:thumbsup: Great Christmas episode lots of fun a bit pantomimey in places but that's fair enough for a Christmas special.

Loved the return of the robot santas and the bauble bombs :lol: The most enjoyable parts of the episode were DT's doctor reflecting on the loss of Rose as his companion.

First full episode i've seen since last year's xmas one.

Still don't like Tennant.

Whatever happened to a Doctor who uses his wits to solve things - now he has one tactic - the sonic screwdriver.

Is there a rule that says this and Torchwood have to have rooftop scenes every episode? (Going by the two of the latter I watched).

So was the "Ooh this Doctor is a bit hard-hearted" theme a constant in S2 or just when I see it?

Catherine Tate grated on me immensely - all attempts at humour failed miserably.

Apart from that it was okay - but certainly not enough to make me watch any more.

It had it's moments but overall not on a par with the series.

It did play up the "humour" a little too much perhaps :ponder:

But surely everyone has to have loved the "chase scene" along the motorway :lol: :lol: I do believe I actually squealed a little :lol:

The Empress was amazingly well realized, and brilliantly played by Sarah Parish, all kudos to her.

But, like last years Christmas special, I found the "coming soon" segment far more interesting. :o :o :o :yahoo:

Great use of string :lol:

I particularly enjoyed the little children in the back of the car mouthing Jump !! :lol:

Really enjoyed the episode - I was on the edge of my seat. :blush:

Ditto with Jamie`s coming soon comment :thumbsup:

Am I right in thinking the voice saying something about a hitchhiker was Ardal O`Hanlon ?

EDIT _ THIS PAGE has the coming soon trailer. :)

I didn't think this Christmas special was as good as last year, but then again I don't really find Catherine Tate funny. Tbh Donna annoyed me a bit and asking her to come along :no:.
Liked how this gives the Doctor a chance to reflect on the loss of Rose before we meet Martha next season though and I loved the 'coming soon' bit at the end. Sarah, it did sound like Ardal O'Hanlon.

Thanks Laura - I thought I was the only one who thought that. :lol:

is the beeb gonna show again that episode during a week end? (i only notice BBC3 repeat but at 7pm during the week) :ermm:

Well I didn't think it was too bad but does Catherine Tate really have to shout rather than talk? I am not a fan of her at all though so this episode was slightly marred by that fact. It kept my attention though.

I did like the effects of the Earth coming together around the arachnid womans planet.

I had to laugh when i saw the remote controls for the baubles, they looked like N64 joysticks painted gold!

I thought it was the best Dr Who episode ever! (of the ones that I've seen) I think I was just in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, in an innocent and non judgemental way. I thought Catherine Tate was interesting and convincing in her role.

I have no problem with Tennants performance, I had no problem with Catherine Tates performance, all in all a very good episode, entertaining, funny and no too serious which is what you want at Christmas, the production values were fantastic and the story was very well concieved.

Use of the sonic screwdriver is also not a problem with me, bad guys have the guns, exploding balls, christmas trees, lasers etc. etc. The Doctor has his sonic screwdriver and will use it to get out of the situation. Liked the part where he put it into the amplifier on the music equipment to disable the robots.

The coming soon segment looked excellent, and even with the loss of Billie Piper the next series does look very good, possibly the best, but with these things they usually take the best bits. Tennant looks like commanding Doctor, thats what I like, he's not afraid to take a stand and demand what he wants, obviously a by-product of seeing his race destroyed and fighting in the Time War.

I'm now looking forward to the next series of Doctor Who with great anticipation, from those clips it looks like its going to be a blast, possibly the best so far.

Scanning Donna
Opening Taxi door
Blasting web
Destroying robots via PA


At least 4 uses that I can think of in 1 hour.

Lack of imagination.

Yes well we could say the same thing about every generic action film and the use of a 9mm Beretta......that seems to be used alot.

Its not like we haven't seen it used for these uses before either. Screwdriver opens doors, locks in almost every episode. Screwdriver used for scanning purposes in The Doctor Dances. Sonic screwdriver, sonic i.e. sound being amplified through speaker system, clever and new! If The Doctor has used it before to do a specific task he will again, it just makes sense, if he uses something else people would say why not just use the sonic screwdriver and it also saves money building other props and time. People like the sonic screwdriver and it saves time during the episodes, even if you go back to the original series Tom Baker era it was used often then.

And as for lack of imagination, Jon Pertwee was always reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. Almost every story.....

You forgot....

"Fixing" a phone box.
Stealing from, and then causing an explosion of cash from an ATM
Operating a not very secret button on a lift, that leads to a not very secret area of a building.


But, it was all harmless fun. Did anyone do anything but laugh during S1 when the Doctor asked Rose to use it to repair barbed wire? :lol: :lol:

Yes I remember the "reverse polarity" thing which was a Pertwee speciality but you're talking once a 4/6 ep story and it usually made sense when there was one device to build or sabotage - see The Daemons for a good example but 6 or 7 "uses" in one story is way over the top imo and goes beyond a cosy sort of in-joke.

I think its a token for the modern high tech world but I'd probably be happier if there was a range of Torchwwod type devices rather than the "Damn, I can't think of anything so I'll just use a sonic screwfriver" approach.

But it wasn't an in joke, The Doctor had to do things and he doesn't carry around umpty thrumpty amounts of gadgets. Its Christmas episode alot has to be fit into a small time limit, therefore there isn't enough time to assemble or use different gadgets, the sonic screwdriver is used plus the kids love to see it. Thats what makes it what it is, The Doctors magical wand. It can do everything and anything. Its magical for children to see what The Doctor can do with it next.

The Doctor is the The Doctor why would he use Torchwood technology and why would they sanction The Doctor to use it? Especially to save Donna?

The reason that Pertwee's Doctor kept reversing polarities is purely because he couldn't remember all of the technobabble. He found that one piece that he liked, and just ran with it :lol:

It's nothing to do with poor/unimaginative writing, it's just writing to the limits of the star.

I enjoyed it, found it quite amusing in parts (especially her asking if Rose had punched him before she left :lol: ). Thought some of the effects were stunning for a tv show - especially a BBC tv show ( :o ) - particularly the chase along the motorway :thumbsup:

Yes I heard about that, I have nothing against reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, infact as a geeky joke usually to myself if a piece of electronical equipment in the house, round a mates and even when I was at school wasn't working, I usually said something like 'Maybe you should try reversing the polarity of the neutron flow', of course no one gets it but it makes me laugh.

The only point I was making is The Doctor has a sonic screwdriver its what he carries around with him, when he needs to use it he will, its not unimaginative to me, in fact I'm wondering what new thing is it going to do next.

In my opinion, unimaginative would be coming up with lots of different gadgets to do different things, having a magic wand is well magical.