“Last Christmas”
by Steven Moffat
Originally Aired: December 25, 2014
Blu-Ray/DVD Release: 04/05/2016
“There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.”
What is it about?
The Doctor and Clara, still unsure on how the feel about continuing to travel with each other, find themselves in an Artic Research station where half of the crew has been attacked by “Dream Crabs”. These small creatures attach to the victims face, lulls them into a dream state and dissolves them from the outside in. The situation seems doomed for all until help arrives in the most unlikely source: Santa Claus and his 2 elves.
What Works?
It should go without saying, but since this is my first review of this era, I need to put it out there what an unabashed Peter Capaldi fan I am. He just exudes an attitude that captures the essence of all the actors that have come before him, and yet make the role truly his own. His Doctor is all at once surly, caring, threatening and comical and can change on a dime and I love it. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, what else works? The whole set up is dynamite and feels like classic Who. It’s the classic trope of a group trapped inside a claustrophobic setting, this time some kind of station that is nearly impossible to escape (as we will also see more of later in Series 9) and a threat on the loose. Just add the Doctor and Companion and shake well for best results. The Dream Crabs, as they are called throughout are an interesting idea, use the images of themselves projected by others imaginations and thoughts to move around. Quite an interesting concept, even if the design is a bit of a rip off, a point that doesn’t even escape one of the stranded scientists. But what they lack in looks they make up for in idea, they attach to a victims face, bore into their heads and lull them to sleep and puts them in a dream stasis, all the while they attempt to destroy the wearer. Early on we are introduced to the idea that Santa Claus is a “real” thing in this world and already knows The Doctor (why wouldn’t he?) and that makes for a great payoff later on. Nick Frost is tremendous in the role of Santa and brings a real charm to him that is both classic and new, and yet he also plays him as a bit of a bad ass, which I appreciated. Also I should mention that it was fun seeing Dan Starky, who normally plays Sontaran Strax play one of Santa’s elves sans major make-up covering his face. And finally, I’d be remiss not to mention the overall theme of Christmas with this being the 2014 Christmas Special. I had always preferred Russell T. Davies’ Christmas Specials to Moffat’s on account of the fact they were regular Doctor Who stories that just happened to take place around the Holiday’s, where Moffat’s were fully entrenched in Christmas itself. This however felt more like Davies’ stories with the Christmas involvement restricted to Santa Claus, and a bit with Clara’s dream of staying with Danny, but those overall strengthened the story that was already being told.
What Doesn’t?
There’s really only a few things that don’t work for me, the first would be the ensuing twists that occur have become a bit redundant from Moffat. With everything going on, it becomes increasingly complicated to the point where I kind of gave up trying to figure out how everything fit together until the end. At that point, I understood, but it was a precarious situation, because if I thought about it too hard, the whole plot comes tumbling down. It’s almost as if he thinks if he makes it so complicated that audience won’t be able to see the plot holes. We still see them Steven, we just mind less when overall stories are good. I also wish there would have been a little more with the cast to help us get to know them better. The research scientists are all really the same and other than gender and skin color, there was nothing to separate them as different characters. In a bit of stunt casting, 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton’s other son, Michael is a member of the research team, but there was nothing really done with him to make him stand out, though if they had, that might have been worse. I’m undecided.
Final Thoughts:
An excellent Christmas story that succeeds in many fronts: bringing the Doctor and Clara back together, having fun on Christmas with Santa, as well as making it a bit spooky with weird alien facehuggers that make dreams come true. The actors were all great, though I wish the scientists had more to do, and the story tries to get a little too clever for it’s own good, but is still a fun way to watch a Doctor Who at Christmas time.
3.5/5
