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

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.

Cyndaquil

pixelburp wrote: »

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.

I know what you mean. With the obvious exception of The End of Time (which was really only a Christmas special by default) I tend to view the Christmas specials as standalone filler adventures (that's not to say they're not entertaining). I never really expected anything 'meaty' from this special. That said didn't really find this latest one that entertaining, it seemed a bit predictable too (once we found out the Doc wasn't "strong" enough the outcome becomes obvious - mothers are instinctively very strong, they'd do anything to protect their kids - we get it).

The appearance of Amy and Rory was a nice surprise, despite the fact that I'd rather Moffat had kept their future departure a secret, knowing that they have not long to go on (with the Doc anyway) made that scene all the more poignant for me.