The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe - Christmas Special 2011

[PTeppic]

Can't believe I'm creating this thread 9 hours after the episode ended!

13/13. The Time Lord crash-lands on Earth during the Second World War, where he tries to make sure two unfortunate evacuees and their mother have the best Christmas ever. He transports them to a magical land dominated by an enchanted forest - but that is when their troubles really begin. Claire Skinner, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Alexander Armstrong join Matt Smith in this year's festive special, inspired by CS Lewis's Narnia stories.

Some suitable nods to the source material (Victorian lamp-head, I'm talking to you), some typically great one-liners ("Do what I do: hold tight and pretend it's a plan", "There are some sentences I should just keep away from", "I got dressed in a hurry"), visual gags (running into the wrong police box), great acting from the adults and a seasonal happy ending.

It wasn't perfect (why would Marge have a gun, even in war-time, though the reply to Bill Bailey was inspired/moving) and completely over-the-top sentimentally (even for Christmas) but the best way to let the turkey digest...

 

[Pyan]

Light and reasonably fluffy - as Pteppic says, just right when you're trying to assimilate lots of food and drink - but rather spoiled for me by the casual writing out of the other two surviving crew-members of the Lancaster.

I did like Pond's robust way of dealing with unwanted carol-singers, though...

 

[Susan Boulton]

I want to know how come that her husband was piloting a Lancaster in December 1941 when they did not come in service until March 1942! and that was only 4 aircraft dropping mines in the channel. The aircraft did not begin to take part in major bombing until May of that year and then their numbers were small.

The annoying thing it that it would have taken 5 minutes googling to find these facts and just a matter of setting the story Christmas 1942. It would not have affected the story in the least, just feels like sloppy work by the production crew.

 

[Pyan]

Perhaps it was something to do with the timey-wimey vortex thing...

But you've got to work with the props you can get - I don't think there's any Short Stirlings left, which is what Alexander Armstrong would have been flying at that time. Now, if he'd been a Spitfire pilot, it would have wiped out both our niggles in one fell swoop...

 

[Susan Boulton]

Perhaps it was something to do with the timey-wimey vortex thing...

But you've got to work with the props you can get - I don't think there's any Short Stirlings left, which is what Alexander Armstrong would have been flying at that time. Now, if he'd been a Spitfire pilot, it would have wiped out both our niggles in one fell swoop...

Ok, props etc but as I said saying it was Christmas 1942 instead or 1941 would have cleared that up and made no difference to the story.

By the way the character was too old to be a Spitfire pilot and actually a bit old to be a Lanc one. Most were between 20 and 25 years of age. No power assisted controls, all lever and cable they were "fighting" the aircraft all the time, it took a hell of a toll on the body.

It just took the shine off the story a bit.

 

[Ursa major]

At least no-one has complained about some of the wooden acting....


As Pyan says, it was meant to be a bit of fun and was. Most of the target audience wouldn't know when the Lancaster came in to service. (And apart from its availability, there can't be many WWII bombers that would be immediately recognised as such by the younger members in the audience.)


It was good to see the Doctor as bystander: he was there to set the ball rolling and provided a (not entirely accurate) source of background information. Best of all, he wasn't his omnipotent, deity-lite self, the one able to step in and solve all with some random twiddling of controls. And the uselessness of the sonic screwdriver was good to see, given how prominent it has become.

 

[purple_kathryn]

I would say most people wouldn't know never mind the target audience

I enjoyed it muchly!

 

[Perpetual Man]

Well putting aside any anachronisms I enjoyed it, but little more than that. I thought it was a light fluffy contrivance that was fun and then pushed aside and forgotten about. That was probably why I was not too bothered about the details.

I did like the few continuity references, but the whole thing was rather syrupy - perhaps the ideal way to put your feet up after too much turkey!

 

[Interference]

Too fluffy for me, I'm afraid. Moffat's unabashed sentimentality is really starting to grate on my nerves these days - especially these Christmas days.

 

[Lenny]

Some nice ideas (whatever it was about the trees, and the mining thing), completely ruined by children, over the top family values and Christmas.

