**Spoilers** Christmas Special - "The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe"

pixelburp

Ah I thought I'd start a thread early for the annual Xmas episode; particularly as a BBC released a prequel to the story. No youtube just yet, so here's a link to the video on the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00m7qjb

Not much to see really, but hey; it gets the ball rolling. Below is the original trailer, and as if the title wasn't already a clue, this episodes looks set to wear its CS Lewis influences on its sleeve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qN9X9tyHkw

Wooooooooooooo! It's CHRISTMAS!

roar_ie

I hate this wait until the next installment of Doctor Who. It sucks!!!

But yeah Christmas is here soon!!!

flazio

Prequel put up here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00m7qjb
(video will work in Ireland)

pixelburp

flazio wrote: »

Prequel put up here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00m7qjb
(video will work in Ireland)

That link's already in my original post

Stark

flazio wrote: »

Prequel put up here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00m7qjb
(video will work in Ireland)

Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm watching "Doctor Who" or "Red Dwarf".

Das Kitty

Stark wrote: »

Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm watching "Doctor Who" or "Red Dwarf".

Vindaloo for Christmas dinner?

I'm very much looking forward to this, one of the benefits of staying in your own house for Christmas is that you get to watch what you like without your mother tutting about it being "tripe" from across the room. :pac:

I've read that it's supposed to make you cry, so the fact that I have read that makes it unlikely that it will actually make me cry now, which is a shame, I love a cry.

pixelburp

Another, brief set of clips for anyone who's interested. Now with more Bill Bailey:

Killer_banana

pixelburp wrote: »

Another, brief set of clips for anyone who's interested. Now with more Bill Bailey:

'This video's been removed by the user'. Anyone know of another video with the same content?

Very excited to see bill Bailey in this even though it now makes it even less likely that he'll ever be cast as the Doctor.

pixelburp

Killer_banana wrote: »

'This video's been removed by the user'. Anyone know of another video with the same content?

Very excited to see bill Bailey in this even though it now makes it even less likely that he'll ever be cast as the Doctor.

No worries, here's 3 actual clips, generally better & also come with Bill bailey goodness (sporting very Fallout armour):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejj2k7qVItU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnwJDk8n7aI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwRFr8Jkad8

flazio

They aren't region locking the videos on the website so you could always check them out there.

ebbsy

Ive only enjoyed 2 Christmas specials over the years, Invasion and EOT, so wait and see what they come up with this year.

Basq

In a house with no Doctor Who fans, and forgot to Sky+ it.

God bless Sky+ Remote Record.

Loved last year's one but a tad indifferent about the look of this year's.. here's hoping it surprises me!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Busi_Girl08

That ending was just...AWWWWWWWW!

Doctor DooM

Indeed the ending was Awwwwwwwwwww.

bit cynical of Moffat to announce something heartbreaking would be happening to the ponds a week before it though

Didn't think, over all, it was as good as last year though.

Johnny Storm

Just between you and me: I haven't cried so much for televisual reasons since the first time I saw Superman (1980)

Manach

The ending was good with the Ponds, but Christmas is not Christmas without a giant cyberman smashing up Victorian London.

Das Kitty

Well as predicted I didn't cry but I did get a throat lump.

I think I'll have to watch it again before I decide if I like it more or less than last year though.

ebbsy

The who Xmas specials are basically ratings gatherers, nothing more. The two hard hitting episodes EOT and Invasion were much better than the rest.

As for 2011.....it was going ok until the pilot returning......if you are going to make references to the best story ever then you need a bit more substance to those references, not just something thrown in to please "fans".

6/10

pixelburp

Not sure about being good or bad, but this years bored the pants off me tbh. It all seemed a bit random and all over the place. Stuff just seemed to happen without any sense of structure & for the sake of it. Felt like a shopping-trolley script.

Definitely not a patch on last years, even if that was simply a broad copy of A Christmas Carol. You'd think with that title, this years story would do more with the CS Lewis line. Tonights ep just felt like filler, with no aspect being remotely interesting. Most heinously, it was a waste of Bill Bailey, whose cameo was completely pointless.

now, back to my 3rd dessert happy Christmas everyone

Busi_Girl08

pixelburp wrote: »

Most heinously, it was a waste of Bill Bailey, whose cameo was completely pointless.

This. Very disappointing.

FloatingVoter

Dire and an hour of my life that I'm not getting back.

spiritcrusher

I enjoyed the first half of the show, as totally random and unexplained as all of it was. Thought the bit with the Ponds was quite well done too. But, I hated everything from when the acid rain thing was revealed up to the Ponds. Thought it was utter garbage.

