laura-bonaventura1 I was really disappointed by Moffat/Smith version of Doctor Who, but I finally found this episode entertaining and not completely senseless as the previous ones. The new companion introduction is almost brilliant, I'm amazed.Now, the bad things. I believe that if you cannot manage decent visual effects you should partially give up on the script, in my opinion this was the case. I always enjoy Sir Ian McKellen, I don't know what actually happened, but if I had the chance to have him in my show I wouldn't just use half of him (his voice). I see there are still some problems in the script, mostly time problems (which is ironic). Some things are rushed, some others tend to be extremely boring, this affects especially the funny side: it's really easy to fall from "funny" to "stupid" and lately it happened a lot.I gave a 7/10 because I see signs of an improvement, the willing to be fresh without destroying the whole show logic, but the episode itself it 's far from excellence.

tzblueice33 I'm going to be honest. Part 1 of Season 7 had me worried. I don't know what it was, but the plot-lines just......lacked. Despite the critical acclaim of Asylum of Daleks I found myself hating that episode. It felt completely off. The fact that the Ponds were still around after the somewhat closure that was given to them last season made it just...odd. I did not like the idea of the Doctor's companions only occasionally traveling with him, to the point where I wasn't very distraught by their departure. Now, I'm mystified by how Doctor Who can have so many cast changes, with viewers ALWAYS knowing that when they start loving a certain character, rather it's that Doctor (well, EVERYBODY loves the Doctor) or his companion, there's that troubling fact that you know they won't be around forever. And yet it stays completely amazing, something many TV shows likely can't pull off. I felt this episode of Doctor Who was very well crafted, fitting for Christmas spirit, as well as raising my spirit for Doctor Who after the disappointing part 1 of Season 7.

boblipton The Doctor heads back to Victorian London and some old friends -- Vastra, Jenny and Strax from "A Good Man Goes to War" -- and evil, parasitical snowmen to resolve his feelings of loss.For show runner Steven Moffat, snow and ice assume their symbolic senses. The Doctor is tired of saving the universe when the universe doesn't care. His heart is frozen, despite the despairing help of his friends, and it calls for Clara, the young woman who is slated to become his newest companion, to melt that cold, cold heart.Although it is an engaging episode, it has some deeply troublesome issues. Although Moffat has announced that this season will consist of only single-episode stories, this one clearly kicks off the series with an arc that renders it incomplete. Also, because of the need to let four characters strut their stuff -- the Doctor, Vastra, Jenny and Clara -- the story feels rushed. Nonetheless, the badinage, chases and promise of mysteries to be solved are more than satisfactory for fans of the series like me.With the new season in the offing, there have been some interesting changes. I have complained in the past that the series' composer, Murray Gold, had settled into musical forms that are a bit misguided for Doctor Who. This season he has been stretching his talent, varying the music far more, and has offered us a new series theme with a much more synthesizer-based edged to it, harking back to the original series and much more appropriate for the science-fictional nature of the show. The opening credits also include some of the "howl-around" visuals from the original show.The TARDIS has also been reconfigured to a cleaner look. Finally, the Doctor has changed his costume to fit the Victorian ambiance, including a furry stovepipe hat of the sort worn by the Second Doctor.I suspect these retro add-ons are intended to set matters up for the fiftieth anniversary of the show, due in November of 2013. I expect this episode will please many fans of the show, although I worry that it may be tough for newcomers to get into it.

bob the moo For the 2010 Christmas special, Doctor Who managed to pull off a really good mix of festive traditions, sentiment and entertainment with its version of A Christmas Carol. It pulled it off so well that in 2011 they had another shot at it with a Narnia-inspired story involving a dead pilot and his grieving family among a lot of other nonsense – it was silly and poor, failing to do anything the previous special had done but on the plus side it seemed to have knocked the specials off the track of going for the sentimental and cloying aspect. As a result we get this much more enjoyable episode where the Christmas tone means snowmen monsters and big name guests as usual, but more importantly it is roundly entertaining, limits sentiment and links to the main series (albeit in a way that I would prefer it hadn't).The plot sees "memory snow" creating snowmen monsters, threatening Victorian London and, by extension, the world. This produces moments that are satisfyingly frightening as we have ice monsters made from dead tutors and friendly looking snowmen with big teeth and menacing looks – all while Ian McKellen's voice gives the brains behind the operation a sense of gravitas and menace. As the show should do, this will frighten younger children but it balances it well by having the usual sense of comedy and silliness but, not as usual, it manages to keep it in check so that it is not excessive or annoying in the most part. Even the multi-species support team (which seemed like they would be stupid in the trailer/minisode) managed to work by virtue of them being used well as characters (either to be serious or to provide decent laughs); although as usual as this is new-Who, we have to have gay characters in there like it is some sort of running in-joke, which I guess it more or less is by now.One of the main attractions for me was going to be the introduction of the new assistant, although actually a reintroduction since we had already seen her as a ghost memory trapped inside a Dalek. This offered interest to me as I hoped that she would simply be the same character earlier in the same timeline, meaning that her end was known which would mean she would ultimately be a tragic figure who would not have a big "end of the world" ending to her arch. Of course sadly this isn't the case and the epilogue and trailer suggests she will have cosmic meaning and importance, which doesn't appeal but we'll see what they do with it. As a character Clara doesn't ever threaten to break the mould either since she is yet another attractive perky girl with big wide eyes and a good line in spunky flirting – enjoyable and produces easy chemistry just like all superficial and pretty flirts do, but again we'll have to see what she does when more is asked of the character than just making a flirty and fun intro or reintro, but for now I quite enjoyed Coleman. Smith also does good work here as the material doesn't overload him with any extreme but keeps the balance even. McKellen and Grant are good with very limited time while the effects are reasonably good for the budget.Overall this is a solidly enjoyable special that really benefits from moving away from the cloying sentimentality of the last special and just focusing on thrills, fun and the ongoing series (or, in this case, season, since we are in the middle of one). It is still a Christmas special and it does still have weaker moments but generally it serves a wide audience pretty well and I enjoyed it for focusing on its core strengths rather than losing the plot like it did last Christmas.