MickeyThe 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special
I'm going to stand out on a limb here and say that I didn't like this years Doctor Who Christmas special. This has happened to me a few times in the last year or so; I've watched an episode, spent the whole time thinking that it was lame and then read reviews on the internets that completely contradict my thoughts. But this is my blog so I'm going to be honest.
I don't mind that David Tennant is hanging up his sonic screwdriver at the end of the specials this year. It's sad, he's been a great, fantastic Doctor and I will more than likely be in tears in his last episode. But I am not screaming and declaring that I will never watch the show again because it won't be the same. I didn't do it when Rose left, when Martha left or even, as sad as it was, when Donna left and I won't do it this time.
I'm also not jumping on the "good riddance to Russell" bandwagon either. Without Russell's vision this fantastic show would never have come back. It would never have reached audiences, like me, who it missed in childhood. Without Russell there would be no Torchwood (which is currently my most favourite show). Russell has written some fantastic episodes, many of the best episodes of both series'.
I just think that in the last little while the writing has been a bit below par. Episodes that could be totally breathtaking fall short. There was a Russell episode last season, the Voyage of the Damned, which I found the communities on Livejournal and other fandom type places were raving about, that I really didn't like. I enjoyed the premise, but the whole humanity stinks, commenting on the pack mentality of humans, really stank of a season 1 CSI episode, Unfriendly Skies, where the premise was almost exactly the same. (Just that the CSI episode was minus copycat aliens and it was a real plane not a space shuttle... but aside from that, the same.)
But I've digressed. I wanted to talk about the Christmas special. So the big hype surrounding this episode was that it was rumoured to contain a clue as to who the next Doctor would be. The title, 'The Next Doctor,' certainly seemed to support this theory. I want to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible (there are those in Australia who won't see it for another week), but I will say that unless it was a very tiny snippet, we're no closer to knowing who the next person to play the Doctor will be.
As far as story goes, well most people know that this was going to be a Cyberman story. In previous Cyberman episodes I've found them the scariest, most dramatic episodes of the seasons. For this one, I think that they've just stopped being scary. Or the writers have stopped writing them in a way in which the audience believes that this time they may not be stopped, because let's face it, they're always stopped, even if they do leave casualties along the way. Whatever the reason, I looked at the Cybermen, the Miss Hartigan character (Dervla Kirwin) and could barely raise myself to care what happened. And really, why bother getting too invested when the other Doctor just blasted every Cyberman with an info stamp. Convenient. I get why they bring back the Daleks and the Cybermen every season, I do and I normally like it, but this year for the Christmas special I was hoping for something in the realms of alien ships over London or spaceship Titanics crashing into Buckingham Palace. Heck, I'd even tolerate Kylie Minogue in another episode.
Anyways, so I welcome any comments either supporting or shooting me down in flames re: whether you liked or disliked the Christmas Special. In the mean time, I'll sit out here on my limb alone.
I don't mind that David Tennant is hanging up his sonic screwdriver at the end of the specials this year. It's sad, he's been a great, fantastic Doctor and I will more than likely be in tears in his last episode. But I am not screaming and declaring that I will never watch the show again because it won't be the same. I didn't do it when Rose left, when Martha left or even, as sad as it was, when Donna left and I won't do it this time.
I'm also not jumping on the "good riddance to Russell" bandwagon either. Without Russell's vision this fantastic show would never have come back. It would never have reached audiences, like me, who it missed in childhood. Without Russell there would be no Torchwood (which is currently my most favourite show). Russell has written some fantastic episodes, many of the best episodes of both series'.
I just think that in the last little while the writing has been a bit below par. Episodes that could be totally breathtaking fall short. There was a Russell episode last season, the Voyage of the Damned, which I found the communities on Livejournal and other fandom type places were raving about, that I really didn't like. I enjoyed the premise, but the whole humanity stinks, commenting on the pack mentality of humans, really stank of a season 1 CSI episode, Unfriendly Skies, where the premise was almost exactly the same. (Just that the CSI episode was minus copycat aliens and it was a real plane not a space shuttle... but aside from that, the same.)
But I've digressed. I wanted to talk about the Christmas special. So the big hype surrounding this episode was that it was rumoured to contain a clue as to who the next Doctor would be. The title, 'The Next Doctor,' certainly seemed to support this theory. I want to try and avoid spoilers as much as possible (there are those in Australia who won't see it for another week), but I will say that unless it was a very tiny snippet, we're no closer to knowing who the next person to play the Doctor will be.
As far as story goes, well most people know that this was going to be a Cyberman story. In previous Cyberman episodes I've found them the scariest, most dramatic episodes of the seasons. For this one, I think that they've just stopped being scary. Or the writers have stopped writing them in a way in which the audience believes that this time they may not be stopped, because let's face it, they're always stopped, even if they do leave casualties along the way. Whatever the reason, I looked at the Cybermen, the Miss Hartigan character (Dervla Kirwin) and could barely raise myself to care what happened. And really, why bother getting too invested when the other Doctor just blasted every Cyberman with an info stamp. Convenient. I get why they bring back the Daleks and the Cybermen every season, I do and I normally like it, but this year for the Christmas special I was hoping for something in the realms of alien ships over London or spaceship Titanics crashing into Buckingham Palace. Heck, I'd even tolerate Kylie Minogue in another episode.
Anyways, so I welcome any comments either supporting or shooting me down in flames re: whether you liked or disliked the Christmas Special. In the mean time, I'll sit out here on my limb alone.
