It's Christmas Eve and Amy and Rory are on a starliner hurtling to their death as they, along with 4001 others, plummet through the icy clouds of a planet run by the bitter old man, Kazran Sardick. Only Kazran can clear the clouds and save the lives of 4003 people, but even The Doctor can't talk him into it. With time running out The Doctor attempts to alter Kazran's history and change him from the bitter old man he became.
A Christmas Carol is the first Christmas special written by Steven Moffat and it has his fingerprints written all over it. The entire plot revovles around wibbly, wobbly time travel shenanigans which provide plenty of laughs as well as moving the story along. Accepting that a planet in the far future has architecture and fashion resembling Dickensian London requires one to completely suspend their disbelief, but behind this absurdity is a rather brilliant story about the loss of childhood innocence and reclaiming one's soul. Although it's been many years since I read it, I think this is a very loose adaptation of Continuity Errors, a short story Steven Moffat wrote for the third Decalog collection in 1995.
Amy and Rory feature only briefly but are used effectively and to humourous end. Matt Smith is on perfect form as The Doctor, showing the wisdom of the Time Lord as well as playing his eccentric side to the maximum. What struc me in this story is just how different the show and the main character are from what they were in the Russell T Davies era. The Doctor as a lonely wanderer is definitely gone, and rather than focusing on the melancholy aspect of the story the humour and adventure takes centre stage.
However the real star of the show is the esteemed actor Michael Gambon, who gives a brilliant performance as Kazran. Gambon brings this well written character to life perfectly. Kylie Minogue may be the highest profile guest star to appear in a Christmas special but Gambon's performance is one of the best of any guest star in Dr. Who yet.
The production is almost flawless and Kazran's planet is a wonderfully realised bit of steampunk. The only effect that is less than flawless is the shark, but even this is quite effective.
A Christmas Carol is undoubtedly the best Christmas special yet. Roll on December 25, 2011.
5/5
The song for this review is a rather ordinary number from Kate Bush's otherwise brilliant first albumn, The Kick Inside.
