This is my favorite Christmas Episode of Doctor Who, and a great interpretation of A Christmas Carol. My second favorite is The Husband's of River Song. This just pips that one as the plot is more straightforward and such an excellent adaptation of the source story. What is particular impressive is how much of the episode is carried by them sticking a camera in Michael Gambon's face and having him to react to things that he couldn't see.
That's my favorite Christmas Special too (maybe in my top 5 of the best episodes ever), the narration and the writing of the characters are so brilliant and never boring. Christmas Carol is a masterpiece classical book translated in so many versions trough the decades but this one bring something new and fresh, and at the same time it puts a lot of heart and pathos into it, thanks to the great performance of the main actors mixed with a smart writing and a perfect soundtrack. It's a 10/10 for me!
I'm 100% certain that the reason the Spaceship Cruise Ship's bridge was designed to look like the Enterprise is because there has been a running gag for decades that the Enterprise D (with the families aboard, and all the activities, arboretum, aquarium, etc) was an armed "Cruise ship in space."
This was actually the very first episode of Dr Who I saw. 13 years later, not only am I a giant Whovian, but I've successfully converted several friends and family!
Ever since I started watching Doctor Who about a decade ago I watch this special. And every year I cry like I've never seen it before. This show makes me emotional like nothing else. Merry Christmas everyone
One of my favorite Christmas Moments is the end of "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe" when The Doctor (after two years,) visits the Ponds for Christmas. (And sheds, I think, a tear of joy.) As always thank you so very much for the video.
My favorite Christmas special is tied between this and the Snowmen. I thought this one wasn’t good but upon rewatching it recently I quickly changed my initial opinion. Lovely video as always.
"Continuity Errors", one of the first Who things Moffat wrote, and a great story, uses a similar device of the Doctor changing someone's past to change the present.
I've enjoyed all the Christmas specials from Doctor Who. I don't have a favourite among them per se. It might change after I've seen the new one. I do love all the New Year specials.
I liked Nick Frost as Santa Claus in "Last Christmas"... I just wanted Simon Pegg to be the Head Elf to accompany him... ;-) The Welsh steel mill was also used to hold the rocket ship from "The Star Beast"...
I adore that the shark was named Clive. And the fact that we still don't have the series 10 soundtrack is such a crime. A Christmas Carol and The Husbands of River Song are my top 2 Christmas episodes.
Charles Foster Kane wasn't greedy. He had a pathological need to be loved, but also a need to control that love. He was wealthy due to the trust that his mother established with the banker that raised him, but, it was his emotional needs that led to his solitary life and ultimate misery...
Okay, so, I've always referred to The Doctor and Doctor Who work the full "Doctor" as it's a name and not a title. It does kind of grind my gears when people write Dr or Dr. /Dr Who or Dr. Who. But there are at least a couple of people out there who insist that it's how "long term" Whovians refer to the show. That's weird, am I right?
Not all species of sharks are deadly to humans, in fact there are less than half a dozen that are potentially dangerous. Most are harmless and at great risk of extinction from indiscriminate fishing and the shark's fin soup trade. 🦈
Yeah, a personal favourite, after years of thinking that the Xmas episodes were a bit disappointing. And I think we really have Dickens to thank for that - or, at least, the seemingly never-ending adaptations of this work. All the performances are on point and I really love the way Michael Gambon understands the assignment. I mean he's technically doing a classic text here anyway, with the names changed. And hats off to Matt Smith too. That year was a big task for him, trying to establish himself in the part. And he makes it look like he's always been doing it.
This is a solid Christmas story. Love Katherine's song. Overall, though, I like The Husbands of River Song the most. Capaldi and Kingston played very well off each other and they both had some great lines.
