My
Series
Login

Login

Email / username and / or password are not correct.
Hessel's five favorite Doctor Who Christmas specials

Hessel's five favorite Doctor Who Christmas specials

Numerous Doctor Who Christmas specials have aired in recent years. For the holiday season, reviewer and Doctor Who fan Hessel lists his five favorite Christmas specials from the long-running sci-fi series.
Not the Daleks, not the Cybermen, not the Master, but Christmas. That is the Doctor's greatest enemy. When the science fiction series returned to television in 2005 after a sixteen-year absence, the Christmas specials became a regular occurrence. Even if Doctor Who didn't have a full season, at least we could count on a Christmas special.

When a new showrunner came in 2018, the Christmas episodes made way for New Year's specials and that is a shame. Starting next year, Russell T. Davies, who was showrunner between 2005 and 2010, will return to that role. Hopefully, we can enjoy his Christmas specials again in the future.

Thirteen Christmas specials aired between 2005 and 2017. I will highlight my five personal favorites.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2016)


In 2016, the superhero hype was in full swing. We saw Arrow, The Flash, Agent Carter, Daredevil, and Luke Cage on television. And in movie theaters, Batman fought Superman and Captain America fought Iron Man. What we didn't see was Doctor Who. 2016 was one of those years where no new season of Doctor Who was made. But the Christmas special continued and here's Doctor Who joining the superhero trend. In New York, the Doctor, along with superhero The Ghost and journalist Lucy Fletcher, investigate aliens experimenting with the human brain. The Ghost is an interesting homage to the Superman stories. At a time when Doctor Who explored some extremely dark storylines, this was a nice light-hearted and amusing change.

Video on youtube


The Snowmen (2012)


The Snowmen is the only Christmas special that is also part of a regular season. The first five episodes of the seventh season were broadcast in the fall of 2012, The Snowmen came at Christmas and the other eight episodes of this season followed in the spring of 2013. The Doctor is depressed in this episode after the loss of his two traveling companions Amy and Rory and has retreated to Victorian London. A barmaid named Clara tries to help him out of his depression when evil snowmen start popping up all over town. With The Snowmen, the new companion Clara gets a nice introduction. Furthermore, this forms an interesting start to the mystery that dominates the second half of the seventh season.

Video on youtube


The Husbands of River Song (2015)


In 2008, viewers and the Doctor were first introduced to time-traveling archaeologist River Song. While it was the Doctor's first time meeting, it wasn't for River. Future Doctors continued to encounter other versions of her from various timelines. River became part of complex stories in which the lives of her, the Doctor, and the Doctor's traveling companions intersected at different points in time. Her time, however, seemed to finally come to an end with the 2015 Christmas special, a madcap and at times humorous adventure that introduces the Doctor's new traveling companion Nardole. But at the same time, this is also an emotional episode in which River Song says goodbye to the series in a dignified way.

Video on youtube


A Christmas Carol (2010)


If there's one writer associated with Christmas, it's Charles Dickens. The character was seen twice in Doctor Who, and in 2010 showrunner Steven Moffat used his most famous story as the basis for an episode. A spaceship threatens to crash-land over a wintry village on a distant planet. The only one who can save the ship is an old miser from the village named Kazran Sardick, but he refuses to do anything. The Doctor decides to travel back in time to Sardick's childhood to find out why he is so bitter. A Christmas Carol is a magical story with fantastic guest stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins. Furthermore, it offers an interesting twist on the classic Dickens story and is a heartwarming episode to get into the Christmas spirit.

Video on youtube


The End of Time (2009)


2009 was the first year since the Doctor Who revival that we didn't see a full season. The BBC did broadcast several specials throughout the year. In these specials, it becomes clear that the Tenth Doctor knows that he does not have long and that anyone who "knocks four times" will mean his end. In the two-part special The End of Time, the time has finally come. The Doctor's archrival the Master is back and more dangerous than ever. But it turns out he's not the only one. For the first time in the new series, the Time Lords are back in full glory. But is that such good news? The End of Time is, in my opinion, the ultimate Doctor Who experience. David Tennant leaves the series at the peak of his abilities in a story full of emotion and unexpected twists. A worthy end to an era!

Video on youtube


This was my personal top five. But like I said, there have been a total of thirteen specials so if this one definitely doesn't appeal to you, there's still plenty to enjoy. Where the tenth Doctor said goodbye in The End of Time, we saw the eleventh and twelfth Doctor leave in The Time of the Doctor (2013) and Twice Upon a Time (2017). We also saw an adaptation of Narnia in The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (2011) and the story of the Titanic in Voyage of the Damned (2007) got its own twist. If you like Doctor Who and are in a Christmas mood, then these are definitely recommended.
Like?
View votes

Comments (0)

No comments have been posted yet.
Log in to leave a comment