The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe (2011)

[4thDoctor]

Was it just me or did anyone else think that the daughter looked a bit like Ace?

[TryWhistlingThis]

It passed but not honourably I must admit. I can't say it holds a candle to the previous Christmas Special, which was actually my favourite. While it's easy to appreciate the fact that Moffat was trying to tell a Christmas story, it lacked a certain tension that we've come to know in Doctor Who. This is where the previous Christmas Special excelled because not only was it set at Christmas, it also gave us characters that we really cared about because of their backgrounds and motivations. It's certainly true that this was present here, but we knew everything we needed to know about the characters after the first twenty minutes, it simply lacked surprise after this unlike the Kazran Sardick character (last year) where we slowly got to know, appreciate and perhaps empathise with the character over the course of the intricate arc.

In contrast, this year's Christmas Special mainly whittled down to a run of the mill "save the day" type plot which is a real let down given the sophisticated story telling that we got last year (ok, minus the fish and shark). But that doesn't make this a bad episode, it's just not memorable, very much like Voyage Of The Damned despite a charismatic performance by Kylie Minogue.

3 out of 5

[4thDoctor]

It does seem as if 'Doctor Who' as a show is moving away from science fiction and closer to fantasy. The Doctor himself seems to be becoming more and more immature as he grows older, I mean can you picture Doctors 1-6 taking children to Christmas Tree Land? The Doctor used to be all about the science, even chiding his companions about believing in magic or the supernatural, now he seems to be all about fantasy and sentiment. Maybe now that he is in his 11th life he's becoming a touch senile and over emotional with old age.

Spoiler:

And what is this nonsense about being able to contact the Doctor just by making a wish?

[Cold Fuzz]

The opening was the one weak part for me, admittedly, though there are a few things to bear in mind here that help it make more sense:

1. Time Lords are definitely more durable than humans given that they are billions of years older compared to us. That adds up to a lot of evolution and artificial advancement.
2. As a Time Lord, the Doctor has a respiratory bypass system that can allow him to go longer without breathing than a human - the Fourth Doctor used it to survive being strangled and and to avoid inhaling helium.
3. Even a human can survive approximately a minute in hard vacuum and survive, though admittedly it wouldn't be pretty and they'd be unconscious much of that time.
4. Most ships in Doctor Who seem to have some method of maintaining a breathable environment in space - air corridors, oxygen membranes, gravity bubbles.
5. A suit that can survive re-entry isn't even impossible now - hell, even in the Sixties they began developing M.O.O.S.E. (Man Out Of Space Easiest), a way of surviving re-entry in a space suit using an inflatable heat shield and a parachute.
6. The Doctor specifically calls it an impact suit, which definitely hints at its capabilities. Given the tech level of the attacking spaceship, it's quite reasonable that such a suit can survive re-entry and if not soften the landing then at least keep the occupant alive through it.
7. The Doctor also specifically said it was repairing him (whilst groaning in pain a great deal) so it isn't like he walked away from it unscathed, just enough to survive.
8. The Doctor had the suit on improperly - perhaps if he'd had the helmet on the right way around he would have landed properly and safely?

It is established in classic Who in the episode 'Four to Doomsday' that the Doctor can in fact survive for a time in the vacuum of space.

Thank you both for your points. That actually cleared up a lot of things about the episode for me. I know that the impact suit, especially its "repair" systems, addressed much of the re-entry issue. Now the vacuum issue was what I was mostly concerned about. I think it's fair to say that if he were human, the Doctor would've been frozen by the vacuum and then quickly roasted upon re-entry. Ice and fire. What a way to go.

I didn't know about the precedent set forth in the canon about the Doctor surviving in hard vacuum, so thanks for pointing that out. If it's been established before, and it's consistent, that's really what I'm looking for.

[Sealurk]

To be fair, this is why the Doctor needs a companion, so they can ask the questions we want. If Amy or Rory had been there, there might have been a "how did you survive that?!" kind of question. As it is, we only get a little information and have to look into past episodes to find the answer.

[mjwalshe]

Thank you both for your points. That actually cleared up a lot of things about the episode for me. I know that the impact suit, especially its "repair" systems, addressed much of the re-entry issue. Now the vacuum issue was what I was mostly concerned about. I think it's fair to say that if he were human, the Doctor would've been frozen by the vacuum and then quickly roasted upon re-entry. Ice and fire. What a way to go.

I didn't know about the precedent set forth in the canon about the Doctor surviving in hard vacuum, so thanks for pointing that out. If it's been established before, and it's consistent, that's really what I'm looking for.

Depends on how good the suit is - there are current hypothetical tech which would make a free fall from orbit practicable the Russians have been testing inflatable ballute's.

And people don't explode when exposed to vacuum remember the scene in 2001 when Dave gets back into the ship sans suit.

[Zarius]

It does seem as if 'Doctor Who' as a show is moving away from science fiction and closer to fantasy. The Doctor himself seems to be becoming more and more immature as he grows older, I mean can you picture Doctors 1-6 taking children to Christmas Tree Land? The Doctor used to be all about the science, even chiding his companions about believing in magic or the supernatural, now he seems to be all about fantasy and sentiment. Maybe now that he is in his 11th life he's becoming a touch senile and over emotional with old age.

