A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol
by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: December 25th, 2010

Amy and Rory are onboard a crashing space liner, that could be saved if the grumpy miser on the planet bellow would switch off the cloud belt that would destroy the ship. It's then up to the Doctor to convince this miser to change his mind and his ways, through a journey to the past and a rethinking of the present...

A Christmas Carol started off a two season string of the Christmas specials being inspired by or spoofing a well known piece of literature. 2011's The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe was of course inspired by the first Narnia book, and A Christmas Carol derives from the great Charles Dickens tale. A Christmas Carol is one of the most adapted stories of all time. I don't think I can think of another book that has had so many film and TV version of it produced. Now the version presented in Doctor Who is obviously not a word for word retelling, nor is it really the same story. But there are many elements quite obviously inspired by the Dickens original. Kazran Sardick (played by Dumbledore himself, Michael Gambon) is a wealthy old miser who owns much of the planet, as well as a cloud belt where a malfuctioning ship with Amy and Rory aboard will crash into unless Sardick turns the belt off. Being a grumpy old man with no feelings for anyone, he won't do that. So the Doctor heads off into the past to give Kazran some new memories, including introducing him to the love of his live, the beautiful Abigail, played by Katherine Jenkins. Abigail had given her life to Sardick's father as insurance against borrowed money. This in fact was the way his father always operated, as a giant storage room full of frozen people is shown. Secretly though, she is dying. The episode proceeds to get extremely joyful as The Doctor, a young Kazran, and Abigail spend every successive Christmas Eve together for a good 10 years (of course it takes mere hours for the Doctor). These experiences are what finally convince Kazran to change his ways, a la Scrooge. One of the funniest moments in the story is during the Doctor's Christmas Eve visits, when they head to Hollywood in its heyday (the last place I expected this story to head!), and the Doctor actually gets engaged to Marilyn Monroe. Matt Smith's performance of the Doctor makes a situation like this utterly believable, even though we actually never see Monroe. I remember thinking A Christmas Carol was only a decent story when it first aired back in 2010, but on this viewing, I really enjoyed it! Definitely ranks high among all the Christmas specials!

Luke's Rating: 9/10