Beware of Panthers

I never got round to reviewing any of the stories from Doctor Who's sixth series because I'm not very good at keeping to deadlines, and by the time I'd managed to marshal my thoughts into something remotely sensible, weeks had passed and another episode had come out. That's why I usually review books, and not necessarily new ones; books have a longer shelf life than TV shows and as such, I don't have to rush to write a review while the subject is still relevant. But on this occasion, seeing as there isn't going to be another episode of Doctor Who for at least six months, I've decided to compile my thoughts on the recent Christmas special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

A quick summary of the story for those who haven't seen the episode; after a woman named Madge Arwell, living in 1930s England, saves the Doctor's life, he promises to repay the favour one day. Three years later, Madge and her two children are spending Christmas in an old mansion in the countryside, and the Doctor shows up to make their Christmas the best they've ever had. Things quickly go wrong, as the Doctor's 'present' - a dimensional portal to a snowy, wintry wonderland - leads the four of them into terrible danger.

As stories go, it's decent if not spectacular. Writer Steven Moffat got some criticism for making last year's Christmas special, A Christmas Carol, too complicated for the casual Christmas audience; this year, it feels like he has swung too far in the opposite direction, as the story feels almost dumbed down for the casual viewers. It's often said that some Doctor Who episodes are written for adults, and some are written for children; this is an example of a story written primarily for a younger audience, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it does leave some of the show's older viewers feeling disappointed. The main bulk of the story, set in the wintry, Narnia-esque world on the other side of the Doctor's portal, failed to captivate in the way that much of the last series did.

In the story's defence, however, it certainly could have been a lot worse. There was a point in the episode, after the true nature of the winter forest was revealed, where I cringed in anticipatory dread. The reveal was obviously the set up for a heavy-handed environmental metaphor, the sort of 'humans are destroying the planet' message that would be much more effective if writers could present it more subtly (for some reason, environmentalism is one of those themes that TV shows can never seem to incorporate into their stories without shoving it down the viewer's throats). But then, the metaphor never came. Nobody comments on the damage humanity is doing, and not once is deforestation - an obvious real-world comparison to the events of the story - even mentioned. As a result, Moffat manages to put across a message without forcing people into thinking about it, which as I've said is a rare thing when it comes to environmentalism.

Though the scenes set in Narnia 2.0 ultimately come off as rather dull, some of the earlier, more whimsical scenes fare much better. The fast-paced sequence of the Doctor showing the Arwell family around their new home is the best part of the episode, mainly thanks to Matt Smith's manic performance as the Doctor. He manages to bring all of the Doctor's most likable qualities to the forefront in this episode, from childlike enthusiasm on the whirlwind tour, to sincerity and sympathy in the few scenes he gets with Madge. Speaking of Madge, Claire Skinner does some great work in this story, wholly deserving her one-time place in the opening credits. Just like Matt Smith, her character displays a wide spectrum of emotion throughout the story, and she succeeds in convincingly portraying each of those emotions.

But while the two title leads get plenty to work with, many of the story's other actors are unfortunately shortchanged. Bill Bailey in particular, one of my favourite comedians, appears in a tiny role as an incompetent harvester, while Alexander Armstrong is given the small part of Madge's husband. It seems a shame to have cast such experienced and talented comic actors in parts that don't let them shine. It's similar to how Simon Pegg was cast in the role of the Editor way back in 2005's The Long Game - he does a flawless job of it, but he could have done so much more for the show if they had given him a better part. The only other actors who really get a significant amount of screen time are the two child actors, Holly Earl and Maurice Cole, in the roles of Lily and Cyril Arwell. They are a mixed bag; Lily is believably written and acted, whereas Cyril's character is all over the place - he is set up as being intelligent in the episode's earlier moments, but all he does is make stupid decision after stupid decision, ignoring all the obvious signs of danger and wandering into a trap.

Bits and Bobs

• The episode's final scene, where the Doctor reunites with Amy and Rory for Christmas dinner, lifted my spirits more than anything else that happened in the story. It could have felt tacked on, but instead they managed to seamlessly transition between the Doctor's goodbye to Madge and his visit to the Pond household. It also felt like a little bit more of a resolution to the series 6 finale, providing more closure than The Wedding of River Song managed to, so that the relationship between the Doctor and Amy/Rory is back to normal. In many ways, this final scene acts as set up for series 7, where the Doctor won't be travelling with the Ponds permanently, but instead popping back to visit them every so often.

• The pretitles sequence of this story has riled up a lot of fans because it's so scientifically inaccurate; the Doctor is essentially exposed to the open vacuum of space for several minutes. Now, while this isn't completely ridiculous if you look back to past stories - in Peter Davison's Four to Doomsday, the Doctor is also thrown out into the vacuum of space, so it's possible that Time Lords are naturally able to survive in those conditions - this doesn't fix all of the problems, because in Four to Doomsday the Doctor is holding his breath, suggesting he can't breathe in space; however, in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, he's shouting and gibbering to himself as he plummets, so he clearly isn't holding air.

• Both of Matt Smith's Christmas specials have been based off of classic literature; A Christmas Carol and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe respectively. Unfortunately, whereas last year's special pays homage to its source material - the Doctor actually takes inspiration from the book, and pretends to be the ghost of Christmas past - in this year's special, Narnia and CS Lewis are never actually mentioned, and so it feels less like an homage and more like the writer borrowing ideas. That the whole thing is a lot less tongue-in-cheek about its source material is one of the story's flaws.

In conclusion, I have to say that The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is a bit of a let down. It's by no means a bad episode, and for the massive portion of the Doctor Who audience in the 8-12 age bracket it will be a joy to watch. But in comparison with last year's Christmas special, and with the exceptionally high-standard series 6, it just isn't of the same calibre.

Since this is a Doctor Who-themed blog post, it would be wrong not to include a link to my fanseries, Doctor Who: Re-Incarnated. Feel free to read any of our stories, including our own Christmas special, Ghosts of Christmas Past (written by brilliant guest writer Shaun Collins), or our most recent story, The Blue Box (written by me). As for the next blog post, it will most likely be a review of a novel I started reading recently called The End Specialist. Or it could be something else entirely. Until then, though, thank you very much for reading!