A Christmas Carol

K-9

Well seeing as it's less than a week time for a thread:

4 clips included in the below video, doesn't give away too much if you already know the cast and basic storyline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZejNx20e-lc&feature=player_embedded

Seems very Christmassy obviously. Not sure if we can expect much from this as regards the series arch.

Doctor DooM

K-9 wrote: »

Well seeing as it's less than a week time for a thread:

4 clips included in the below video, doesn't give away too much if you already know the cast and basic storyline.

Seems very Christmassy obviously. Not sure if we can expect much from this as regards the series arch.

FYP.

pixelburp

This is the first time I've found myself genuinely looking forward to the xmas episode. It looks like it'll be a fun, Dickensian fairy-tale (in a steampunk'y sorta way), which is a far cry from the camp excesses of previous years.

Jessibelle

pixelburp wrote: »

This is the first time I've found myself genuinely looking forward to the xmas episode. It looks like it'll be a fun, Dickensian fairy-tale (in a steampunk'y sorta way), which is a far cry from the camp excesses of previous years.

AND it has Micheal Gambon


(I kinda worship him....)

K-9

pixelburp wrote: »

This is the first time I've found myself genuinely looking forward to the xmas episode. It looks like it'll be a fun, Dickensian fairy-tale (in a steampunk'y sorta way), which is a far cry from the camp excesses of previous years.

True, there is no pretence with this one, it's just a reworked Christmas story.

Jessibelle wrote: »

AND it has Micheal Gambon


(I kinda worship him....)

And Katherine Jenkins to look at too.

Jessibelle

K-9 wrote: »

.

And Katherine Jenkins to look at too.

I wonder if she'll sing? Her voice is amazing!!

K-9

Jessibelle wrote: »

I wonder if she'll sing? Her voice is amazing!!

I think I remember reading on twitter that she may sing one song.

Daemos

Somehow I'm less excited about this than other Christmas episodes, maybe because I'm catching up on Classic Who I haven't seen yet and don't feel the break was as long as before.

Should be good anyway, Moffat hasn't let us down yet

pixelburp

K-9 wrote: »

True, there is no pretence with this one, it's just a reworked Christmas story.



And Katherine Jenkins to look at too.

Yup she'll be belting out a tune apparently - so long as it's not something specially written by Murray Gold it should be OK

K-9

pixelburp wrote: »

Yup she'll be belting out a tune apparently - so long as it's not something specially written by Murray Gold it should be OK

Ah now, some of his stuff isn't bad. Dr. Who live wasn't a bad show at all. The music was the best part.

Stark

I thought some of the new music for the 5th season was excellent. It's the sound mixing that's more of an issue imo.

aidan_walsh

The Den of Geek spoiler free review was glowing.

Busi_Girl08

Am I missing something,

or was there a Father's Day Paradox near the end, when young Karzan met old?

Otherwise, it was feckin' BRILLIANT!!

Busi_Girl08

Also,

THE FEZ IS BACK!!!

aidan_walsh

The recording was interrupted, so going to need to wait for a repeat

ixoy

Easily the best Christmas special. It had it all! Great use of time travel and Matt Smith was wonderful. Some very funny moments but also some poignant ones too. Perhaps they could've used Amy and Rory more but it didn't bother me too much.
Oh and I need to get a fedora now...

Basq

Excellent stuff.. the first Who episode I've watched "live".

Distinct lack of Amy and Rory, but Gambon and Smith stole the show.

Couple of cracking lines.. loved it!

Daemos

Very good indeed, must rewatch it when the repeat is on. A very different tone to the previous Crimbo specials.

Also, the next time trailer looked... awesome!

Basq

Daemos wrote: »

Also, the next time trailer looked... awesome!

Arse... missed that!

Will YouTube later.

ebbsy

Wasnt better than EOT or Invasion in terms of Xmas specials......next season looks good though.

Stark

I didn't think it was all that great tbh. Better than the RTD specials but that's not saying much.

Basq

Just in case anyone, like me, missed the preview after the special..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxPOcrhoWpY

Aldebaran

I thought it was absolutely fantastic. There were some great lines in it too, my favourite being

'What do you call it when you have no feet but you're taking a run-up?'

