Christmas special title revealed - "Last Christmas"
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
I hope it takes place at a ski resort.
I hope George Michael makes an appearance
"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart."
Good thing he's got 2.
Good thing he's got 2.
Next year I'm hoping for "Do they know it's Christmas?" with guest appearance by Bono as a business tycoon for ultimate ironic effect.
I really, genuinely hope George Michael makes an appearance. And Andrew Ridgeley.
I wish just once they'd do a Christmas special that wasn't specifically about/set during Christmas. It's getting ridiculous how frequently the Doctor has Christmas-themed adventures.
Failing that, they should remake "The Feast of Steven." We'll never see it any other way...
Failing that, they should remake "The Feast of Steven." We'll never see it any other way...
So basically what you're asking for is this:
without any stories that actually relate to Christmas despite it being Christmas themed.
Doctor Who's "Christmas Special" is holiday themed entertainment for the holidays, not a regular episode of Doctor Who that happens to be new for the holiday. There's no point to doing that as opposed to just making the regular season one episode longer.
I happen to like the holiday theme as it's only once a year, and he's only had...what, five of these adventures? You think that's ridiculous?
What's ridiculous is the amount of aliens who've tried to take over Earth or destroy it, within weeks, months or a few years of the other guys invasion, yet their advance scouts (some of whom have been on earth for weeks, months or years) never seemed to detect the other, nor did any of these guys ever go "Whoa! I'm not about to let those guys take over MY planet!"
The Earth in Doctor Who is an invasion magnet, yet seemingly none of these races ever detect the others or do anything about them or even reference that the other guys were even there or acknowledge all the other aliens that they'll have to fend off given that Earth seems to be THE planet to invade.
On top of that, they all use the relatively small island of England for their staging area. But yeah, five Christmas themed adventures is "ridiculous".
The Runaway Bride wasn't very Christmassy, neither was Voyage of the Damned or The End of Time.
It's really only been Moffat's tenure which has shoved Christmas down people's throats as a main plot point and not simply as a setting.
It's really only been Moffat's tenure which has shoved Christmas down people's throats as a main plot point and not simply as a setting.
So, Jenna's out, then? Last Christmas surely refers to her and the Doctor's last Xmas together... (as well as the song, and presumably some threat)
On the the other hand it's so obvious that it could be a double-bluff. I can see Moffat having a big old laugh at having made people think she was leaving when she wasn't.
I liked how they handled it during the Tennant years when he showed up on Christmas Day to find that the whole city had been abandoned because of all the alien crap they had dealt with the last few years.
But I have to say, I like that the Christmas specials are Christmas-themed. Capaldi's Doctor would make an excellent Grinch.
Or "Thirteen's Days Of Christmas".
Agreed on both- why stick around after that pattern was clear?I liked how they handled it during the Tennant years when he showed up on Christmas Day to find that the whole city had been abandoned because of all the alien crap they had dealt with the last few years.
But I have to say, I like that the Christmas specials are Christmas-themed. Capaldi's Doctor would make an excellent Grinch.
IMO part of Capaldi's take on the Doctor is that he is working with barriers- he has walls set up between even people he cares about. A Christmas show would be a good one to confront that.
Of course there's a point to telling an extra, bigger story. There was certainly a point to "The Time of the Doctor," for instance. The "town called Christmas" setting for that story and the Christmas celebrations back home were gratuitous and expendable, though. (Although it is thanks to that episode that I now understand what "Christmas crackers" are.)
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.)
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.
Good point. Still, that just made it feel arbitrary that they happened to be taking place at Christmas. The contrivance is that every single Christmas in the DW universe seems to involve an alien invasion, once a year like clockwork. It's the same kind of contrivance that bugged me in the 24th-century Star Trek series -- every time the stardates rolled around to 000, some massive galactic crisis erupted, on a regular and predictable schedule.
You're just going to have to accept that the Christmas Special is a traditional part of the British Television calendar (and Radio too) that extends far beyond just Doctor Who (seriously, have a look at some online listings come mid-December to see just what it is you're trying to fight against) and isn't going anywhere.
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 - and I'm fairly convinced that Horns Of Nimon is an intentional Xmas Panto. Yes I used the P word, but I also fucking *love* Horns Of Nimon...)
And it's not like American television series don't also celebrate Christmas with themed episodes near the holidays. (And not necessarily before Christmas; I remember one year where House's Christmas episode was shown well after Christmas.) American networks just don't load them onto Christmas Day; instead, they schedule stuff on Christmas Day that isn't likely to be watched because they know that the audience will be busy doing other things.
That said, I really wouldn't mind if the Doctor Who Christmas special were retired for a year or two, so that it can feel "special" again.
A coworker of mine and I both made WHAM jokes about the title "Last Christmas" this morning. We came up with the idea that it should take place in the background of the video, like Back to the Future Part II, with the Doctor, Clara, and Santa Claus doing everything they can to defeat the monsters to make sure George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley have a successful romantic weekend at the ski lodge. Since this year is the thirtieth anniversary of the song and all.
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