reaction to the Christmas special

[dbskyler]

So, that was a disappointment. It's never a good sign when I'm watching an episode and start talking aloud to my cats about how stupid the plot is. It wasn't stupid-stupid, per se; rather, it was boring-stupid, and cloying-stupid, and how-many-Narnia-jokes-can-you-get-in-and-why-are-you-riffing-off-Narnia-anyway-stupid.

Oh wait, the bit about "She's strong because she's a mother!" was stupid-stupid. Sadly, that could have been good if it had been set up better.

However, I do have to admit that the ending was excellent. The Doctor went back to spend Christmas with Amy and Rory! And they had set a place for him at the table! After over an hour of "Aren't we pulling on your heartstrings yet? How 'bout now? HOW 'BOUT NOW?" that did nothing except annoy me with its bad attempts at manipulation, the ending genuinely got to me. I think I'll be keeping that, and taping over the rest.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Huh. I enjoyed it - thought it was harmless fun and I enjoy the riffing on Narnia (which considering how much I dislike the Narnian tales, is amusing).

At least it was all death and gloom and big bloody explosions of pointlessness!!

AND everyone lived!

AND Matt Smith's great with kids!

AND Amy and Rory at the end were fun (though I'd rather he'd gone back to see Martha and Mickey...)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I can't point to specific things that were terrible, but it never engaged me. I didn't really care about any of the guest characters, and I thought a lot of the plot was very contrived. The Narnia stuff was just silly. Is this going to be a "thing" with Moffat and Christmas specials from now on? His first one was "Christmas Carol," and that at least made some sense -- it came across as the Doctor deliberately stealing an idea from Dickens. This time, it was just forced. And what will we get next? Hansel and Gretel?

But yes, I liked that everyone lived and that it ended on a high note. And I agree, Matt Smith is great with kids.

It made sense to me that the Doctor went to see Amy and Rory -- besides them being the most recent companions, they are the ones who thought he was dead (at least, he thought they thought he was dead). But I wouldn't be at all surprised if he then went on a companion-Christmas spree and had multiple Christmases, including one with Martha and Mickey. :D

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I don't know - not being privileged to know the workings of the Moff's brain.

I didn't say it didn't make sense - I just said I'd have preferred him going to see Martha and Mickey.