Eyes On The Box//Doctor Who Christmas Special - The Snowmen
So it's Christmas, and what have we done? As it turns out, avoid scary compilation albums and watch Doctor Who instead. And as is the way of such television series, there's some changes for Christmas, some more permanent than others. We tuned in with the family to gauge reactions.
With a large coffee, bowl of snacks and chocolate aplenty we perched on our sofa, not behind it, to see just what the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special brings. On first impressions, there was a new companion, a new title sequence and theme and a new Tardis interior. And that was before the main plot is even discussed! Unless you've been on another planet or walking around with all senses blanked out for the past few months you'll know that it involved snowmen. Not the kind that smile innocently at you with coal eyes and mouths but the kind that want to kill you. That's right, people. These are some bad snowmen!
But the man expected to deal with these things, The Doctor, is not in the mood for it. Following the loss of Amy and Rory at the hands of the Angels he's retired, desperate to find some comfort for his loss. But, as happens often in Who, something changes his mind. Clara, played with considerable energy by Jenna Louise Coleman, finds his sulking lair in the sky, via a hidden ladder to an invisible staircase I might add, and so begins the change of mind. By the end of the episode he's placed the Tardis key in her palm and is urging her to hold on. Oo-er.
But elsewhere there's some grimacing snowmen, with more than the whiff of we're going to get you about them and icy former Governesses rampaging through Victorian mansions. But the real reason many were watching is no doubt to see how the new companion shapes up. And pleasingly it's a positive answer. Even as she does a Rory and dies for a second time, we know she'll be back and the Doctor's looking for her, whatever she is. Considering this was a Christmas episode, it did a lot of good work within the overall series arc and for that we can only be grateful as we plunge headlong into the journey to the 50th Anniversary of the series...
Words by Culture Agent No.2.
With a large coffee, bowl of snacks and chocolate aplenty we perched on our sofa, not behind it, to see just what the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special brings. On first impressions, there was a new companion, a new title sequence and theme and a new Tardis interior. And that was before the main plot is even discussed! Unless you've been on another planet or walking around with all senses blanked out for the past few months you'll know that it involved snowmen. Not the kind that smile innocently at you with coal eyes and mouths but the kind that want to kill you. That's right, people. These are some bad snowmen!
But the man expected to deal with these things, The Doctor, is not in the mood for it. Following the loss of Amy and Rory at the hands of the Angels he's retired, desperate to find some comfort for his loss. But, as happens often in Who, something changes his mind. Clara, played with considerable energy by Jenna Louise Coleman, finds his sulking lair in the sky, via a hidden ladder to an invisible staircase I might add, and so begins the change of mind. By the end of the episode he's placed the Tardis key in her palm and is urging her to hold on. Oo-er.
But elsewhere there's some grimacing snowmen, with more than the whiff of we're going to get you about them and icy former Governesses rampaging through Victorian mansions. But the real reason many were watching is no doubt to see how the new companion shapes up. And pleasingly it's a positive answer. Even as she does a Rory and dies for a second time, we know she'll be back and the Doctor's looking for her, whatever she is. Considering this was a Christmas episode, it did a lot of good work within the overall series arc and for that we can only be grateful as we plunge headlong into the journey to the 50th Anniversary of the series...
Words by Culture Agent No.2.
