TARDIS Guide Advent Calendar 2024

General / off topic Forum Games
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Now that requires some thought - I shall hopefully return with a little piece (once I’m not supposed to be educating young impressionable minds).

Just a thought for yesterday’s story which I did indeed read at bedtime: I obviously hadn’t read that before because otherwise I would have known how wonderful it was. It reminded me, a little, of Inside No 9’s The Twelve Days of Christine. Very moving, and also funny (the line about the Chuckle Brothers is getting submitted as a quote when I get the chance). Thank you for posting it as part of this because I think it’s obviously one of those I kept meaning to read but never actually sat down and did it.

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I’m not too late to join in I hope? :snowman_with_snow:

A lovely story, almost had me in tears at one point.

Thank you @lwebb for creating this Advent Calendar :gift: I’m looking forward to discovering more stories and I’m going to get two doors today!

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It’s never too late to join any thread on TARDIS Guide. :slight_smile:

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One of the reasons why I love TG so much. We can do this because most of the threads are open-ended questions. Almost like therapy, come to think of it /hj

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While I have seen today’s entry before, I simply can’t watch it often enough, it’s amazing!

Now for today’s activity:

day 2

The question for me with the classic doctors and Christmas is, when did the doctor start celebrating it? Because he clearly loves it by new who times but obviously it’s a holiday by a part of humans only, so he wouldn’t have known about it on gallifrey. Personally, I believe the first and second doctor didn’t celebrate it anymore than any random holiday on a random planet. Also keeping track of relative time with the tardis that broken is just plain impossible.
No, I think the doctor started celebrating during his time at unit. And specifically, because of Jo. She somehow gets it in her head that unit needs a proper Christmas party and convinces everybody to go along with it. I mean, who can say no to that enthusiasm? (Maybe she even convinces the master, he always did have a soft spot for her)(He probably tries to take over the world with idk mind washing Christmas music or something though) The doctor lets himself be convinced and spends the evening having long conversations with the brigadier when he isn’t busy stopping the master. He pretends not to enjoy it but somehow the Christmas lights suddenly require no electricity anymore and everyone gets perfect presents that they hadn’t told anyone they wanted that are also possibly somewhat alien.

The fourth doctor is, I think, the first doctor to love Christmas. Mind you, he loves what he thinks is Christmas. He has no idea what Christianity is or how it relates to christmas. With total joy he teaches Leela and Romana about philosophical debates, burning trees, kissing people at midnight (he forgot about the mistletoes and mixed it up with new year’s), customs from planets far away in time and space and knife throwing (Leela’s idea but he was too drunk to remember). And of course, the main event: saving the world!

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May I introduce you to the Big Finish Short Trip ‘A Christmas Truce?’

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OMG, that is amazing! Thank you for showing me that!

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Well that was adorable.

10/10, no notes

Question Two

I can’t imagine most of Classic Who Doctors even doing Christmas (especially not Hartnell) but I can picture Three getting introduced to the world of drunken Christmas celebrations through a UNIT office party.

Eight would probably enjoy Christmas the most, he can be quite whimsical and very often human.

I’d like to think Seven probably started a bunch of Christmas traditions. I can imagine him going through history and introducing tangerines to stockings in a two thousand year bid to defeat an Elder God of Citrus or something like that.

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Merry Christmas Doctor Who is just a delightfully silly little short. You can see the chemistry between the leads, and it’s always fun to see glimpses into the actor’s just goofing off a bit behind the scenes.

As for Christmas celebrations for a classic Doctor… Fugitive is basically classic right?

Have a short fanfic

The Doctor let out a sigh as she collapsed into her armchair. Just once she’d like to leave somewhere without wrecking nearly as much as she put back together. How long had she been at this now? She wracked her brain for an answer, but none came, it felt like her whole life. She smiled to herself as she supposed it had been. She enjoyed the work, she was doing good after all, but things were changing.

That mission with The Hate Weaver a few megaspans back had dealt a large blow, most of her team were dead or fell to its influence, and it was going to take a while to bounce back. Gat… he’d died there once too, but when she got better, she was different. This new Gat was born of war, more hard, more dedicated, more devoted. That new kid Karvanista had made it too, there was one to watch, in the time since the incident he’d more than managed to pull the weight of half the crew, maybe it was time to downsize the teams?

She shook her head, worrying too much again, that wouldn’t get her anywhere. She’d just gotten back from a long hard mission, maybe it was time again for that tradition of hers. Gat wouldn’t like it, but what did she care, she needed some time to herself every once in a while, she needed a reminder of what she was fighting for.

