Alden Bates' Weblog

I admit to being outstandingly late with this review. I have nothing but my own laziness to blame.

Having watched it again when it screened on Prime, I'm better disposed towards The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe. It's still not as good as A Christmas Carol - I felt it wasn't quite as polished as the previous Christmas special, but it's at least a great watch, and what more do you need on Christmas? Yes, Steven Moffat apparently wrote this in the middle of the year, but it still manages to be appropriately Christmasy. The fact that it borrows heavily from the Narnia stories is so blatantly telegraphed by the title means I don't feel like I can really complain about it. I knew what I was getting into, after all.

Overall rating: 6 out of ten. More spoilery discussion (at this stage, who hasn't seen it yet?) after the cut.

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. That is one magical space suit the Doctor gets into at the start, given it allows him to survive re-entry and hitting the ground with enough force to make a huge crater. (Also, apparently the Doctor can breathe in space. Who knew?)

I thought when first watching it that it felt like Moffat had decided to adapt The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and gotten partway through the second chapter before realising he had run out of screen time and had to hastily add an ending to it. After my second viewing, it doesn't feel quite that bad, though the plot is still pretty thin compared to some other stories and there weren't any surprise twists at all.

Anyway, with it uncertain exactly when the next series of Who is going to start, I guess we have to take episodes where we can.