I felt from the start that whatever "bad guys" were in the episode would turn out to be good in the end but even that wasn't what bothered me most. It's just the constant use of plot devices where abstract feelings such as love seem to just over-ride the rest of the plot so that everything can work out lovely.
I know it's the Christmas special, but considering the basis of the show is time-travel, which gives the writers a stupid amount of freedom to go nuts, surely Moffat could have thought of a more original way of wrapping up things nicely...?

Fysh

spiritcrusher wrote: »

I know it's the Christmas special, but considering the basis of the show is time-travel, which gives the writers a stupid amount of freedom to go nuts, surely Moffat could have thought of a more original way of wrapping up things nicely...?

Oh I don't know, I quite like the idea of a closed loop of time where the mechanism that allows the bereaved widow to save her husband explicitly depends on her having felt the misery and heartache of being bereaved, without undoing the original sequence of events.

Also liked the exchange between her and her husband just after the Doctor Caretaker disappears, particularly the husband's "In order to have a peaceful life I'm going to leave this well alone" expression.

Raphael

I quite enjoyed it, really liked the idea of having the doctor be called something else. Was quite odd.

SparklersJo

Maybe I'm just cold and dead inside, but the ending didn't make me 'aaawwwww', it kind of made me want to puke. It was so cliched and all happy ending - oh look, the Doctor is still all humany. No he's not! He's all screwed up, as he well should be after all the crap he's been through!

Also, it needed more Bill Bailey.

Stark

I liked the ending. The rest of it was cack though.

yaines

Nah, wasn't a fan of this at all. The plot was overly ridiculous and it was a criminal waste of Bill Bailey. And, while the ending did tug at the heartstrings, the idea of making the Doctor more "human" didn't sit well with me.

Oh and I hated when they called him "Caretaker". Something about it seriously creeped me out.

Looking forward to next year's however when it will be in the middle of the season and hopefully forms some part of the overall arc. That would be awesome.

Doctor DooM

yaines wrote: »

Oh and I hated when they called him "Caretaker". Something about it seriously creeped me out.

He's supposed to be pretending he's dead, so he wasn't going around going IM THE DOCTOR anymore.

Sleepy

The first episode my step-son has ever watched; half way through the episode:

"I LOVE Doctor Who, he's DEADLY!!!"

BaconZombie

What happened the other two on the plane?
Also how did the plane survive time travel at all ?

Mr E

I was tremendously bored by this episode. Didn't think it was very good at all.

aidan_walsh

Watching the pre-title for this, all I could think was "Didn't we give out **** for RTD doing very, very similar two years ago?"

Doctor DooM

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Watching the pre-title for this, all I could think was "Didn't we give out **** for RTD doing very, very similar two years ago?"

I was listening to radio free skaro the other day and apparently there's original series precedent for the Doctor surviving in the vacuum of space for a period of time... I agree it totally set off my suspension of disbelief detectors though.

I thought the "suit that fixes people" thing was really lame though. I can't figure out if the whole thing is better or worse than RTD's version

pixelburp

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I was listening to radio free skaro the other day and apparently there's original series precedent for the Doctor surviving in the vacuum of space for a period of time... I agree it totally set off my suspension of disbelief detectors though.

I thought the "suit that fixes people" thing was really lame though. I can't figure out if the whole thing is better or worse than RTD's version

I presume he's referring more to the fact Tennant's Doctor also survived a plummet from a great height with no apparent injury - happened in End of Time where he threw himself from a ship, crashed through a roof window and splatted to the floor of a mansion with only a few scratches to his face.

Oh and scientifically speaking, the human body can survive in the vacuum of space for approx 30-60 seconds, so presumably a Time Lord could survive for longer ...?

Das Kitty

pixelburp wrote: »

I presume he's referring more to the fact Tennant's Doctor also survived a plummet from a great height with no apparent injury - happened in End of Time where he threw himself from a ship, crashed through a roof window and splatted to the floor of a mansion with only a few scratches to his face.

Oh and scientifically speaking, the human body can survive in the vacuum of space for approx 30-60 seconds, so presumably a Time Lord could survive for longer ...?

... and the respiritory bypass system.

I liked the notion of an impact suit personally.

Doctor DooM

pixelburp wrote: »

I presume he's referring more to the fact Tennant's Doctor also survived a plummet from a great height with no apparent injury - happened in End of Time where he threw himself from a ship, crashed through a roof window and splatted to the floor of a mansion with only a few scratches to his face.

Oh and scientifically speaking, the human body can survive in the vacuum of space for approx 30-60 seconds, so presumably a Time Lord could survive for longer ...?

Nah they were referencing the original series, I had assumed it was something I haven't gotten around to (I found trial of a timelord suprisingly fun over Christmas!), RTD's era doesn't seem to count when it comes to placating fanboys.

