I remember a time when it seemed every sitcom on television
had its own version of A Christmas Carol, so much so that with the first whiff
of Scrooge I’d change the channel. Then I read the actual story and now I can’t
let a December go by without re-reading the book or watching the Alistair Sim
film version, although I still have a low tolerance for loose adaptations within
the confines of a weekly TV series. I am therefore greatly pleased that Doctor
Who’s A Christmas Carol is a refreshing take on Dickens' masterpiece and not a
simple retelling. (I have to start, however, by again noting that Alan Rickman
and Michael G Scott are the only two people who can get away with cancelling
Christmas.)
The Eleventh Doctor has begun using time travel as a tactic,
and when confronted with a character who screams Ebenezer during the Yuletide
season the Doctor can’t help but use the TARDIS to manipulate events in order
to play out the classic tale for his own amusement. He could just as easily use
the TARDIS to save the crashing Starliner in any number of ways (or at the very
least prevent Amy and Rory from boarding the ship in the first place), but his
way is more fun. Risky, yes; dangerous, yes; selfish, yes; but highly
entertaining. And very deliberate.
“How are you getting us off here,” Amy asks as the ship she
and Rory are spending their honeymoon on careens wildly towards the planet with
less than an hour to impact. But the Doctor is enjoying this new planet he has
discovered with a Dickensian flair in the air and fish floating in the fog. “Doctor,
please don’t get distracted,” Amy pleads; but it’s too late. A light bulb has
gone off in the Doctor’s head as he takes inspiration from the hosannas in excelsis.
“Merry Christmas, Kazran Sardick.”
The Doctor abandons Amy and Rory to embark
with the young Kazran and the frozen Abigail on an adventure of his making that gives proof to his 'number one fan' status with Dickens.
“Can’t use the TARDIS because it can’t lock on,” he uses as
an excuse to put off his faithful companions. Then he proceeds to use the
TARDIS to time hop through Kazran’s life rather than back to a time when the
TARDIS could lock on to the spaceship, or to a time in the Captain’s life to
prevent disaster or relay instructions for her future self. And he skips
through Kazran’s personal history in order to shape the youngster’s
personality, never bothering to sabotage the machinery or examine its
construction for use in aiding the out-of-control craft (love the isomorphic controls gag by the way). It is a circuitous
route he takes, but a charming one.
Katherine Jenkins is the perfect sleeping beauty, and the
young lovers’ story is sweet as it unfolds in the Doctor’s life-altering
rewrite. It is a whimsical fairy tale full of flying fish and sleighs and
star-studded Hollywood parties. It is romantic and funny and enchanting and
poignant. And it is fascinating to watch as old Kazran’s memories change before
his eyes.
However the Doctor’s social experiment starts going awry
when Abigail whispers her secret. As young Kazran closes the door of frozen
Abigail’s cryochamber, the softening heart of old Kazran hardens up again and
the portrait of Abigail on the wall behind him changes back to his frowning
father. At this point the Doctor loses interest and becomes impatient to see
the results of his handiwork. I guess young adult Kazran is boring without
Abigail. Rather than worming the truth out of the younger, the Doctor sends
hologram Amy to fit in the Ghost of Christmas Present angle for a while with
the elder before he does some Blinovitch Limitation Effect defying feats to
bring youngster Kazran face to face with Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come Kazran.
(Rose would probably have a few choice words for the Doctor if she knew of his
current escapades.)
At last we get to the sad truth about Abigail, although I
have to wonder what strange malady this is that leaves her hale and healthy and
hardy but with an expiration date. The scene of old Kazran releasing his love
for her last day is effectively touching, but again I have to wonder why the
rich and powerful Kazran didn’t use his wealth to develop a cure for his dying
princess in cold storage. This is where the Doctor and his TARDIS probably
could have come in handy as well—scouring the universe for a cure. There is no
longer anything that the Doctor cannot do since he has decided to ignore those
pesky Time Lord restrictions. But the Doctor isn’t interested in giving them a
happy ending; he’s only interested in saving Amy and Rory (now that he’s grown
tired of the storybook tale he was writing).
Besides, the bittersweet reunion is a much more fitting conclusion to
this fanciful romance.
The song that Abigail sings to save the day is a bit bland
but beautifully rendered. “Fish like the singing.” Yes, I can believe that a
flying shark would be appeased by it; I can even believe it can align crystals
and unlock clouds—whatever that means.
It is a lovely little story that the Doctor has created. It
might not have the happy ending Abigail and Kazran would hope for, but as the
Doctor advises, “Everything has got to end sometime; otherwise nothing would
ever get started.”
I guess that means it’s time for me to end, Gary.
Until I start again . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment