[h2]7. A Christmas Carol[/h2]
Written by Steven Moffat
“We’re boys! And what do boys say in the face of danger? … Mummy!”
Coming off the modern show’s very best season, Steven Moffat was on a rather absurd hot streak when he wrote “A Christmas Carol,” the 2010 Christmas special, and to say this hour continued that hot streak would be an understatement. The central premise – to save Amy, Rory, and the passengers of a crashing starship, the Doctor takes a Dickensian approach to swaying the mind of the wicked Kazran Sardick – should by all rights play as a gimmick, but Moffat instead delivered one of the all-time great retellings of Dickens’ Christmas Carol.
Honing in on one of the book’s core thematic ideas about how a person’s past shapes their future, and how painful and difficult but ultimately rewarding it can be to take a critical look at where we came from and who we can become, Moffat weaves a stupendously emotional time-travel narrative, fueled by the foundations of the Dickens book, but positively bursting with delightful quirks and original ideas of its own. Michael Gambon delivers a tremendous performance as Kazran, while opera singer Katherine Jenkins is surprisingly effective as his doomed love interest. And under Toby Haynes’ impressive direction, “A Christmas Carol” is one of the most visually striking episodes of the entire series. I remember watching this special on Christmas day, back in 2011, and thinking what a magical, powerful experience it was. The Doctor Who Christmas special tradition has always been a fun one, but here, it was transcendent.
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