Last Christmas

I have been a fan of Doctor Who pretty much since it was first brought to the United States I discovered Doctor Who in the 1970’s when it was broadcast on New York’s channel 9- WWOR-TV. The first episode I ever watched was episode 1 of “The Ark in Space.” I was hooked. Doctor Who quicjly became my favorite TV show. While the Christmas special is staple of the current Doctor Who series, back in the days of classic Who, it didn’t exit. In fact during it’ initial 26 year run, there were only 2 Christmas themed episodes. The very first episode to premiere on Christmas Day was "The Feast of Steven" It just happened that the episode was slated to air on Christmas day, so the BBC decided to make a festive episode. It is right in the middle of the 12 part Dalek Master Plan serial and really has nothing to do that story. It is sort of a side story. The other was the pilot to K-9 and Company. Some fans don’t count this as a Doctor Who xmas special as the Doctor isn’t in it…but it does feature K-9 and Sarah Jane and it does take place on Christmas. Back then, the internet didn’t exist. (yeah I know I am dating myself) Most of my information about Doctor Who came from British magazines and books that I stumbled upon.

I do know there was a Doctor Who Christmas connection even back then… but it was in the form of special recorded message and not a full flung special episode as it is now. It might appear on something like Blue Peter or maybe it was a special Holiday station ID for the BBC…either way it was something that aired once and as I don’t live in the UK, I never got to see. Some of these have made it youtube.
While I am happy to see a new and often times longer than usual episode of Doctor Who, the xmas themed episodes are sometimes not my favorites. When I saw the trailer to the current one, I groaned. Santa Clause?? Really. I feared the show had jumped the shark. While Doctor Who is a children’s show and it is known for its humour…I thought this might be going to far. But it is Doctor Who …so I was going to watch it anyway.
And I was presently surprised. It was brilliant. Very well written. And pretty scary for a christmas episode. The whole Santa thing was handled very smartly. The story deals with what is a dream and what is reality. Is Santa really there? Is he a figment of someone’s imagination… The story does take place on Christmas Eve and they are on a research lab close to the North pole. All the things that I thought were going to bring the episode down, like Rudolph’s red nose and Christmas elves just worked and made the story better. The Doctor, while trying to prove that Santa was a hallucination, asked Father Christmas, how he fit all those toys in his sack. To which, Santa answered, “it’s bigger on the inside.” The story is sort of like the move “Inception” except I like it a little better as at its base “Inception” was a heist-adventure movie and Doctor Who’s “Last Christmas” is more a horror story. This episode , like my other favorite Xmas special, “ The Next Doctor,” is just a great story…even if you remove all the Christmas elements it would be amazing…although the holiday elements enhance the story and make it even better. I really don’t want to spoil it, if any of my readers haven’t seen it yet. It must be available on BBC iPlayer, Amazon video or Itunes.