@@CashelOConnolly Nope, I work as an IT specialist and therefore I know how such a VPN works and what it can do. It just doesn't make sense for normal internet users to buy it. In addition, many functions are unnecessary and there are better and free alternatives fot it.
I hate that after the big arc in series 5 we see Amy and Rory in costume and the clouds that looked like the new time vortex ... It heavily teased on those things in the trailer only for it to be brushed aside haha
It's rare that a holiday special is also one of the Doctor's best episodes, but this one definitely deserves that title. Matt, Michael, Moffat, and everyone else really knock it out of the park!
The scene with the projection on the door, the doctor going through the door, and the doctor appearing in the footage on the door in the past is the genius I miss with Doctor Who. Say what you will about Steven Moffat, but Chibnall could never come up with an idea like that.
Yeah I think a whimsical fairytale ending perfectly fits a story like this A more grounded ending would feel like a bit of a let down in comparison to the tone of the rest of the episode
Go to a typical, good pantomime and analyse it. It'll take all the joy out of it! I see a Xmas special along those lines, assuming it's meant to be generally light-hearted. The science, unlike the rest of the season, is irrelevant. It can't be too ridiculous, and any generally understood (by the general public) science must be adhered to, but it's on an alien planet, so anything can happen!
I usually agree when it comes to fantastical and whimsical ending to episodes but I kind of disagree when it comes to something like this. It’s supposed to be a fun and whimsical Christmas episode, so I think it works here.
Although I prefer RTD's Christmas specials, I do enjoy this one. A common problem with Moffat's Christmas episodes is that he tried too hard to make them Christmassy, coming across as too on the nose most of the time, but it works here. Doctor Who doing A Christmas Carol is actually a good idea and it was handed decently here. True, saving the day though the power of song was eye-rollingly cheesy, but it's Christmas so we can live and let live! So It's a decent Christmas episode to close off the rather mixed bag series 5.
This Christmas special, although was good despite some flaws, but revealed a tragic truth to me. 11th actually works so much better with other people than his own companions, because he neglects them most of the time, while with other people, he seems much more genuine
@@intergalactic92 Yes, I believe that's what he means. Unless either Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy got a side gig doing mo-cap for the flying shark, (which would have been siiiick, just imagine the BTS footage lol).
Ive never commented this before despite how many videos of yours I’ve seen, but can I just say I love your voice? It’s just really nice to listen to, and while I don’t always agree with you you always come across in a way that makes me feel like that’s okay (which not every RUclipsr does’
I'm very glad this was my first Doctor Who episode. It was a weird place to jump in, but Matt Smith as The Doctor really established his presence and image of the character super well and got me hooked.
I think the element that makes kazrans arc work so well, is that the development that makes us believe he would finish the story so cheerful and joyous of life does double duty in making us understand why he started out so bitter. It is very hard to simultaneously develop a character with two contradictory traits and this episode does it very well.
Runaway Bride is probably the episode of NuWho that's weirdest on rewatch, just because the characterisation of Donna is so much more one-dimensional than what we all grew to love.
@@alexpotts6520 Yeah your right she was a 3 dimensional person in series 4 getting upset with what happened in Pompeii and with the Oods in Runaway Bride she was a caricature.
nah, The Christmas Invasion was. it mixed the feeling of Christmas whimsical with darkness at the same time, and humor and best introduction of the new Doctor, without giving the viewers a burden they're forced to accept. and if we're being honest, it's the only Christmas special that's completely happy
Ah yes, the DW special that initially intrigued me with its Christmas Carol premise, then proceeded to show me what Michael Gambon looks like without his Dumbledore beard. Wow the difference is striking; save for his voice, I never would've guessed that was him otherwise! 😆🎄
@@bemasaberwyn55 I have, but I didn't make the connection until I re-visited the film when I was older (and had seen this special already) and that's when I went "Oh shit hey, I never realized Michael Gambon was in this!" 😅
@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose that's fair. Funnily enough this film also stars Uncle Vernon, Rita Skeeter, Alfred Pennyworth, Charles Deetz and Sheev Palpatine. Something which is hilarious when you think about it
Fun fact: it is established in doctor who that when two duplicate objects meet, they cause a burst of energy. See the "the big bang" for new who where two sonic screwdrivers spark when they touch and see "Mawdryn Undead" for the original series. In fact, in the earlier episode it is a plot point that the energy released when Brigadier lethbridge-stewart encountered himself activated a machine that kills Mawdryn, the antagonist of the episode. However, this seems to be ignored when convenient. In "Father's Day" Rose touches a younger version of herself without exploding and Amy also touches a younger version of herself in "The Big Bang" right after The Doctor shows Rory that touching the screwdrivers causes sparks. Not much is ever said about why this happens in doctor who, but in reality it has been proven that humans replace their cells constantly and over the course of 10 years practically every cell gets replaced. This means that the Amy that touches herself in "Big Bang" and the Rose that touches herself in "Father's Day" are technically made up of separate cells that do not explode when they come into contact. Furthermore this explains why Dumbledore does not explode when he touches his younger self in this episode.
