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| The Doctor plays Jacob Marley to Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon)'s Scrooge. |
1 episode. Approx. 61 minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by: Toby Haynes. Produced by: Sanne Wohlenberg.
THE PLOT
Amy and Rory are enjoying their honeymoon on a starliner... which, of course, means that their ship is subject to disaster. The ship is caught in a field of clouds that surround the planet owned by Kazran (Michael Gambon), who controls not only the planet but the planet's weather. If Kazran doesn't use his machine to part the clouds and allow for a safe landing, then the ship will be destroyed within the hour.
There's only one problem: Kazran is a cruel, miserly old man, whose bitterness only increases with the holidays. When the Doctor is unable to use his machine in spite of him, he focuses on transforming Kazran's character. He decides to mimic the plot of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, using his TARDIS to not only show the old man his past but to actually change it. When the Doctor's manipulations in the past backfire, though, he will have to desperately draw on Kazran's present and future in order to salvage the situation.
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: This story is largely a romp, so it's unsurprising that the Doctor is in "manic mode" for the bulk of it. To his credit, Matt Smith keeps a core of sadness in his performance. When the young Kazran suddenly shuts him out, the Doctor recognizes that there is something wrong. He urges Kazran to tell him, and is genuinely sorry when he's unable to get through to the young man. When the old Kazran thunders at him that he should try experiencing genuine loss, the Doctor simply stands mute and stares back at him - a reminder to the audience that any loss Kazran might feel is trivial next to the ones the Doctor has felt. That melancholy is never overplayed. It feels lived-in, as much a part of the Doctor's wardrobe as his bow-tie. Speaking of which, we finally get a proper explanation as to exactly why the 11th Doctor's bowtie is "cool." That explanation, when it comes, is perfect.
Amy/Rory: Largely sharing the "damsel-in-distress" role, with their jeopardy on the starliner giving urgency to the Doctor's mission while also sparing the script from having to deal too much with their presence. Still, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill retain their usual energy. Their presence may be expendable, but it's still very agreeable.
THOUGHTS
A direct riff on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This was done by Doctor Who once before, when 1986's Trial of a Timelord saw the Sixth Doctor defending his past, present, and future. Still, this is the first time the story has been directly used by the series for a Christmas special. Given that this is the series' sixth Christmas special, that's actually something of a surprise.
It's a rather fun piece. Writer Steven Moffat has penned a briskly-paced holiday pastische, which director Toby Haynes and the BBC special effects department have filled out with some eye-catching visuals.
Key to the episode's success is the central figure in any version of A Christmas Carol: Scrooge. Michael Gambon's Kazran makes a terrific stand-in for Ebenezer. Like any Scrooge, it's most fun watching him while he's still in full-bore "nasty" mode, but Gambon does imbue the character's gradual transformation with genuine emotion. Moffat's script also gives the narrative a clever turn by having the Doctor's manipulations of Kazran's past backfire, making the old man more bitter than ever before.
Kazran Sardick is not really evil. He's just bitter, to a degree that his bitterness has become like an old coat he shrugs on every morning. Faced with the deaths of so many innocents, deaths he can prevent by simply flicking a switch, Gambon's Kazran remains impassive. It's not that he hates these people. As he explains to the Doctor, he simply doesn't care. When Gambon spits out that line - "I don't and never, ever will care!" - he puts such venom into it that it chills the spine.
Casting Gambon as both Kazran and his father seems, at first, to be simply a money-saving device. Having cast a high-profile actor, the production is by God going to use him. But there is method in the double-casting. We see, in the past, Kazran's father strike him. That scene is bookended by two moments, however, ones which show how Kazran is different from his father. He catches the Doctor's eye as a salvageable human being at the start, when he raises his hand to hit the boy but does not actually strike. Then, at the end, he is confronted with his own younger self. Again, he raises his hand to strike, more furious than we have seen him at any moment in the production. The sin his younger self committed? Recognizing the older Kazran as "Dad." Once again, Kazran does not strike. The first failure to strike marks him as redeemable; the second pushes him the rest of the way "out of the dark."
Substantially less good is the teaser. The bizarre, "Christmas is cancelled!" line had me sure for a moment that such a ridiculous statement must surely be meant as some form of code. But nope - turns out it's just a bizarre line, there apparently to remind the viewers that they are watching a Christmas episode. As if the recycled Dickens plot, or indeed the viewing date of December 25, would let them forget.
Then there's the ending, in which the Doctor doesn't even attempt to help Abigail (Katherine Jenkins). He learns that she is dying, has one day left to live, and... does nothing. He doesn't even try to help, doesn't even ask what it is she's dying from. OK, fair enough that "everything has its time and everything dies." But... shouldn't he at least see if this really is her time? For all he knows, she's dying of something easily within his power to cure! Without confirming that point, one might as well apply "Everything ends" to the passengers on the crashing ship. The only difference between them and Abigail is one of numbers!
These gripes aside, I find A Christmas Carol to be one of the series' better Christmas specials. A light romp with some suitably sentimental bits thrown in, this is well-made and very well-acted. Not a triumph, perhaps - but certainly an enjoyable and energetic romp.
Rating: 7/10.
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