12 Great Moments From Last Christmas
Mark McCullough picks out twelve faves from this year’s Christmas special.
Note: Full episode spoilers, naturally.
When we think of Christmas, the word ‘tradition’ springs to mind. In more ways than one it is a testament to the success of Doctor Who that it has nailed down a spot in the Christmas line up. It’s hard to imagine Christmas without sitting down after a good feed to watch the Doctor embark on a new adventure, it really is the best gift for a Whovian. As well as a time for family and celebration, Christmas is the season for making lists. I think all regular readers of the site will know what this list is about, but for those who don’t… I’m making a list, I’m checking it twice. I’m gonna suss out what was naughty or nice… As this is a 12 Great Moments list I’ll try to keep the naughty stuff to a minimum (never thought I’d be saying that on DWTV). So without further ado, let’s get popping with our twelve Christmas crackers…
“Hurry Down the Chimney Tonight”
The episode opens with a completely bonkers scene, leaving you sure of only two things: you are on the right channel, it’s unmistakably Doctor Who, oh and it’s the Christmas Special (what a surprise). If the pre-credits scene is guilty of anything, it’s a Christmas overload and that is actually a very welcome thing because it sets the tone perfectly, it’s cheery, it’s funny, it’s Christmas! It’s not just laughs though, there’s actually some pretty deep stuff in there too. Of course there is the tender issue of whether Santa is real or not, something which for many is actually central to the magic of Christmas. Thankfully I feel the narrative navigated it pretty well (evidently unlike Santa’s Sleigh) and if anything actually challenged the alternative by mocking the natural doubt that it was your parents. When the Doctor appears (to a wonderful score by Murray Gold) there is an injection of pace as he has a standoff with Santa before whisking Clara off in the TARDIS. He gives her the warning that the fate of everyone may depend on whether she believes in Santa or not. Thankfully like myself, Clara is a firm believer in Father Christmas. Take note kids!
“So here it is Merry Christmas“
Ensuring that the title sequence is bookended by mind-blowingly random scenes we have the introduction of Shona (who happens to share my surname, sadly no relation). It’s an incredible tense scene; we are introduced to a new hostile environment where there is an imminent threat. We see a young woman who is about to step into the unknown and face it. Like with the opening scene there is a rich infusion of humour, which also serves to suggest an element of distain within the group. Only a moment of screen time and we can already glean quite a lot about what is going on. That however is not actually the reason I like this scene. It is Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ which makes it for me. I absolutely adore the message that no matter how bleak a situation a Christmas song will bring a bit of cheer. Doesn’t that just perfectly encapsulate the spirit of Christmas!
“Santa Claus is coming to Town”
It may appear I’m going through scenes chronologically, I’m not. Although in that respect Last Christmas was very pragmatic about the gifts it gave us, saving the best for last. If you were already thinking that this is the craziest episode of Doctor Who you’ve ever seen, Santa’s entrance is bound to have fixed that. A massive explosion blows a hole in the side of the base, and when an orange bounces in slow motion we know what’s coming. But it’s even more bonkers than we initially anticipated as an army of toys marches in, followed by Santa riding a reindeer with central locking. As if this isn’t barmy enough we get into the dialogue and it seems Moffat had a little too much mulled wine when writing this one. There are enough jokes that everyone is bound to laugh at least once, so in that sense the scene does its job effectively. Call me a Scrooge, but I felt some were a bit too forced. A particular highlight is Shona telling Santa she will hurt him, or one of the elves mocking Clara’s height.
“You took my dreams from me when I first found you”
Ninth place goes to a concept rather than a specific moment. The idea of the Dream Crabs is an excellent one, a creature which attacks fast and sends you into a dream-like state while it digests your brain. To prevent the pain so as you are unaware of its presence it administers an anaesthetic in the form of your dreams. The fact that in theory anyone could be a victim to one of these creatures is what makes them so terrifying, how can we really know if what we are experiencing is real? It was all looking so good, but we have a minor problem. I know I promised not to be naughty, but I just can’t help myself. Once again we have a monster with an attached warning ‘Don’t _X_’ (No I’m not talking about Ed Sheeran’s album, but that would make a perfect gift). The lack of originality with how monsters are implied to be scary is becoming worrisome, so hopefully Moffat comes up with something new before we reach “Don’t Live”.
“A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices”
One of the biggest ‘will she, won’t she’ sagas of the year focused on Clara and whether her time in the TARDIS was numbered. When the episode title was revealed as Last Christmas, I’m sure like myself many fans feared the worst. I know I was breathing a sigh of relief that she was staying, but the revelation came with a sucker-punch of sorts. To utilise a Christmas analogy, it’s like asking for a massive present, but someone offers you something else, but you are adamant in what you want. But when you do end up getting it, you realise the alternative may actually have been better. So you’re pleased, but just a little disappointed too. I was like that with Clara in this episode. I’m delighted that she was staying, but on the other hand her exit would have been perfect and fitted the character like a glove. What did work very well was the uncertainty surrounding the character’s fate. Not knowing what would happen meant that the stakes were higher as Clara was attacked, or when we see the aged version of her. There’s a reason you don’t peak at your Christmas presents early!
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”
In the opening paragraph I have alluded to the importance of Doctor Who to Christmas, how it has become a traditional part of the day. What Last Christmas touches on however, is the importance of Christmas within the Doctor Who universe. The narrative of the episode established that dreams can occur anywhere across time, so the fact that the episode is set at Christmas suggests this was choice of the dreamer. Combine this assumption with the snippet of information given about how the creatures work and their anaesthetic properties. The picture this gives us is that Christmas is a safe and comforting time, a time when we feel our best. I think that is such a beautiful sentiment. There is another element of ambiguity towards whose dream the crux of the narrative was set in. At the moment the best guess is Shona as her list seemed to be almost a recipe for the dream.
“Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. Refrain”
Death and Christmas seem to go hand in hand when it comes to the Moffat era of Doctor Who, whether it was Abigail in A Christmas Carol, the father in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, Clara in The Snowmen, or The Eleventh Doctor in The Time of the Doctor. This year with the ambiguity around her exit it very much seemed that Clara was going to be the casualty this time. There was a lot of teasing on Moffat’s behalf, the wonderful we are dying scenes, the extension of this onto the blackboards, and the suggestion that Clara was going to let herself die in order to be with Danny. Despite the heavy emphasis on death, Moffat managed to maintain the appropriate tone with his narrative somehow finding that perfect blend that only a Christmas atmosphere can seem to match. Surprisingly this year the only death was a character we didn’t actually learn very much about. I think the fan term is a red-coat? But thankfully not the man in the red coat who encapsulates Christmas
“I’ll be home for Christmas”
I’ve chosen the scene
where everyone wakes up from their respective dreams and finds themselves at home. It is very touching because of what it reveals about the characters by showing us their dreams. What’s even better is that it isn’t spelled out for us, we have to do some of the work and join the dots to see the full picture. For Shona we learn that she is lonely from the fact she wants to cling onto the dream for as long as possible, coupled with the fact that she is keen to stay in touch. We don’t see a lot about Ashley, but she wakes up alone in a double bed perhaps suggestive of a recent loss. Bellows is perhaps the most poignant one as she is revealed to be wheel chair bound yet her dream state showed her able to walk suggesting that the character is unhappy about her disability.
“I believe in Father Christmas”
Maybe not the best tagline for this moment, but there aren’t any Christmas songs which argue to the contrary, and for obvious reasons. The scenes where the characters realise that events aren’t actually real and are in fact a dream. There are some clever suggestions by Moffat about how to distinguish between dream and reality, my favourite being that your mind fills in the blanks. This principle is excellently demonstrated with the Doctor’s trick with the books. Ironically the only way to get out of the dream is to accept the fact that Santa is not real, thus destroying the dream and waking up. I feel it’s worth pointing out here that the purpose of the scene was not to reject the idea of Santa Claus, but to remove the comforting aspect of the dream. Santa exists for children and a child’s outlook on life is one of safety with none of the adult worries. This mirrors the state of the dream that the characters find themselves in, so the only way for them to do that is to say that Santa isn’t real. Let’s face it, we all know that isn’t true.
“Last Christmas I gave you my Heart”
Moffat must have taken a peak at my Christmas List when he brought back Danny Pink. Either that or he is in contact with Santa himself, which makes sense, he’d have had to asked Santa’s permission to put him in Last Christmas. After being immortalised in Death in Heaven, it was a surprise and not an initially pleasant one to see my favourite character from Series Eight make a return. Thankfully it worked so perfectly, encompassing everything good about Danny’s character and allowing him to shine once more. His final scene with Clara is truly heart-breaking, but once again is given a pleasant sprinkling of jokes which made it almost heart-warming at the same time. What I’m trying to say very badly is that it was a beautiful scene that played havoc with my emotions. It was made all the more poignant by the fact that it happened on Christmas Day, no one should have to lose someone on Christmas, but it is a sad reality, people are lonely and we should make an effort to include them.
“Come on its lovely weather for a sleigh ride together”
The Twelfth Doctor in comparison to his predecessors can be seen as somewhat a Scrooge. As for everyone Christmas is a time for joy and celebration, so I for one was glad to see the Doctor getting involved and embracing the Christmas Spirit. In fact the Doctor we see in this episode is greatly mellowed in comparison to the harsh character that turned several fans against him. One notable scene was an interaction with Clara where he almost missed a sarcastic reply, but quickly recovered with a reply which made me grin and showed some humanity on his part. The sleigh scene is perhaps the first time we have actually seen the Doctor Let it Go and have a bit of fun. The shots of the sleigh against the snowy city made the moment even more magical. A theme of the episode seems to have been the mix between emotions with every scene affecting the viewer in more than one way. The same also applies here as the scene packs an emotional punch by the reaction between characters. I sincerely hope Shona get her reunion with the Doctor at some stage.
“God and Sinner reconciled”
To pick a single standout scene from the episode is next to impossible, it’s like asking someone what their best present was. There are so many good ones and you don’t want to offend anyone by omitting anything. So hopefully you’ll forgive me for cheating a bit here and deciding that the highlight of the episode was Clara and Doctor’s relationship, how the events of Death in Heaven were addressed, and where they are now heading. The first notable scene between the two is when they realise that they have lied to each other. What is interesting is that neither gets angry, they both accept that they had each other’s best interests in mind. After all is out in the open it is quickly forgotten and they both move on. The next notable scene is on the sleigh when we see that Clara still has faith in him. Finally the scenes with old Clara are perhaps the most telling. It is difficult to tell whether the dream is Clara’s, the Doctor’s or a mixture of both. From the Doctor’s perspective it shows guilt on his behalf that he has abandoned her. As for Clara it shows arguably her worst nightmare, growing old alone with the Doctor never coming back for her. The foils between this and the Doctor’s own fate last year in The Time of the Doctor are obvious, particularly demonstrated by the wonderfully poignant cracker scene. So what’s next for Clara and the Doctor? We’ll have to wait until The Magician’s Apprentice to see, but I’m not convinced the dream is over just yet.