Yes, but rose touching her baby self does have an effect in weakening the already fractured timeline and strengthening the Reapers further, allowing one to invade the church. It does have an effect, just a slightly different effect.
@@intergalactic92 The reapers were explained as creatures that existed outside of regular time. They could only enter through weak points in time (AKA things that had not existed for a very long) The event in which Pete survived was created by Rose and therefore it did not exist for a long time. The church was an object that had existed for a long time so they could not break through. But an event such as a person encountering themselves also never happens and therefore represents a new event and a weak point. That's how they got into the church, the event of her touching herself superseded the event of the church existing for a long time. The explosions that occurred when atoms from 2 timelines met was a physical reaction, not a paradox issue. Two different effects like you said but also for two very different reasons.
@@sanddagger36 It's such a shame that the Reapers never made a repeat appearance for any subsequent paradoxes caused in the show. They would have made for great reoccurring monsters. Just thinking about the possibilities that could have been explored gives me chills. Where do they come from? What strange pocket dimension do they exist in most of the time between paradoxes popping up, and what do they do there between paradox snacks? Do they just sit idle in stasis, or do they have their own world occupied by other trans-dimensional creatures? Are they even truly monsters or could they be sentient, intelligent beings of some kind? Also, just imagine how good they could look with modern CGI.
David will always be my Doctor Russell will always be my writer But I can't deny how genius it is using the story of ghosts of Christmas past, present and future in a show that centres around time travel 🙌🏻 My fave Christmas special
@mark Your comment seems completely unrelated to the one it's replying to, but... your theory sounds pretty watertight. From me you get a 1 out of 10 for relevance, but an astounding 11 out of 10 for the comment itself. You may have actually improved on Chibnall's canon with this earthshattering revelation.
This is probably one of my favorite episodes of the show ever, athough I did cheer when you mentioned Last Christmas! Personally, I love the fairy tale aspect of the Moffat era. I also like musicals though, so maybe I'm just doomed to disagree.... But I think you really hit the nail on the head for how this episode balances sci-fi/fantasy and a good old fashioned Christmas story. Added bonus for all of the Muppet Christmas Carol bits!! :)
I absolutely loved this one, and it is my favorite Christmas episode of them all (happy to hear your really like Last Christmas by the way, which is my #3). I honestly thought it was genuinely spellbinding by and large, and one of the rare ones where the quiet moments of conversation (like The Doctor and Young Kazran were in the closet) were some of the best moments. It looked absolutely wonderful for the most part and features, in my opinion, what is easily one of Murray Gold's most potent musical scores. One of the main things I think you hit on the head is that this one is an actual Christmas story, whereas most of RTD's Christmas stories were largely standard stories, just with a Christmas motif (similar to the differences between something like Home Alone 1&2 versus a lot of other Christmas movies, including the later Home Alone movies). Here, the Christmas element is intensely and tightly tied to the Christmas setting, and honestly it captures the feel of the Holiday very well.
Fun fact for people not from the UK: A Christmas carol is so iconic, the government forces us to read it at school alongside Orwell's Animal farm and Shakespeare's Macbeth for the exams which act as our job resume's foundation. So yeah, super beloved story. PS: I'm going through this right now and in a year I'm doing those exams. Wish me luck.
I never had to do a Christmas Carol for GCSE. We looked at it in year 8 for a bit of fun, but it was never serious. I also never had to do Animal Farm or the Lord of the Flies. I got Of Mice and Men.
12:29 I slightly disagree with this because Kazaran was ALSO a prisoner of his father technically. By the time he finally achieved his freedom and learned her secret, it was too late to save her.
I guess 'It's christmas' (a time with lots of coziness, happiness and unexpected gifts) is more metaphorical. Like when someone has a good day and people say 'Go ahead, it's your birthday.' While the true birthday is 9 months in the past.
You know the scene was set up that this was Amy and Rory's honeymoon and they were on this ship without the doctor. And the ship got in the turbulent so they called the doctor. He showed up on the comms and when he typed come along pond it was a pun on the fact It was Christmas but also he's here to save us.