Yeah, and it’s the episode right before silence in the library, so it adds that bit. Though by this point I’ve been iffy with River. I lover her. And Alex Kingston, but as her episodes went, the more she kinda became annoying because of the prison bit. I mean why did she need to keep up the lie when 11 was still being loud, and the whole trenzalore stuff. Plus with a character like River, it’s easier to write her stuff as a book or audio drama like Charolette Pollard in big finish. She started as 8’s companion and ended up becoming 6’s.
Headcanon on #3 - the Doctor can absolutely do those card tricks. He's just selectively/performatively bad at some stuff. Why do I think this? The God Complex. He'd had trouble solving a Rubik's cube in the previous episode Night Terrors, but once Rita passed away and things Got Real, he was just sitting there, seething, with a completed cube and eating an apple (which he selectively/performatively hated in The Eleventh Hour). Under certain conditions, the "tawdry quirks" just fall away and all you get is Oncoming Storm...
One of my favorite Xmas Specials for sure. Kinda partial to Husbands of River Song, but yeah, this is good too. 😉 OMG, around 6 min or so you go on a binge of saying "Haych" instead of "H" and it just makes my eye twitch. I keep thinking of that Mitchell & Web sketch where you'd have been shot! 🤣
"'The Christmas Invasion' was the first 'Doctor Who' Christmas special…" Um, 1965's "The Feast of Steven" would like to have a word with you. Oh, sure, technically in's episode 7 of "The Daleks' Masterplan"' but since it has nothing to do with the plot of that story (the Daleks don't even appear!) and just sees the Doctor, Steven, and Sara Kingdom running around and having hijinks, and then toasting the audience at home at the end, I think we can count it as a Christmas special.
A Christmas Carol and Husbands of River Song are my favorite Christmas Specials. If you think about it, it’s the beginning and end of River Songs story. She was conceived aboard the TARDIS in A Christmas Carol and she spends her last years with her Doctor in Darillium.
Sorry I'm late. I was watching Miracle on 34th Street (black and white, naturally). Favorite Christmas special? This one. I've watched it A LOT. Second is The Husbands of River Song, which I watched a couple of days ago. I've always thought that Sardick Mansion looked quite a bit like the business end of the 10th Doctor's sonic screwdriver. So what's next? Probably Scrooged or It's a Wonderful Life, then another Christmas special, plus I have to fit a Voyager ep in there because I missed yesterday. So Merry Christmas, and Santa Claus loves everybody (that's what my Uncle Pete used to say; he was Santa from the mid 60's into the 70's, for several years, Santa's Sleigh was a Mint Green '72 Ford Pinto; I know, a Sicilian Santa, but it worked better than you can imagine).
A Christmas Carol might be my favorite Christmas special. Either this or Husbands of River Song (and I’ll obviously have to wait for the Church on Ruby Road to see if that can contend with or replace A Christmas Carol)
I wonder if the one who waits is the renegade time Lord the rani. And doesn't Kathryn Jenkins character die in the end I mean she doesn't die on screen but it was her last live wasn't it?
Isn't this the episode where the Doctor marries Marylyn Monroe in 1954? There is only problem with that, unfortunately. She was already Married to Joe DiMaggio at the time. They tied the knot in January of that year and divorced a year later due to 'irreconcilable differences.' Moffet may have changed history by ruining her career and having her spend jailtime for bygammy.
This is the only Xmas special I have watched on the night with non whovians and they have enjoyed. It struck a good balance between what made who great and accessibility for casuals without the OTT silliness that often cripples to Xmas episodes.
Additional things with the entry about the Star Trek influences in the episode. The ship was mentioned as being “Galaxy Class”, like TNG’s Enterprise-D. We also hear that same Enterprise warp-by sound as the ship whizzes past the screen at least once. The helmsman has a very Geordi-like VISOR. But the Bridge was obviously meant to mainly echo the Kelvin-verse Enterprise, complete with JJ Abrams overuse of lens flares.
