Monday 27 December 2010

Doctor Who: "A Christmas Carol" review round up from tea with the Cybermen to Amy Pond's legs.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
TV Review Round Up
of the 2010 Dr Who Xmas Special


Matt Smith swaps his fez for feztive.
"One of the single most superb and deeply moving Christmas episodes in television history."
Robert William Berg on RobWillReview.com


"By far the best Christmas special to be seen on TV this year."
Ken Tucker on EntertainmentWeekly.com  


"Another seasonal adventure for the time-traveller (who does seem to land on 25 December a lot)."
Richard Vine on Guardian.co.uk


"This is a different, almost introspective Christmas special where a sense of the epic is merely the background to a personal story about one man's relationship to his father and where even the gifts offered by the Father Christmas of time and space can bring their own disappointments and consequences."
Frank Collins on CathodeRayTube.blogspot.com


"Thanks to Michael Gambon's performance and Steven Moffat's more than usually focused writing, Kazran Sardick becomes one of the more memorable characters in Doctor Who's history, without ever departing from the Scrooge model." 
Charlie Jane Anders on io9.com 


"Matt Smith’s mannered gabbling is becoming smug and rather grating. Amy Pond was - again - parked on the sidelines. But her legs were as great as ever."
Jim Shelley on Mirror.co.uk


"No marks for originality as the unimaginative BBC served us the TARDIS take on A Christmas Carol. What a novel idea. Nevertheless ... the most festive Doctor Who ever."
Kevin O'Sullivan on Mirror.co.uk


"Matt Smith is brilliantly demented from start to finish. And the story itself manages to lean heavily on the original Christmas Carol concept, while using all The Doctor's tricks."
Gerard McGarry on UnrealityShout.com


"A Christmas Carol is so audacious that if it wasn't done so well it might amount to blasphemy."  
Dan Martin on Guardian.co.uk


"I like my sharks cold-blooded, predatory, dangerous. I know it’s Christmas but what next? A cup of tea with the Cybermen? Spa day with the Daleks?"
Chris Harvey on Telegraph.co.uk

"If you can manipulate time, then delivering Christmas Past, Present and Future is a doddle, though it must have been a little trickier for Steven Moffat to get his cog-work to align quite so neatly."
Tom Sutcliffe on Independent.co.uk


"Cue the Doctor, who comes plummeting down Kazran’s chimney like a version of Santa in the latter stages of some kind of terminal wasting disease that makes your face look like a melted cliff."
LadyRibenaBeret on WatchWithMothers.net


"The Doctor was down the Michael Gambon's chimney before you could say chocolate brazils, though it was more Dick van Dyke than Santa, what with the clouds of soot and long-legged capering."
Phil Hogan in The Observer


"Steven Moffat was clearly ding dong merrily high on something when he came up with this beguiling Christmas whimsy."
Dave Golder on SFX.co.uk


"The genius of Doctor Who's A Christmas Carol is how much further it deviates from Dickens' tale of miserly redemption than the trailers might have indicated."
Martin Anderson on ShadowLocked.com


"What The Grand Moff has done with A Christmas Carol is basically succeed in blending a serious threat with a true and meaningful Christmas tale that mixes the old timey-wimey nature of Moffat’s Doctor Who with a recognised parable."
Christian Cawley on Kasterborous.com


"A Christmas Carol is, ultimately, a fitting end to one of Doctor Who’s very strongest years."
Simon Brew on DenOfGeek.com




COMING SOON: Our own review of A Christmas Carol - as we examine the top ten requirements for a Doctor Who Christmas Special. Check back to see if the 2010 Special ticked all the boxes. 

Photo of Matt Smith copyright BBC TV




DOCTOR WHO: A CHRISTMAS CAROL on DVD

DR WHO: COMPLETE FIFTH SERIES on DVD

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1 comment:

  1. Great selection and nice to see most reviews (apart from the Mirror boo-birds) loved the show as much as me and my family.

    ReplyDelete