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The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILERS

Grade "The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe"?

  • Total voters
    137
  • Poll closed .
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Canadave said:
I found RTD's "something threatens Earth at Christmastime" schtick to be a bit much by the end of his run.
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Thank goodness that's over

I got tired of modern london needing the doctor to save them.

they were helpless without him :rolleyes:
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

I enjoyed it. It was a nice bit of heartwarming fluff, which is just what I look for around Christmastime. I thought the middle dragged a bit, but it started well and ended well (albeit predictably). I'd still put "A Christmas Carol" above this one, though.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Well, I ended up seeing it fully awake and it wasn't that bad. There were slow parts but other than that, I was entertained on Christmas Night. Also really loved the Rory and Amy cameos at the end.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Meh, It wasn't good but it wasn't awful.

The biggest problem I had was that it spent too much time on setup and then rushed the ending (that was the same problem with "The Wedding of River Song"). It also lacked focus. The story would have worked better with Marge and the Doctor instead of splitting our attention between Marge and the Doctor. Finally, Marge herself is not really believable accepting the Doctor at face value. Yes it was done for the sake of time but it threw the characterization off. Finally the kids had absolutely no character. They were basically clueless kid #1 and clueless kid #2 which is pretty sad when you know that CS Lewis put a lot of effort in describing his characters even minor ones.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

It was alright. Not as great as last years Christmas specially which is my personal favorite special so far. I thought the beginning was good as was the Doctors speech about the children being happy now and sad later. The middle of the episode there didn't see to be much happening. Too much time walking around, slowly going up stairs, trying to get through a door. These scenes were stretched out too much

When you've had your christmas dinner and you're panned out on the couch you need something a little more entertaining to keep your attention at post Chrimbo din dins time.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Chess Piece Face said:
Above all, I'm not 12. Enough with the magical fairy tale ambiance already. And that goes for all of Matt Smith's tenure, not just Christmas.
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With you all the way. The episode was far, far too twee for my taste. Moffats reign as a whole veers far too much into fantasy for me. Every now and again, fine but not every show. A shame because Matt Smith is always excellent.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

The kid was also spectacularly awful.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

My review:

SPOILERS AHEAD

It passed but not honourably I must admit. I can't say it holds a candle to the previous Christmas Special, which was actually my favourite. While it's easy to appreciate the fact that Moffat was trying to tell a Christmas story, it lacked a certain tension that we've come to know in Doctor Who. This is where the previous Christmas Special excelled because not only was it set at Christmas, it also gave us characters that we really cared about because of their backgrounds and motivations. It's certainly true that this was present here, but we knew everything we needed to know about the characters after the first twenty minutes, it simply lacked surprise after this unlike the Kazran Sardick character (last year) where we slowly got to know, appreciate and perhaps empathise with the character over the course of the intricate arc.

In contrast, this year's Christmas Special mainly whittled down to a run of the mill "save the day" type plot which is a real let down given the sophisticated story telling that we got last year (ok, minus the fish and shark).

I'll comment on the resolution but I don't want to punish the episode for it since it is a Christmas Special and I get the impression Moffat was going for a purely optimistic ending. That said, I think to have the Father not saved would have made for a better ending because with the current ending, the kids get everything they want. The ending would have been more interesting to see, on the one hand, the loss of their Father while, on the other, the remaining three members of the family becoming closer than ever. I certainly would have cared more for the family if this happened.

But that doesn't make this a bad episode, it's just not memorable, very much like Voyage Of The Damned despite a charismatic performance by Kylie Minogue.

3 out of 5
 
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Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Jon1701 said:
The kid was also spectacularly awful.
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Which one? I thought they were both OK, actually - just how a kid in a Narnia/Box Of Delights show is expected to be.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Complete fucking shit. Spectrox toxaemia looked more fun. Doctor Who now is the result of a previously not untalented man with complete control and no one to say no to him, convinced of his own cleverness and brilliance because no one around him's going to say otherwise.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Loved it. Though I will admit, the final minute or two with Amy and Rory totally blew the rest of it away. That was just brilliant.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

Meh. It was just kind of there.
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

I just finished watching it and quite enjoyed it. I didn't even think of "The Box of Delights" connection but yeah that works. This wasn't as good as last years which I watched just before, but still quite good. I thought Claire Skinner's performance was really good. Murray's score was excellent as usual. I have to admit I loved the ending. Now the long wait beings :(
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

I'm marking this up to "average" because I suspect that it might benefit from rewatch rewatching and because I've not seen The Chronicles Of Narnia. It was a somewhat weak and corny tale with several nice little touches that made it quite enjoyable in places. I didn't perceive much of the cleverness or charm that the script seems to assume would be conveyed on-screen. Smith does a good job of it, but really it made me think that last year's was a one-off bona fide classic Christmas special from Moffat. Hopefully he'll rediscover his mojo for next year.
 
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Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

You don't need to be familiar with Narnia to enjoy or not enjoy this episode. The only parallels are the very basic (British children go to country house to get away from WWII bombings and discover a secret gateway to a magical world).
 
Re: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe(Grading/Discussion) SPOILER

I'll have to go with Average as well. I don't mind sentimental stories, but its all rather pointless if you don't give a fig about any of the characters. (with the exception of Madge. I wouldn't mind seeing someone just like her as the next companion. )The kids were just annoying. The girl was irritating, and the boy was only good for doing owl impressions. The forest out-acted both of them.

Hard to believe this was a Moffat story. It seemed closer to the sort of thing Mark Gatiss turns out. I have to wonder if Steven had too many irons in the fire when he wrote this one.

*I have to wonder if the planet sets wer e avictim of buget cutting. A visit to a snow covered forest doesn't seem like the sort of thing to impress a couple of British kids.

* Why is it that people running around in the snow in their bedclothes and a pair of soggy slippers on tv never seem bothered by the cold?

* As a bit of an environmentalist, I was appalled at the destruction of the planet. Time was the Doctor would raise holy hell with someone for trying to destroy an entire ecosystem.
The tree people figures were quite beautifully done, even though I had no idea what exactly they were all about. Sentient trees able to cast metal, and time travel? The hell?

* I squee'ed at the Androzani Major reference. Still doing the evil corperation thing I see. A bit shocked the Doctor didn't comment further on it.

* Got a smile from Bill Bailey, even though his part wasn't much more than a cameo. What a waste! It'll be a crime if they don't bring him and his crew back for a return engagement.

* Happy to see Moffat is going with the Doctor keeping a low profile.'The Caretaker' was a great alias. I hope thats an ongoing theme next series. I wonder what happened to the real caretaker though?

* Okay, so husband and wife were reunited. But wasn't there a critically wounded crewmember in the back of the plane?

* The final ten minutes were just lovely. The quiet goodbye between Madge and the Doctor, and of course the Doctor and Amy (odd since I'm not an Amy fan). The Doctor wasn't the only one wiping away a tear.

* A pity there are no more Confidentials. As a WW2 plane fan I'd have loved to know whether that Lancaster at the end was the real thing, or CGI.

Guess I'll have to pop over to the 'Rate the Christmas Specials' thread. Nowhere near as good as last years, but certainly better than 'VotD', my least favorite christmas special. Its just a shame that the last story we'll see from the Doctor for a good long while, apart from the first and last tend minutes, was so Meh.
 
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