I love this episode & I love when they film in my hometown of Newport. (Spot the places you recognise drinking game played heavily too). Also used to feed the cast & production team breakfast aswwll as the TORCHWOOD crew. Saw Ncuti & Millie filming an episode in town 3 months ago too ❤
this is my favorite Xmas episode, simply because the story and by far the song of KJ. Her voice... this song... just thinking to it gives me goosepumps and runny eyes.
This is probably the best x-mas special. Too bad the next one was really bad, I mean I thought of a better way to make it more like the actual book it was based on.
Steven Moffat writing A Christmas Carol in a hot LA, is nothing new because, several famous Christmas songs were written in odd circumstances and the BBC's Top Of The Pops, filmed Christmas Day Special song performances, in summer sometimes. 😁🎄
A Christmas Carol, in nearly all its incarnations, is my favorite Christmas movie. So, I'm sure it will come as no surprise that this is my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special. It also makes it into the top ten of my personal favorite Doctor Who episodes.
This is my (and my wife's) favorite Christmas episode because it introduced us to the awesomely talented and very lovely Katherine Jenkins. Whose music we now sleep to every night.
my sister doesnt like this episode because she knows the singer. they trained together in London. why this means she hates the whole story, I dont know.
This is my favorite Christmas Episode of Doctor Who, and a great interpretation of A Christmas Carol. My second favorite is The Husband's of River Song. This just pips that one as the plot is more straightforward and such an excellent adaptation of the source story. What is particular impressive is how much of the episode is carried by them sticking a camera in Michael Gambon's face and having him to react to things that he couldn't see.
That's my favorite Christmas Special too (maybe in my top 5 of the best episodes ever), the narration and the writing of the characters are so brilliant and never boring. Christmas Carol is a masterpiece classical book translated in so many versions trough the decades but this one bring something new and fresh, and at the same time it puts a lot of heart and pathos into it, thanks to the great performance of the main actors mixed with a smart writing and a perfect soundtrack. It's a 10/10 for me!
My top three are thus one, the river song one and the one with mat Smith and the mom and kids during wwii
Same here
My favorite one
I'm 100% certain that the reason the Spaceship Cruise Ship's bridge was designed to look like the Enterprise is because there has been a running gag for decades that the Enterprise D (with the families aboard, and all the activities, arboretum, aquarium, etc) was an armed "Cruise ship in space."
This was actually the very first episode of Dr Who I saw. 13 years later, not only am I a giant Whovian, but I've successfully converted several friends and family!
Ever since I started watching Doctor Who about a decade ago I watch this special. And every year I cry like I've never seen it before. This show makes me emotional like nothing else.
Merry Christmas everyone
I absolutely love this episode and this was really a first for me because number 15 was the only one that I already knew! Awesome job, Ellie and team!
One of my favorite Christmas Moments is the end of "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe" when The Doctor (after two years,) visits the Ponds for Christmas. (And sheds, I think, a tear of joy.)
As always thank you so very much for the video.
This is, and will probably forever be my favourite Doctor Who Christmas Special and also my most rewatched TV-episode ever.
I laught at the Marilyn Monroe get your coat bit.
For me this episode is probably top 3 of all time. I have such attachment to it and i love the story and vibe and matt smith is just the goat.
My favorite Christmas special is tied between this and the Snowmen. I thought this one wasn’t good but upon rewatching it recently I quickly changed my initial opinion. Lovely video as always.
Wasn't until he died and read his filmography that I placed him as The General (Zevo) in "TOYS" (1992) which is also a Christmas-y movie.
"Continuity Errors", one of the first Who things Moffat wrote, and a great story, uses a similar device of the Doctor changing someone's past to change the present.
This is my favourite episode. LIke not even from DW, but at all, my favourite TV episode of all of them.
unwarranted diminishment of Lee Evans' lovely face aside, what a great video :D
I've enjoyed all the Christmas specials from Doctor Who. I don't have a favourite among them per se. It might change after I've seen the new one. I do love all the New Year specials.
