GamerTab That was an excellent one.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

gridoon2018 As "Doctor Who" Christmas specials go, it's doubtful whether any of them will ever match "A Christmas Carol" for sheer magical seasonal spirit, but "Last Christmas" is one of the better efforts. It's a mixture of humor, sadness, creepiness, wonder and cynicism, all served up with characteristic Steven Moffat quirkiness. This may be an episode that you need to watch twice: one for the ride, and one to be clear on the (quite complex) story. It has some ingenious ideas, but it is also (deliberately) derivative of "Alien", "Nightmare on Elm Street", and "Inception". Nick Frost is a funny Santa Claus, and Faye Marsay is endearing in a role that might have been intended as a new companion for the Doctor until it was confirmed that Clara would stay on board. Some of the visual effects (the flying sleigh at the end) are a little shoddy. *** out of 4.

yvonneshusband Let me start by stating that I cannot understand what some Doctor Who viewers had against Matt Smith. As someone who has watched the show since the midpoint of Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Time Lord, I found Smith's 'wisdom of a 900 year old, emotional development of a twelve year old' incarnation of the Doctor as an inspired take on the character, particularly in view of David Tennant's more grounded, self-assured version. The debut season of Moffat and Smith is, to me, the best season of 'New Who' ever, the capper being the sublime 'Christmas Carol' that we now watch in our house as part of our Christmas ritual every year (those who bemoan the loss of the cardboard and bacofoil days of Pertwee and Baker should really go watch those episodes with a more critical eye; apart from a few stand-out stories, most of the 'classic series' is as bad as any of the sci-fi from the 70s and 80s). Unfortunately, Moffat couldn't replicate the quality of that first Smith season, the plots and stories getting more and more ridiculous until by 'The Time of the Doctor' last Christmas, it was quite obvious that Matt Smith had decided he wasn't going to suffer the same fate as Sylvester McCoy by being at the controls of the Tardis when the show was cancelled. However, despite some pretty dire episodes in Peter Capaldi's first season (not helped by the fact that some of them had been quite obviously written for the 11th Doctor), the show has regained some ground, this year's Christmas special probably being the best since 'Carol'. The highlights were Nick Frost's Santa, obviously, played almost as another Time Lord (which in itself makes perfect sense), the (hopefully final) appearance of Danny Pink, who's confidence and sense of command now that he's dead make him a far more convincing soldier than almost anything his character did while he was alive and not forgetting the elves, Dan Starkey getting a chance to act without the potato head for a change. Capaldi's Doctor still needs some work though, the shifts from world saving hero to grumpy git and back are still too abrupt and jarring, but I'm looking forward to next season, if it builds on this successful Christmas outing. Maybe St Nick could return next year?

Tweekums In the opening scenes Clara looks out of her window to see Father Christmas and a pair of elves arguing about whether people like tangerines. She is of course rather surprised to meet somebody she hasn't believed in since she was a child but soon stops worrying about that when The Doctor turns up. Meanwhile at the North Pole something distinctly unchristmassy is going on… scientists are investigating an attack by strange telepathic creatures that will attack if you so much as think about them. Inevitably The Doctor and Clara turn up, shortly followed by Father Christmas and they start to understand the terrifying truth about the creatures they are dealing with… they are not struggling against them; they have already lost and the creatures are slowly eating them while creating a dream state to distract their victims! Each time they think they've woken and thus prevailed they realise it was just a dream within a dream… will they ever truly wake up?The trailers for this episode managed to lower my expectations substantially… the idea of an episode featuring Father Christmas seemed just a bit too twee. The opening scenes suggested my fears were correct but then we were introduced to the 'Dream Crabs'; possibly the scariest monster to feature since the Weeping Angels. The plot was clearly inspired by well-known horror film; most notably 'Alien' and 'Nightmare on Elm Street'; a link that was clearly acknowledged at the end; there are also obvious similarities to 'Inception' with the dreams within dreams. While this featured nothing as scary as the two horror films it was scarier than one might expect for a family show; especially one aired on Christmas Day. I can't say if it was too scary for younger viewers but for me it was just about right. It wasn't just the concept of the monsters that was scary; they looked scary too. Overall this proved to be much better than I expected.

alex (doorsscorpywag) just woeful and the worst part is that Clara will be back to stink the series out next year.The threadbare plot involved the head crabs from Half-Life the computer game and some ridiculous dream sequences designed to bring the god-awful Pink back for an encore.And as it was Xmas Santa had to turn up with some caustic elves and a red nose reindeer.Another episode that was mainly about Clara rather than The Doctor and if this continues it will kill a great series. Let's have some Clara less episodes for 2015 (preferably all of them) and get to know The Doctor a bit.As Xmas episodes go this was no better or worse than the rest as they all are pretty awful but this had Clara and that dragged it down a lot. She is one of the worst companions but unlike the rest she is taking over the programme. The plots always seem to revolve around her until her side-kick Peter Capaldi turns up to play second fiddle for her.The Doctor needs a companion as that's the point of the programme but not one so overwhelming. Just somebody to scream a bit and move the plot along.The plot here was an Arctic ice station being invaded by Half-Life head crabs and half of the crew battling to stay alive when Clara and her companion turn up. But nothing is as it seems as cleverly Santa arrives to fill in the blanks and Clara saves the day by getting her companion to do something that resolved the episode.Then a ridiculous ending as Santa allows Clara's companion to find her again and she will be off on a new series of adventures in 2015.If we get Pink back as a ghost then I fear for the future of this great British institution. Capaldi is really good but he can't get a shoe in for bloody Clara. She started well but has overstayed her welcome and needs to sacrifice her life to save some kittens or something.