Rate and Discuss ... Last Christmas

[Philipnet]

Was it a good old festive romp - or did you/your kids wake up half-way through the night screaming that they were in a dream ?

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Hmm, promising start but ending was a waste of a good conceit. Somewhere between Last year's and The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe for me. Like last year, will hopefully improve on subsequent viewings.

[dalekkiller]

Huge improvement on last year's effort

[Alex]

Ugh, can't say I liked it that much at all. Way too Clara-centric, and quite a claustrophobic episode that after the initial 20 minutes (which I liked a fair bit) I found myself getting bored with. None more so than when Danny ****ing Pink turned up for a cameo. Hated the cop out ending too, I was so excited that Clara might be leaving, only for my hopes to be dashed.

On the plus side, Nick Frost was a lot better than I thought he'd be, the elves were occasionally fun (especially the lad from Misfits), and Capaldi as ever was great. But overall I can't give it more than 5/10, sadly.

[Nyder]

Happy Christmas! As ever, I shall refrain from commenting too much until a second viewing, as the first viewing took place under a haze of turkey and sherry Suffice to say, I enjoyed it. Some negative points, but the plus points shone through


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[Junkyard]

More pluses than minuses, not as good as last year but better than most previous Christmas specials.7/10

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Having slept on it and woken to the announcement that Jenna is staying for the whole of series 9, I've changed my mind about the ending but I agree that the episode sagged a bit in the middle and felt too long as a whole.

[Andrew Curnow]

I enjoyed it. We've only just watched it in fact, so maybe not having the pressure of being the highlight of Christmas Day's TV here helped it. A solid episode (although we both of us guessed the twist about four people in the infirmary and four people out of it almost instantly) although maybe without quite as many 'standout' moments as previous specials.

Good fun though, IMHO.

[Si Hunt]

I really liked it. Felt like a normal episode idea (do you think he thinks up one-line pitches/ideas and they are all scribbled down somewhere to be chosen from) that Father Christmas had been stitched into, as there seemed very little reason for him to be in it. But it was a good normal episode - that idea of never knowing if you have woken up from a dream is a good one, and the dream crabs were a memorable nasty. I loved the idea of them attaching themselves to your face and keeping you dreaming while they devoured you; this would actually be a reasonable evolutionary tactic for an alien creature to end up with. And the Doctor riding Santa's sleigh through the sky was a great scene for Christmas. I particularly liked the scene where everyone woke up from the dream and went back to their lives as the crabs turned to dust.

I can't really think of a complaint other than that it felt a bit "tell not show" - the stories these days seem to involve the Doctor arriving, me not knowing what's going on, and then a big lot of explanation to tell us. It would perhaps have benefited from a few more scary scenes which explained the crabs better than a big info dump...

But far better than the usual saccharine, plot less stuff we get at Christmas.

Si.

[duncan]

I didn't like it at all. I thought it silly for the most part and was bored for a lot of it. Maybe subsequent watches will see it grow on me a bit more.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I feel I should've enjoyed the scene on the sledge a lot more but I think I'd lost interest in the story by that point.
The mesh between the two main story elements didn't quite work for me and I'd rather have had more Santa and fun in the main part of the story and less of the base under siege.
On the pluses The Doctor seems to be thawing in his personality which is good, I hope this continues. Although at the moment I'm relieved to have a break from this incarnation for the next 8 months or so.

[Andrew Curnow]

There were lots of little bits I liked - the Doctor in the sledge was lovely, and so too was the scene (obviously a reversal from last year) where the Doctor has to help the old Clara pull a cracker. I also liked the Doctor complaining when Santa started to give a scientific explanation.

Against my expectations, given that we knew Santa was in it, it was perhaps a less Christmassy special than some, but a nice little episode. If I had to make one complaint, it would be simply that Capaldi didn't get quite enough to do (IMHO)!

[Si Hunt]

I feel I must protest Mr Curnow. The Doctor, riding with Santa in a reindeer pulled Sleigh... just how much more Christmassness do you want sir!!!

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

Yes, I know what you mean Si. I guess what I really meant was that I was expecting an episode effectively pairing Santa and the Doctor, which wasn't quite what we got - so although I wouldn't for a minute suggest it was unChristmassy, it was not as uber-Christmassy as I was expecting.

Well, that certainly clears that up...

I must say, given that "oh let's have Santa in the Christmas special" must have seemed such an obvious idea, Mr Moffat did an excellent job of justifying the presence of a (possibly) fictional character in such a way as to satisfy adults & children alike. Really good.

[egdcltd]

The whole not knowing whether or not you are still dreaming isn't a new concept - although I couldn't say off the top of my head where I've run into it before* - but is still creepy once you get to thinking about it.

*EDIT: Inception! That's one!

[SiHart]

I thought it was a fine episode- nice to have a creepy story at Christmas, which makes a real change from the usual fare.

The inclusion of santa worked well in the story i thought. There's nothing to say he's not actually real, despite my fears from the CiN glimpse we had and the scenes at the end on the sleigh as the dreams ended were really rather lovely. Nick Frost was OK, but not brilliant alas. I liked the rest of the cast though- they were all very likeable- nice to see Michael Troughton in the show after all these years.

[Rob McCow]

*EDIT: Inception! That's one!

Which wholesale ripped off the Red Dwarf episode, Better Than Life. Which wholesale ripped off about half of Philip K Dick's novels. And cut to Colin Baker as he is now "... But that means... I'm still in The Matrix!" And cut to Tom Baker as he is now "... if I ever left The Matrix in the first place."

For me, Last Christmas hit all the right buttons. It might not have been outstandingly brilliant, but it didn't put a foot wrong either. So that's an achievement in itself.

Highlight for me was the Capaldi Doctor's version of the 'Do you wanna come with me?' speech at the end. So heartfelt and wonderful. I'd be running straight into the TARDIS after that. It would be nice to see the Twelfth Doctor being a bit more upbeat next year after his experiences at Christmas. He's never seemed as happy as when he was guiding Santa's sleigh.

Also loved the throwaway reference to Alien. Half the audience were probably thinking it, so why not?

[egdcltd]

Well, I've seen Better Than Life (I knew there were more things with that premise) and the Matrix, but I admit I've never really got anywhere with Philip K Dick's novels.

And yes, I immediately thought of Alien when I saw those things. Did you notice that Shop Girl (forgotten her name) had it as one of the things she was going to watch on Christmas Day?

[SiHart]

I liked the festive titles too.

[Si Hunt]

We thought Brian Blessed would have been a great choice for Santa!

Si.

[SiHart]

Yeah, I'd thought that too. He'd have been big and blustering enough for it.

[Rob McCow]

Apparently Brian was going to be the Mayor in Professor Brainstawm, but he's been ill.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'm watching it again. I am enjoying it but I think it could've worked just as well without Santa, particularly the Nick Frost incarnation.
I love the dream sequence with Danny, the first part culminating in the writing on the blackboards would've been a great pre-titles sequence before we already knew about the dream crabs.

[MacNimon]

I enjoyed that more than I expected to...not perfect but one of the better Christmas episodes. It was the scene where the Doctor woke up (twice) which got my attention though...it just looked like the scene near the start of Dark Water where Clara threw away the TARDIS keys...I'm maybe wrong and I'll have to check both scenes again...it wasn't actually explained in the episode exactly where the Doctor was when he was sleeping though, was it?

[Si Hunt]

It was, but you can't blame them for re-using a good set can you? I'd rather the money be spent on the monster or a good special effect than creating a new planet set for one 10 second scene.

Si.