I liked Nick Frost as Santa Claus in "Last Christmas"... I just wanted Simon Pegg to be the Head Elf to accompany him... ;-)
The Welsh steel mill was also used to hold the rocket ship from "The Star Beast"...
The husbands of River Song is by far my favourite
Imagine getting an acting job on Doctor Who and then being told you'll be kissing Katherine Jenkins. I bet he couldn't believe his luck.
I love Clara I would love see her back
No please, I can’t bear to have Clara come back in any form after hell bent lol
@@tgiacin435 Twice Upon a Time?
@@9nikola was that the one with the face crabs?
@@tgiacin435 No, it was the special in which Clara's memories gave the Doctor his memories back before he regenerated into Jodie
@@9nikola that sounds painful
Best Christmas Future twist ever.
The Doctor Who ❤
A Christmas carol is my favourite followed by voyage of the damned
Whenever the Doctor fails the card trick he himself looks a bit confused. As if also is wondering "Wait why cant I do this anymore?"
I adore that the shark was named Clive. And the fact that we still don't have the series 10 soundtrack is such a crime. A Christmas Carol and The Husbands of River Song are my top 2 Christmas episodes.
Last Christmas!! (And then The Husbands of River Song!)
The perfect episode.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS SPECIAL BAR NONE
Who else could have played Abigail? Not only is Jenkins incredibly talented vocally, she is also stunningly beautiful.
I loved this episode! So well done!
The snowmen was great
Charles Foster Kane wasn't greedy. He had a pathological need to be loved, but also a need to control that love. He was wealthy due to the trust that his mother established with the banker that raised him, but, it was his emotional needs that led to his solitary life and ultimate misery...
That cartune of "sharks", aren't sharks. They're Dolphins. You tell by the tail fins and blowhole.
Wow thank you I’ve been wondering for years why I recognized kazran. Jfc I’m dumb 😅
Okay, so, I've always referred to The Doctor and Doctor Who work the full "Doctor" as it's a name and not a title. It does kind of grind my gears when people write Dr or Dr. /Dr Who or Dr. Who.
But there are at least a couple of people out there who insist that it's how "long term" Whovians refer to the show. That's weird, am I right?
Wonderful
Best Christmas special ever
I forget about this episode but it's quite an enjoyable one and you can't go wrong with the wonderful Gambon
You FORGET about it?! 😮
(Round here it’s our favourite Christmas ep)
No way! I just watched a week ago, in perfect Christmas Time 🎄
Not all species of sharks are deadly to humans, in fact there are less than half a dozen that are potentially dangerous. Most are harmless and at great risk of extinction from indiscriminate fishing and the shark's fin soup trade. 🦈
I was going to be disappointed to not see Ellie, but she included a few quick smiles, so that brightened my day. Thank you again, Ellie.
Christmas Invasion, Time of the Doctor , Husbands of River Song. All my favorite Christmas episodes
if he was listening to real christmas music, he certainly wasn't listening to mariah carey...
Yeah, a personal favourite, after years of thinking that the Xmas episodes were a bit disappointing. And I think we really have Dickens to thank for that - or, at least, the seemingly never-ending adaptations of this work. All the performances are on point and I really love the way Michael Gambon understands the assignment. I mean he's technically doing a classic text here anyway, with the names changed. And hats off to Matt Smith too. That year was a big task for him, trying to establish himself in the part. And he makes it look like he's always been doing it.
For me the best one was titanic. Also bringing in the Queen at Christmas 🎄 . That was well done .
Idk, if I was the queen seeing that episode on christmas, my first thought would be “WHAT THE FRAK WAS THAT?!”
This is a solid Christmas story. Love Katherine's song. Overall, though, I like The Husbands of River Song the most. Capaldi and Kingston played very well off each other and they both had some great lines.
