Christmas special title revealed - "Last Christmas"

[The Lensman]

Five adventures in five years? One out of every 14 adventures he has? Yes, that's ridiculous. Christmas isn't the only holiday on Earth, let alone the rest of the universe. Why doesn't he ever happen across trouble on Easter or Tet or El Dia de los Muertos or the Draconian Molting Festival? Why this relentless fixation on a Christian holiday, particularly given that the majority of people in England don't even consider themselves religious? (Okay, granted, Christmas today is a very secular practice, more about Santa Claus than Jesus, but still.)

The reason is because Christmas is still the biggest holiday in the country that produces the show and still resonates with the audience. Nobody in England, in any numbers that matter, gives a shit about El Dia de los Muertos or the Draconian Molting Festival. It's also no more ridiculous than the amount of aliens who try to invade this one single planet that hasn't been established to have anything that that many galactic civilizations would come in these kind of numbers to take.

See the climax of "The Eleventh Hour." "Is this planet protected?" The bad guys left because they scanned their records and saw what the Doctor would do to them if they kept up their invasion. See also the big Stonehenge speech at the other end of the season. "Just remember who's standing in your way!" None of them wanted to go first.

I'm talking about the multitudes of aliens who had already put their plans in motion, who's advanced scouts in some cases, were already in place when the other guys put their plan in motion. Given how many races have been invading this planet, covertly or overtly, they would have bumped into each other behind the scenes, on Earth or in space. What would've been happening behind the scenes would've been similar to what happend in Venture Brothers when the Monarch's henchmen and Baron Unterbite's henchmen both showed up at the Venture compound to assassinate Dr. Venture. "Hey, we were here first!" "No, we were!" and then start fighting each other.

As far the aliens being to scared "to go first"......yet they have no problem invading the planet individually and going up against the Doctor, but when in the company of multiple war fleets all with the same goal apparently they shit themselves at the prospect of "going first". And apparently these conqueror races don't understand that no one goes first, they all attack at the same time. Riiiiiiiiight. That's infinitely more ridiculous than five or so Christmas themed adventures.

If all these races are that scared of the Doctor, then apparently all he has to do is just redo his whole "The Earth....is.....protected!" speech, set up some transmitters around the Earth and problem solved.

Look, it was a cool speech, but they totally undercut those races the audience is supposed to find fearsome.

 

[The Wormhole]

Why doesn't he ever happen across trouble on Easter or Tet or El Dia de los Muertos or the Draconian Molting Festival?

Planet of the Dead does take place on Easter, and the Doctor even notes in the episode he doesn't usually do Easter since it's always moving around, though he was present for the first one. Also, the scene in The Eleventh Hour with young Amelia Pond takes place on Easter, even though she is praying to Santa Claus.

 

[Christopher]

The series may shamelessly pander to the American audience for the other 13 episodes a year but it's nice to have one that remembers its roots.

Though ironically it never really did Xmas specials in the Classic Series (with the obvious exception of Feast Of Steven...)

Exactly what I was going to say. It doesn't make sense to call this "remembering its roots," because it's a practice that's specific to the revival series. The original series didn't do holiday episodes as a matter of course.

And, yes, lots of American shows do holiday episodes, but in my experience it isn't every single year. For instance, M*A*S*H ran for 11 seasons but only did four Christmas-themed episodes (which, admittedly, is one more than there were Christmases in the Korean War, but that show's chronology was all over the place). Buffy the Vampire Slayer only did one Christmas episode in seven years. Smallville only did two in ten years.

And doing recurring holiday episodes makes more sense in the context of a show set on Earth in the present day than it does in the context of a science fiction show about bouncing around all of time and space. I don't think Red Dwarf ever did a Christmas episode, except for a non-canonical set of online shorts in 2007. Star Trek did a Halloween episode once, but only once, not every year. And they never did a Christmas episode per se; "Dagger of the Mind" mentioned a shipboard Christmas party in passing, but it aired in early November. And "Charlie X" took place on Thanksgiving (complete with the groaningly America-centric line "It's Thanksgiving on Earth"), but it aired in mid-September.

