What can be more relaxing than watching your favorite TV show on the most joyful day of the year? No one really minds getting Doctor Who for Christmas, it's just that many a great story were completely ruined by the obligatory festive references. Matt Smith's swan song, The Time of the Doctor, is the perfect example. The addition of the random town called "Christmas", full with enchanting snow and pretty lights, completely ruined the incumbent atmosphere that was set up on the first visit to Trenzalore. And that's just one of the problems that that episode had. It would be unfair to consider all of the Christmas specials as annoying. Who can forget David Tennat's excellent debut in The Christmas Invasion or the first part of his exit in The End of Time? Voyage of the Damned was good and Smith's first special A Christmas Carol remains his best. Also, Capaldi's recent Last Christmas didn't disappoint but one shouldn't expect to ever see any of these on any "Best of Doctor Who..." list. While Moffat will make sure to cover his plot holes with Christmas ornaments, it was Davies who, again, knew how to balance the story elements a little bit better and write a special that wasn't so obviously... Christmassy. Still, most of the time, the holiday will enclose the writer's creativity, leaving room for only a forgettable episode. Even though the Classic series had but one festive episode (that seems to be lost forever), no one can really expect that the Nu-Who tradition of Christmas specials be discontinued. Who in their right mind would want Doctor Who to not make money? But what if just once they go on a different planet like... oh, I don't know, Gallifrey? Most fans would be curious about the Time Lords' take on some form of Rassilontide or Omegamass or whatever they'd call it.
Adrian Serban lives in Bucharest, Romania where he has studied screenwriting and film criticism. But it's not all about artsy European dramas for him, as he's also a fan of horrors, kung-fu flicks and sci-fi films of all eras. Monty Python and Doctor Who are two British institutions that changed his life for the better. Or so he thinks.
