At last, we have reached the conclusion of our latest end-of-year countdown. These last few stories are strong enough that I don't even view them with the sort of lowered standards that I have for most Christmas Specials. We've got some plots that are strong enough that they would've worked just fine as actual "proper" episodes. Number One, in fact, is such a strong story that I might almost label it a Classic.
PART FIVE: THE TRULY EXCEPTIONAL STUFF
These are the Christmas Specials that can truly stand on their own two feet. We don't need to say: "Well, it's Christmas - let's be a bit forgiving." They really are very strong stories that can be viewed with little or no context. They're just genuinely enjoyable.
The Christmas Invasion
One of the rare instances where RTD takes a genuine chance with a Christmas Special. For the most part, the Specials he wrote had little or no bearing on the general canon of the show. Most years, you can skip the Specials and it would have negligible effect on what was going on in the proper seasons. But Christmas Invasion introduces a new Doctor for the very first time in New Who. To do something at a time when casual viewers might be tuning in just for fun was quite bold. While I am only so happy with a lot of the output from his era, I must applaud him on this occasion.
Christmas Invasion does feel a lot like Castrovalva. Much of the story hangs on the point that the Doctor is very weak and can't really help out with what's happening. That, if anything, the companions must take care of him. I particularly enjoy this sort of reversal of the formula. Most of the time, the Doctor is in control and saving the day. The rare instances where he must rely upon the care and diligence of his companions makes for some interesting story-telling. It's nice when the show decides, once in a while, that he's genuinely ineffectual for a time and must rely on the tender mercies of his friends.
Naturally enough, the Doctor does come back to consciousness at just the right moment. This is what earns this story a lot of its points. Even as he emerges from the TARDIS, it's quite exhilarating (thanks Murray Gold). The next twenty minutes or so might be the coolest introduction to a new Doctor, ever. Tennant is pretty damned amazing here. He jumps between dealing with the Syrorax Leader and various personal and/or vanity issues with such smoothness that we can't help but be amazed. RTD writes him a very tricky scene but he knocks it out of the ballpark. His fast-paced delivery is absolute perfection. The jokes are great fun too (love when he realizes he's quoting The Lion King!). His hand growing back after its been chopped off is sheer coolness. This really is all very solid. For the New Who fan that is experiencing regeneration for the first time, this scene must have put their worries to rest. Even if they did fall in love with Eccleston, this new guy seems pretty awesome.
Christmas Invasion's only real sore point is that it, perhaps, takes a bit too long to get to this magnificent sequence. It's that usual problem of not quite having enough story to fill the hour so we have to watch Rose keep pleading with the Doctor's unconscious form to wake up.It might have been better to just make the story 50 minutes long and have the Doctor wake up sooner.
Quite honestly, if this one problem had been corrected at the writing stage, it probably would have made it to Number One on this list.
Last Christmas
We could very easily dismiss this story as just being a hybrid of the movie Inception and the Aliens franchise but it is so much more than that. If anything, it's delightfully bizarre. Could an actual Doctor Who adventure starring Santa Claus be anything else?!
Well, if we want to be honest, it could be one other thing: it could have been really stupid. But Moff does this great job of keeping Santa fictional without actually admitting to the younger viewers that he might not be real. All the jokes with Santa and the elves all seem to land quite well and really add to the story. There is a lot of comedy to this Special because of this. But it never seems to get truly out-of-hand. There's also plenty of drama to counterpoint it all. Clara getting one more Christmas with Danny is especially touching. Danny explaining what Christmas is truly about is actually genuinely profound. The sleigh ride they take as they re-gain consciousness is another nice moment that tugs at the heartstrings. Discovering that one of the characters in the dreamscape is actually wheelchair-bound in real life really plays upon our emotions. I was both dismayed and impressed by Moffat's sadism as this revelation is made.
Of course, the real thrust of Last Christmas is the characters trying to escape from the shared dream they are trapped in. Like Inception, they get several layers deep and must struggle multiple times with determining whether or not they are finally back in the real world or still dreaming. The plot device does come perilously close to being abused but I do find it's just a bit shy of going too far with it. If the scene with Clara as an older woman had gone on any longer than it had, I might have gotten tired of the whole thing. But Santa popping in like he does and dispelling the dream happens at just the right moment. And it is kinda cool to watch the Doctor shrug off his face-hugger one more time and save Clara who is now at her normal age.
I suppose fans who weren't enjoying Clara as a companion were probably not happy with that last scene of her returning to the TARDIS - but I quite liked it. The end of Series Eight with both Clara and the Doctor fibbing to each other and parting ways was beautiful. I don't feel, however, that their reunion in the Christmas Special cheapens that moment. If anything, it would have been a bit of a shame if things had truly finished that way with them. Santa helping to bring them back together genuinely worked for me.