Yeah, and it’s the episode right before silence in the library, so it adds that bit. Though by this point I’ve been iffy with River. I lover her. And Alex Kingston, but as her episodes went, the more she kinda became annoying because of the prison bit. I mean why did she need to keep up the lie when 11 was still being loud, and the whole trenzalore stuff. Plus with a character like River, it’s easier to write her stuff as a book or audio drama like Charolette Pollard in big finish. She started as 8’s companion and ended up becoming 6’s.
i never got the chance to watch it since it isn't in my nativ language: German :(
My favourite Christmas special and one of my favourite episodes of the whole series.
The plural of aircraft is aircraft.
Headcanon on #3 - the Doctor can absolutely do those card tricks. He's just selectively/performatively bad at some stuff. Why do I think this? The God Complex. He'd had trouble solving a Rubik's cube in the previous episode Night Terrors, but once Rita passed away and things Got Real, he was just sitting there, seething, with a completed cube and eating an apple (which he selectively/performatively hated in The Eleventh Hour). Under certain conditions, the "tawdry quirks" just fall away and all you get is Oncoming Storm...
My favorite of the Christmas specials. Can't wait to see how tomorrow's stacks up
How could anyone hate Mariah Carey?
I wish Ellie was doing Doctor Who Unleashed.
One of my favorite Xmas Specials for sure. Kinda partial to Husbands of River Song, but yeah, this is good too. 😉
OMG, around 6 min or so you go on a binge of saying "Haych" instead of "H" and it just makes my eye twitch. I keep thinking of that Mitchell & Web sketch where you'd have been shot! 🤣
"'The Christmas Invasion' was the first 'Doctor Who' Christmas special…"
Um, 1965's "The Feast of Steven" would like to have a word with you. Oh, sure, technically in's episode 7 of "The Daleks' Masterplan"' but since it has nothing to do with the plot of that story (the Daleks don't even appear!) and just sees the Doctor, Steven, and Sara Kingdom running around and having hijinks, and then toasting the audience at home at the end, I think we can count it as a Christmas special.
...in which nobody dies.
"Earth Sneeze" has now entered my vocabulary, lol
My favorite Christmas episode is also ‘The Husbands of River Song.’ This one is a close second. They’re both soooo good. 💙
A Christmas Carol and Husbands of River Song are my favorite Christmas Specials. If you think about it, it’s the beginning and end of River Songs story. She was conceived aboard the TARDIS in A Christmas Carol and she spends her last years with her Doctor in Darillium.
Best Christmas Special ever ❤️ ☃️ 🎄
Christmas Carol is definitely my favorite Doctor Who Christmas Special
I watched this ep around 2 weeks ago. Love this factfile
Sorry I'm late. I was watching Miracle on 34th Street (black and white, naturally).
Favorite Christmas special? This one. I've watched it A LOT. Second is The Husbands of River Song, which I watched a couple of days ago.
I've always thought that Sardick Mansion looked quite a bit like the business end of the 10th Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
So what's next? Probably Scrooged or It's a Wonderful Life, then another Christmas special, plus I have to fit a Voyager ep in there because I missed yesterday.
So Merry Christmas, and Santa Claus loves everybody (that's what my Uncle Pete used to say; he was Santa from the mid 60's into the 70's, for several years, Santa's Sleigh was a Mint Green '72 Ford Pinto; I know, a Sicilian Santa, but it worked better than you can imagine).
Probably my favorite Christmas special.
This is my favorite Christmas episode. The most Christmasy episode in my opinion.
The BEST episode. Makes me cry every time. Unfortunately, no future episodes lived up to this. Witch and Wardrobe came close, but not quite there
**Ding dong**
Who is it?
Candy gram!
A Christmas Carol might be my favorite Christmas special. Either this or Husbands of River Song (and I’ll obviously have to wait for the Church on Ruby Road to see if that can contend with or replace A Christmas Carol)
5:28
What happened, there?
What was that sound? 🤣
Were you possessed by the spirit of Gene Wilder, for a second?
I wonder if the one who waits is the renegade time Lord the rani.
