Paul Evans
Amy and Rory are celebrating their honeymoon on board a spaceship, but it's out of control and hurtling towards a planet ruled by the Scrooge like Kazran Sardick. Kazran is refusing to help, his machinery could save the crash, but he chooses to let the thousands of people die. We step in to a Christmas carol as the Doctor shows Kazran the error of his ways. Using all manner of techniques to make Kazran change his mind.This is possibly my favourite Christmas episode, it is so different from all the others, I think even Dickens would have loved it.It is a Christmas fairy tale perfect for the Festive period. Without patrsonising it, I'd say it's the prettiest episode to date, it looks incredible (you can see where the budget went.) Michael Gambon is utterly brilliant, so to is Katherine Jenkins, she did a great job considering it was her first real character part. The music is simply beautiful, I love it, works so wonderfully, in particular the moving Abigail's song.Touchingly beautiful, best Christmas episode to date. 10/10
Marcus
I know Doctor Who is made in Wales. I know that Katherine Jenkins is Welsh. I know she is very pretty. I also know that she has a wonderful singing voice.Now we have the things in her favour established let's us talk about her acting ability. She has none, I honestly thought this was the most wooden and forced attempt at acting that I've seen in a long time. Evenby their latest standards I actually had to wondered who the hell it was as I couldn't imaging them picking such a bad actress unless she was someone famous. Please BBC, find better talent or don't bother.I could go on and on about this but I would only be filling up line after line of text just to get to the ten line limit, I could never be so shallow as to do that and therefore I won't go on and on.4/10
Yrael
Doctor Who's Christmas Specials have occasionally been hit and miss, sacrificing quality for spectacle. I'm happy to say that this year's entry did nothing of the sort.Whilst in the honeymoon suite of a starship, Amy and Rory (dressed in their police and centurion costumes for reasons they don't wish to discuss) are about to crash land. Their only hope is Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon) a cruel old miser who controls the sky. Borrowing an idea from his old friend Charles Dickens, The Doctor shows Kazran his past, present and future in the hope of bringing some warmth to the old man's heart.The visuals in this episode, particularly on Kazran's palace, are spectacular, but it is the acting that is the real treat this Christmas. Gambon is sublime as he subtly transforms in true Scrooge style, whilst soprano Katherine Jenkins makes a pleasing debut, although a plot point involving her singing may possibly point out some stunt casting.But the real Christmas star here is Matt Smith, who has settled into the role quite comfortably by now, he manages to be both entertaining and empathetic at the same time, some of his best scenes involving his interaction with the young Kazran, and later when he finds himself engaged to most unusual (yet familiar) bride.This years episode ends on a high, despite the tragic fate befalling one of the characters and leaves this reviewer hungry for more.
iancampbell72
Have just finished watching, and it was a touching, sometimes funny, but at no time was it cloying or overly sentimental. It whipped along at a good pace, and the performance were all good from Gambon, which was only to expected, to Katherine Jenkins, who for someone who had never really acted before was a very pleasant surprise, even if she did have to sing to a shark, but that is not as silly as it sounds when you see why in the last ten minutes. The ending is sad, but in a way uplifting, and you try not to have a lump in your throat, or a slight tear in your eye. .Enjoy
AD
