It Takes One To Snow One -- An Overview Of The 2012 Doctor Who Christmas Special

The constant with the BBC’s “Doctor Who” series is change, and showrunner Steven Moffat gave us lots of changes starting with this year’s Christmas Special: An eye-popping new title sequence, a wonderful new companion in Clara Oswin Oswald (played by Jenna-Louise Coleman), and new Christmas-y monsters bent on genocide called The Snowmen.

The Snowmen starts with a mourning Time Lord uninterested in what’s happening in 1892 London. Yet a clever barmaid/governess Clara manages to enlist the help of The Doctor and his allies by saying one word: Pond. From there The Doctor saves the world from Dr. Simeon, The Great Intelligence and the murderous snowmen at the cost of Clara’s life.

At her funeral, The Doctor discovers that Clara was the same person who helped him, Amy and Rory in this series’ first episode, Asylum Of The Daleks, by recognizing the similarities between both adventures (“Run, you clever boy, and remember…”). Realizing that the same person dying twice is impossible, The Doctor ventures into time and space to investigate and find the seemingly reincarnated Clara, motivated once again!

Just when I think I have figured out Moffat’s method of operation, he surprises me again! There has been a small but vocal group of “Doctor Who” viewers who were disappointed by the way he handled Amy and Rory’s departure from the show, but Moffat pulled off the near impossible with this year’s Christmas Special. Not only did he introduce a compelling companion in Clara, he spins off a new storyline within the confines of an episode made specifically for the holiday!

It’s always fun to watch a show where the acting matches up with the writing. Coleman is strangely stunning as Clara, perfect to help The Doctor fill the Amy-sized hole in his heart. Who knew a Sontaran could be funny, but Dan Starkey pulls it off in the role of Strax. Matt Smith has given The Doctor’s character a very complicated performance, being silly and eccentric one moment while being brooding and dark the next!

What I like most about the show is even when it’s moving on, it hasn’t forgotten the past. It was fun to bring back old allies (Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax), old villains (Great Intelligence) and old props (Amy’s reading glasses) and blend them seamlessly with the new direction. The biggest change is with the title sequence, yet showing Matt Smith’s face as The Doctor is a throwback to older title sequences, when the face of the actor playing The Doctor would always appear in the opening.

The show is preparing itself for the 50th anniversary in 2013, but the essence of “Doctor Who” hasn’t changed. It’s still a show about an alien Time Lord and a pretty young lady traveling time and space having adventures. And you don’t have to watch 50 years of episodes to enjoy it now!

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The Yuletide TV Culture Clash Log

The little child I once was loved to watch holiday programming. I loved counting the number of branches on Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree (Three? Six? Five?) or watching Bing Crosby and David Bowie sing an improbable duet with “Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth”:



As I got older, I changed, and so did my feelings about Christmas. It wasn’t any one thing that triggered it, just an erosion of little things throughout the years during the so-called “holiday season” (John Lennon’s murder, the Die Hard movies, my niece’s passing). I became cynical, and treated the holiday as just another day off.

Yet something small is changing that for me: British television programming. Christmas day programming this year in England has something for everyone: "Doctor Who" for sci-fi fans, "Downton Abbey" for historical drama buffs, even "Top Gear" for motorheads. What’s on the tube in the United States Of America? Sports and repeats.

Television programming is based on revenue. The low turnout of viewers in the US on Christmas leads to lower advertising rates prompting programmers to not waste new material. However, this is different in the UK, with the BBC mainly funded through a television license fee paid by its citizens. In this fashion the BBC can provide Christmas day programming without taking a major hit on cash flow.

And for someone who doesn’t seem to have a lot of cash during the holidays, watching television is the perfect way to pass the day in an engrossing (if cheap) manner. It's perfect for managing expectations. Just as the little things chipped away at my love for Christmas, the little things are building that love back. Like putting a Santa hat on my Gigi character, or watching a British television show on Christmas day here in the USA!

Gigi Time Is Here* - Christmas 2012

Gigi time is here
Plastinated cheer
One more look, another book
to sell at Comic-Con next year

Data everywhere
Shiny screens do flare
Stasis bound, Gigi goes ‘round
on spinning dais there

Posed so debonair
Gigi’s fate we share
Plasticized, her sightless eyes
unknowingly just stare

Gigi now is here
Short term though I fear
We’ll all see, she’ll soon break free
with permanency near
Oh that we could always see
her in this state all year…

* Sung to the tune of “Christmas Time Is Here” written by Vince Guaraldi. Art by Oscar and me. Apologies all around!

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