Christmas is just around the corner, and BBCA has announced their annual Doctor Who Christmas specials marathon. This got me thinking about my favorites. I, of course, enjoy them all! However, there are a few that stood out from the rest. Not only did I think about my favorites, but I asked my Instagram followers and the Twitter world to vote for their favorite specials. First, I’ll dive into the ones that are dear to my hearts (see what I did there?).
The Christmas Invasion
David Tennant’s tenth Doctor incarnation was the very first Doctor I ever watched. So, naturally, any and all of his episodes are basically my favorites. This special is what brought us the tenth Doctor. We see cool killer-Christmas trees and robot Santas as the Doctor is still regenerating. We’re introduced to the Sycorax and Harriet Jones. One of my absolute favorite moments is when the Doctor quotes the “Circle of Life” when he is defending the Earth. How can you not think that’s great? Also, Rose stepping up as leader when the Doctor wasn’t done cooking yet was pretty fantastic. “It. Is. Defended.” is an iconic line, and the Doctor sticks to this throughout his regenerations.
Runaway Bride
Next up in my favorite of the specials is Runaway Bride. This one is my all-time favorite Christmas special for this reason alone: Donna Noble is my favorite companion. Her sass and pure, non-romantic love for the Doctor is beautiful. She keeps him honest and grounded, and their banter is quick and always exciting. I digress, mostly because I could go on for days. Runaway Bride is a fun episode where we get a glimpse of how normal (but oh so special) Donna really is. She experiences the excitement of the Doctor, but then sees that he does need to be stopped and she can’t live that way (yet, obviously). I love that we get to know Donna’s family and life, so when she does end up travelling with the Doctor, we have a better understanding of who she is and where she comes from. Plus, a giant Christmas-star shaped space ship is pretty cool. I didn’t even mind that it is controlled by a creepy, evil, spider alien queen. (I’m deathly afraid of spiders.)
A Christmas Carol
Moving into Matt Smith’s Christmas specials, I absolutely love this one. Any episode that starts with a crashing spaceship is always exciting. The Doctor falling into the mansion through the chimney is fantastic, and then he just keeps talking. Who doesn’t love it when the eleventh Doctor goes on and on when he gets worked up? I know I love it. We also get his iconic line, “900 years of time and space. I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.” Fog-swimming fish, cloud-dwelling sharks, and the Doctor coming up with the idea to use “A Christmas Carol” as his way of turning Kazran Sardick into a nice man is clearly a recipe for an excellent episode. Of course, this idea of his works. The Doctor’s one-liners are brilliant, as well! It’s such a well-written episode. Grown up Sardick watching the Doctor literally change his life is beautiful.
Husbands of River Song
River Song is such an important part of the Doctor’s lives, and we see them unite for the last time (so far?) with the twelfth Doctor. Capaldi and Kingston’s chemistry on-screen is simply darling. River Song hasn’t met the Doctor before this encounter, but he knows her oh-so well. The last moments in River’s diary are written, and we learn more about her past than we’ve known before. It was such a fun way to see the two interact in ways we haven’t seen yet, and of course the tender “Hello, Sweetie” moment made me melt into a pile of mush!
Twitter Poll Results
I posted some polls for the Twitter world to vote in, and here are the results. Here is the thread for the tweet!
Okay @DoctorWho_BBCA fans! I’m doing some research..help me out! This will be a thread of polls for New Who Christmas specials to see which ones are everyone’s favorites! #DoctorWho
Let’s start with Tennant’s first 2!
— Maddie✨ (@mad_whovian) December 16, 2019
Instagram Results
@theyseekherthere on Instagram says “The Christmas Invasion” is one of her favorites. When I asked why she enjoyed this episode, she said:
- David Tennant’s debut
- First Christmas special ever
- The one-liners/great character interaction
- Creepy villains
She also let me know that “Husbands of River Song” is another one of her favorites.
- River and Twelve together, their interactions
- The reveal of yet more information about her past
- River Song!
@bambifinlay says that “The Time of the Doctor” is one of her favorite Doctor Who Christmas Specials.
Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor, but honestly ended up loving all of them…this episode I found more excitement in…
@just_g_and_me mentions that “Voyage of the Damned” and “Twice Upon a Time” are her favorite specials.
I was always into the history of the Titanic…but as a kid I was always looking up facts about it, so I liked that about it. And then he [Tennant] starts out with this group of people and each person dies helping the others to go on further to try and save the greater good. It’s admirable.
Twice Upon a Time – I liked how they brought the first and last male Doctors and then unveiled the first female Doctor. I liked that they gave Capaldi a fighting chance as the Doctor to really develop as some of his predecessors. So this episode gave him a really good bang and good bye. It was Moffat’s good bye as well, and it was just bittersweet of what had happened and this new, exciting change to come.
@christina.is.crafty said that she really enjoyed “The Snowmen.”
My kids liked the snowmen.
@101cosplaystosee told me about their favorite specials:
I’m a huge sucker for A Christmas Carol! I thought it was magical, but I also really love the Snowmen. That also gives me nutcracker vibes because it’s so pretty and like a dream but also tragic. I do like Last Christmas as well, but I felt it a bit darker for a Christmas special.
What are your thoughts?
A huge thank you, first off, to these wonderful people for taking the time to talk to me about their favorite Doctor Who Christmas specials. What are your favorite Doctor Who Christmas specials? Tune into BBCA’s Christmas special marathon starting Christmas Eve through the new series premiere on New Year’s Day!
Make space for the Doctor this holiday season.
The #DoctorWho Takeover starts Christmas Eve on @BBCAMERICA, leading into the premiere of the new season on New Year's Day! pic.twitter.com/MVtaIOQlZV
— Doctor Who on BBC America (@DoctorWho_BBCA) December 17, 2019
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