Doctor Who (2023) - Christmas 2024: Joy to the World

Episode:

884

|

Serial:

312

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Alex Sanjiv Pillai

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2024

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The good news is that Sci-Fi Adventures has finally returned to cover a brand new episode of Doctor Who! The bad news is that it's been six months since I last wrote a full scene-by-scene review like this and I've forgotten how to do it. Honestly it's lucky I remembered I'm supposed to take notes.

Anyway, this is a Steven Moffat episode and that's a pretty big deal, seeing as he's written some of the best stories in Doctor Who history. They haven't all been winners, but that's no surprise considering how prolific he's been. By my calculations this is the 50th episode that Moffat has been credited for writing or co-writing for Doctor Who, which is even more than Russell T Davies' 41. He's still way short of Classic Who writers Robert Holmes (72), Terry Nation (62) or Malcolm Hulke (54), though, and I doubt they'll ever be beaten...

... unless you count full stories instead of episodes, in which case those numbers become Robert Holmes (18), Terry Nation (11), Malcolm Hulke (8), Russell T Davies (33) and Steven Moffat (40... ish). (It's hard to know what to count as a two-parter sometimes.) So Steven Moffat has set an almost unbeatable record here, especially considering how seasons are getting shorter and further apart. At least, it would've been if RTD wasn't so close to catching up.

I should warn you that this review will contain SPOILERS for every minute of this episode and certain minutes of previous stories.

Doctor Who (2023) - Christmas 2023: The Church on Ruby Road (Quick Review)

Episode:

875

|

Serial:

304

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Mark Tonderai

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2023

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Church on Ruby Road. Because I said I would, and it'd be weird not to after covering the other three 2023 specials. Plus this is a big deal. It's the first episode of the Fifteenth Doctor's era of Doctor Who!

It's going to be hard for Ncuti Gatwa to follow David Tennant, one of the most beloved Doctors in the series' history, but Matt Smith has already proved that it can be done. I'm not worried, as there has never been a bad Doctor in the series' entire history. Though sometimes good Doctors get stuck in a string of mediocre stories that prevent them from really shining. I'm sure there's no way that's going to happen to Ncuti though. Probably.

There will be SPOILERS below, but nothing for stories that come after this.

Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2005: The Christmas Invasion

Episode:

710

|

Serial:

167

|

Writer:

Russell T. Davies

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2005

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing about another episode of Russell T Davies era Doctor Who!

This one's called The Christmas Invasion because it's the first of Doctor Who's annual Christmas specials. I don't watch enough TV to know what kinds of series usually get Christmas specials and how rare they are, but I do know that the classic series never had any. Well okay, it had a Christmas episode one time in 1965, but that's only because serials would continue throughout December back then and Christmas Day just happened to coincide with one of the episodes. But since Christmas Invasion they haven't missed a year, even on occasions where they pretty much took the rest of the year off (I'm looking at you 2009 and 2016).

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point, for this story and perhaps earlier ones as well. For instance, I'm going to spoil that this is David Tennant's first episode as the Tenth Doctor.

Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2016: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Episode:

827

|

Serial:

264

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2016

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This Christmas on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about a Doctor Who Christmas special again!

Well, the review was supposed to be done by Christmas anyway. I was aiming for Christmas Day and missed, though that's probably for the best now that I think about it. Two Doctor Who Christmas special posts coming out on consecutive Christmases is dangerously close to becoming a tradition and I'm not keen on getting stuck in traditions. I might even write about the next one at Easter or something just to mix things up. That seems like a good time for a story about rebirth.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio is actually the very next episode after the previous Christmas ep, The Husbands of River Song, as they apparently forgot to air a series of Doctor Who during 2016. It was a leap year too, so that means 365 days between episodes; the longest hiatus since the big one between 1989 and 2005 (the 1996 TV movie doesn't count because it's a movie). That's why it's the Return of Doctor Mysterio by the way.

Though Peter Capaldi had actually been back for a while by the time this entered production, as it was filmed during the production of the 2017 series, between Knock Knock and Oxygen. Must have been weird for them to film an episode without Pearl Mackie around.

Uh, I mean Pearl Mackie, who's that? Never heard of her. I don't even know who Jodie Whittaker is mate. This review only features SPOILERS for this episode and the ones that came before it (Christmas specials especially) and I'll not even be hinting about anything that comes after. Except for a few paragraphs back where I hinted that the next Christmas special is about Jodie Whittaker becoming the next Doctor, which you of course know already.

Man, I said 'Christmas' nine times already and it's only the intro, that's a bit worrying. Ten now.

Doctor Who (2005) - Christmas 2015: The Husbands of River Song

Episode:

826

|

Serial:

263

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2015

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm reviewing Doctor Who's 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song... during Christmas 2016. So I'm both incredibly late and incredibly timely, which seems perfectly fitting for Doctor Who.

The episode follows on from the season 9 finale Hell Bent, which left the Doctor a little unhappy for a number of reasons. It also left him without a companion, but that's okay as rogue archaeologist River Song is going to make a surprise return! Probably. It's possible that the trailer was a cunning trick and only her husbands ever show up, but that'd be a bit of a let down.

I'm going to recap the episode and share my thoughts along the way, so this is going to have massive SPOILERS for the entire story and anything leading up to it. Everything afterwards is safe though, and not just because it hasn't aired yet by the time I'm writing this.