So except maybe for some sitcoms and cartoons, I can't think of a show that's done Christmas-themed episodes on as consistent an annual basis as modern Who.

 

[Lonemagpie]

In the UK it's historically been comedy shows that have done Xmas episodes. Dramas doing them on an annual basis have been far rarer until the past decade or two. (For example The Avengers did one back in the 60s - but only the one.)

 

[Captaindemotion]

We get an extra episode a year that we wouldn't otherwise get. Is that really such a bad thing?

Christmas is a big deal on UK TV. All the soaps do an extra long and usually extra-dramatic special on Christmas day. Half the kids on Coronation Street have to get a joint Christmas/birthday present, for example! It's great that DW is now one of the mainstays and tent poles of the BBC and one of their big events for Christmas day. Long may it last.

 

[Christopher]

We get an extra episode a year that we wouldn't otherwise get. Is that really such a bad thing?

Of course not, but that doesn't mean the story has to be Christmas-themed. Those are two totally separate issues.

 

[Ithekro]

The BBC is willing to put money into Doctor Who for Christmas. Therefore it needs to maintain the theme or at least the time of happening on Christmas. All the Christmas specials since 2005 have taken place on or around Christmas. (the 9th Doctor misses out on Christmas with Rose due to regeneration, though mentions Christmas, implying he was Santa Claus. Though it seems to be established later that the Doctor simply knows Santa Claus)

In 2005, the newly regenerated 10th Doctor takes Rose home for Christmas.
In 2006, Donna's wedding is around Christmas time.
In 2007, the Titanic may crash into London (abandoned because its Christmas, and the last two years have been bad for that).
In 2008, the 10th Doctor happens to be in 19th mid-Century London on Christmas when the Cybermen decide to do things.
In 2009, it happens to be Christmas/New Years when the Master is brought back from the dead and Rassilon makes a move to end the Time War.
In 2010, Amy and Rory happen to be crashing into a planet where the shield generator like object is run by a Miserly man in need of a personality readjustement via time travel and "the Ghosts of Christmas". Takes place on Christmas via the liner's internal clocks.
In 2011, the 11th Doctor visits 1940s England to repay a debt and happens to be on Christmas. It seems the Doctor likes Christmas.
In 2012, the 11th Doctor is living in isolation in Victorian times. He happens to run into Clara Oswin Oswald near Christmas and she managed to get his attention. Things happen with snow.
In 2013, the 11th Doctor arrives at Trenzalor, at a town called Christmas, and stays to protect Christmas for 900 years. Interacting with Clara Oswald who is having issues with family on Christmas day.

Now in 2014, the 12th Doctor is having issues with Santa Claus (who was established to be a real person years ago) and Clara.

A lot of these happen to be plots that take place on Christmas, but don't really have a Christmas them or plot element (save maybe the robot Santas attacking for two years and the attack of the christmas tree of death), while other are Doctor Who takes on famous Christmas stories. Because Doctor Who is a major deal now, it can get that money for a special. Back in to olden days, Doctor Who may not have been that big of a deal, and not worth the BBC spending extra on a special.

 

[Captaindemotion]

@Christopher^I don't agree that they're two different topics. It's the Christmas special. The Christmas theme seems to be the trade-off we get for the extra episode. It's designed to appeal to a wide swathe of the peak time bbc audience who might not otherwise watch.

Edit - as I typed, ithekro came up with a more comprehensive and detailed explanation than I did!

 

[Valin]

I don't understand all the fuss about Christmas-themed episodes. If you don't like Christmas-themed shows, don't watch them. I personally can't stand Draconian Molting Festival themed episodes (I had a very bad experience on Drac' Molting Day a few years ago), so I never watch them.

 

[The Wormhole]

We get an extra episode a year that we wouldn't otherwise get. Is that really such a bad thing?