And doesn't Kathryn Jenkins character die in the end I mean she doesn't die on screen but it was her last live wasn't it?
Isn't this the episode where the Doctor marries Marylyn Monroe in 1954? There is only problem with that, unfortunately. She was already Married to Joe DiMaggio at the time. They tied the knot in January of that year and divorced a year later due to 'irreconcilable differences.' Moffet may have changed history by ruining her career and having her spend jailtime for bygammy.
Yeah
I think the Doctor later said it was not a real wedding. Still River was not happy about it.
@@badfairy9554 how did she find out about it?
This is the only Xmas special I have watched on the night with non whovians and they have enjoyed. It struck a good balance between what made who great and accessibility for casuals without the OTT silliness that often cripples to Xmas episodes.
A Christmas Carol I think is the best Christmas Special.
My favourite however is 2008's The Next Doctor.
The reason The Doctor is bad at card trick, is they take concentration and he has a time lord sized case of ADHD...
The card truck thing, ja me vu!
Fine ... I'll watching it tonight
Additional things with the entry about the Star Trek influences in the episode. The ship was mentioned as being “Galaxy Class”, like TNG’s Enterprise-D. We also hear that same Enterprise warp-by sound as the ship whizzes past the screen at least once. The helmsman has a very Geordi-like VISOR. But the Bridge was obviously meant to mainly echo the Kelvin-verse Enterprise, complete with JJ Abrams overuse of lens flares.
A Christmas Carol Is The Best Christmas Special!
Soop
That steel mill looks a lot like the place beeps spaceship landed in *The Star Beast*
As far as 'Christmas' goes, the carol is the one that nails it the most... But my fav to watch in general is The Return to Dr Mysterio.
my favourite xmas special is last christmas
I love this episode & I love when they film in my hometown of Newport. (Spot the places you recognise drinking game played heavily too). Also used to feed the cast & production team breakfast aswwll as the TORCHWOOD crew.
Saw Ncuti & Millie filming an episode in town 3 months ago too ❤
Am I the only one that caught the (obvious?) hallucinogenic lipstick on the Doctor's face? That wasn't Marilyn, that was River Song having some fun...
my favorite Christmas episode, with my favorite doctor, with my favorite companions, i watch it every year
sayin dr who christmas is death and mayhem same is for eastenders especially this year
this is my favorite Xmas episode, simply because the story and by far the song of KJ. Her voice... this song... just thinking to it gives me goosepumps and runny eyes.
The steelworks are actually located on the outskirts of Newport, Gwent not inside the town.
This is probably the best x-mas special. Too bad the next one was really bad, I mean I thought of a better way to make it more like the actual book it was based on.
Never noticed they actually showed people being incinerated in Voyage of the Damned at 0:46. 🤔
"earth sneeze"?
Steven Moffat writing A Christmas Carol in a hot LA, is nothing new because, several famous Christmas songs were written in odd circumstances and the BBC's Top Of The Pops, filmed Christmas Day Special song performances, in summer sometimes. 😁🎄
A Christmas Carol, in nearly all its incarnations, is my favorite Christmas movie. So, I'm sure it will come as no surprise that this is my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special. It also makes it into the top ten of my personal favorite Doctor Who episodes.
This is my (and my wife's) favorite Christmas episode because it introduced us to the awesomely talented and very lovely Katherine Jenkins. Whose music we now sleep to every night.
#20 is technically wrong when considering its HEAVILY implied she only has that day left to live...
I would say this is my favorite who Christmas. Simply because Katherine Jenkins "Abigail's song" is simply amazing.
Don't you mean DumbleDore and ... Newt Scamander? (aka Matt Smith).
Eddie Redmayne...
Newt Scamander wasn't played by Matt Smith
Michael Gambon always played Michael Gambon. None of his characters were ever anything else, so he's criticizing himself?
270
my sister doesnt like this episode because she knows the singer. they trained together in London. why this means she hates the whole story, I dont know.