Brilliant.

pixelburp

Needed more Obama recession speeches

trés bizarre; what a difference a ... year(?) makes. So I vaguely recall at this point last Christmas some handsome young poster - smixelfurp or some such username I believe he was called - writing a long tirade of festive, alcohol-fuelled haranguing, aimed at RTD & his last xmas / who story. This time around that urge doesn't really present itself. In fact if anything I thought this story one of the better nuWho stories since its restart. Mon dieu! (just finished watching Poirot, desolé)

We have gone from a camp, badly written mess to a poignant, touching & ultimately tragic Christmas story. It's funny how in many ways the show is still as silly (fish flying in the air?), yet its tone is so much less trashy & so somehow it all works. I read an editorial where Matt Smith's season of Who was described as "a fairy tale" and this story confirms it really. Magical, a touch of the fantastic, and yet at the same, quite dark & grim. Or should that be Grimm. Ho ho.

Roll on season 6; the man-swoon for Matt Smith continues Karen Gillen has a hard time keeping my attention - though the re-appearance of the cop uniform helped.

Banjo Fella

"You know, that could almost be mistaken for a real person. Snowman isn't bad either." :pac:

Frickin' fantastic stuff! Definitely my favourite of the Christmas specials, it's the first one that really left me with that magical, festive feeling.

I loved the clever use of time-travel throughout, and the wonderful way they simultaneously presented the Doctor's influence on the past and present by using the projector. Moffat always has something special in store when he uses the TARDIS for more than providing a setting or an easy resolution to inescapable conundrums, and this was another great example!

And yay for Abigail, who both looked and sounded lovely.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Watched it yesterday evening with my cousin, but was only half paying attention, so much rewatch it again, but my initial reaction was it was pretty poor.

Stark

Yeah maybe it needs to be watched without family members annoying you and talking over it every 5 seconds.

off.the.walls

I thought it was amazing, was the best christmas special so far.

bigdaddyliamo

Well that was just lovely! Sci-fi/fantasy as it should be done.Watched it with my daughter and loved the whole package,really can't wait for easter.......:D
Best line?..for me:

what kind of tie is that? it's a cool tie!!!

Gambler

ok, FINALLY got a chance to watch it (had it recorded as I knew it would be ruined if I tried to watch it at the in-laws) and I have to say this was the best xmas special I've seen yet. Had a brilliant mix of laugh out loud moments and yet a real emotional punch all the way through.

If this is a sign of things to come (have the team hit their stride and found their comfort zone) then this coming season could well be the best of all the new who seasons..

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

not sure ill even bother with the next series after this special

big pile of meh

Mahatma coat

I liked it, Fish in the fog, Shark Charriots a ver Whovian take on a classic christmas tale, and cool to see Amy in the Police uniform HAWT.

Whats the story with rory, is he human or a Droid??

Banjo Fella

Mahatma coat wrote: »

Whats the story with rory, is he human or a Droid??

He's human again, thanks to the Big Bang Two. Shame in a way, that Auton gun-arm could have come in handy.

I think he was wearing the centurion gear during this episode for, er, other reasons. Possibly wibbly-wobbly ones, but not very timey-wimey.

Sleepy

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

Am I missing something,

or was there a Father's Day Paradox near the end, when young Karzan met old?

Otherwise, it was feckin' BRILLIANT!!

Really enjoyed this episode aside from

the niggling fact that two Karzans clashes against rules established during recent canon... Was any excuse given for it or am I mis-remembering the detail of Fathers Day and it was something specific to that episode which made it dangerous for one to meet oneself in a past life?

.

Doctor DooM

Anyone notice Ms Jenkins was singing about... the silence?

Jessibelle

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Anyone notice Ms Jenkins was singing about... the silence?

I thought that's what it was about but wasn't sure I heard properly over teh munching of roses and relatives asking me why this and that was happening. And I never got around to you-tubing it.:o
Did she have anything interesting to say?

Doctor DooM

Jessibelle wrote: »

I thought that's what it was about but wasn't sure I heard properly over teh munching of roses and relatives asking me why this and that was happening. And I never got around to you-tubing it.:o
Did she have anything interesting to say?

Mainly repeating about silence being all you hear, when you're alone.

