Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Has anyone else watched this?

I thought it was brilliant, the best Christmas special ever! Steven Moffat sure gave us a great new take on "A Christmas Carol". It was a fun and entertaining sci fi tale of romance, redemption and timey wimey-ness.

Also, I can't remember the exact quote, but I LOL'd at the Doctor saying that he just got engaged to Marilyn Monroe. "Marilyn, get your coat!"

And finally, did anyone else see the Series 6 trailer. Can you say awesome or what? The Doctor at Area 51 = Epic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm2nh4CjUu0

 

[Robbie_Rocket_Pants]

Hate to say it but the special was just as boring and depressing as sgu. Like you said, it was just a reworking of the Scrooge story only more boring. Dr Who should be sci-fi not Dickensian. Even some die hard fans that were watching with us were disappointed by it.

I havent watched it yet but last night, after reading it was going to be "A Christmas Carol" I said to my Dad that "I actually like Dr Who Christmas Specials to not actually be about Christmas but about Dr Who". It did sound shit from the description but I'll give it a go anyway.

 

[Joelist]

I rather liked it.

Doctor Who doesn't always have to be pure sci-fi, and this was well acted and also well balanced between sci-fi ( including some clever use of the Tardis) and a sort of whimsical drama.

 

[Robbie_Rocket_Pants]

I rather liked it.

Doctor Who doesn't always have to be pure sci-fi, and this was well acted and also well balanced between sci-fi ( including some clever use of the Tardis) and a sort of whimsical drama.

Like I said, I have it streaming now on BBC iplayer so will be back with my verdict.

 

[Tropicana]

I watched it last night

I thought it was very entertaining.

It wasn't as epic as the time The Doctor had to battle the cybermen in Victorian London or stop the starship Titanic from crashing into contemporary Buckingham Palace; but it was cleverly written in some parts, so really enjoyed the element of Christmas Past, Present was alright but Future was cleverly written.

 

[Overmind One]

Those arent the Thunderbirds...who are they?

Hate to say it but the special was just as boring and depressing as sgu. Like you said, it was just a reworking of the Scrooge story only more boring. Dr Who should be sci-fi not Dickensian. Even some die hard fans that were watching with us were disappointed by it.

I thought the oic in your siggie was the Thunderbirds at first, but they arent. Its still ITC, though. What series is that from?

 

[Tropicana]

Hate to say it but the special was just as boring and depressing as sgu. Like you said, it was just a reworking of the Scrooge story only more boring. Dr Who should be sci-fi not Dickensian. Even some die hard fans that were watching with us were disappointed by it.

Well it just hasn't been the same since David Tennant left.

I find Steve Moffat's work (he's the writer for the xmas episode) to be a hit and a miss sometimes. He can write epics very well like, "Sound of the Drums", "Last of the Time Lords", "Silence in the Library" but I wouldn't consider "A Christmas Carol" to be an epic. It's really so-so but DW shouldn't be treated so seriously, imo.

 

[Robbie_Rocket_Pants]

I've just watched it & I was pleased. The way he used the future to sort everything out was pretty clever.

So whereas this isn't Moffat's best work I have to disagree with the Pigmeister to a degree - this was far superior to anything TPTB of SGU have to offer.

Even at it's worst, the writing for Doctor Who displays aptitude at portraying awesome characters, good drama, brilliant sci-fi (most notably time paradoxes etc) & this ep was even very touching - but not in an emo way & I'm not about to go & write about it in my big gay journal.

 

[Tropicana]

Karen Gillian's hot as ever!

You can't doubt she is a stunner, she has this sexiness about her, it's all natural.

 

[shavedape]

I found it to be passable as saccharine Dr. Who episodes go. Alot of it was telegraphed as to what was going to happen so not much was a surprise. I will say that compared to SGU it delivered what it promised and is still light years better than anything SGU. Not only was there action but there was "movement" to the story and involved characters that one could care about, even the one-off characters were developed well enough to be worthy of interest. Funny how they can pull that off with Dr. Who but SGU can't pull that off with established characters.

 

[Tropicana]

I found it to be passable as saccharine Dr. Who episodes go. Alot of it was telegraphed as to what was going to happen so not much was a surprise. I will say that compared to SGU it delivered what it promised and is still light years better than anything SGU. Not only was there action but there was "movement" to the story and involved characters that one could care about, even the one-off characters were developed well enough to be worthy of interest. Funny how they can pull that off with Dr. Who but SGU can't pull that off with established characters.

Oh definitely, we got depth with the older Kazran and what made him mean, and I was interested in the love developing between the young Kazran and Abigail. It was weird, we saw it blossom (my family went, "Aww!" when the two were being awkward but flirty) and how it developed and how that affected Kazran for years.

It would have been nice if the Doctor found out what ailment Abigail was suffering from, and thus cured her.

 

[shavedape]

Oh definitely, we got depth with the older Kazran and what made him mean, and I was interested in the love developing between the young Kazran and Abigail. It was weird, we saw it blossom (my family went, "Aww!" when the two were being awkward but flirty) and how it developed and how that affected Kazran for years.

It would have been nice if the Doctor found out what ailment Abigail was suffering from, and thus cured her.

Yeah, I half expected some miracle cure at the end but that wouldn't have worked with the age difference between the two then and would have made it too over the top. Tragically romantic in a way, which has its own appeal. And again, it's amazing how two characters in a single Dr. Who show can elicit sympathy/empathy from us viewers while SGU characters haven't been able to do that in two seasons.

 

[Joelist]

I have to admit I liked the lack of epic spectacle. Not every story has to be earth shattering, and this installment of Who was an excellent job of telling a smaller story. It was well scripted (a characteristic of Moffat - he tends to place plot over character) and managed emotion without emo (something the late SGU could not manage).

 

[Klepto]

I got this ep but havn't got around to watching it. Tho I do love all the new doctor who show's just not the old ones.