Most importantly, though, Last Christmas is a really solid story. It executes a great balance between comedy, absurdity, drama and creepiness. The plot doesn't become too complicated for a Christmas Special but we also feel like we're getting a real episode rather than a fluff-piece. This makes me happier than anything, really. There's enough content to fill the running time. Which is especially impressive since it does all move at a pretty damned brisk pace.
It would be a shame to conclude this without giving Nick Frost huge props for his portrayal as Santa.Claus. Not only does he have the perfect name for an actor to play Santa - but he really does magnificently with the role. Yes, he's very smarmy most of the time - but he still gives some softer edges to the character where it's needed. In many ways, he's the perfect interpretation of a modern-day Saint Nick. Everyone who has stopped believing in him because they think they've become too cool are made to feel uncool. In fact, throughout the entire episode, Santa is the coolest guy in the room.
And that's the way it should be.
A Christmas Carol
When Russell T. Davies brought Doctor Who back, he made a number of bold changes with the format. Perhaps the biggest one was to give certain episodes a lot more emotional resonance. Or, as we prefer to say, he gave the show more "feels". This met with limited success. We did have stories like Father's Day where I am still reduced to a quivering mess every time I watch it. But we also got stories like Fear Her - an episode that clearly seems to say: "We've run out of budget. Maybe, if we get everyone to cry, they won't notice!".
As Moff took over as Head Writer, he made sure to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Doctor Who would still have emotional episodes, but they would be more carefully crafted. A Christmas Carol is an excellent example of this. This is a story that succeeds mainly on the premise that it plays a lot with our feelings. But, unlike some of the tales during the RTD era, it still makes sure to have a real plot on top of that. It's not an extremely complicated storyline, but it's still there. And it drives the episode along so that the more emotional aspects of the adventure can take center stage and work well.
As has been often pointed out by people who made the episode, the big difference between Kazran and other baddies in Who is displayed in that crucial moment where he stops himself from striking a child who has raised his ire. The Doctor realizes, when he sees that happen, that he is not dealing with a proper Who villain. Kazran is someone who is not beyond redemption and must, therefore, be handled in a new way. As he hears Christmas Carols a short while later, he is inspired with an outlandish strategy.
Re-writing Kazran's personal history is a great little ride. This is Matt Smith's first Christmas Special and he really has a great time with it. He is particularly enjoyable in the sequences with Kazran as a young boy. In fact, it's hard to determine who the actual child is! As their Christmas tradition continues, the Doctor takes on an almost Santa-like quality in the story. The tale becomes more and more tinged with sadness as Kazran does like we all do with Santa and outgrows him.
Like Last Christmas, much praise must be heaped on to the main guest actor. Michael Gambon does such a good double-role in this story that we forget that he is playing his own father in flashback sequences. His most impressive work in the story, however, is when he starts looking through the old pictures of a past he never had. This is an extremely abstract sequence for an actor to execute. He is a man who is, literally, getting a soul. But Gambon handles it with incredible talent and presence.
It's during those scenes where Kazran starts to get his past re-written that the Special starts to "turn on the waterworks", for me. While RTD tends to be a lot more "shmaltzy" when he tries to hit us in the feels, Moff really shows some genuine maturity. He appeals to the adult in all of us in those scenes. We think of our own moments where we may have lost a bit of our soul as we grew up and how, maybe, we also need to make similar efforts to restore ourselves. It's a sentiment I never expected to see expressed in a Doctor Who story. Which is part of what gets this Special to rank so highly for me.
And then we finally get to the story's climax. Moff cast a vocalist in a key role and takes full advantage of that choice. The Doctor fidgeting with the sound gear as Abigail starts singing and Kazran looks on sadly really is an iconic moment. To me, if this sequence doesn't reduce you to tears, then maybe you're suffering from the same problem Kazran had. Maybe you need a soul.
And... that's it. We made it through all the Christmas Specials and ranked them. I'm not sure how much you may have agreed with these choices, but I hope you enjoyed how I explained them.
It's Boxing Day as I wrap this up so I wish all off you a Happy New Year. Thanks, as always, for coming to this site. The hits I see always warm my heart!
Missed the other installments? Here's Part 1:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/11/book-of-lists-christmas-specials-from.html
Part 2:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/11/book-of-lists-christmas-specials-from_24.html
Part 3:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/12/book-of-lists-christmas-specials-from.html
Part 4:
https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2019/12/book-of-lists-christmas-specials-from_19.html
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