With the Christmas dinner eaten, Top of the Pops presenting another year of amazing songs and now relocated to my aunt’s for the ‘after party’ it was time to watch the six o’clock Doctor Who special with the gorgeous Katherine Jenkins and Professor Dumbledore himself. Of course with Who on in the background and with other, special, things going on it wasn’t until today, the twenty-seventh, that I truly got the chance to watch the episode without any significant interruptions--unless of course you count the brother giving random information every few minutes towards something completely unrelated, as he does to fill the silence.
Now, of course things need to be said towards the story, the plot and the characters, but the main thing to note upon for this special is the fact that, after about seven episodes of him being ‘companion’ to the Doctor, and with at least two deaths under his belt, Arthur Darvill finally got his name in the opening credits. Of course it seemed a rather last minute thought on screen, maybe having actually been thought of on the twentieth or something, it was still fantastic to see.
Moving swiftly on, the opening, with Amy and Rory in their…selected clothing was hilarious, Rory mentioning it to be ‘just a bit of fun’, a honeymoon anyone would want to be on, with the perfect Rory-acting and Amy-acting from Gillan and Darvill respectively. Of course, for this episode, the companions take on a more lighter role, appearing in at least fifteen minutes of the sixty-minute episode (and no, I didn’t count contrary to your thoughts), yet they still fill their airtime with the best of their characters, to which I salute them.
Of course the main praise needs to go to Moffat, the writer of the episode, for turning something very slightly Dickens-related into something extremely Who-related. He is, undoubtedly, a God, or at least a messenger or some sort of creative servant to the big Gee, and I’m sure, given time and some of my closest friends help I myself would have been able to come up with something similar, but nothing as magnificent as what was presented between six and seven PM on Christmas day.
Matt Smith, though, without doubt, performed one of the best portrayals of his Doctor, now having a proper grasp on the character and his quirks, making hearts across the country warm to his fantastic performance (well, the hearts of true Who fans anyway…) and here’s hoping he keeps it up for series six, and by the trail at the end of ‘A Christmas Carol’ he seems to have pulled up all the stops.
With the main three out of the way, how could the two special guests cast be forgotten? Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins, the latter this being her first acting role that she must be praised and the former not even letting loose on such a little thing like Who, giving 110% the whole way through, making Kazran Sardick the perfect Scrooge on a planet far, far away (sorry, watched Star Wars earlier…). And as for Jenkins’ performance of Abigail, the second one in New Who might I add, one cannot help but smile, her acting seeming to come naturally, and to personally be put into an enchantment at that voice! But what about the fish eh? A slight reminder of the Venice episode, with the sky full of water--although in this case, ice particles--but with the addition of many, many fish and apparently one lowly shark, which by the end of the episode seemed to have been tamed into a pet. Never mind though, fish can be excused as they pertained the centrefold of the entire plot, speaking of…
The plot, as just mentioned, was a perfect dash of Dickens, a dollop of Who, five tablespoons of my favourite mechanical style (Steampunk), and a gallon of Moffat, baked for several weeks in an editing room and served with a side helping of simple amazement and wasn’t too overdone but not at all undercooked, a perfect light hearted meal without too much on the plate but filling enough without wanting more or leaving half-way through. So, without further adieu I present to you my normal tally of thoughts.
Doctor = 10/10 - Again, an amazing performance by Smith; quirkiness, madness, randomness and any other ‘…ness’ one can think of. The Doctor wasn’t that bad either.
Amy = 10/10 - Sexy uniform once more, smart and sassy as ever and perfectly calm in distress (and datdress, too--gettit?).
Rory = 10/10 - Roman Centurion. Nuff said.
Kazran = 10/10 - As said, the perfect Scrooge, and Gambon didn’t take the role lightly, which I adore about the man. He was able to present in an hour a man who’s past is changed so quickly and dramatically that reaction shots were needed as much as the plot is to a story. (Plus, second Pottah actor in Who!)
Abigail = 10/10 - the Voice, the looks, the role and the character, all perfectly presented and completely believable.
Plot = 10/10 - Come on, it’s Christmas!
Overall rating for the Special: 10 out of 10. As Mary Poppins once said: ‘Perfect in every possible way’.
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