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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