After David Tennant‘s departure from Doctor Who, the next Doctor arrived in the name of Matt Smith.  Unfortunately, the past couple of seasons of Doctor Who has not been kind to him due to the scripts that he’s dealt with.  The seasons in of themselves have lacked warmth from when David Tennant was the Doctor.  Instead, the focus has been on the adventure and new aliens rather than the companions.  Unfortunately, Rory and Amy Pond have both become tin dogs or perhaps vice versa.  (With that, Steven Moffat has announced the departure of the couple of Rory and Amy from the series.)

The Doctor arrives in 1938 when he escapes a damaged alien spacecraft.  He is rescued by Madge Arwell and taken back to his TARDIS ultimately after some difficulties.  Three years later, a telegram is sent to Madge explaining that her husband, Reg, crashed while flying the Lancaster Bomber over the English Channel, but she chooses not to tell the children.  Madge and her two children leave London to go her relative’s residence in Dorset, and there, she meets the Doctor.  The Doctor upgrades the house and upgrades the gifts to the children as well.  Unfortunately, that’s where the trouble begins.  However, through some thinking and deus ex machina, everything resolves itself in the end. (The ending hinted the possible return of Madge as a companion in the future much like the Bride.)

Now to the review of this Christmas Special of Doctor Who…

Again, Steven Moffat has done the folksy thing again with yet another Doctor Who Christmas Special.  He did it previously with A Christmas Carol and with this special as well.  I understand that he’s attempting to change the show drastically. Strangely, he’s returning to the classic Doctor Who but without the heart.  It must have been stolen when Rose took it out of the TARDIS in Season 2 and has finally dissipated entirely when the new Doctor arrived. The special is not bad, but it’s not what made the Doctor Who series revival great in the first place.  Sadly, Steven Moffat may be missing the forest for the trees.  With this special, Moffat at least attempted to make us care for Madge and Reg, but again, it lacks that special warmth of the previous specials with David Tennant.  The Waters of Mars was fascinatingly dark, and nothing compared to the End of Time Christmas special. Overall, this Christmas Special was satisfactory, but it wasn’t great.  It’s kind of like a Cadbury chocolate bar made in the United States.  Compared to the same Cadbury chocolate bar made in the United Kingdom, it lacks that certain sweetness and crispness.