Of course not, but that doesn't mean the story has to be Christmas-themed. Those are two totally separate issues.

Moffat says he feels the Christmas specials should be all about Christmas, and indeed his Christmas specials do tend to be more Christmasy than RTD's were.

 

[Skywalker]

We get an extra episode a year that we wouldn't otherwise get. Is that really such a bad thing?

Of course not, but that doesn't mean the story has to be Christmas-themed. Those are two totally separate issues.

Moffat says he feels the Christmas specials should be all about Christmas, and indeed his Christmas specials do tend to be more Christmasy than RTD's were.

I agree with him on that. I do like how his era's Christmas specials tend to have more of a Christmasy feel to them, whereas RTD's usually felt more like regular episodes which just happened to take place on Christmas.

 

[The Wormhole]

Of course not, but that doesn't mean the story has to be Christmas-themed. Those are two totally separate issues.

Moffat says he feels the Christmas specials should be all about Christmas, and indeed his Christmas specials do tend to be more Christmasy than RTD's were.

I agree with him on that. I do like how his era's Christmas specials tend to have more of a Christmasy feel to them, whereas RTD's usually felt more like regular episodes which just happened to take place on Christmas.

It works both ways, really. The Christmasy ones do seem to better fit in with the festive tidings of the seasons, while the regular episodes which take place at Christmas make it easier to watch them at any time of the year. Indeed, even Moffat seemed to scale back the Christmas theme in Time of the Doctor probably because he realized that as Smith's regeneration episode, people are going to watch it at any time of the year, not just at Christmas.

 

[Ithekro]

It is the only one so far that can say it takes place AT Christmas.

 

[Starkers]

Was the Snowman that Christmassy? I mean it took place in winter, and there were snowmen but they're not specifically Christmas related per se. I'd say the Time of the Doctor was more Christmassy than The Snowman.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I don't understand all the fuss about Christmas-themed episodes. If you don't like Christmas-themed shows, don't watch them. I personally can't stand Draconian Molting Festival themed episodes (I had a very bad experience on Drac' Molting Day a few years ago), so I never watch them.

So far I haven't minded Xmas themed episodes - but a Santa themed episode just looks... not for me, to say the least. Yet the trailer at the end of Death In Heaven looked fine.

 

[Sindatur]

It's also not accurate to complain about "all the Christmas Invasion of Earth" episodes in Moffat's Era. Of Moffat's 4 previous Christmas Episodes, only the Great Intelligence in The Snowman is invading Earth on Christmas.

The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe, The Doctor takes the Children on a Christmas Adventure on another planet, and no invasion
A Christmas Carol is not set on Earth, and is not an Invasion episode
Time of The Doctor is not set on Earth

 

[kirk55555]

I'm a fan of the Christmas specials, even if so many things happening on or near the same holiday every year is a bit unusual. Its Doctor who, so its a coincidence I'm not going to look too closely at. Besides, A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, period, so I'm willing to give them a break just think that they're usually fun (with the first one being the only exception, having The Doctor spend about 80% of his first episode away in bed was just annoying) and its Doctor who. Weird/silly coincidences really aren't a big deal in this show, at least to me.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'm a fan of the Christmas specials, even if so many things happening on or near the same holiday every year is a bit unusual. .

Mind you, look at 24th Century Trek, where all hell always breaks loose when the Stardate is full of 9s, indicating the end of the year. (Yes, that does mean December!)

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm a fan of the Christmas specials, even if so many things happening on or near the same holiday every year is a bit unusual. .

Mind you, look at 24th Century Trek, where all hell always breaks loose when the Stardate is full of 9s, indicating the end of the year. (Yes, that does mean December!)

Sure does suck that everyone is always getting into trouble on New Year's.

"What are your plans for New Year's?"
"Same as yours, fighting the Borg."

 

[Green Lantern]

I'm sick of all the Moffat specials being all about Christmas. It's starting to get silly now. RTD handled it fine, perfectly. But Moffat goes too far with it.