Last Christmas isn’t too bad but it’s let down by Moffats love of what he thinks are clever phrases. So every time someone says dramatically ‘every Christmas, is last Christmas’ I can’t take it seriously as it doesn’t really make any sense. And then there’s the whole Santa clause stuff. The show as a whole stayed away from the whole Santa Clause issue, as even though children watch the show, RTD at least set up this doctor who universe with a lot of grounded realism; adults inhabit this world and we’re an intelligent realistic species. So for suddenly in this episode for grown adults to be believing in Santa clause just doesn’t make any sense. As realistic humans quite clearly know Santa isn’t real. So it’s just an issue you don’t bring up because you know kids watch it.
i’ve clearly not seen this in a while because i completely forgot amy and rory were in it. those shots from their plot genuinely feel new to me. edit: i clearly need to rewatch this because i don’t remember it very well (only seeing it the once when it first camer out) but i’ve heard so much good about it recently.
I got excited thinking that when I first saw the trailer for this episode that I thought this episode would have been a multi-doctor story with the Ghost of Christmas Past being a doctor from the classic series
This is my favourite Christmas special and one of my favourite Smith episodes! I watch it every Christmas morning. Now given how you've reacted to one of my favourite seasons of New Who, I'm curious to see how you're going to react to Season 6 - a season that I have very mixed feelings about.
Let’s not forget The End of Time: Part 1 and the Husbands of River Song and Twice Upon a Time had no spaceships overs any cities, and those were was christmas specials. Other than that, good point.
@@philster4015 It was, but no one remembers it was a Christmas special, and they'd be completely justified in forgetting, considering what happens in pt. 2.
First time I watched it, it was boring and forgettable, then when I rewatched the series over Covid, it was very enjoyable and heartwarming, unforgettable.
As I understood it Abigail has sacrificed herself precisely because she knows she is terminally ill. Getting every remaining day as Christmas Day doesn't seem very exploitative to me. A more interesting question is: Why doesn't the Doctor cure her? PS. Fish don't die of old age, they get sick or predated (mostly by us).
This was the first episode I saw when it aired. I'll admit that it was an enjoyable episode and the ghost of Christmas yet to come in the Muppets version was as creepy as could be.
I never really cared for the 11th. When the 10th left I didn’t feel the same connection with the doctor. But THIS episode I adore and will happily watch again and again.
Last Christmas? Really? I don't dislike it, but I do find it to be one of Moffat's more self indulgent scripts. And I never understood why movies and shows at the time were copying JJ Abrams's lense flares, since it is the most annoying aspect of his visual style (but it's also his most memorable)
Great story great Dr episode it showed what the 11th was capable of at the time and the difference between him and previous Christmas episodes it's hand down a great Dr Who episode and story
You say the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come was the most terrifying of the ghosts in the Muppet Christmas Carol. But I disagree. I never found anything scary about it. Now the Ghost of Christmas Past? fuck that.
So fans shouldn't ask for a musical episode just because you don't like them? Omg fairy tale musical climax in a Christmas special omg so cringe 😫 like it's literally called a Christmas Carol it's doctor who's take on a Christmas Carol a children's book a fairy tale.
You keep using the term 'bootstrap paradox' in your videos and I don't think you really understand what it means, since you keep using it in non-applicable situations. For example, lets take the useage from this video, where the two Kazrans are in the same time period. You claim this is a boostrap paradox. So is it? Well, no, otherwise I wouldn't be making this comment. The bootsrap paradox is where an object or information is solely contained within a time loop, such that there is no origin for said object or information. The 12th Doctor uses an example of compositions that were written by a time traveller under the guise of Beethoven, with him only knowing the compositions in the first place because they were famous. The paradox is that nowhere in that loop are the compositions actually composed, merely copied repeatedly. The situation in this episode is NOT a boostrap paradox. It's actually an example of the grandfather paradox. Youn Kazran sees his older self behaving like his father, which scares him into not wanting to become like that. But if he never became like that, he wouldn't have acted like his father for his younger self to see, so his young self wouldn't have been scared into not acting like his father, so he would have acted like his father in the future... paradox. It's also worth noting that characters meeting their past/future selves isn't intrinsically paradoxical. It CAN be if your media's rules for time travel have certain restrictions in place (only allowing stable time loops for example) but Doctor Who isn't a case where such restrictions apply. I still greatly enjoy your videos though! This is only a nitpick, but I think it's one that's necessary to address, given the nature of the show ;)
As a Philosophy student currently taking a Philsophy of Time module, you pointing this out was very satisfying - thank-you ;) Though, of course, the two have strong similarities, so I can see how one could mistakenly use them interchangeably. (Assuming they were even aware of both, which I think Harbo may have only heard of the one.) Anyway, I appreciate your good-intentioned 'nitpickiness' :D
I agree with Rakka, this is the one of the best explanations of both paradoxes I've heard. Like Harbo, I too thought they were basically just 2 different names for the same phenomenon. Can you give an example of time travel in fiction where the restrictions are more concrete?