You are of course correct about the vacuum, however I don't think anyone, Timelord or not, would be able to go "come here you lovely spacesuit you" or whatever in said vacuum

pixelburp

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Nah they were referencing the original series, I had assumed it was something I haven't gotten around to (I found trial of a timelord suprisingly fun over Christmas!), RTD's era doesn't seem to count when it comes to placating fanboys.

Ah ok, read your post wrong there, my bad (though I did get cheesed off myself with Smith surviving that fall). Off the top of my head, in the Peter Davison story "4 to Doomsday", the Doctor floats about in space wearing only a naff 80s space-helmet, so perhaps that's the time they're talking of.

Doctor DooM wrote: »

You are of course correct about the vacuum, however I don't think anyone, Timelord or not, would be able to go "come here you lovely spacesuit you" or whatever in said vacuum

The Doctor speaks all languages, maybe he speaks ... uhhh... 'space' aswell?

MrVestek

Doctor DooM wrote: »

You are of course correct about the vacuum, however I don't think anyone, Timelord or not, would be able to go "come here you lovely spacesuit you" or whatever in said vacuum

Not to mention the fact that he wasn't wearing a visor... the light from our sun would have blinded him instantly.

Cyndaquil

I also wondered if the Doctor surviving without oxygen was credible... but in saying that, that opening was the most exciting part of the episode for me. Kind of reminded me of the opening to "The Eleventh Hour" (deliberate I suppose).

Ah well, I've enjoyed most of 11's other episodes (and those penned by Moffat) so far so I'll let this one slip.

pixelburp

Ironically, and if I remember this right, should you ever find yourself floating in space, the trick is NOT to hold your breath. Exhale all the air from your lungs as the difference in pressure between space & your lungs would cause them to burst. Then simply throw some loose change in the opposite direction of the nearest airlock causing some momentum & bingo! Back in time for space-tea & space-biscuits

A useful Cosmic Survival Tip, brought to you by Pixelburp.

campo

Achilles wrote: »

Not to mention the fact that he wasn't wearing a visor... the light from our sun would have blinded him instantly.

Yes but his helmet was on backwards so technically his eyes were shielded

Das Kitty

pixelburp wrote: »

Ironically, and if I remember this right, should you ever find yourself floating in space, the trick is NOT to hold your breath. Exhale all the air from your lungs as the difference in pressure between space & your lungs would cause them to burst. Then simply throw some loose change in the opposite direction of the nearest airlock causing some momentum & bingo! Back in time for space-tea & space-biscuits

A useful Cosmic Survival Tip, brought to you by Pixelburp.

*scribbles down notes*

MrVestek

campo wrote: »

Yes but his helmet was on backwards so technically his eyes were shielded

Not when he jumped out of the exploding ship arms flailing about he wasn't.

TheIrishGrover

......AND time travel's not possible either. I mean, pfffft, what's with that?

Doctor DooM

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

......AND time travel's not possible either. I mean, pfffft, what's with that?

I get your argument, but suspension of disbelief doesn't work so rationally.

Being exposed to space usually= death for most people in sci fi, so it's jarring to see this ignored.

Das Kitty

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I get your argument, but suspension of disbelief doesn't work so rationally.

Being exposed to space usually= death for most people in sci fi, so it's jarring to see this ignored.

I have to say I did find it a bit jarring as well. It was very Moonraker-ish. I found the opening scene of The Eleventh Hour jarring in the same way.

Aside from the opening, did anyone else see a lot of parallels between Madge and Amy and River? The picking of the lock, pulling the gun. I wonder if she's an ancestor, or a descendant? She's also a bit Doctorish - bringing home strays.

BuffyBot

Agree with some of the comments above..bit boring, disjointed and found it hard to care about the characters.

TheIrishGrover

Doctor DooM wrote: »

I get your argument, but suspension of disbelief doesn't work so rationally.

Being exposed to space usually= death for most people in sci fi, so it's jarring to see this ignored.

Ah no, I'm only joking. It irked me too. Thought it was just silly. I was just thinking how strange it is that we can accept some things and not others. At the end I thought: If the last year/foreseeable future wasn't as all doom-and-gloom would we have gotten such an upbeat special? I can't help thinking that if people weren't in such a need for a pick me up that it would have been a much darker episode

pixelburp

I dunno, to me that Xmas episode felt like something Moffat might have knocked out in an afternoon just to tick the box required of him. Afterall, the seasonal episode is traditionally nothing but standalone fluff; if Moffat has a grand plan for the main series, the Xmas special must rank very low on his list of priorities.

The script was so all over the place, and felt so thrown together I'd wonder if everyone just did it on autopilot to get it out of the way, take the small break, and come back to filming series 7 in the new year.