Doctor Who: All 40 Steven Moffat Episodes Ranked From Worst To Best
29. A Christmas Carol
Moffat gifts us a bewitching and bonkers take on Dickens' timeless classic. Michael Gambon is effortlessly Scrooge-like as the, er, Scrooge-like Kazran Sardick. And when a soot-covered Matt Smith tumbles down and out of Kazran's fireplace, it brings out a joyously childlike reaction in all of us who love this show and Christmas.
We're able to fully invest in Kazran's story of redemption which engages in various ways: from the fantastically madcap whereby a shark swoops into young Kazran's bedroom, then tries to eat him and the Doctor; to those interspersed intimate moments when curmudgeonly Kazran reminisces the precious times with Abigail.
When you watch a film or TV show, there are certain moments - however inconsequential - that stay in your mind.
Here, there's just something wondrous about seeing the Doctor, young Kazran and Abigail in the whimsical TARDIS, then all of them captivated, as Abigail put it, by "the fish, the beautiful, iridescent, magical fish". A moment captured by young Kazran when he takes a photo of the incredibly beautiful Abigail.
The playful tune in the background brings it all together. Also how spooky were those holographic carol singers in the cryogenic storeroom?
Thereafter the story tends to lag in the middle due to the grab-and-go nature of Kazran and Abigail's blossoming romance.
More importantly, it's good that Moffat addresses the underlying crux of the story through Kazran: "He's changed my past, my whole life. ...changed the course of my whole life to suit himself." This perfectly highlights the selfless and selfish juxtaposition of the Doctor as the ultimate manipulator.