Seeing an incredibly smaller comment numbers compared to the 22k views and 1.2k likes is really interesting Videos with what seems like amazing view and like counts to me have comments only in the hundreds is such an odd occurrence I see frequently Weird place to say this I know
Michael Gambon isn’t British he’s from Dublin,Ireland. My grand country. Does it matter? Yes! The British have a long history of appropriating everything good from my country and literally destroying the rest!
I think this is the only Christmas carol adaptation that actually has a better ending than the original book. Because really, doing good because of being threatened with death isn’t genuinely altruistic if you’re doing it out of fear. But him turning good both because he sees himself through his own eyes and is horrified by it, and also him finally facing up to the abuse he suffered as a child and the loss he suffered with Abigail means more than just “turn good or die.”
It was nice to have a Doctor Who special that didn't turn the images of Christmas into weapons of death by aliens ruining the holiday by attacking London every December 25th. I do not like how Davies treated Christmas and I'm expecting more of the same when he's back in charge. That makes me sad since Christmas is my favorite holiday. The Victorian type setting works for American audiences as well because of Dickens' classic and some of those same decorations and traditions being used in early American homes.
I don’t really like the paradox in this because it goes against the whole “You can’t go back once your established in events” and shit! And also seeing Kazrans memories change before him brings up more questions than it answers? Does he exist with two sets of memories because he clearly knows that the doctor changed his memories so he must know his memories were different before!
Wouldn't make any sense. Kazrans father created the machine. Why would he ever let this random woman who he saw as a loan and a peasant be able to use his most valuable machine?
"Because Dickens is a character in this universe." Dang, I forgot about that because The Unquiet Dead isn't exactly a memorable Doctor Who episode. Stuff like this is how I know that Steven Moffat is a true fan.
![DID IT SUCK? | Doctor Who [A CHRISTMAS CAROL REVIEW]](/img/1.gif)
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@@CashelOConnolly Nope, I work as an IT specialist and therefore I know how such a VPN works and what it can do. It just doesn't make sense for normal internet users to buy it.
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I hate that after the big arc in series 5 we see Amy and Rory in costume and the clouds that looked like the new time vortex ... It heavily teased on those things in the trailer only for it to be brushed aside haha
@mark qaa
It's rare that a holiday special is also one of the Doctor's best episodes, but this one definitely deserves that title. Matt, Michael, Moffat, and everyone else really knock it out of the park!
I usually watch a few at Christmas, but this and Last Christmas are the only ones I watch every year
Oh shit, it's OkMakuTree from Chat plays Fire Emblem
"Time can be rewritten" spoken by Karen Gillan in this episode, and its promo material, is still haunting to hear.
Especially in light of the timeless child retcon nonsense.
The scene with the projection on the door, the doctor going through the door, and the doctor appearing in the footage on the door in the past is the genius I miss with Doctor Who. Say what you will about Steven Moffat, but Chibnall could never come up with an idea like that.
And that's fine.
"HARBO, DID YOU PUT A POSITIVE REVIEW IN FOR DOCTOR WHO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL?!" Sardic asked calmly.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist 😆).
Oh my god 🤣
I think Christmas specials have a higher level of allowable cheese compared to other episodes
Yeah I think a whimsical fairytale ending perfectly fits a story like this
A more grounded ending would feel like a bit of a let down in comparison to the tone of the rest of the episode
Go to a typical, good pantomime and analyse it. It'll take all the joy out of it! I see a Xmas special along those lines, assuming it's meant to be generally light-hearted. The science, unlike the rest of the season, is irrelevant. It can't be too ridiculous, and any generally understood (by the general public) science must be adhered to, but it's on an alien planet, so anything can happen!
I usually agree when it comes to fantastical and whimsical ending to episodes but I kind of disagree when it comes to something like this. It’s supposed to be a fun and whimsical Christmas episode, so I think it works here.
Although I prefer RTD's Christmas specials, I do enjoy this one. A common problem with Moffat's Christmas episodes is that he tried too hard to make them Christmassy, coming across as too on the nose most of the time, but it works here. Doctor Who doing A Christmas Carol is actually a good idea and it was handed decently here. True, saving the day though the power of song was eye-rollingly cheesy, but it's Christmas so we can live and let live! So It's a decent Christmas episode to close off the rather mixed bag series 5.
Wait for The Flux for a really mix bag season
I feel the same, the only other ones i like are the husbands of riversong and the snowman
What made it work was that The Doctor was calling himself out for playing into the scenario, and then goofed up and had to fix his own mistakes!
This Christmas special, although was good despite some flaws, but revealed a tragic truth to me. 11th actually works so much better with other people than his own companions, because he neglects them most of the time, while with other people, he seems much more genuine
Wow, I thought I was the only one who considered it the best Doctor Who christmas special! Nice to see I’m not the only one ;)
You are not alone, my friend.
