he'd have been crucified by his detractors.Stunt casting reared its head here again in the shape of Katherine Jenkins as 'Abigail', Sardick's doomed love. She was not too bad, but I was at a loss to explain how her singing was able to save the liner. It is yet another in a long line of Moffat 'deus ex machina' endings.But the low point came with the flying shark. It has to rank as the most stupid idea yet seen in the show. The creature pulling a sleigh through the air in the manner of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer had me cringing. Moffat's tendency to indulge in wacky comedy went over the top here.As the end credits rolled, I thought 'thank god that's over'. We then got a taster of Season 6 ( or should that be Season 6b? ) which looks to be about as thrilling as the weather forecast. Even the most rabid Moffat zealot must now be able to see the show is doomed unless he resigns and hands over the reins to someone more competent. Smith and Gillan should go too.The B.B.C. must have sensed that this was a loser as they screened in the days that followed repeats of earlier specials. We should give grateful thanks that Davies was ever in charge of the show at all and for so long, and that he had the good sense to cast first Eccleston and then Tennant. Can you imagine 'The Waters Of Mars' with Matt Smith as the Doctor? It would have been disastrous! 'Blackadder's Christmas Carol' over on B.B.C.-2 beat Moffat's effort hands down for sheer entertainment. He should hang his head in shame!UPDATE ) As I write this ( 27/1/11 ), 'Dr.Who' has just been humiliated at the National Television Awards by failing to win anything. Let's hope someone makes big changes to the show soon before it goes down with all hands on deck.

I loved this episode, perfect for the holidays. Imaginative, unpredictable, original and a great holiday diversion.Some viewers seem to find it necessary to pick apart the plot and think of ways the Doctor could've resolved things without jumping back and forth in time, or that time-lords shouldn't be doing it for those reasons. It's the Christmas Special; rather removed from the series in general and is meant to be enjoyed in the spirit of the holidays, let go and have fun with it ;)My only criticism is that you can't yet purchase that wonderful song written for the show, sung by Katherine Jenkins -- "Abigail's Song".

Having had a season to get used to Matt's Smith's incarnation as The Doctor and Karen Gillan as is beautiful assistant Amy Pond it is time for their first Christmas special; would it turn out to be rather twee or would it be a classic? It was a classic! As the episode opens a space liner is in trouble, heading towards a planets where it appears to be doomed to crash; that is until one of the passengers, Amy Pond who is on honeymoon with Rory, summons her friend The Doctor to help. Unfortunately he can't help directly but a man called Kazran Sardick on the planet can, unfortunately that man shows no desire to help so The Doctor is forced to persuade him using Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol' for his inspiration. Going back in time he changes the bitter old man's boyhood self. In the past the young Kazran meets a pretty woman who his father has frozen in his basement, they let her out because they need her freezer then on subsequent Christmas Eves the three of them go out together until on day Kazran announces that he wants the tradition to end leaving the woman frozen. The Doctor is not told the reason although the viewers know so can sympathise with Kazran. The old Kazran's memories may have changed but now he just has different reasons to be bitter, the Doctor; and a hologram of Amy, must convince him to help them and the only way left will mean a great sacrifice on his part.I thought this was a great variation on the theme of 'A Christmas Carol' it used science fiction rather than spectres to visit the past and show it to the elder Kazran and surprisingly didn't find an easy route to avoid a sad ending. The two stars were great but after the previous series I expected that; Michael Gambon brought suitable gravitas to the role of the elder Kazran and I'd never have guessed that this was singer Katherine Jenkin's first acting role. I liked the idea of fish swimming in the fog and the little fish did indeed look great; unfortunately the shark CGI looked obvious, even so I laughed when the Doctor flew in a carriage pulled by the shark in what is one of the strangest variations on Father Christmas and his reindeer that I've seen. Fans of Karen Gillan may be upset that Amy doesn't get as much screen time as usual this episode but the should be happy that she is wearing her 'sexy policewoman' costume again… clearly her and Rory were playing dress-up in the honeymoon suite when disaster struck! In summary this was another great episode from the pen of Steven Moffat and starring a top notch cast that had plenty of thrills, heart-warming moments and a bitter-sweet ending that had me smiling and crying simultaneously.