Halfway out of the dark

[alexsarll]

The Doctor Who Christmas special became a tradition out of nowhere. But more than that, the Doctor Who Christmas special starring David Tennant and written by Russell T Davies became a tradition. All five of them, same team. Charitably, two and a half of them were good. One was the worst Doctor Who story ever. Could Moffat and Matt Smith follow that and do it better?

Of course they bloody could. Best Christmas Who ever. It helped that when it wasn't ripping off Moffat's own first professional Who, 'Continuity Errors', it was reworking Paul Cornell's 'The Hopes and Fears of All the Years. But with the exception of that slightly vexing swerve at the end, it was otherwise a thing of utter beauty, unashamedly soppy but never schmaltzy, smart without confusing the casual viewers. In other words: utterly, near-perfectly Doctor Who.

Merry Christmas.

Comments

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. :)

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

I laughed, I cried, I jumped up and down with glee. Lovely stuff.

[amuchmoreexotic.livejournal.com]

Really? It seemed like Moffat parodying himself to me.

I like it when they remember that it's a time travel show, but for the looping, self-referential stuff to work, there needs to be some kind of story beyond a series of contrived character beats. I kept waiting for the real threat to be introduced.

Why doesn't the super-genius, super-observant Doctor work out what the countdown timer is about? And what the hell kind of illness leaves you looking that good when you are one day away from dying?

Bah, humbug.

[intermix.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe I was the only one who was sitting there thinking, 'So long, and thanks for all the fish.'

WHY HAS NO ONE MENTIONED THIS YET? WHYYYYYYY?

[miss-sheldon.livejournal.com]

what was the worst? x

[(Anonymous)]

Is the 8 year-old girl named Lucy?