It's crazy we got both Dumbledore and Charles Xavier in an episode of Doctor Who
By which you mean that the kid who played child Kazran also played the child version of Charles Xavier in X-men: First Class.
@@intergalactic92 Yes, I believe that's what he means. Unless either Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy got a side gig doing mo-cap for the flying shark, (which would have been siiiick, just imagine the BTS footage lol).
Ive never commented this before despite how many videos of yours I’ve seen, but can I just say I love your voice? It’s just really nice to listen to, and while I don’t always agree with you you always come across in a way that makes me feel like that’s okay (which not every RUclipsr does’
This just hits the spot for me. fun, fairytale festive frolics. Whimsical, fantastical I really love it.
I'm very glad this was my first Doctor Who episode. It was a weird place to jump in, but Matt Smith as The Doctor really established his presence and image of the character super well and got me hooked.
I think the element that makes kazrans arc work so well, is that the development that makes us believe he would finish the story so cheerful and joyous of life does double duty in making us understand why he started out so bitter. It is very hard to simultaneously develop a character with two contradictory traits and this episode does it very well.
8:10 Laurence Belcher, playing child Kazran here, also went on to play child Charles in X-Men: First Class the next year. 👍
The best Christmas Special is Runaway Bride.
Runaway Bride is probably the episode of NuWho that's weirdest on rewatch, just because the characterisation of Donna is so much more one-dimensional than what we all grew to love.
@@alexpotts6520 Yeah your right she was a 3 dimensional person in series 4 getting upset with what happened in Pompeii and with the Oods in Runaway Bride she was a caricature.
@@leejones8582 That was the first Dr Who I saw so i can't disagree.
nah, The Christmas Invasion was. it mixed the feeling of Christmas whimsical with darkness at the same time, and humor and best introduction of the new Doctor, without giving the viewers a burden they're forced to accept. and if we're being honest, it's the only Christmas special that's completely happy
Ah yes, the DW special that initially intrigued me with its Christmas Carol premise, then proceeded to show me what Michael Gambon looks like without his Dumbledore beard. Wow the difference is striking; save for his voice, I never would've guessed that was him otherwise! 😆🎄
Have you never seen the live action Sleepy Hollow?
@@bemasaberwyn55 I have, but I didn't make the connection until I re-visited the film when I was older (and had seen this special already) and that's when I went "Oh shit hey, I never realized Michael Gambon was in this!" 😅
@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose that's fair. Funnily enough this film also stars Uncle Vernon, Rita Skeeter, Alfred Pennyworth, Charles Deetz and Sheev Palpatine. Something which is hilarious when you think about it
Fun fact: it is established in doctor who that when two duplicate objects meet, they cause a burst of energy. See the "the big bang" for new who where two sonic screwdrivers spark when they touch and see "Mawdryn Undead" for the original series. In fact, in the earlier episode it is a plot point that the energy released when Brigadier lethbridge-stewart encountered himself activated a machine that kills Mawdryn, the antagonist of the episode.
However, this seems to be ignored when convenient. In "Father's Day" Rose touches a younger version of herself without exploding and Amy also touches a younger version of herself in "The Big Bang" right after The Doctor shows Rory that touching the screwdrivers causes sparks.
Not much is ever said about why this happens in doctor who, but in reality it has been proven that humans replace their cells constantly and over the course of 10 years practically every cell gets replaced. This means that the Amy that touches herself in "Big Bang" and the Rose that touches herself in "Father's Day" are technically made up of separate cells that do not explode when they come into contact. Furthermore this explains why Dumbledore does not explode when he touches his younger self in this episode.
Yes, but rose touching her baby self does have an effect in weakening the already fractured timeline and strengthening the Reapers further, allowing one to invade the church. It does have an effect, just a slightly different effect.
@@intergalactic92 The reapers were explained as creatures that existed outside of regular time. They could only enter through weak points in time (AKA things that had not existed for a very long)
The event in which Pete survived was created by Rose and therefore it did not exist for a long time. The church was an object that had existed for a long time so they could not break through. But an event such as a person encountering themselves also never happens and therefore represents a new event and a weak point. That's how they got into the church, the event of her touching herself superseded the event of the church existing for a long time.
The explosions that occurred when atoms from 2 timelines met was a physical reaction, not a paradox issue. Two different effects like you said but also for two very different reasons.
@@sanddagger36 It's such a shame that the Reapers never made a repeat appearance for any subsequent paradoxes caused in the show. They would have made for great reoccurring monsters. Just thinking about the possibilities that could have been explored gives me chills.
Where do they come from? What strange pocket dimension do they exist in most of the time between paradoxes popping up, and what do they do there between paradox snacks? Do they just sit idle in stasis, or do they have their own world occupied by other trans-dimensional creatures? Are they even truly monsters or could they be sentient, intelligent beings of some kind? Also, just imagine how good they could look with modern CGI.
in The Big Bang's defense, the universe was going kaput at that point.
