Goodnight Raggedy Man -- An Overview of the "Doctor Who" 2013 Christmas Special

"We're all different people all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you got to keep moving. So long as you remember all the people that you used to be.... I will always remember when the Doctor was me."
     - the Eleventh Doctor, The Time Of The Doctor

After the Doctor saved his people (the Time Lords) in November’s 50th Anniversary episode, he and his companion Clara find themselves back on Trenzalore, the planet where he will be buried in the future. In a small town called Christmas, the 11th Doctor discovers the same crack in time and space from the beginning of his adventures with the knowledge that his people are ready to return from exile through this crack.

The Doctor defending the town called Christmas

The return of the Time Lords means the return of the Time War, so the Doctor teams up with the villains of Series 5 and 6 (The Silence) in a 300 year stand-off against all the other villains in the universe (Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, etc.) in order to keep them from destroying the planet and the town of Christmas with it. It’s a conflict that takes its toll on the Doctor, as he fights knowing he has no regenerations left. Yet in a reversal, Clara, who previously implored the Doctor to save his people, now implores the Time Lords to help their savior. They do this by sending regeneration energy through the crack to the Doctor, allowing him to save Christmas and change his future!

Clara pleading with the Time Lords

No matter how good this year’s Christmas special may be, The Time Of The Doctor is always going to have a bittersweet aftertaste. While I personally had issues with parts of the episode (Christmas as a town?), it was bow-tie cool to see Matt Smith one last time in the lead role as the Doctor! Showrunner Steven Moffat was able to tie together loose ends of previous series (The Tardis exploding, The question that must never be answered, The Silence’s motivation) in a convincing - if cumbersome - manner, clearing the slate for the next Doctor. More impressively, Moffat is able to end the discussion on how many regenerations a Time Lord can have!

As for the cast, Orla Brady was a sexy strong nun with her performance as Tasha Lem (Church of The Silence leader), Kayvan Novak brought real emotion to the mechanical Handles and it was nice to see Karen Gillan reprise her role as Amy Pond. While Jenna Coleman’s Clara is more essential than ever (being the human voice of reason grounding the Doctor’s actions), it is Matt Smith who once again shines, from the wacky humor to one last grandiose speech as the Eleventh Doctor. It was a fitting end for the Matt Smith era, and a fun beginning for Peter Capaldi era, as his Doctor asks a surprised Clara how to operate the Tardis.

I look forward to the answer next year!

Previous Doctor Who Entry

Vincenta

I know lots of Johns. I know a lot of Steves and Emilys. I even know a few Ringos and Rachels.

I know one Vincenta.

Vincenta left this world way too early this December from Cushing's disease, and there is nothing to fill the void after her passing. We move on without her simply because we must.

I don’t mourn her because she was a good mother, wife or person. I don’t mourn her because she was a pastor, a nurse, or an advocate. I don’t even mourn her because she was kind, loving and accepting. I mourn her because she understood me.

Vincenta had a soft spot for creative types. She loved to sing, and supported many actors, musicians and writers. Not financially, as she wasn’t the richest person in that sense, but with empathy and understanding.

She understood the toll the creative endeavor takes on a person. She knew how it could wreck your relationships, employment and organization. Yet Vincenta lived it in her own life, and admired those who tried. She admired the passion and drive behind a creative project, whether it was a play her daughter was in, the musicians in her praise band or my upcoming comic book for Comic-Con.

She had one stipulation: you had to take a Christian approach to your work. What good was it to have violence and nudity if all you wanted was just to shock people? It had to have a purpose. Even if some people would prefer to focus on the titillation rather than the message in my Pretty Vacant comics, I have tried to live by it as well.

I will miss the fannish connections Vincenta and I had regarding television shows such as ‘The Good Life’, ‘Chuck’ and ‘Doctor Who’, and will not look the same way at shows she introduced to me (‘Doc Martin’ and ‘Downton Abbey’). I will miss the discussions we had about inserting positive themes in your work (I prefer consistently subtle). Most of all, I just will miss her.

Vincenta was one of a kind.

A Labor Of Love, Actually

Despite unfulfilled expectations and painful obligations, I try not to get melancholy during the Christmas holiday season. I post my annual holiday picture on this website, wait for BBC1’s annual “Doctor Who” Christmas special and annually view the same movie I purchased on DVD nine years ago. It’s a movie about love (actually)!

Original 2003 Love Actually Movie Poster 

Love Actually is one of those movies that only the British could make. This 2003 romantic comedy revolves around nine different relationships and how they deal with love during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Some of the storylines are goofy (like the meek but witty UK Prime Minister clicking with his catering manager, enabling him to stand up to the U.S. President and its policies after he spots the President sexually harassing her), one is sad (two co-workers who try to be in a relationship but the mentally ill brother of the lady gets in the way) and one is poignant (an over-the-hill rocker affectionately spending Christmas with his lonely but dedicated manager instead of celebrating his number one record with a bevy of beauties).


It’s ironic that even ten years on intelligent, thoughtful people can write so much about why they hate or love a small romantic comedy where Hugh Grant stars as the Prime Minister of Great Britain! Like other controversial works of art that have come to be revered over time (Citizen Kane and Abbey Road, anyone?), Love Actually has become a cultural milestone.

My Pretty Vacant comic series was controversial when it was first pitched. Its main storyline (pretty ladies being plastinated as display mannequins by mad scientists for profit) could have appealed to only a few, but Pretty Vacant broadly appeals to many various people. With the female empowerment, subtle sexuality and the strong action stories, it’s still being championed (Comic-Con) and sponsored (Kickstarter) today.

If you believe it or not, Pretty Vacant also has various storylines of love. There is the traditional love relationship (main character Gigi with the heroic accoutant Barnaby), unattainable love (Hans with Mindy), love of work (Mindy’s quest) even unusual relationship love (read the upcoming Pretty Vacant: Made In London). For me, it’s a labor of love.

Gigi and Barnaby's Crazy Kind Of Love (PV: Final Repose Part 2 Page 22)

I personally might be unlucky with love, but (as with Love Actually) I still believe in its' power. Crazy, but I learned over the years that there are people out in the world who are as crazy as me, and maybe one of them will be crazy about me.

So even if this holiday season will not go down as one of the greats, love it anyway! As the little boy says in Love Actually:

Still Life's Wonderland (2013)*

Data pings, are you listening?
Crystal glass globe is glistening
We’re happy tonight
A beautiful sight
Gigi iced in Still Life’s Wonderland

Frozen still so deep in cryo
Holding high sprigs of mistletoe
She can do no wrong
When posed for this long
Motionless in Still Life’s Wonderland

In the lab they huddle all around her
Straining for a better point of view
They are unconcerned of all the danger
When Gigi will revive and break on through

Keep her cold they do conspire
Yet her fate is not that dire
They all try their best
To keep her at rest
Immobilized in Still Life’s Wonderland

Enjoy it while we can in Wonderland
Before she wakes and tears down Wonderland

*Sung to the tune of "Winter Wonderland" by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith.  Art by Vega and touched up by me.  Apologies all around!  I figure if English Premiership fans can use this tune to sing about their favorite players, I can use it for Gigi.