Doctor Who's Christmas Episode...what's it called? Narnia Something? Whatev. I Liked It.
This review brought to you by:
The letter L
The number 3
And several beers.
Yeah, I'm about a week late on this one, but SO WAT. Lemme tell yous guys what I thought.
Well, objectively, that was a bit rubbish, wasn't it? Hand-wavey and silly, with an ending you could see coming miles away (no pun intended). Madge's "Because I'm a MOM" motivation annoyed in particular. What, this woman has nothing else going on in her life but being a mom? Well, maybe in WWII that's kind of true. And she'd just lost her husband. She was clinging to whatever she had, and protecting her kids from the terrible Truth was big on her mind. But still. Felt a little hand-wavey. And there was no real threat to anything. The trees weren't harmful, and the technician people from Androzoni Major certainly weren't dangerous (and the bit about their weapons having trouble with wool vs. weapons was unexpectedly demented and hilarious). Frankly, the most dangerous entity in this whole story was The Doctor, with his ridiculously complicated and under-researched Christmas Space Portal.
I had a thought about the Christmas Space Portal. Why did he activate it so early? If he didn't want them getting into it before Christmas Day, then he should have waited until Christmas Day to turn the thing on. See? Problem solved. Also, another thing: so this planet looks like Christmas. But it's not a Christmas Planet. It's doing its own planet forest thing, without a care in the world about people and their ideas about things like Christmas. But the kids think it's a pretty Christmas Planet. Huuuuuge potential for things to go Horribly Wrong. Hence, I'm sure, the Doctor's thing about how it was supposed to be a "guided tour." Even more impetus to KEEP THE PORTAL SHUT UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY. Sheesh, I'm reminded of Rory's comment to the Doctor about looking up whether a planet they're visiting is currently having a plague or not, first. Simple things like that would go a loooooong way towards making the Doctor's life, and the lives of his companions, so much easier. But no. The Doctor doesn't do sensible things like that. As much as he may act like a child, rigging hammocks and dancing chairs, he still has to ask, "who opens their Christmas presents early?" before remembering that, oh yeah, kids do that sort of thing all the time. The Doctor is childish, but he is not child.
I could go on, picking nits. But I won't. Know why?
Because I liked it. It was fun, it was silly, it had a happy ending. It name-checked a Classic Who thingie (although Androzoni is not a reference I would make in a silly, happy Christmas story). It was witty, and it was fun. No stupid River Song in the way, no weird timey-wimeyness to deal with (although one can't help but wonder what became of Madge's husband's co-pilots), no angst. Just happiness for everybody.
Though, I did think it a little creepy that Rory and Amy kept a place for the Doctor every year at Christmas. Like Elijah during Passover. Eeek. Weeeeeiirrrd. A touch of godlikeness, still. Bleh. Whatev. I LIKED IT. It was junk food for my brain and my emotions and I'm okay with that.
You know what would be awesome? If Doctor Who treated their Christmas specials the way the Simpsons treat their Halloween Specials: as crazy, non-canon one-offs. I sort of wish they'd just go for broke on these things and do weird, game-changing, ridiculous stuff. The Doctor is a time traveler. Surely his timeline has changed massively over the years. I'd love to see him treated like a pick-your-own-adventure story, where all these alternative endings and surreal situations are possible to explore, then leave, because time is branched like that. Wouldn't that be awesome? I think it'd be awesome.
So, yeah. Whatever. I liked the Christmas episode. I'm liking Matt Smith's Doctor more and more, particularly when he's away from River and Amy and allowed to be ludicrous.
The letter L
The number 3
And several beers.
Yeah, I'm about a week late on this one, but SO WAT. Lemme tell yous guys what I thought.
Well, objectively, that was a bit rubbish, wasn't it? Hand-wavey and silly, with an ending you could see coming miles away (no pun intended). Madge's "Because I'm a MOM" motivation annoyed in particular. What, this woman has nothing else going on in her life but being a mom? Well, maybe in WWII that's kind of true. And she'd just lost her husband. She was clinging to whatever she had, and protecting her kids from the terrible Truth was big on her mind. But still. Felt a little hand-wavey. And there was no real threat to anything. The trees weren't harmful, and the technician people from Androzoni Major certainly weren't dangerous (and the bit about their weapons having trouble with wool vs. weapons was unexpectedly demented and hilarious). Frankly, the most dangerous entity in this whole story was The Doctor, with his ridiculously complicated and under-researched Christmas Space Portal.
I had a thought about the Christmas Space Portal. Why did he activate it so early? If he didn't want them getting into it before Christmas Day, then he should have waited until Christmas Day to turn the thing on. See? Problem solved. Also, another thing: so this planet looks like Christmas. But it's not a Christmas Planet. It's doing its own planet forest thing, without a care in the world about people and their ideas about things like Christmas. But the kids think it's a pretty Christmas Planet. Huuuuuge potential for things to go Horribly Wrong. Hence, I'm sure, the Doctor's thing about how it was supposed to be a "guided tour." Even more impetus to KEEP THE PORTAL SHUT UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY. Sheesh, I'm reminded of Rory's comment to the Doctor about looking up whether a planet they're visiting is currently having a plague or not, first. Simple things like that would go a loooooong way towards making the Doctor's life, and the lives of his companions, so much easier. But no. The Doctor doesn't do sensible things like that. As much as he may act like a child, rigging hammocks and dancing chairs, he still has to ask, "who opens their Christmas presents early?" before remembering that, oh yeah, kids do that sort of thing all the time. The Doctor is childish, but he is not child.
I could go on, picking nits. But I won't. Know why?
Because I liked it. It was fun, it was silly, it had a happy ending. It name-checked a Classic Who thingie (although Androzoni is not a reference I would make in a silly, happy Christmas story). It was witty, and it was fun. No stupid River Song in the way, no weird timey-wimeyness to deal with (although one can't help but wonder what became of Madge's husband's co-pilots), no angst. Just happiness for everybody.
Though, I did think it a little creepy that Rory and Amy kept a place for the Doctor every year at Christmas. Like Elijah during Passover. Eeek. Weeeeeiirrrd. A touch of godlikeness, still. Bleh. Whatev. I LIKED IT. It was junk food for my brain and my emotions and I'm okay with that.
You know what would be awesome? If Doctor Who treated their Christmas specials the way the Simpsons treat their Halloween Specials: as crazy, non-canon one-offs. I sort of wish they'd just go for broke on these things and do weird, game-changing, ridiculous stuff. The Doctor is a time traveler. Surely his timeline has changed massively over the years. I'd love to see him treated like a pick-your-own-adventure story, where all these alternative endings and surreal situations are possible to explore, then leave, because time is branched like that. Wouldn't that be awesome? I think it'd be awesome.
So, yeah. Whatever. I liked the Christmas episode. I'm liking Matt Smith's Doctor more and more, particularly when he's away from River and Amy and allowed to be ludicrous.