I was surprised you didn’t mention Kalle Anka earlier! I mean, it’s like the holiest Christmas tradition in Sweden, so much so that when they suggested they would remove it and replace it with a similar Astrid Lindgren program instead, everyone went berserk
Did not know that. I thought this was only a Swedish thing!
There is also a tradition of angry racists being angry that they have removed some outdated content from the program.
Yes, I remember reading about that sometime. Swedish people take their TV programs way too seriously, I’ve never seen that anywhere else!
Wait, where am I again…?
I have a cousin who lives in Oslo, it’s there as well
Apparently it was shown in Denmark in 1960 for the first time
The Swedish Wikipedia page dont mention that it is a tradition in any other country but the Danish, Norwegian and Finnish ones mention that it is a thing in Sweden as well.
Swedish Wikipedia just wants you to feel special
Well, I can confirm that it is not a thing in Finland - because we are always doing our own thing, yet calling ourselves Scandinavian!
I have watched it some years though and find it pretty cosy!
My favourite has always been the one with Anders And (Donald Duck) having a snowball fight
According to the English Wikipedia, it is shown on Finnish TV as well.
Hmmm, I’ve never seen it, but it’s entirely possible. I have to check this year!
None, they’re all well guarded secrets!
But seriously, I don’t think we have any. Our Christmas routine involves going up to my wife’s family on Christmas Eve. On the way there, my wife and I go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant where I get sushi and she gets some coconut-rice thing. She goes to midnight church service and then her family drive around looking at the Christmas lights and other decorations people have up around the neighborhood. I sleep.
On Christmas morning, we get up and exchange gifts with her family, eat some meatball sandwiches for lunch, then drive to my family to spend the latter part of the day with them, having dinner and exchanging gifts. If we get home early enough with enough energy, we exchange our own gifts.
On boxing day, we get together with a couple of my friends and exchange gifts with them, maybe playing games if there’s time. Though the hope this year is we get a chance to see the Christmas special.
Not a single Julbord in sight.
Growing up my family did have one tradition on the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, we had cheese fondue as we stayed up and waited for the ball to drop. Been a very long time since we did that, mind you.
This is a very sad thing
I am genuinely sorry for you.
Day 7 Commentary
“Houdini and the Space Cuckoos” was okay. It may have been trying to do too many things at once, and it did not quite live up to the hype of the cool cover art.
I think America has many different Christmas traditions, some of which have been exported abroad. One interesting item is the ambrosia salad, which is eaten with the main meal.
Day 7
Finland’s Christmas traditions are mostly similar to the Swedish ones. One thing that is very distinctively Finnish is the annual Santa Hot Line TV programme, which is broadcast every Christmas Eve morning. Children call in during the broadcast to talk with Santa and perhaps sing a song or recite a poem or something, and Santa throws a few jokes in between calls and talks with Mrs Santa or one of his helpers. There are usually other programs inserted into the broadcast at regular intervals as well. It’s a cosy tradition, at least for families with small children!
The most “So that was the Story I guess”. It’s not terrible, just super unremarkable.
Houdini is a fun presence, but overall this is just a bit of a mess. Maybe I should have trimmed my expectations since Lidster can be such a good writer, this one is one of his weakest one easily. The Pace is all over the place and doesn’t really work much for me. The whole Story feels very generic and just a bit of nothing. It was written fine, but I must admit how 11 is portrayed here reminds me of the worst writing of 11, where he is just oversimplified into a mad man. Possibly I am a bit mean, but this really didn’t do anything for me.
Summary
Can’t say much about the Question, which hasn’t been answered by other People (I am German, soooo let’s just say @Jae’s Answer is pretty much mine answer too).
8
I’ve managed to succeed at keeping the Advent Calendar for one week!
Today's Items
I think I want some Twelfth Doctor today, so we’ll read the 2014 Mark Williams story “Behind You” (All three parts)
Part 1: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/isite-downloads/doctorwho/masks_and_makes/stories/christmas-2014/behind-you-part-1.pdf
TARDIS Guide link: https://tardis.guide/story/behind-you/
Discussion Question: PEACE
The Doctor claims to act in the name of peace, but is this true? How do we interpret his relationship with UNIT? Commitment to nonviolence? Or does the Doctor utilize peace as a disguise for other motives?
Behind You - 4/10
That was… fine… I guess?
Overall there’s some fun ideas here: creatures of light that form symbiotic bonds with humanoids, a panto cast getting turned into animals, a historical christmas with mummers (fun fact, I’ve done mumming a couple of times!).
But then it’s all just so rushed and thrown together. The one off companion feels like a mouthpiece for panto jokes more than an actual character, and you never stay in one place long enough to breathe. Sure you can get through it in less than 10 mins, but I’ve read plenty of other shorts that lasted that long that were paced well.
This feels like someone took a bunch of doctor who-y ideas, and threw them into an exaggerated piece where the plot doesnt’ really matter and is just a vehicle for fun. It’s just a shame that unlike pantos, it sort of forgets that last part.
As for peace, well, that’s a very complicated question.
The problem with it is that peace is intricately linked with morality, and everyone has a very different moral perspective. Linking back to Doctor Who, you’ve got a perfect example in Genesis of The Daleks. Is The Doctor acting in the name of peace by not committing genocide against The Daleks, or is The Doctor failing to act in the name of peace by not preventing the countless genocides that The Daleks will go on to commit?