What’s this about people touching themselves 🤨🤨
David will always be my Doctor
Russell will always be my writer
But I can't deny how genius it is using the story of ghosts of Christmas past, present and future in a show that centres around time travel 🙌🏻 My fave Christmas special
@mark Your comment seems completely unrelated to the one it's replying to, but... your theory sounds pretty watertight. From me you get a 1 out of 10 for relevance, but an astounding 11 out of 10 for the comment itself. You may have actually improved on Chibnall's canon with this earthshattering revelation.
This is probably one of my favorite episodes of the show ever, athough I did cheer when you mentioned Last Christmas! Personally, I love the fairy tale aspect of the Moffat era. I also like musicals though, so maybe I'm just doomed to disagree.... But I think you really hit the nail on the head for how this episode balances sci-fi/fantasy and a good old fashioned Christmas story. Added bonus for all of the Muppet Christmas Carol bits!! :)
Why do I not remember this one at all? I probably only ever watched it once on air date, shame!
Poor Abigail at the end, if only there was someone who travels through time and space who could just cure her…
I absolutely loved this one, and it is my favorite Christmas episode of them all (happy to hear your really like Last Christmas by the way, which is my #3). I honestly thought it was genuinely spellbinding by and large, and one of the rare ones where the quiet moments of conversation (like The Doctor and Young Kazran were in the closet) were some of the best moments. It looked absolutely wonderful for the most part and features, in my opinion, what is easily one of Murray Gold's most potent musical scores.
One of the main things I think you hit on the head is that this one is an actual Christmas story, whereas most of RTD's Christmas stories were largely standard stories, just with a Christmas motif (similar to the differences between something like Home Alone 1&2 versus a lot of other Christmas movies, including the later Home Alone movies). Here, the Christmas element is intensely and tightly tied to the Christmas setting, and honestly it captures the feel of the Holiday very well.
My favourite Christmas special. It's such a heartwarming adaptation of Christmas Carol with excellent performances. 🎄🎄
I still think this might be the best episode of doctor who
Fun fact for people not from the UK: A Christmas carol is so iconic, the government forces us to read it at school alongside Orwell's Animal farm and Shakespeare's Macbeth for the exams which act as our job resume's foundation. So yeah, super beloved story.
PS: I'm going through this right now and in a year I'm doing those exams. Wish me luck.
To be fair, there are several possible GCSE books you could get! Personally I only studied one book that you mentioned! Animal Farm!
I never had to do a Christmas Carol for GCSE. We looked at it in year 8 for a bit of fun, but it was never serious.
I also never had to do Animal Farm or the Lord of the Flies. I got Of Mice and Men.
Good luck. Take them seriously, but don't stress too much.
12:29 I slightly disagree with this because Kazaran was ALSO a prisoner of his father technically. By the time he finally achieved his freedom and learned her secret, it was too late to save her.
I guess 'It's christmas' (a time with lots of coziness, happiness and unexpected gifts) is more metaphorical. Like when someone has a good day and people say 'Go ahead, it's your birthday.' While the true birthday is 9 months in the past.
Maybe Amy knew it was December 25 and meant it was like a Christmas miracle
We want a musical episode, and we want it now
Definitely my favourite Christmas special.
You know the scene was set up that this was Amy and Rory's honeymoon and they were on this ship without the doctor. And the ship got in the turbulent so they called the doctor. He showed up on the comms and when he typed come along pond it was a pun on the fact It was Christmas but also he's here to save us.
23:28 Finally someone who shares my opinion about Last Christmas
Last Christmas isn’t too bad but it’s let down by Moffats love of what he thinks are clever phrases. So every time someone says dramatically ‘every Christmas, is last Christmas’ I can’t take it seriously as it doesn’t really make any sense.
And then there’s the whole Santa clause stuff. The show as a whole stayed away from the whole Santa Clause issue, as even though children watch the show, RTD at least set up this doctor who universe with a lot of grounded realism; adults inhabit this world and we’re an intelligent realistic species. So for suddenly in this episode for grown adults to be believing in Santa clause just doesn’t make any sense. As realistic humans quite clearly know Santa isn’t real. So it’s just an issue you don’t bring up because you know kids watch it.
Excellent review of a wonderful Christmas Special. Thanks, and congrats on doing such a fine job :)
i’ve clearly not seen this in a while because i completely forgot amy and rory were in it. those shots from their plot genuinely feel new to me.
edit: i clearly need to rewatch this because i don’t remember it very well (only seeing it the once when it first camer out) but i’ve heard so much good about it recently.
Honestly, one of the only Who episodes to ever make me cry.
I was so excited when I realized Harbo was going to review the best Christmas special just in time for Christmas.
