I come from a mixed faith family, so this year the 25th is Christmas and it’s the start of Hannukah this year (the date moves every year) AND it’s Doctor Who Christmas Special Day! Best day of the year basically. What’s everyone’s favorite special? It feels like The Church on Ruby Road came out just yesterday. Really looking forward to the new one!
The way I always put it is that A Christmas Carol is the best Christmas Special, but Last Christmas is the best Doctor Who episode that is also a Christmas Special. Doctor Who: The Writers’ Room podcast recently did an episode on Carol and Wardrobe, and they did a great breakdown of what makes Carol so good. I recommend it.
Carol > Last > Husbands > Twice > Mysterio > Snowmen > Voyage > Invasion > Bride > Time of the Doctor > Church > Next > Widow > End of Time
Those are my two favorites! I think A Christmas Carol would win out for me if I had to choose, just because I love the concept so much, but they’re both amazing. I think twelve and River might actually be my favorite Doctor/River pair. I always liked River, but I was never a huge Doctor/River person. I really loved all of their interactions in Husbands of River Song though.
I love both Husbands and Doctor Mysterio.
Husbands is a fun, silly little story that also manages to be incredibly emotional, neatly wrapping up River’s story, and Doctor Mysterio is pure Doctor Who fun.
I know I’m going to be lonely out on my limb (except @kevinwho may come visit) but my favourites are definitely The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - severely underrated and misunderstood - and Voyage of the Damned just because I love a disaster movie and it’s bloody Kylie! A Christmas Carol is good too as is The Snowmen but I’m surprised Doctor Mysterio is getting the love as I find it terribly dull - and not in the least bit Christmassy!
My favourite is by far the Snowmen, and I’m happy to see it getting the love it deserves here. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why people love Christmas Carol so much. It’s good, but I find it a bit dull. There are adaptations of the story that I like a lot better.
Happy Hanukkah! Maybe one day we’ll get a Hanukkah special. One can only dream.
Ah, you know me so well. Though actually I selected Mysterio to go along with Wardrobe. I find it cute, though yeah, not Christmassy at all. Hmm…maybe I should have gone with the Christmas Invasion.
Oh, and @uss-genderprise - I don’t get the love for Carol either. That’s partly because I don’t buy into the “he was trying to be kind” explanation as to why the Doctor tried to rebuild someone’s entire life to save a crashing ship, and partly because I don’t love the “saved by singing” resolution. But hey, to each their own.
Widow would be at least 30% better if they didn’t save the dad at the end. Another 10 if they cut back on the “mom power” stuff a bit.
As for Mysterio, I think it’s just a fun story, and does good stuff with 12 coming to terms with losing River after 24 years, which also helps explain the show’s 1 year absence in-universe. I don’t need a Christmas special to be too Christmassy, as long as it’s at least a fun time, which Mysterio is. Grant and Lucy are great characters too. And I like a fun little superhero story.
I actually rewatched The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe last night by chance, and I actually liked it a lot more than I remembered! I didn’t remember it as particularly bad, just not quite as interesting. However, on rewatch I really appreciated the whole whimsical vibe. I probably hadn’t seen it since I was 11 or 12. It’s still not my favorite, but I think it’s a really fun special! I agree in terms of not being a huge fan of the “mom power” stuff, but the concept was fun and I thought the acting was good. I actually liked that they saved the dad at the end. I might not have if it wasn’t a Christmas special, but I don’t mind the Christmas specials getting a bit sentimental/having happy endings.
