This week, the Doctor Who podKast (with a “K”) discusses the build up to the 2014 Christmas special, Last Christmas. Before that, however, James McLean and Brian A Terranova discuss the rather interesting clip from 1985’s BBC Children in Need, featuring virtually all surviving Doctor Who stars and their companions… with one very notable exception!
The show ends with sage advice concerning your expectations for Last Christmas. Until next week, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Kasterborous PodKast Series 4 Episode 46 Shownotes
- 1985 Children in Need appearance by Doctor Who stars
- Doctor Who: Last Christmas trailers
- Is Clara leaving the TARDIS?
- Voyage of the Damned
- The Christmas Invasion
PodKast introduction by John Guilor; theme by Russell Hugo.
I fully support your speech about defending your right to have negative opinions about a show you clearly love. You all have wonderfully articulated opinions, fair criticisms, and brilliant ideas about how the show can proceed. Personally, I loved the 11th Doctor, but I think Matt Smith did great work with some terrible scripts. And Moffat has contributed some great stories, but as a showrunner I feel he has made too much of a mess of the show’s continuity by trying to leave his mark on every era of the show. But I continue to love the show, and I think Peter Capaldi has the potential to be the greatest Doctor yet (I love the 12th so far, and can’t wait to see more stories with him).
Interesting as it was as a general subject, I think that James and Brian lost track a little when it came to the Happy Christmas/Happy Holidays bit because it failed to take into account that the “Christmas” marked, portrayed and even celebrated in the Doctor Who Christmas Specials is always the secular idea of Christmas, not the religious one.
What are the Christmassy things they deck the Special with every year? Father Christmas, snowmen, Christmas trees, Dickens, elves, etc – none of which feature in the Gospels. Oh, and I forgot to mention turkey. One thing you can
usually guarantee will come to mind while watching a DW Christmas Special is the word turkey. What RTD and Steven Moffat don’t do is strew the Christmas Special with imagery of Jesus or the Wise Men or the Angel Gabriel.
That’s why it doesn’t follow to ask why they do a Christmas Special but never a Hannukah special. Because Christmas has become “mainstream”. Ironically (almost), if they did do a DW Hannukah Special, we would be entitled to ask why they’re doing that given that they’ve never done a DW Special exploring Christian belief.