Busi_Girl08

Sleepy wrote: »

Really enjoyed this episode aside from

the niggling fact that two Karzans clashes against rules established during recent canon... Was any excuse given for it or am I mis-remembering the detail of Fathers Day and it was something specific to that episode which made it dangerous for one to meet oneself in a past life?

.

I read on the IMDb DW forum, where someone gave this explanation.

Basically, because the Doctor changed Karzan's timeline, with bringing young Karzan to meet Abigail every Christmas Eve, etc etc,etc his whole timeline changed. So because the timeline has changed, there is no longer any link between the Young and Old Karzan that hugged.

Y. Karzan 1 - The Karzan the Doctor met and took to meet Abigail, save the shark, etc, to put all these new memories into Old Karzan's head.

Y. Karzan 2 - The Karzan the Doctor brought back to meet Old Karzan. I could be wrong, but possibly he brought him back BEFORE giving this version of young Karzan any of the new experiences YK1 had.

YK2 has a different timeline to YK1, so this version of him, never really existed, like the Amelia who meets the Doctor, vs the Amelia who doesn't. Not the same person, so nothing happens if they touch.

Phew!

angelll

Think that makes sense in my head busi_girl08,lol. It's like when kazran (with new memories) tried to help at the very end and the machine didn't recognise him as he had changed. I think.

Anyway,loved this episode,i cried and all .So so good. And glad that whinger amy didn't make too much of an appearance in it too.

Mahatma coat

I thought the issue in Fathers day was more to do with the Nasty demony thingys that ate Time and space ( Langolieers anyone ), same matter in same space created a paradox which gave them a foothold inside the church, when Rose held Baby Rose it caused this.

as for Karzan, well the Tardis was part of Events at that point so the timelines were being written and rewritten, because the tardis spanned both timelines simultaneously there was no real issue of a Paradox as the entire multiple timelines issue was encompased as being one TARDIS event, or somesuch, FFS Its a TV Program , if you can suspend disbelief to a Shark that can swim in Fog and tow a buggy then I'm sure we can let the odd universe crushing paradox slide :D:D

Stark

It was more than just Father's Day. The Doctor is never able to revisit people at points in their timestream before he encounters them. If he did, no-one would die in the Whoverse, the Doctor would just take a quick trip back in the TARDIS any time anything happened to them.

Though I think the reason the alien things appeared in Father's Day was because Pete Tyler ended up alive when he shouldn't have been. More minor changes were doable it seems.

Doctor DooM

Mahatma coat wrote: »

I thought the issue in Fathers day was more to do with the Nasty demony thingys that ate Time and space ( Langolieers anyone ), same matter in same space created a paradox which gave them a foothold inside the church, when Rose held Baby Rose it caused this.

Yarp it wasn't Rose touching herself (oo-er) which was so catastrophically bad, it was merely bad enough to make a situation where time and space were already falling apart much worse.


This definitely falls under either

a) The ol' "The Doctor knows what he's doing so he can get away with these things in the right conditions" or

b) TImey wimey.

Doctor DooM

Stark wrote: »

It was more than just Father's Day. The Doctor is never able to revisit people at points in their timestream before he encounters them. If he did, no-one would die in the Whoverse, the Doctor would just take a quick trip back in the TARDIS any time anything happened to them.

Though I think the reason the alien things appeared in Father's Day was because Pete Tyler ended up alive when he shouldn't have been. More minor changes were doable it seems.

That's not been true in the new series though. Sure he visited Martha as a parlour trick the first time he encounters her- the whole tie thing.

Not defending it, it opens a can of worms

ebbsy

That episode was no Father's day, or anywhere near it.

Basq

Just rewatched it.. as first time round, typical Christmas scenario of nothing but questions from non-watchers like "who's that?", "why's he there?", "what's the screwdriver do? Is it a Philips head?" etc.. and enjoyed it even more!

I do think this episode could possibly be one of Smith's finest performances as The Doctor... the guy can say so much just by a simple stand in the background or a roll of eyes to heaven.

And I knew Gambon would be great.. but he was absolutely outstanding.

And the 'Coming Soon' teaser got me all too pumped!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Finally got a chance to sit down and rewatch the episode in peace. Very very good, I thought on the second watch.