Best/Favorite Christmas Specials - Rank & Rate

[Emperor-Tiberius]

NOTE: I actually saw the special, and came back in time to Christmas Eve when I made this thread. You don't have to vote until the broadcast episode is actually, well, broadcast.

So, with "Last Christmas" out (or out tomorrow ), how would you rank the Christmas stories that have come before it alongside it?

Along with the standard NuWho line, I thought I'd include other similarly festive stories.

A Girl's Best Friend, the K9 & Co. single episode, for instance, because I kinda like to consider it as a DW episode after-the-fact, since that show never went ahead with its spin-off premise - I like to think the Fourth Doctor just smiled at himself after seeing briefly Sarah Jane and K9 from his TARDIS monitor, just before disembarking for Brighton in The Leisure Hive.

The Unquiet Dead, because its the closest the Ninth Doctor ever had to a Christmas Special. I mean, it IS set on Christmas Day, so I had to count it.

The TV Movie/The Enemy Within, because its set on New Years Eve, and I already included End of Time that was broadcast both on Christmas Day and New Years Day.

Anyway, vote, rate and rank away!

PS: I didn't actually see the special, I was just trying to make a time travel-related pun. Sorry.

PS: Merry Christmas!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I know I'm in the minority on this count, but not only do I think "A Christmas Carol" is the best Christmas episode, I think it's the only good one aside from "The Snowmen." Hopefully, "Last Christmas" will join that short list.

 

[Mr Soak]

So you're saying The Feast of Steven isn't special?

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

So you're saying The Feast of Steven isn't special?

Its festive, but its not the whole story. You can't say The Dalek Masterplan is a Christmas special, is all I'm saying.

Plus, I'm not sure how canonical it is.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Hopefully, "Last Christmas" will join that short list.

Fortunately, it did!

1. A Christmas Carol
2. Last Christmas
3. The Snowmen

I care so little for the rest, that they aren't worth mentioning except this: "The Next Doctor" had the potential to be fantastic, but the moment the mystery of Jackson Lake was solved, it went straight down the shitter.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I think on the overall, I like Moffat's Christmas specials more than RTD's. Neither are consistent, but Moffat's seem to have more emotion invested in them, whereas RTD's are just insane for the sake of insanity.

That said, I must admit I usually find them pretty weak. There seems to always be a lack on concentration in those episodes, and thus a lack of cohesiveness. However, some works extremely well. Anyway, here's my ranking/rating:

1. A Christmas Carol (****1/2)
2. The Time of the Doctor (****1/2)
3. The Runaway Bride (****)
4. The Unquiet Dead (****) [easily Mark Gatiss' best Who episode]
5. Last Christmas (***1/2)
6. End of Time (***1/2)
7. The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (***)
8. The Snowmen (**1/2)
9. The Christmas Invasion (**1/2)
10. Voyage of the Damned (**)
11. The Next Doctor(**)
12. The Enemy Within(*1/2)
13. A Girl's Best Friend (*)

 

[DWF]

I much perfer RTD's Christmas specials to Moffat's, at least with RTD we seem to get better fully realized stories and characters. Plus I like how RTD gave us memorable scenes like the freeway chase in The Runaway Bride and the Cyberking in The Next Doctor.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I prefer Moffat's, because he makes them festive in spirit and intent. Though Last Christmas is less festive than all his previous ones, I'll grant you that.

I'd also like shout an honorable mention to my second real favorite Christmas DW story, Big FInish's The Chimes of Midnight. Fantastic Eighth/Charley story, with all the Christmas trappings involved. The most Moffat story Mofffat has never written for the Eighth Doctor.

 

[The Doctor]

I know I'm in the minority but I loved The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe. I'm a total sucker for a happy ending. Probably why I loved Last Christmas so much. Those two are my favourite Christmas specials, though The Christmas Invasion holds a special place in my heart since it was the first and the (mostly) first appearance of Tennant, as well.