The TARDIS landed, and The Doctor strode out into the brisk air, walking to a nearby vendor. A couple of minutes later she was sitting at a nearby table, looking at the tower in the distance, once the tallest building on this planet, not any longer, but it was still magnificent.

Sol Three, Earth as they called it. She’d been sent here on a mission ages ago, back when this body was still fresh: Track down the anomaly, prevent any interruptions to the timeline, eliminate the cause if necessary. She’d been given a rundown of the location, ‘December 25th, 1949’ by the local calendar, this city, ‘Paris’, had been occupied a mere four years earlier in a war that had affected a large swath of this planet. The effects, she’d been told, would still be massive.

She’d walked those streets on a cold, dark day, searching for something out of place, and she’d found it all around. Joy. Hope. She’d come on a day of celebration, a day on which the inhabitants of this world looked into the darkness, the bleakness of their day to day life, and said ‘No, not yet, not today’. She’d thought it’d make finding the anomaly more difficult, but the bright red of the 22 bus was visible from a mile off, and luckily a conversation with it’s owner hadn’t lead to blows. For once she’d been able to take in the moment, to look around, to take in the sights, the smells, the people. She’d loved it.

And so here she sat, now. Paris, ‘December 24th 1951’, cradling a delightful drink of what the locals called hot chocolate, looking to the tower, and watching it glow with hope.

She couldn’t stay for long, the bleakness and darkness would come back again soon, but that single moment was enough, for now.

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Day 2

I would like the Second Doctor and Jamie to sit by a Christmas tree playing Christmas songs on flute and bagpipes.

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That’s beautifully written!

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The Doctor: come on everyone, it’s Christmas. Let’s all go outside for a rousing game of cricket. No better way to celebrate.
Tegan: but it looks like England on the monitor AGAIN. It’ll be freezing!
The Doctor: (sighing) it’s not England, it’s The Eye of Orion. It just looks identical.
Turlough: we’ll go out there, walk around a bit, and stumble on an adventure with no time to play.
The Doctor: (sulkily) Nyssa would have played!
Turlough: let’s humour him, Tegan, or we won’t hear the end of it.

The Doctor bounds, Turlough walks, and Tegan stomps outside.

Tegan: it smells like Earth after a rainstorm.
The Doctor: it does a bit.

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Thank you!!

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Eh, that little clip did nothing for me! Not really funny and Mary Tamm looks uncomfortable throughout. This is the epitome of a 5/10 for me!

But thanks for sharing, it was a new one for me!

As for the question, I’ve been working on this all day long, and I need help from my old English professor, Göran Pohlman-Gran, to make it work.

So. Imagine an alternate timeline where, during the 18-month hiatus between seasons 22 and 23, the BBC decided to make a Christmas special with Colin Baker, where it is revealed that Santa is, in fact, the Doctor. And that’s not all: the episode was a full-blown musical, with wonderful Christmas-themed songs to delight families watching on Christmas Day.

Yes, this was Doctor Who going magical, fantastical and musical decades before RTD!

Let me proudly present the crown jewel of said Christmas special, an extravagant song and dance number known as “I Am The Very Model of a Jolly Christmas Master” and sung to the tune of “I Am the Very Model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer” from Doctor Who and the Pirates!

I Am The Very Model of a Jolly Christmas Master from The Doctor's Little Helpers

Verse 1:

I am the very model of a jolly Christmas master,
With a rainbow coat and curly hair that wobbles in a blaster.
My box is swift as light, propelled by reindeer, snowy fine,
And I’ve a team of gnomes that toil to keep my plans in line.

I’ll lead the little helpers, gnarled and wizened, full of cheer,
They hammer, craft, and wrap each gift with all the magic near.
A workshop built in secret realms with gears that whirr and hum,
Where every nut and bolt’s enchanted, and the bell of joy will chime.

Chorus:

Oh, I am the very model of a jolly Christmas master,
With every wish fulfilled before the break of dawn thereafter!
My gnomes, so quick and nimble, in their red and green array,
Will work until the twilight with no thought of taking a holiday!

Verse 2:

Now listen close and hear the tales of all the elves so spry,
They’re tiny, nimble engineers who never ask how or why.
They know the arts of snow and frost and candy-making bliss,
And every time a toy is built, they give a squeal of purest bliss.

My box, equipped with Christmas magic, soars through mist and gale,
It needs no fuel, just holiday cheer, to never, ever fail.
The gnomes are at the ready with their tools of twinkle, bright,
Their hammers strike and whistles sing beneath the silver starlit night.

Chorus:

Oh, I am the very model of a jolly Christmas master,
And my little gnomes are worth a thousand men to craft the plaster!
They’ll load my box with trinkets, toys, and dolls that laugh and sing,
Ensuring that each Christmas morn is merry as a jester’s spring.

