I didn't enjoy last nights episode at all, easily a 2/10 for me.

To be fair though I don't usually enjoy the christmas specials anyway.

Perhaps Danny left it to her!

Was entertained by the episode due to the fact I'd had multiple glasses of wine by the time it was on and kept hearing the phrase dream crabs.
2/10 and that's being generous.

Overall enjoyed it. Thought she might die of old age but glad she is staying. Just a shame we have to wait until late august early september for the magicians apprentice.

I wouldn't be wholly surprised if it didn't end up starting late Sep/early Oct to fill in the inevitable gap left by Atlantis.

There should be "Mind-F@#&" option for thr Poll, my brain hurt just watching it! But I did love it though!

Kinda gutted Santa didn't exist, I liked Santa.

So many sources of or similar tales to, this WHOmas tale; the X Files and Red Dwarf episodes have already been mentioned, there's a Buffy episode where she's in a world of her own, but I'd like to mention the two that I thought of while watching The Jenna Coleman Show (!) at tea-time yesterday:

Superman: For The Man Who Has Everything

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the...verything#Plot

AND

Star Trek: The Next Generation: 'Frame Of Mind'

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Fram..._%28episode%29

I think we (nearly) all agree that Last Christmas wasn't a truly original tale but it was entertaining and it passed the time extremely nicely. What more could you ask for on Christmas Day?

As The Thing from Another World and Alien were on the girl's "to watch" list I don't think that Steven Moffat was making any secret of at least two of the story's sources!
Personally I thought that was rather clever.

Er, yes I can say that. Oswin and Victorian Clara had far more going for them in their single episodes in comparison to modern Clara in any one of the episodes she's been in. For me she's unlikeable - I tend not to have much time for control freaks who lie all the time and felt sorry for Danny, have no idea what he saw in her and she treated him appallingly.
Also I think 12 is fantastic and deserves a lot better.
I think we'll have to agree to disagree!

Having had time to think about this I think it was ok, wasnt special, wont watch it again

When you use a story telling method that every syfy/fantasy show has used, you need a powerful emotional punch, or you need it to be funny, it wasnt either, infact it was a bit overly muddled, far too many dreams within dreams, that the twists stopped being fun and were just annoying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2iGpDa8gYo this is one of my fave versions of the story telling, everything about this shows he really wants to just give in to the dream world and die there, but does whats best for his family and his job

Dwelling on what the dream world gave the lonely people would have been better, the woman in the chair her legs, the others friendship, and family.

But rather than that we focus on yet another dream with in a dream, where the doctor thinks he missed out on his life with Clara, we see nothing that suggests she had a horrid life and was better with the doctor, so it felt like the right place to say goodbye to her, we know companions dont die, they just end up out of place, either in time, or a different universe, so making them cut of from the doctor, so her aging and having lived her life seemed right for a time traveller, he misses her whole life because of a misunderstanding.
Didnt like the final way he woke and rushed to her, not sure why, felt a bit last minute

In the list of shows that did this kind of ep, Im pretty sure Warehouse 13 (one was an xmas ep, and one was Cladia based)and Eureka did simular eps (I often find doctor who ideas come from these 2) Lost girl had one where Dyson and Kenzi were a couple, Angel did it when he was human, and had to give it up for the greater good (I will remember you), and season 5 when Lindsey is in hell (Underneath) he knows there is a monster but looks away and forgets. Each of these eps have a real emotional pull, and thats what Doctor who missed, or maybe it had it and Im just cold hearted and missed it

I don't get it .

the bit at the end - did Clara live 62 years in a dream world or did the Doc just dream she did ?

Actually I would love to know how many people always vote excellent no matter how good or bad an episode is, I suspect that quite a few do just out of loyalty. The fact that 45% of people did find it excellent but that 54% didn't is quite interesting and just shows how varied fans of Dr Who are in their opinions.

Oh we're back to this 'loyalty' thing again.


& 70% found it good or better.

I liked it a lot. Not my favorite Christmas special but enjoyable though.

Dream Crabs worked well as aliens, the horror was good too. Bit Inception like in parts too.

Surprised by the way Santa was used but it worked well though, better than expected.

Saw the Danny cameo coming a mile off but it worked and he's still dead though.

Shona could come back, right? Liked Bellows and Ashley. Albert was wasted though.

Great stuff with Twelve and Clara throughout the whole episode too, 8/10.

Oddly enough, this is the first Christmas Special where that hasn't happened to me! Instead of rolling eyes and disappearing for another mince pie, all my (non-fan) family were very interested in the episode, and thought the concept intriguing. And perfectly understandable.


I voted excellent because I thought it was excellent. Many episodes have received a "poor" vote from me. Some people may vote excellent automatically, but some also vote bad automatically also.

I loved every second, and was pleased to see Danny Pink again. Really good story, exceptionally good for a Christmas special, which are usually pretty dire. Capaldi was wonderful.

Some of the posts on here are unbelievable. Amusing, but I'm not sure if they are meant to be or not. "Damp squid"? Honestly?

And the calm assumption that everyone hates Clara. They don't. It's all in your mind.

I voted Excellent because I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

Clever story, plenty of laughs and scares and superb acting all around.

IMO Moffat has re-found his mojo since Capaldi took over and the Smith years now seem a dim and distant memory (thankfully).

Can't wait for season 9....

Would have been a much shorter episode if they'd remembered their Towels

Dreams have their own internal logic, so yes and yes.

God mine don't...
I once dreamt Me and Keith Lemon were an item...

On again now on BBC3.

Ha ha !

I didn't say it made sense.

Took a lot longer than planned, but finally watched it on BBC3 tonight. I felt it was ok, pretty good for an Xmas episode, good stuff

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If I was a weirdo fan who reads too much into everything (which actually I am sometimes) I could say:

Hmm - when the Doctor "awoke" and "almost nearly awoke" he seemed to be lying next to a volcano on a rock ledge, in front of the TARDIS rather like the scene with Clara and the TARDIS keys when she put herself into a dreamstate accidentally thinking that actually she was awake and she had put the Doctor to sleep ...

i would also say - the Doctor told 62++++ yr old Clara - "they must have attacked me first and then found you by my memory and " .. so hence their must be connections to each other somehow ...

And also .. They spent an overly loooong time focusing on blonde lady after she came back to reality - why did we need to see her reaction + her list (or Daves' list ot her ...)

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However, sometimes I'm boringly simple and so I could say:

Hmm, they must have filmed the Doctor waking scenes on the same day as the TARDIS keys in lava scene, must not wanted to have wasted the set

Hmm, they found people who lived normal lives, some had disabilities but all of them felt comfortable with the idea of being exploring scientists at the North Pole

Blonde lady was fun, I liked her, glad they included a bit of her life story at the end

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Bring on Series 9. Nice to see Capaldi still has a bit of a mean steak (prepared to walk away and leave them all to die when he thought they were already dead anyway) but also has a bit of a clown in him (I'm flying the sleigh!)

OK, thats my random spewing of thoughts all over the place ......

p.s. Natalie Gumede was great

p.p.s. Shona works in a shop. Now if Moffat hadn't already explained that Missy gave Clara the phone number, then having it that Shona becomes a companion, has adventures and then meets past Clara in her shop and giving her a pc helpline number would have been very timey whimey But can't happen now ....

I enjoyed it for what it was and I think it's set up series nine well with the Doctor/Clara dynamic.

Looking elsewhere on the internet, the episode seems to have been quite well received so I'm anticipating a decent AI.

Oh, and some of the criticism Moffat gets is just ridiculous.

Legit rubbish. Can't think of any redeeming qualities this time round tbh.