It looks so far that the vote is pretty much 50/50 re those saying Good to Excellent and those Average to Awful. No sure what last years vote was like but I don't remember a vote going quite as bad as this before. I may be wrong, so don't berate me for this comment.

So, I'm putting this out there on the off chance that the Moff might be reading.

My question is;

What would you, the fan want to see in a Christmas special?

lets debate this, you never know who's watching

For me, I would like something nostalgic for DW, not necessarily christmassy but just something special, the reintroduction of an old enemy perhaps. Something from the Classic series to show the Nu era fans?

Good question.

Well, the exploding spaceship was a good start.

We could have had a flashback to see how he got there, or seen his subsequent pursuit by/pursuit of some form of alien baddie (I stress baddie - not some poor victimised and threatened species).

We could have had a complicated but clearly explained sub plot involving some form of threat to someone, which involves the Doctor having to make a difficult choice.

We could have had a witty and feisty and intelligent companion. Or a confused but willing and funny companion (Bill Bailey would have been good for that - too late now, he's been wasted).

We could have had the Doctor, without relying on some silly woman and whingy kids, solve all the above problems using his intelligence, skill and sheer Doctorishness to do so.

In other words an episode of Doctor Who would have been perfect.

We could have had a big explosion at the start with a nice bit of comedy from Matt to kick the whole story of with a bang.

We could have done without stereotypical evil aliens, as such over-simplification doesn't do the story any favours.

We could have had a nice straight plot-line as a contrast to the twistiness of the previous series.

We could have had a slightly damaged and sceptical companion who the Doctor encourages and helps to save the day, and their family.

We could have had an ending that required the main characters to work together, and showed them both ending up much happier as a result.

In other words this was a perfectly good episode of Doctor Who.

I enjoyed the The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
but I would have liked to see the Doctor wearing a santa hat as it was a Christmas Episode.

A Christmas episode needs to have snow, which it did.

A Christmas Tree, it did.

The children should have stayed in bed and not looked at the pressie until the morning.

A Christmas episode does need a Christmas song, wouldn't it have been lovely to have seen one of those wind up snow globes that does a tune or the Doctor to have received one of those box christmas messages from someone,a bit like a christmas card..

.

I think the Christmas Special has always been hit or miss and with little agreement between fans but, yes, this one has sunk lower than most.

I enjoyed David Tennant's first episode, the one with Kylie (not generally loved), The Next Doctor (again not popular in some quarters) and last year's. I hated The Runaway Bride so Series 4 came as a pleasant surprise. I voted 'average' this year because it lacked dramatic tension. It was, however, still the most watched show after the soaps.

I would love to see a really creepy Christmas special where the main Christmassy element is snow. Lots of snow. And quite possibly a yeti or two.

Oh yes, or something like a M R James esque ghost story with an alien feel, in an old house.

Personally, I just want a decent, well structured story that leads to a satisfying conclusion. I didn't hate this last special, I just felt like it went nowhere. People go to forest. Forest seems creepy, but actually just wants to go and live somewhere else. Golfball flies through the time vortex. Doctor goes for Christmas dinner.

There just didn't seem to be much story there.

well for a start I don't think plot is as important in a Christmas special as it is in the series propper Christmas for me is the one time of year that we can all have a day off. Yes there should be a bit of drama but in general I like my christmas specials to be both fun and soppy entertaining and be left with a nice warm feeling at the end.

It should have a plot where the presence of The Doctor is essential rather than an add-on.

But as others have suggested - creepiness - there's nothing like a bit of creepiness at Christmas. Something on the lines of "A Ghost Story for Christmas".

I'd ditch Christmas for a bit -- I feel its restricting the story that can be told.

However a tenuous link would be either the Yeti or the Ice Warriors --you could make a scary story up with either of those in a nice snowy environment. ( The Silent Stars Go By by Dan Abnett does that very thing.)

Oh and a real sense of danger please

I loved this years, and absolutely loved last years too. The specials HAVE something very special about them now.

But i would love a creepy ghost story perhaps next up But i love how touching it was this year....absolutely loved it! And despite some online debates and "controversy" (what else are fanbases for eh?) the general overview for this years special have been positive.

So yeah i think because the next special will be "during" the 7th series (i am lead to believe) something a bit absurd and gothic perhaps? I would love that.

But as i said have loved what this and last years specials achieved