They did some truly terrible things with the time vortex, too. Whatever happened to it being a monstrous place of danger traversed only by protected time machines?

Seeing Mr. and Mrs. Pond was nice. Glad to see that they hate carols singers, too.

 

[Interference]

....Now, if he'd been a Spitfire pilot, it would have wiped out both our niggles in one fell swoop...

... including what happened to the rest of his crew? Weren't they invited for Christmas?

 

[Ursa major]

Then here's a thought that might cheer some of you up: the pilot did not survive. All the Doctor did was to arrange for the pilot's family to join him in the "afterlife", which is probably going to turn out to be one of the scarier places one can reach through the time vortex.

This interpretation takes away all the cloying non-Scroogeness and restores the time vortex to its rightful position as a monstrous place of danger.



(Of course, none of this could be made too explicit in the programme - kids were watching it - though the frequent mention of souls was a pretty big hint.)

 

[Dave]

Too fluffy for me, I'm afraid. Moffat's unabashed sentimentality is really starting to grate on my nerves these days - especially these Christmas days.

I'm afraid none of my household liked it either. We also wondered where the rest of the crew were and almost fell asleep. These Christmas episodes seem to now survive of the size of the guest cast rather than any semblance of story.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Didn't care for it much. Plot was too sprawling and all over the place and there were unnecessary characters. Can just about let all this go because it's a Christmas special, a one off that's supposed to be light, fluffy and fun for the season (although while on the topic, I hear that Moffat's not a fan of two-parters and won't be doing any in the next series).

The only bit I did really like is the very end, when it felt like we were back on familiar ground. Plus the Doctor being lovely. Happy tears, aww.

But otherwise, eh.

 

[ctg]

I quite liked it and I think you're watching it in a wrong light.

The Christmas Episode was brilliant, and it was very well done. There was no doubts about it. It was a clear step off the RTD's palette. And the Doctor went a got himself a Christmas Dinner unlike the number 10.

The Doctor is clearly presenting the Doctor that River Song remembers in her Journal, when she progresses through time in now her own dimension, and what we saw was the Doctor fixing the Tardis, which explains a couple of Tardises's that we've seen in the last few seasons.

The heart of the Tardis that we saw in the box is able to go clearly in many alternative time dimensions, and I really liked the way the Doctor explained the two-dimensional (a time-shift) jump from one point to another.

The visuals alone we really nice.

I think he has balls to take Doctor Who where-ever he likes it and there will always be people that loves this series.

 

[PTeppic]

And the Doctor went a got himself a Christmas Dinner unlike the number 10.

Number 10 got a Christmas dinner on the day of his regeneration, at the end of "The Christmas Invasion".

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Number 10 got a Christmas dinner on the day of his regeneration, at the end of "The Christmas Invasion".

And wasn't it Christmas dinner that he went strolling off to with "The Next Doctor" who wasn't?

I liked this episode, although it's not one that I'll feel the need to revisit often. I was particularly taken with that line, "Do what I do, hold on tight and pretend it's a plan".

 

[Abernovo]

I finally got to see this one. They've just broadcast it here today. It was okay. It started out quite well, in fact, Lancaster anachronisms aside.

But basically bringing the pilot father back from the dead? Sorry, a step too far. Too sentimental, trying to stop any possibility of sadness in a Christmas Special, especially after the conversation between the Doctor and Madge, concerning how sad things did sometimes happen to spoil happy occasions. It was at that point I began to hope that they wouldn't find a way for the father to survive. I had a horrid feeling my hopes would be dashed.

And, as has been mentioned, where was the rest of the crew? What about the crewmember who was injured (if never seen, only mentioned)?

Okay, but could have been much better. On the plus side, Matt Smith is growing on me. Not grating as much as he did.

 

[IanK]

the Lancaster issue is a mistake and I think hands should be held up because that's the kind of historical inaccuracy that you expect in an American film about British history, not something from the BBC (who actually sent reporters on raids in Lancasters!)

Still, it was great to see such a wonderful machine in the show!