Bridge:

Now as I travel 'cross the Earth, with reindeer and with sleigh,
The gnomes are left behind to pack the gifts and chant, “Hooray!”
They know each wish I make is met with fervour, never dread,
A sprightly giggle escapes when a toy’s in place and said.

I’ll wave my hand and call their name, and they answer with delight,
And suddenly the North Pole’s transformed by a technicolour light.
For every year, the magic swells and sweeps the world anew,
As gnomes and Doctor work to make December skies of blue.

Chorus:

Oh, I am the very model of a jolly Christmas master,
And with my gnomes in tow, no child need ever feel disaster!
They wrap and tie, they sing and dance, they work with cheer untold,
And make sure every present glitters like a story that is gold!

Verse 3:

So now remember this, my friends, when snow begins to fall,
The Doctor’s got a secret, I’ll reveal it to you all:
It’s not just all the wonder, bells, and cocoa in the night,
But the gnomes that make it happen with their tireless, joyful might!

Yes, I am the very model of a jolly Christmas master,
And with my gnomes, we’ll see this festive spirit last and last, sir!
When Christmas comes each year, I laugh with a knowing smile,
For I know the gnomes are working, with all magic and with style!

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Love this! And liking the new avatar too.

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Thanks on both accounts! :smiling_face:

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I watched Day 2’s entry just a couple days back while on my spree of minisodes. Not in particularly good taste, but jokes can get a bit crude when you’re drinking, right?

When I think of the classic Doctors and Christmas, I think of the lost episode, The Feast of Steven, and the unaired episodes, The Feast of Jamie, The Feast of Jo, The Feast of Romanadvoratrelundar, The Feast of Tegan…stuff like that. All celabratory and all clunky in their own way.

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Here’s my little fanfic (goodness it’s been a long time since I’ve written something like this!)

Christmas with the Fifth Doctor

Adric gave Nyssa one of the looks they reserved for times when the Doctor and Tegan began to forget the two orphans knew very little of the planet Earth. The last time had been when Tegan had tried to explain cricket to them and the Doctor had become weirdly excited about hitting a ball with a bit of wood. Tegan had talked about all sorts of odd terms and rules which made almost no sense to Adric or Nyssa. Adric had been glad when they’d moved to Cranleigh Hall and the chance for lots of food.

Nyssa smiled slightly back at Adric in recognition and then turned her attention back to the Doctor and Tegan. Adric, she knew, lacked patience, but she liked to at least attempt to learn from her fellow travellers. But this latest excited discussion was starting to lose her again - but she really did want to understand what this Christmas festival was all about.

Tegan and the Doctor were currently listing all their favourite Christmas food, apparently.
“Mince pies!” cried Tegan.
“With brandy sauce, of course,” added the Doctor. Tegan nodded whilst continuing.
“Grandfather always made a delicious Christmas pudding.”
“I can never quite decide whether turkey or goose is best,” pondered the Doctor.
“Turkey definitely,” asserted Tegan, “but when I celebrated back in Brisbane, we tended to have a barbecue.”
“Ah yes,” nodded the Doctor enthusiastically, “Christmas in the Antipodes is quite the unique experience when one is used to a snowy Victorian Christmas.”
“I did love celebrating with Grandfather and that side of my family,” Tegan assured him. “One year we even got snowed in. Crackers, charades and candles - and there was an open fire - I’ve never felt so warm and cosy.”
“Shall we have a traditional English Christmas?” teased the Doctor?
“How?” asked Tegan looking around the console room. It wasn’t the cosiest of places and she doubted the Doctor had a box of Christmas decorations squirrelled away in the attic. Although, then again it was maybe exactly the thing this most English of aliens might have gathering dust in a forgotten cupboard.
“Just you wait and see!” cried the Doctor, dashing off - a bundle of festive spirit - through the inner door. Tegan rushed after him, a rare grin spreading across her face.

Nyssa looked at Adric and shrugged her shoulders.
Adric sighed, “At least it sounds like there might be something to eat.”

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Thanks! I’d already seen this (I try to watch all the minisodes while adding them to the site), it’s quite fun!

I don’t have the spoons at the moment to write a fanfic, and if I did it would be for NuWho which I’m much better acquainted with. But for a classic Christmas story I’d want:

  • The Seventh Doctor
  • Ace (or perhaps Benny)
  • Some kind of haunted church with an Eldritch God harnessing the power of Christmas to take over the world, lots of tentacles and black mould and horrible things
  • Tinsel
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Spoons? Is this code?

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