This becomes even more apparent as each visit allows Sardick to spend another night with Abigail (Katherine Jenkins), a woman held in suspended animation by Sardick’s father as collateral for a loan taken out by her family. With each of the Doctor’s visits, Sardick softens some and we see this reflected in how Michael Gambon’s older Sardick reacts to these new memories he receives.
#Doctor who christmas series#
The bulk of the story sees the Doctor visiting a younger Sardick across a series of Christmas Eves throughout his youth and early adulthood. Ignoring the questions of morality (ie: does the Doctor have the right to rewrite someone’s past wholesale just because it would lead to a better future), the Doctor’s actions have unintended consequences on Sardick’s life. Naturally, of course, in true Doctor Who fashion, it is not as simple as the Doctor changing the past to better the future. And it’s a great premise for a Doctor Who Christmas episode-it’s that perfect mixture of science fiction and Christmas spirit and it’s executed brilliantly throughout the episode’s runtime. But it’s also a very Doctor Who idea-using the Doctor’s TARDIS to literally give the antagonist a better past, thereby changing his present outlook and giving him a more hopeful future. It’s a very Christmassy idea-finding a way to warm the cold heart of the antagonist. Sardick, hardened by his miserable child-and-adulthood, steadfastly refuses to be of any aid, leading the Doctor to take drastic action-rewriting Sardick’s past to change his present. And the Doctor needs him to use that machine to help a crashing spaceship inhabited by Amy and Rory land safely, sparing the lives of all onboard. He controls the foggy, fish-infested skies of his town with a machine that reacts only to his input. Here, Michael Gambon plays Kazran Sardick, the episode’s Scrooge-like figure, who rules the town of Sardicktown with an iron fist.
#Doctor who christmas full#
Imagine if, instead of being visited by three ghosts representing different periods of his life, Ebenezer Scrooge was visited by an impulsive time traveler full of childlike wonder who could not only show Scrooge his past but change it for the better, and you’d essentially have Doctor Who’s version of A Christmas Carol. But is Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve? (5 out of 5 wands.)ĭoctor Who: A Christmas Carol (written by Steven Moffat, directed by Toby Haynes)Īmy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way the Doctor (Matt Smith) can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser, Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon, Laurence Belcher, Danny Horn). It is easily my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special. Loosely adapting Charles Dickens’ classic book, A Christmas Carol, the special is jam-packed with Christmas spirit, spectacular performances, and a suitably timey-wimey plotline perfect for the 11th Doctor. I’d argue that A Christmas Carol is not only a great Doctor Who Christmas special but also a great episode of Doctor Who in general. Being both Steven Moffat and Matt Smith’s first Doctor Who Christmas special, it had quite a lot to live up to-and boy did it. No Christmas special exhibited these qualities more than the 2010 special, A Christmas Carol.
These episodes were rarely as all-around well-executed as the series’ best episodes, but they were always packed with holiday spirit and undeniably fun to watch.
#Doctor who christmas tv#
For over a decade, the whole family could gather around the TV on Christmas Day and watch a new Doctor Who Christmas special. Doctor Who's Christmas Specials Will Return in 2023
0 kommentar(er)
