Can I just say that I'm really not going to miss Russell T. Davis as a writer? Sure, he'll probably have written some of 2009's specials, including the Christmas show, but at least he won't be writing a good chunk of a series.
The last series was welcome change from the constant hymn of just how wonderful the Doctor is but this Christmas Special endeavored to remind us by presenting not just one Doctor, but two... and not in the grand tradition of those episodes on 'Classic' Doctor Who, where several Doctors were in the same story due to some clever trickery and sleight of plot.
Oh no. Not for Russell T. the tried and tested formula of a mystery so deep and an enemy so powerful, it needed more than one Doctor to defeat it... This was a whole different kettle of fish.
But I shan't offer spoilers.
Except to say that the giant Cyberman "Dreadnought" at the end reminded me far too much of the animated Iron Giant movie with, perhaps, the slightest nod to live-action TransFormers. It was reasonably cool... but utterly wasted in a bland denouement, utterly without thrills or truly apparent consequences. Villains who self destruct when they're show their true nature don't even work that well in Fairy Tales.
Oops. That was a spoiler. Sorry.
I had high hopes for the story - Cybermen controlled by a mere human woman? The promised "awakening of the CyberKing"? A whole new slant on the Industrial Revolution? Sadly, the show delivered very little of its promise and, while it was better than last year's effort (which I for one can barely remember, it was so poor), it wasn't a patch on some of the episodes of the last series. Some of the dialogue - particularly the Doctor's claim that his companions eventually 'broke his heart' - was clumsy and didn't ring true (remember the episode where Tennant's Doctor met up with Sarah Jane? Who broke whose heart there?)
And particularly amusing was Russell T.'s assertion in the Confidential show afterward that the 'comedy' scene of the Doctors being pulled through a warehouse by a cyberised monkey (they said dog, or something, but it looked like a monkey to me...) was somehow funny, and served to forge a friendship between the Doctors far better than any dialogue would have.
Or perhaps I'm being unfair... because I was also pretty disappointed by this year's Wallace & Grommit - A Matter of Loaf and Death. All the usual ingredients were there - brilliant animation, clever movie references, silly puns and visual gags - but it seemed... dare I say... Half baked?
There was something not quite right, not quite dazzling, in the plot of a serial killer going after bakers and making hapless Wallace the next target. I only really laughed during the last few minutes, where references to the old Adam West Batman movie and Aliens genuinely tickled me.
In between, Shreck the Halls, another Christmas Special, failed to light my candle until Puss in Boots (voiced as ever by Antonio Banderas - perfect casting for the feline rogue) arrived on the scene, and delivered a perfectly judged Christmas story right up until he got distracted by a dangly thing and 'shamed himself'.
Blimey... Christmas really has lost its magic, hasn't it?
My Grandmother has returned to her flat - earlier than I'd expected, but this can only be a good thing. As per last year, the place was very silent until my sister and her husband arrived. There's very little you can bring yourself to talk about if you know you're just going to be asked the same questions all over again in a couple of minutes.
And, hey, at least this year she won't be wandering into my bedroom in the middle of the night...
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