Doctor Who: Prequel to The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

[Idontknowhowtohelpher]

Looking good!
www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00m7qjb
I can hardly wait for Christmas Day, just because of Doctor Who!

That's half the problem Aitch!

I can't believe your girls are that old already! Even though they're older than mine, it doesn't seem that long ago so it seems strange to see their ages.

it really, really knocks me off my feet to think about it too, tbh.

HAPPY DR WHO DAY TO YOU ALL!

How did everyone like it?

Oh I liked it lots but the DSs were dismissive - apparently it was cheesy. Nice nod to A Matter of Life and Death, which is one of my favourite films.

Loved it. A nice change from moffats dad agenda. You are weak! We are strong! Still crying happy tears a bit... (but wanted river there for Xmas lunch... & she'd already told Amy & rory he as alive, yes?)

I'm struggling to stop feeling weepy at the thought of the Mum trying to tell her children their Dad was dead.

and they laid a place for the Doctor at the Christmas table each year

oh it was lovely. It was on the tad cheesy side but oh lovely. I think I might finally like Matt Smith as the Doctor.

Loved madge in the big cyber suit space-crafty thing stomping through the forest to get to her children. We'd all do that. :)

I enjoyed it while I was watching it, which is all I expect from a Christmas special, though I may find things to carp at on a second viewing.
One niggle; would a civilian, even the wife of an RAF pilot, have that easy familiarity with the name and concept of radar in 1941? - even if her husband had told her about it (which he shouldn't have) I'm not sure that name was in common use at that time; he would be more likely to know it as Chain Home

Also I don't think they had duvets in England back then.

There was a few jarring bits like that but mostly it was So Sad

They would never have said duvet, But they certainly had eiderdowns and quilts which looked much the same.

An Marge's employment was not stated; and as there were many civilian women working defence establishments during the war there is no reason to exclude the possibility of her own direct knowledge.

But it was the doctor who said duvet, not the children or mum....

Not sure anyone working on it would have mentioned it either - must ask my Dad, he was working on it from about 1938 onwards.

Poetic licence, innit?

I think Claire Skinner would make a great Doctor.

Loved 'Mother Christmas' . And yes, totally cheesy, but I don't care.

I thought it was absolute rubbish. I am so disappointed. I have resisted but now have admitted to myself that I REALLY don't like Matt Smith's Doctor, he's so stupid. It was all running, shouting, stupid and annoying comments from the Doctor. That whole thing about the kids' bedroom just made me want to put my foot through the telly. DD hardly looked at it, having been a die hard fan and DH hated it. It really was one of the worst episodes of DW I've ever seen bar none, never mind that it should be extra good for Xmas. And we've been Steven Moffat fans for years, going back to Joking Apart and Coupling and then all his great DW episodes. WTF is going on??????!!!!!
There, feel better now, ah.

On the anachronism front, I was annoyed by the complete lack of black-out. The street lamps were shining outside the house - and later the children mentioned air raids.

Have to say I sobbed through most of it. DH is on the RAF and his grandfather was shot down and killed in 1944 in a Lancaster. He was called Reg too
DH's dad was only 2 at the time and just thinking about what DH's grandmother would have gone through at that time reduces me to a gibbering wreck. We have the letter she received confirming the site of his grave in France after the war was over [starts sobbing again]

i'm fascinated to know why you thought it was so awful, Davros. i thought the pre-war, pre-credits sequence was sweet, the 'wish' thing while not technically bang-on is allowable for a christmas special (i like it when Moff signals 'just go with it' rather than come up with some dilithium crystals), everyone i saw it with thought the 'i know' sequence was hilarious (particularly the kids, who FREAKED at the idea of a lemonade tap).

narnia great, more-scared-than-scary baddies, nice ripley-esque stuff from the mother, naturally-occurring christmas trees, lots of matter of life and death and armstrong giving us his best Niv... what honestly is not to like?

apart from the duvets. i thought eiderdowns too.

I loved it, as did all my fellow-inmates of the Inferiority Complex.

DD and I liked the nods to Narnia - going to Uncle Digby's place, and 'what do they teach you in school these days'

more then a 'nod' to Narnia to be honest .

The Christmas trees were stunning.

Yes, I spotted and enjoyed Uncle Digby (Diggory) and "What do they teach you in school these days?".

It was OK. Not a great one, but not terrible.

So unoriginal, themes that have been covered many times in DW before without the Doctor being utterly stupid all the time, too much running, shouting, "scary" creatures who are people in big suits, BORING!

who were the scary creatures? you mean bill bailey et al? i didn't think they were creatures.
themes covered were... eco thing? is that boring? not to me. i particularly liked the 'of course it's alive, it's a tree' line on that score. maternal love? hmm. not original, certainly, not least for Moff, but very christmassy. and given Amy's complicated maternity storyline i really enjoyed the straight-up 'i am looking for my children' line. also, as someone who tells their kids to STAY WHERE THEY ARE AND I WILL FIND YOU if they get lost, i did like Cyril's determination that his mother would come.
i didn't actually think there was that much running either. lots of walking through the forest and going up the stairs, but absolutely no ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun moments that i can think of. it was pretty sedate on that front, imo.