It's Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell comes to the aid of an injured Spaceman Angel as she cycles home. He promises to repay her kindness - all she has to do is make a wish. Three years later, a devastated Madge escapes war-torn London with her two children for a dilapidated house in Dorset. She is crippled with grief at the news her husband has been lost over the channel, but determined to give Lily and Cyril the best Christmas ever. The Arwells are surprised to be greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world. Here, Madge will learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible. And that wishes can come true...
This year's
Doctor Who Christmas Special follows the normal tradition of how these episodes normally work, telling a one-time story which doesn't follow the current season arc, which is better because these special episodes are normally for people who don't follow a full season of the show.
We have the episode starting with some kind of alien spaceship about to attack the Earth, then we see that The Doctor is there inside it, attempting to destroy it and save our planet. This is probably one of the best scenes of the episode as the soundtrack is played perfectly and of course it also reveals the return of Matt Smith as the main character. Not to mention, the special effects for the whole scene are very well done. All in all, it was a very nice cold opening.
An interesting number of characters are presented to us in this episode, such as the Arwell family, consisting of Madge and her children. We found the family going out to a camp to celebrate Christmas,which is when they meet the Doctor. The young boy Cyril gets curious about one of his gifts underneath the tree and goes to check it during the night, just to find out that it leads to a fantastic and weird world. The Doctor then follows him into said world, accompanied by the older sister Lily; later in the episode,Madge join her children in this world as well. The way the story is told is amazing, simple, and not complicated. There are other characters too, who are part of the frozen world inside the Christmas present, like the soldiers that confront Madge. They are well placed in the story, serving as soldiers protecting that place and their suits have a stunning visual, actually resembling the
Halo soldiers a tad bit. The living trees also are an incredible and beautiful visual.
Steven Moffat obviously had inspiration from C.S. Lewis
Narnia when he wrote the episode, you can see that by the time in which the story is set and of course the whole other, magical fantasy world thing. Still, he managed to create an interesting and amazing world by paying tribute to the
Narnia world. Just to remember, the present box served as a dimensional portal for that world.
The story itself is solid and interesting just like the characters. The way the tale ends when we see them all going through the Time Vortex to get back home, with Madge crying over the scenes of her life and the supposed death of her husband while the "I Am the Doctor" theme is running in the background is just really beautiful and thrilling. In my opinion, it is absolutely better than last year's Christmas Special, though that was also great. By the way, Amy Pond and Rory Williams made a great special cameo. Well, after all, it is Christmas night and the Doctor needed to prove to them that he was still alive.
Doctor Who: "The Doctor, The Widow, And The Wardrobe" is a well writen special episode, specially made for those who can't follow a story that takes a full season to be told, it is beautiful and has characters you can care about, not to forget the outstanding soundtrack being perfectly placed in the appropriate scenes.