Doctor who last christmas special cracker#

Right now this is the present: a juxtaposition of the scary-serious and super-silly that could only be achieved in a dream or in a Doctor Who Christmas special. ColemanвЂ™s earned it.ДЄ fitting farewell for Clara will be a gift for a future time. After two wonderful вЂnon-goodbyeвЂ™ goodbyes, Steven MoffatвЂ™s going to have to give us something really really special when her time in the TARDIS is actually up.

It seems to be impossible to say cheerio to The Impossible Girl. Final and right.Дid anyone else feel vaguely disappointed? Not by the idea that Clara is staying on вЂ“ Jenna ColemanвЂ™s sparkling performance counterpoints CapaldiвЂ™s grumpy Doctor beautifully вЂ“ but that itвЂ™s an excellent farewell wasted. ItвЂ™s poignant and beautiful and it feels final. It was ElevenвЂ™s last Christmas, now itвЂ™s ClaraвЂ™s. Silently he helps her just as she helped him when he was old, one year ago (for us) on Trenzalore.

Doctor who last christmas special cracker#

ItвЂ™s hard to know whose dream it is вЂ“ his, hers, or ours вЂ“ as Clara, now The Impossible OAP, is reunited with The Doctor and they pull a cracker and our heartstrings. He can certainly help dream an ending that would make us happyвЂ¦ Or maybe this Time Lord has a better hold on his nightmares. Given that The Doctor is part of the dream itвЂ™s a Christmas miracle that The Dream Lord didnвЂ™t turn up. For die-hard and Die Hard fans thereвЂ™s a heart-warming Dickensian joy at seeing CapaldiвЂ™s Doctor thaw as he pilots the sleigh with a cheeky вЂYippee-ki-yay!вЂ™ Santa puts in the work, but rightly itвЂ™s The Doctor who is the true hero of Christmas. We already have one stand-offish hero in the show two is a bit filling. His Claus is too passive-aggressive and Wernham Hogg managerial in his interaction with everyone and his banter elves (Dan вЂStraxвЂ™ Starkey and Nathan вЂ MisfitsвЂ McMullen). Though he looks the part, Nick Frost as Old Saint Nick is a case of casting over character, feeling less like Santa Claus and more like Nick Frost with jingle bells on. As Moffat keeps winking at, why should a man who delivers presents to every child on earth in one night be any less believable than a man in a time-travelling bigger-on-the-inside box? But his incongruity is the point: in this nightmare on Christmas heвЂ™s the fantasy that youвЂ™re meant to take seriously. Strutting through the frozen corridors of the mind, the вЂrealвЂ™ SantaвЂ™s presence continually removes us from the immediate tension. Poor guy canвЂ™t get a break even when heвЂ™s imaginary. Samuel AndersonвЂ™s presence as dreamy dead Danny Pink is a lovely surprise but even his Santa is tinged with foreboding. The Matryoshka Doll structure of dreams-within-dreams lends itself to a darker and more claustrophobic Christmas special than weвЂ™re used to a sensation compounded by the panic of the small and talented cast. Like a dream itвЂ™s hard to pin down, and like a nightmare itвЂ™s simultaneously scary and silly.

вЂLast ChristmasвЂ™ is one big sherry trifle of a dream: an Inception on 34 th Street. ThatвЂ™s dreams for you, isnвЂ™t it? Mad, colourful, dark, disconnected, vaguely confusing. But before your cynicism is unwrapped weвЂ™re suddenly in an un-festive Polar Base thatвЂ™s infested with crustacean catcherвЂ™s mitts called Dream Crabs, and watching the brilliant Faye Marsay dance to Slade (what, no Wham!?), and itвЂ™s all gone very The Thing. ThereвЂ™s Santa (or Jeff, as Eleven knew him), elves, reindeer, and a nagging worry that this is a Christmas Special which has jumped the flying shark. Noddy yells us, itвЂ™s Christmaaaaas! ItвЂ™s a crazy/camp time of year, why shouldnвЂ™t our favourite sci-fi show be the same?Д«efore the snowy titles roll, вЂLast ChristmasвЂ™ seems to be taking that idea to a ludicrous degree. So our TVs are decorated with flying sharks dragging sleighs, presents containing portals to winter wonderlands, and snowmen defeated by crying, and while it may be a bit flabby, it just about works because, as St. TheyвЂ™re both mad events which people love and which many take seriously, no matter how absurd they get. Time Lord and Christmas time match perfectly. Much like ourselves, Doctor Who is expected to overindulge and go a bit crazy on December 25th.