It's about fish.
Behold your new masters
Now, I admit that Christmas fish wasn't something I ever saw coming. And it's not everyday you get to say that. But the thing is it was all forshadowed from the very first episode of the new series. What was it little Amelia Pond was thanking Santa for?
A FISH.
Then the Docor comes along, and eats FISH custard. And then in the Beast Below the Doctor quips about looking for an escaped FISH before finding the star whale. Which is sort of like a fish. And what were the Vampires Of Venice? FISH from space.
Thus I have no doubt at all in mind that the big bad guy at the end of the next series will in fact be.... THE MYRKA.
Just like I always said it would be
But anyway, I'm supposed to be talking about the Christmas special. Mind you, I'm supposed to be taking my medication and not listening to the voices anymore, but whatever.
Doctor Who of course has a long and respected history of ripping off classic literature, but I don't think it's ever been quite so overt, at least from an in-story perspective. The point where the Doctor basically decides to reinact a Christmas carol as his plan to save the crashing space liner is a joy to behold. It's like you can SEE the cogs turning in his brain. This is, of course, down to the brilliant Matt Smith who is of course a pure joy to behold as the Doctor. Poetry in motion. Albeit a somewhat spastic, random motion. But motion nonetheless.
The script is great, replete with much wit. It was mentioned to me by a certain someone watching the new series for the first time how very Douglas Adams it all felt. And you know something, it really does. There is that certain sparkle to dialogue.
Visually we have a nice neo Victorian type aesthetic. You could call it steampunk if you really wanted, but the lack of anything actually powered by steam rather puts paid to that overworn term. It does, after all, require something in excess of wearing goggles.
But what of the story itself? Well, it's certainly the most christmassy of the Christmas specials done thus far. This is perhaps it's strength and also it's greatest weakness. The whole thing is so strongly tied into christmasness, both in script, tone and execution that I feel it'll seem rather out of place watching it at any other time of year. But only time and the series 6 boxset will tell. Obviously there is room for a certain amount of cheesiness here, but I think that the central conceit of having the characters knowingly and deliberately acting out a Christmas carol avoids much of these issues.
The fact that the companions are sidelined for almost the entire episode in favour of concentrating on the Doctor and Sardick is interesting, and does actually work well. Whilst you do rather feel sorry for poor ld Rory having basically nothing to do, Matt Smith is just so very GOOD as the Doctor that you really don't miss him or Amy that much at all. Just goes to show that maybe you really don't need the traditional companion after all. Tom Baker was right. Not that I would wish to knock any of the companions here. It's just that there's really not much for them to do here than play the centurion and the call girl. Thankfully offscreen.
So the action is basically confined to the Doctor, Sardick in his various age brackets, and his frozen paramour. What can you really say about these performances? I've already mentioned that I'd have Matt Smiths babies. Micheal Gambon puts in a good turn as the fundamentally unlikeable (yet fundamentally flawed) Sardick. And The opera singer whose name eludes me right now does manage very well when you consider she's never done any acting before. It does have to be said that the big draw with her is perhaps not so much her acting skills as her beautiful singing voice. Which is awesome.
Though it is worth mentioning that her 8 day romance with a young boy is kinda creepy when you think about it.
Overall what we have here is a well crafted tale with a very specific focus. This isn't a bad thing at all. We also get the concept of Christmas fish, which really should become a fixture of future decorations. Better than the usual ghastly tat anyway. Everything's better with sharks.
Merry Christmas!
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