It’s Christmas time and that means Russel T. Davies has given us our now-annual Doctor Who gift: A special episode. For the Doctor’s fourth Christmas special, he’s finally gone somewhere (each of the past three have taken place in the present, although last year’s WAS at least on a spaceship above Earth) – he’s gone back to 1851 to experience a very Dickensian England during the Yuletide season.

Beware, this review contains some spoilers. If you only want to know what I thought of it overall and if it’s worth watching, I think the short version is that it’s worth 3.5 out of 5 sonic screwdrivers, but that if you’ve enjoyed the RTD era of the the Doctor and the 10th Doctor in particular, you should enjoy this one. It’s sad, but with some great action, mystery, and a great villain.

The episode begins, as you may have seen from the Children in Need preview, with the Doctor arriving in London in 1851 and hearing trouble in an alley. When he arrives, the woman calling for the Doctor (Rosita) keeps calling for the Doctor, only for David Morrissey to arrive and declare that HE is the Doctor, asks his companion Rosita for his sonic screwdriver and declares that this commotion is a job for a Time Lord!

What erupts from behind the door wears a Cyberman mask but is a shaggy animal. The Next Doctor bravely lassoes it but he and our Doctor are dragged behind the powerful beast and are saved by Rosita before being yanked out a building window.

photo credit: Grant Mitchell

So, yes, the villains are the Cybermen. The same Cybermen that were pulled into the void back in season 2 along with the Daleks from the Battle at Canary Wharf, we’ll later learn (and I’m glad because they have the BEST villain design from Doctor Who in my opinion). Unfortunately, this means that we’re dealing with an ongoing idea from the new Doctor Who series. One of the Doctor’s most powerful enemies at a reduced workforce, forced to turn animals into henchmen. We’ve seen it with pigs, human hybrids, and so on. Oh well.

We’ll get to who’s pulling their strings later, but I’m sure you’re most curious about the Next Doctor. He claims not to recognize the Tenth Doctor, who is oddly respectful of who he fully believes is a future regeneration. The Next Doctor claims huge swaths of his memory have been taken from him. Our Doctor claims to be John Smith, but due to his curiosity basically becomes the Next Doctor’s companion and helps him track down the Cybermen. Along the way, the Next Doctor asks for help, which the Doctor says he will never refuse if asked.

The Cybermen identify the Next Doctor as their enemy, but not the current Doctor. Odd. Eventually, the Doctor works out what has happened. The Cybermen are using hand-sized cylinders called InfoStamps to gather information on their enemy, the Doctor and work on their new plan to convert humanity into them. The Next Doctor is staying in an abandoned warehouse full of luggage belonging to Jackson Lake. The Doctor realizes that that’s who he’s been assisting. Jackson was attacked by the Cybermen but activated an InfoStamp. The info blast overwhelmed the attacking Cybermen but also backfired and imprinted all the info on the Doctor onto Jackson. Jackson claims he lost something and something was taken from him when the Cybermen attacked and the Doctor theorizes he went into a fugue state, wanting to be someone else, and took on The Doctor’s identity. Jackson remembers that the Cybermen killed his wife.

The Cybermen are being assisted by Mercy Hartigan, a cleaning lady played with delicious cruelty by Dervla Kirwan, who can offer the Cybermen what they need – cheap child labor. She in return wants liberation. In a brilliant scene, she has the powerful men of the city gather at a funeral and they are killed by the army of Cybermen (and the animal versions, called Cybershades). She spares those who own orphanages and puts them to work for the Cybermen.

And the use of those children? Apparently the Cybermen couldn’t start the engine on their big machine they’ve been building without a ton of labor. Not sure I buy that, but whatever. Meanwhile, the Cybermen turn on Miss Hartigan and reveal that she, and not their Cyberleader, is intended for conversion into their new CyberKing. However, Mercy’s mind is so powerful, she isn’t overridden and she takes over the Cybermen. The CyberKing does rise and things get batshit crazy in the final ten minutes.

Jackson returns to help the Doctor, reasoning that the Cybermen attacked him first because they came through his house basement. The Doctor and Jackson sneak in and Jackson remembers his son was stolen from him. They save the kids and the Doctor prepares to battle the Cybermen as the CyberKing rises.

What’s the CyberKing? A massive steampunk version of a Cyberman, controlled by Mercy in a throne in its head. He rises out of the Thames and begins stomping on London. The Doctor borrows Jackson’s version of the TARDIS, a hot air balloon, and flies up to Mercy, offering her a chance to leave in peace. She doesn’t take it and he disconnects her from the Cybermen network. When she sees the devastation she’s caused, she is overwhelmed and creates a feedback loop destroying the Cybermen and herself. The CyberKing falls but the Doctor uses the tech that got the Cybermen out of the void to transport it back to the void.

The episode ends with Jackson telling the people of London that the Doctor never gets thanked, but this time is different and he leads the crowd in a cheer for the Doctor. Later, they have a conversation about the Doctor’s loneliness without his companions but Jackson is able to convince the Doctor to stay for a Christmas dinner, actually changing the Doctor’s mind from leaving. Changing his mind is no small feat!

Ultimately, the episode works based on the unique chemistry between Davids Tennant and Morrissey. It develops organically and is always from a point of mutual respect. It’s quite nice. The role of the Doctor and Next Doctor switch back and forth from Doctor and companion a lot. They operate as a duo and it was exciting and new. David Morrissey is all bravado and quips in battle but afterwards sits in contemplative sadness. It’s a version of our Doctor dialed up to 10.

David Morrissey says he based his Doctor on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th but I actually found him to operate like a cool version of 6. He was dismissive to his companion – “The Doctor’s companion does what the Doctor says!” – and very full of himself – “Modesty prevents me from agreeing with you, but yes!” – but he wasn’t annoying or rude. He was brave and selfless. I really liked him and wanted him to be the Doctor. And in a way, he really was. He protected England with the tools he had at hand, which were his wits and unstoppable willpower.

Pluses included the explicit showing of all the past Doctors. If you’ve ever had the slightest doubt as to the canonicity of the Doctor Who U.S. tv movie, the Eighth Doctor is included. Another strong aspect was seeing the Doctor help someone with memory loss. It seems especially painful to him, which makes sense after what he had to do to Donna’s memories the last time we saw him.

The Cybermen were a bit weak and the episode is very talky until the final act, which lower my score a tad. But overall I definitely enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have wanted a very serious or heavy episode on Christmas Day after opening gifts and eating a big meal with the family. I wanted some escapism and this fit the bill perfectly. Easter’s special can’t get here soon enough!

Three and a half out of five sonic screwdrivers:

photo credit: leff