Did anyone else think about 1408 (the movie based off the Stephen King novel) when the Doctor opened the door and it led to a brick wall? This story could’ve gone a whole lot differently xD (but, frankly, I would be incredibly interested to see how he would navigate that reporter’s hotel room).
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The pass code was a bootstrap paradox like in The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. He got it by giving it to himself.
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It’s intimated that Joy became the Star of Bethlehem - the one which shone above the stable where Jesus was born.
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Someone else told me about this after I posted my comment. My reality-centered mind still doesn’t understand paradoxes even when they’re explained in simple terms haha. This is why I don’t write science fiction.
It’s intimated that Joy became the Star of Bethlehem - the one which shone above the stable where Jesus was born.
Oh! Okay, and what’s the problem with this? The way people were talking about the “controversial” ending, I was thinking the Doctor was going to reveal that he canonically believes in G-d or something. What occurred with Joy is a cute ending. I like that.
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I wonder who won that cinema competition.
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Anything like that might be considered ‘blasphemous’ by certain sections of Christianity.
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And some atheists, apparently. The religious element was so subtle; blink and you’d miss it.
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Having the Doctor be in Bethlehem in the Christmas Day special isn’t that subtle!
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-Shrug- I thought it was more subtle than people are letting on. If you’d cut the last two seconds out of the episode where they had to spell out where he is (granted, I know that goes against “subtlety”), you’d think he’s just standing in a desert somewhere. The way people were describing the episode being religious, I was expecting to hear the Doctor preaching on the pulpit or having the plot revolve around religious figures. If you don’t have the background knowledge, the ending reference would just go over your head.
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I haven’t seen any online reaction to be fair because I only care what TARDIS Guide alumni think. 
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Well, I watched it. I felt that is was mostly meandering and kinda plotless. My full review:
I’d like to elaborate a bit more on my issues with the ending here, especially since people are already discussing it:
I’m not particularly religious, I was raised secular, but I’m still Jewish. As a kid I never really noticed or cared about Christmas or other Christian themes being present in things, but when I got older and made friends who were more involved in their Judaism, who found great joy in it, I felt myself open up to that aspect of myself also. I explored that part of my life and felt a lot more comfortable sharing it with others. Unfortunately, this had the side effect of revealing to me just how many things are made without people like me in mind. When do I ever see Jewish characters on screen? Meanwhile everyone celebrates Christmas and gets Sunday off and only talks about Hanukkah because it’s close to Christmas (it’s not even close to being a major holiday for us, it’s not even a time of resting). That’s what gets me with this ending; the Christmas specials are always all about togetherness and finding people to spend time with, but seeing this big Christian symbol at the end, with the birthplace and time of Christ, just made me feel all the more excluded. I could have watched this episode and given it a 3/5 because it was just a bit aimless, but instead I left it feeling like I don’t belong here, as a viewer of this show that means so much to me, simply because I’m not Christian. And isn’t that a terrible message?
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Unfortunately I don’t share the majority of positive reactions to the episode here- for a start it was hardly christmassy!!! Only a big christmas tree and the Bethlehem scene to tie it down. I know that can be a good thing to some people but personally I need my christmas specials to feel christmassy and/or have christmas as a main plot thread, which I didn’t see here which is a real shame 
I think there were far too many characters dying that the episode wanted us to care about which wasn’t justified in the time we spent with them. The time with Anita might have been my favourite part of the episode because to me she was the only character of the many we were introduced to that did get the time of day, none of the ones that died stayed with me including Joy who didn’t seem to get the attention to justify being the whole titular star of the episode at all.
And it’s partly for that reason the ending didn’t work for me either. I didn’t care enough for the ensemble of dead characters to be much moved by their saccharine goodbyes. And also the fact that all the dead gaining god like powers to just up and fly away with the star doesnt get near enough explanation for me. If you take it as a political statement which I think it was trying to be with how on the nose it was, the covid bit feels too dated; the Tory party are already ruined and all the countries political establishments have punished them dearly for everything they did, there’s plenty things to be angry about that are timeless and not only relevant to events 3-4 years ago.
There’s nothing to hate in the episode for me, but there’s nothing to be attached to either. It’s like a 5/10 for me
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And even then, the date is wrong. Herod died in 4 BC. And the Bible states that Jesus was probably about a year or two old,
thus the location/date should read 6 or 5 BC or BCE if you prefer.
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I will say that coming from a Pagan and atheist family, the Christian themes didn’t feel like they excluded me. Plus again, you’ve got all the jokes about how one of the Doctors took the last room at the inn at Bethlehem. Thinking on it, could that now be 15? Younger me always interpreted it as being 11 because it was in his annual book I first read it in.
I haven’t watched every Christmas special, but I loved the angel imagery in Voyage of The Damned for comparison.
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I also didn’t like the angels in Voyage. I guess it’s one of those things everyone is going to have a different opinion about.
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I’m not sure what the political statement would have been tbh. I think Joy was just someone who lost someone during COVID and was feeling guilt at being unable to see her properly. Probably something a lot of people can relate to, and I’m not sure what was all that political about it. Maybe something Villengard and the military industrial complex was in there, but it wasn’t that much of a focus, certainly far less than Boom was. To me it just seemed like the people that got uploaded into the Villengard star just retained enough of themselves to overcome the programming that was there initially, and able to help the Doctor save the world.
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I said goodbye on an iPad! Because of the rules! She died alone! And those awful people and their wine fridges, and their dancing, and their parties, and I listened to them, and I let my mother die alone!
This is the extent of the political content—it’s a direct response to Partygate. (Which if I’m being honest, I found very cathartic!)
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Oh for sure, I don’t think it was much of a focus, just a side note. And by ‘political’ I didn’t mean that there was any particular messaging to it, nor do I think it would be a bad thing if there was, just recognising the fact that it is a nod to the actions of the British goverment of covid times. Which I think makes that part of the episode timely to a time that has already passed since the consequences of that have already played out and the episode isn’t saying anything new or insightful about it. Although I do understand that it may be much more impactful to people who did lose someone close to them to covid in the same way Joy did, but I’m fortunate to not have that perspective myself.
I can understand the consciousness of the people uploaded still being there to help. But I don’t think there was any explanation or precedent for how that allows them move the star lightyears away at will. Maybe it could’ve been explained away, but it wasn’t and it seemed well established to me that the star would bloom where it is on earth.
I’m going to rewatch the episode tonight and see if I can maybe be more positive about it a second time round 
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That’s a fair point, I don’t think there was an explicit explanation for how it moved there. At a guess because it’s an artificial star, a piece of technology with a lot of energy, it could use that energy to move itself, and with its new conscience with the minds of people like Joy and Trev in there, it chose to use its energy to move itself to a harmless location, when it wouldn’t have cared before. A bit of a rationalization, but I think it makes enough sense in context to probably be what’s going on, even without a direct explanation.
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Ehh… it was an episode. On average I enjoy every other xmas special and I didn’t like last year so the pattern holds. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I did think the star of Bethlehem thing was a bit daft. It was a little too saccharine for me, but xmas specials always are so I can’t hold that against it. As mentioned, Anita far and away the highlight
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Watched this with my friend yesterday and neither of us thought much of it. I’ll rewatch it sometime, but I didnt particularly enjoy much of it despite liking some ideas. The Doctors outfit was lovely though.
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