Ranking the DW Xmas specials

[Joe Washington]

1. The End of Time (because of the emotional swan song of the Tenth Doctor and the RTD era he was a part of)
2. Voyager of the Damned (because I was overwhelmed by the emotionally hard-hitting deaths of that special which were given so much power by the strong connection I formed with the characters especially Astrid who went down like a champ and it was this special that featured the first appearance of Donna's beloved grandfather)
3. A Christmas Carol (because of Michael Gambon's performance and the tearful love story of his character and the woman in the cryogenic chamber and the role the Doctor played in that)
4. The Christmas Invasion (because of how the special really shown the Tenth Doctor in action, showing us both his good, wacky side and his dark side that isn't open to second chances with people who cross him)
5. The Runaway Bride (because of the introduction of Donna Noble, one of my favorite DW companions, how it touched on the Doctor's heartbreak over Rose, and the scene when the Doctor unleashed his wrath on the Spider Queen before being stopped by Donna but I always felt there should have more added to the story than what we were given)
6. The Next Doctor (because the would-be Doctor was interesting, the scene in which the truth of who he is sinks in for him was so heartbreaking, and the thought of one woman managing to take control of an entire group of Cybermen and a Cyberman giant robot was brilliant but the rest of the story wasn't very compelling to me)
7. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (because it was decent but not great though I do give points to the heartwarming Doctor/Rory/Amy reunion at the end)

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I guess I'm one of the few who thought Next Doctor was fantastic all the way through. Yeah it gets a bit crazy and over the top at the end, but it's a freakin Christmas special-- a giant steampunk Cyberking stomping around London is exactly the kind of thing I WANT to see in an episode like that.

I figured everyone would be geeking out as much as I was over that. I guess most people were too busy taking this show waaay too seriously again, like always. Lol

You're not alone, and it's grown on me even more with repeat viewings.

 

[Photoman15]

Tough choice of order, but I'll give it a go (assuming these ARE all Christmas specials):

1. The Christmas Invasion
2. The End of Time
3. A Christmas Carol
4. The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe
5. Voyage of the Damned
6. The Runaway Bride
7. The Next Doctor

So far....

 

[Stevil2001]

I can't be bothered to rank all of them, but "The Runaway Bride" is my favorite.

 

[Tom]

I just cant beleive we have had 7 christmas specials so far.

Of course End of Time is my favorite

 

[Phily B]

End of Time
Voyage of the Damned
The Christmas Invasion
The Next Doctor
The Runaway Bride
Christmas Carol
The Doctor, Widow, and Wardrobe

 

[Mr Light]

I don't really like the Christmas Specials for the most part. It feels so wasteful to spend 1/14th of every single season on a Christmas themed story.

1) The Runaway Bride. the only one I actually really like and have no problems with.
2) The End of Time. so incredibly disappointing and anti-climactic. you bring back the Time Lords for all of five minutes and they never DO anything??? They don't even get to leave the room! And the Master is just so over the top ridiculous in this one. Sigh.
3) Voyage of the Damned. it's alright.
4) The Christmas Invasion. too slow. Tennant doesn't even appear until halfway through!
5) The Next Doctor. meh. at least there's bad guys in it.
6) The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. inoffensive, but needed a villain.
7) A Christmas Carol. boring. and I don't like the Doctor changing the timestream like that.

 

[Captaindemotion]

1 End of Time
2 Runaway Bride
3 Christmas Invasion
4 The Voyage of the Damned
5 The Next Doctor
6 The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
7 A Christmas Carol

 

[Stevil2001]

I don't really like the Christmas Specials for the most part. It feels so wasteful to spend 1/14th of every single season on a Christmas themed story.

I suspect that if there wasn't a Christmas special, you'd just get a 13-episode season.

 

[davejames]

Yeah it's basically a bonus episode. And plus it's a chance (more often than not) to see the Doctor interacting with different people and different companions.

 

[tomalak301]

Yeah it's basically a bonus episode. And plus it's a chance (more often than not) to see the Doctor interacting with different people and different companions.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of the one off characters though. I mean this last episode I just couldn't get that invested in the characters (Other than the mother, but it was kind of a small interest) and I just wonder if that's just lack of development. It's not just this episode though. Whenever the Doctor doesn't have any of the companions with them and the characters are just there only one time, (Like Planet of the Dead for example), it's hard for me to care for them and just see the Doctor. I guess that's why I thought the final 2 minutes were the best two minutes of the episode. It certainly was the most emotional.

 

[davejames]

Well yeah there's a risk (I couldn't have cared less about the characters in Planet of the Dead or Voyage of the Damned, for instance), but I think that just comes down to the writing more than anything else.

Donna, Jackson Lake, Kazran, and Captain Brooke were all well worth meeting and were pretty well-defined, I thought. And with the light, whimsical story being told this time, I don't think it was necessary for the kids to be anything more than likeable. Which they were.

 

[CaptainMatt]

The Christmas Invasion pretty much is my favorite Xmas story as it was such an unheard novelty then but I also enjoyed the humor in The End of Time with good old Wilf. The Runaway bride was ok with introducing the new companion of Donna Noble, but other than that the Xmas specials have lost their appeal for me, it's been done too many times now. The novelty's worn off I think. Just my opinion, please don't shoot me.

 

[G2309]

I've neve liked voyage of the damned much that I'm not sure why. Christmas Carol is my favourite I like to see different versions of that story.

 

[CaptainMatt]

A Christmas Carol works on a fun level though I hate getting Xmas episodes every December 25th. It downsizes the impact of having a special in the first place.

 

[23skidoo]

I've liked them all, though if I had to pick a favorite it would be Voyage of the Damned. That one could have just as easily been released as a movie (and probably would have if this were the 1960s when theatrical releases of TV episodes were a bit more commonplace - ref. The Saint, Man from UNCLE, etc.).

Least favorite would be The Next Doctor, but that's not even a knock because I enjoyed it tremendously as well.

I don't consider The End of Time a Christmas special given its unique nature and the fact it also doubled as a New Year's Special. Except for the presence of a few Christmas trees there's nothing in it that has anything to do with Christmas (just like the Easter special Planet of the Dead had one line of dialogue pertaining to Easter).

We are forgetting one other Christmas episode though that's worth ranking, even though it wasn't a special - that's Christopher Eccleston's Xmas episode, The Unquiet Dead.

Alex