I love the detail of the bowtie. It’s something thats a sort of foreshadowing, or rather it hints at something that had already happened.
I got excited thinking that when I first saw the trailer for this episode that I thought this episode would have been a multi-doctor story with the Ghost of Christmas Past being a doctor from the classic series
This is my favourite Christmas special and one of my favourite Smith episodes! I watch it every Christmas morning.
Now given how you've reacted to one of my favourite seasons of New Who, I'm curious to see how you're going to react to Season 6 - a season that I have very mixed feelings about.
Probably gonna have to watch this video again. Became fully deafened with Irish rage when you called Michael Gambon British.
Great vid, just wanted you to know that 'behind the sofa' joke and the alliteration tongue twister at 6:43 didn't go unnoticed ;)
Its a good adaptation too
Prob my fave xmas special
Loved this episode!
Also enjoyed all the Christmas specials.
(Santa and the North Pole was fun!)
Let's be fair every Christmas special besides the next doctor at this point has to do with a spaceship above a city. 3/4
Let’s not forget The End of Time: Part 1 and the Husbands of River Song and Twice Upon a Time had no spaceships overs any cities, and those were was christmas specials. Other than that, good point.
@@DriverHenryWho3245 but at the point at which amy said this and that haribo made joke it was 3/4 specials
I guess 3/5 if end of time was Christmas i forget
@@philster4015 It was, but no one remembers it was a Christmas special, and they'd be completely justified in forgetting, considering what happens in pt. 2.
My favourite Christmas special!
21:28 this aged like wine now that the doctor has a musical number haha
Lol.
It's my favourite opening scene to any episode...
Ah yes
The one episode with the plaid jacket but no elbow pads
And the beginning of the “cool” hair
This was a fantastic, whimsical, beautiful episode.
I can't decide what I like more, "silence is all you know" or "the ballad of the last chance saloon"
First time I watched it, it was boring and forgettable, then when I rewatched the series over Covid, it was very enjoyable and heartwarming, unforgettable.
21:21 If people want one, isn't Doctor Who and The Pirates essentially a Big Finish musical?
Yep and it's great
As I understood it Abigail has sacrificed herself precisely because she knows she is terminally ill. Getting every remaining day as Christmas Day doesn't seem very exploitative to me. A more interesting question is: Why doesn't the Doctor cure her?
PS. Fish don't die of old age, they get sick or predated (mostly by us).
This was the first episode I saw when it aired. I'll admit that it was an enjoyable episode and the ghost of Christmas yet to come in the Muppets version was as creepy as could be.
Love the song on this episode damn this was awesome AF
I never really cared for the 11th. When the 10th left I didn’t feel the same connection with the doctor. But THIS episode I adore and will happily watch again and again.
I like this special because kazran as a young adult is very good looking
Last Christmas? Really? I don't dislike it, but I do find it to be one of Moffat's more self indulgent scripts. And I never understood why movies and shows at the time were copying JJ Abrams's lense flares, since it is the most annoying aspect of his visual style (but it's also his most memorable)
I think I only watched this episode when it came out and I now have no memory of it
This episode and Blink were shown to me to get me into the show.
I thought the its Christmas line was a round about way of saying its a miracle
I'm hoping Matt Smith reprises his role as the eleventh doctor in the realm of big finish
RIP Gambon
I went to uni with Laurence Belcher (young Kazran) and saw him in a few plays
fun fact the guy that does the Christmas Present from A Muppets Christmas Carol went onto play Basil Brush
I never had any idea that the Christmas Carol was set on another planet,
I think doctor who Christmas episodes should be cheesy, it’s part of their Christmasy charm
Yeah the musical episode part didn't age well
But it's A Christmas Carol of course she's gonna sing at the end
10:33 YES! Another Aunty Donna appreciation meme Thank You!!!
Remember when the Doctor was a Timelord?
They still are...
He watched one crush die and might need to kill the other
Basically, Harbo just doesn't like fairy tales and musical. Acceptable, have a nice day
DOCTOR, DID YEH PUT YERR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIYAHHHH??
Pillow fort building? I think you’re getting confused with “Inspector Spacetime” Harbo 😹😎😊
Thanks. This video reminded me of how good Doctor Who used to be.
Next do the Sarah Jane adventures review series and then torchwood children of earth.
Great story great Dr episode it showed what the 11th was capable of at the time and the difference between him and previous Christmas episodes it's hand down a great Dr Who episode and story
Before you move onto S6, you'll have to do the Sarah Jane Matt Smith episode with Jo Grant 😀
You say the Ghost of Christmas yet to Come was the most terrifying of the ghosts in the Muppet Christmas Carol. But I disagree. I never found anything scary about it.
Now the Ghost of Christmas Past? fuck that.