Spoiler:

And what is this nonsense about being able to contact the Doctor just by making a wish?

Spoiler:

As shown in "Night Terrors", The TARDIS can pick up on children's requests, probably has something to do with keeping it's telepathic cicuits active, keeping aware of all the people The Doctor's helped over the years just in case there in need of assistance

I loved this special, nice nods to Androzani, but one problem I had was this...and no, it's not the beggining of the episode (I loved how cheeky that was),

Spoiler:

it's got to do with the Forest King and Queen's rationale that women are stronger carriers for the forest...wouldnt it have made more sense for them to lure the boy's sister into the trap?

[4thDoctor]

But if you can just wish for the Doctor and he'll come, then why did the 4th Doctor have to give the Brigadier a transmitter that could signal him through time and space? (Terror of the Zygons)

[P-90_177]

It does seem as if 'Doctor Who' as a show is moving away from science fiction and closer to fantasy. The Doctor himself seems to be becoming more and more immature as he grows older, I mean can you picture Doctors 1-6 taking children to Christmas Tree Land? The Doctor used to be all about the science, even chiding his companions about believing in magic or the supernatural, now he seems to be all about fantasy and sentiment. Maybe now that he is in his 11th life he's becoming a touch senile and over emotional with old age.

Spoiler:

And what is this nonsense about being able to contact the Doctor just by making a wish?

Well I've often said that the 11th Doctor comes across as being the senile Doctor. But he's also the Doctor who has been most determined to forget about the Timelords so he has a appearence of overcompensating and trying to enjoy life to the fullest.
I agree about the more fantasy like nature of the show, however this I don't find a bad thing. What we see as fantasy is all science in the DW universe. I have no problem accepting this because it makes the show that much more magical. You don't need the technobabble, you just need accept that some how it happens.
Interestingly based on the classic Episode 'Battlefield' The Doctor during some point in his life is even suposed to pass himself off as Merlin so the fact that the doctor is getting more and more into passing things off as magic then it fits quite nicely.
But yes the Doctor is definately more sentimental. I mean even the 10th Doctor wouldn't have really done something like that in this episode but there we are. This Doctor is intentionally ridiculous.

But if you can just wish for the Doctor and he'll come, then why did the 4th Doctor have to give the Brigadier a transmitter that could signal him through time and space? (Terror of the Zygons)

I doubt it's that simple. More likely, every now and then he'll just check up on Madge's history like he has done with a number of companions before, and if he sees that something is very wrong he'll go back and visit her. Perhaps even pinpointing her desire to have the Doctor with her again by channelling her thoughts through the Psychic paper.

[MasySyma]

I usually enjoy the Christmas specials, but this one was just plain bad.

The Good:
At least we had some new Who.

The Bad:
An absurd beginning
It was horribly slow. Add BBC America commercials so that 80 mins becomes 120 minutes, and the darn thing wouldn't end.
The end was too over the top. Not every family can be reunited. Helping the family and comforting them would have been nice.

I also dislike when they make 11 absurd by giving him leftover 10 scenes. MS did not have enough to do.

It was disappointing, but I look forward to series 7.

[SGalisa]

My hubby and I liked it. Not loved it, but thought it was nice.
I personally like the Christmas past,present,& future *Scrooge* parody special from last year better.
But this *forest* story was nice in its own way(s) too.

Spoiler:

nobody really died, and it really had no horribly evil bad guys except for the acid rain.

I don't remember the old / classic DWho's ever having a Christmas special, so this (Christmas) "holiday" specials trend seems to be something geared from the start of the rebooting of the series during Doctor #9.

[The Flyattractor]

It does seem as if 'Doctor Who' as a show is moving away from science fiction and closer to fantasy. The Doctor himself seems to be becoming more and more immature as he grows older, I mean can you picture Doctors 1-6 taking children to Christmas Tree Land? The Doctor used to be all about the science, even chiding his companions about believing in magic or the supernatural, now he seems to be all about fantasy and sentiment. Maybe now that he is in his 11th life he's becoming a touch senile and over emotional with old age.

Spoiler:

And what is this nonsense about being able to contact the Doctor just by making a wish?

I have to agree with this. Back in the old days it was that the Doctor had to do something Puesdo Scientific to win the day...now it can be saved by hugs and kisses....sigh I am getting old.

[DigiFluid]

I don't remember the old / classic DWho's ever having a Christmas special, so this (Christmas) "holiday" specials trend seems to be something geared from the start of the rebooting of the series during Doctor #9.

And you would be remembering correctly Whilst Christmas was referenced on occasion during the show's original run, it was never the focus of an episode in the way that the show has been doing since its revival.

[SaberBlade]

I noticed everyone seems to have an issue with the spacesuit and Eleventh surviving in a vacuum for a short amount of time (we could hear him so I say there was an air tunnel), but am I the only one who has a problem with a WW2 plane flying through the time vortex, following a giant wooden golf ball powered by the souls of trees which turn into a wavelength of light and end up travelling through space?

I'm starting to think Moff's Christmas episodes aren't really about making sense but just having some magicy, fell good aspect to them.

[DigiFluid]

but am I the only one who has a problem with a WW2 plane flying through the time vortex, following a giant wooden golf ball powered by the souls of trees which turn into a wavelength of light and end up travelling through space?

*raises hand*

I commented on that!