4:50. you okay there harbo?
So fans shouldn't ask for a musical episode just because you don't like them? Omg fairy tale musical climax in a Christmas special omg so cringe 😫 like it's literally called a Christmas Carol it's doctor who's take on a Christmas Carol a children's book a fairy tale.
I do like this episode alot. It's great
I wonder how Amy and Rory got stuck on the crashing spaceship in the first place
It was their honeymoon. It was said in the episode
Nice video!
Mooooore Aunty Donna?? Fkn sik!
9 was Marley
10 is present
11 is past
12 is future.
You keep using the term 'bootstrap paradox' in your videos and I don't think you really understand what it means, since you keep using it in non-applicable situations.
For example, lets take the useage from this video, where the two Kazrans are in the same time period. You claim this is a boostrap paradox. So is it? Well, no, otherwise I wouldn't be making this comment.
The bootsrap paradox is where an object or information is solely contained within a time loop, such that there is no origin for said object or information. The 12th Doctor uses an example of compositions that were written by a time traveller under the guise of Beethoven, with him only knowing the compositions in the first place because they were famous. The paradox is that nowhere in that loop are the compositions actually composed, merely copied repeatedly.
The situation in this episode is NOT a boostrap paradox. It's actually an example of the grandfather paradox. Youn Kazran sees his older self behaving like his father, which scares him into not wanting to become like that. But if he never became like that, he wouldn't have acted like his father for his younger self to see, so his young self wouldn't have been scared into not acting like his father, so he would have acted like his father in the future... paradox.
It's also worth noting that characters meeting their past/future selves isn't intrinsically paradoxical. It CAN be if your media's rules for time travel have certain restrictions in place (only allowing stable time loops for example) but Doctor Who isn't a case where such restrictions apply.
I still greatly enjoy your videos though! This is only a nitpick, but I think it's one that's necessary to address, given the nature of the show ;)
As a Philosophy student currently taking a Philsophy of Time module, you pointing this out was very satisfying - thank-you ;) Though, of course, the two have strong similarities, so I can see how one could mistakenly use them interchangeably. (Assuming they were even aware of both, which I think Harbo may have only heard of the one.) Anyway, I appreciate your good-intentioned 'nitpickiness' :D
I agree with Rakka, this is the one of the best explanations of both paradoxes I've heard. Like Harbo, I too thought they were basically just 2 different names for the same phenomenon. Can you give an example of time travel in fiction where the restrictions are more concrete?
@@i_am_tomatosoup Would the film Twelve Monkeys count?
Seeing an incredibly smaller comment numbers compared to the 22k views and 1.2k likes is really interesting
Videos with what seems like amazing view and like counts to me have comments only in the hundreds is such an odd occurrence I see frequently
Weird place to say this I know
If you take all of Harbo's ranks for Series 5 and improve them by one tier, I think you get a pretty fair ranking.
When is children of earth review
21:55 SORCERY! Did The Doctor rewrite Harbo's timeline 😆
OMG what is the english class sick song from!?!?!
Michael Gambon isn’t British he’s from Dublin,Ireland. My grand country. Does it matter? Yes! The British have a long history of appropriating everything good from my country and literally destroying the rest!
I think this is the only Christmas carol adaptation that actually has a better ending than the original book. Because really, doing good because of being threatened with death isn’t genuinely altruistic if you’re doing it out of fear. But him turning good both because he sees himself through his own eyes and is horrified by it, and also him finally facing up to the abuse he suffered as a child and the loss he suffered with Abigail means more than just “turn good or die.”
Tbh I've seen so many versions at this point I forget what's in the original Dickens and what's changes made in adaptations
It was nice to have a Doctor Who special that didn't turn the images of Christmas into weapons of death by aliens ruining the holiday by attacking London every December 25th. I do not like how Davies treated Christmas and I'm expecting more of the same when he's back in charge. That makes me sad since Christmas is my favorite holiday.
The Victorian type setting works for American audiences as well because of Dickens' classic and some of those same decorations and traditions being used in early American homes.
I don’t really like the paradox in this because it goes against the whole “You can’t go back once your established in events” and shit! And also seeing Kazrans memories change before him brings up more questions than it answers? Does he exist with two sets of memories because he clearly knows that the doctor changed his memories so he must know his memories were different before!
Surely it should have just been good if she was the only other person who had the ability to make the machine work?
Wouldn't make any sense. Kazrans father created the machine. Why would he ever let this random woman who he saw as a loan and a peasant be able to use his most valuable machine?
"Because Dickens is a character in this universe."
Dang, I forgot about that because The Unquiet Dead isn't exactly a memorable Doctor Who episode. Stuff like this is how I know that Steven Moffat is a true fan.
You can't stand musicals? Well, you're not gonna like this year's Christmas special...