The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Dear Gary—

“I found a spaceman in a field, possibly an angel, but he’s injured and I can’t get his helmet off, so I’m having to take him into town to find a police telephone box.”

Just when I am about to give up on Doctor Who along comes a perfectly charming tale like The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.  This is a Christmas present to the audience, and what better way for Doctor Who to say Merry Christmas than with an actual alien planet, even if it is wrapped up in a WWII era English box.

The forest full of Androzani trees (nice callback) is beautiful, wintery, peaceful; almost magical—the perfect Christmas setting. The ornament drops that form on the trees are elegant in design; the giant wooden king and queen are majestic in appearance; and the sparkling souls fleeing the endangered forest are a dazzling sight.  It is no wonder that Lily first takes it for fairyland.

The Doctor packages up this peaceful world intending to take the Arwell family on the journey of a lifetime. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the denizens of Androzani Major have chosen this time to harvest the trees of this wondrous planet. And unfortunately for the Doctor and the Arwells, young Cyril can’t wait for Christmas morning to open his present.

It is a simple little tale that is told to perfection, and perfect is good enough for us as my dad would say. It might be overly sentimental, but what’s Christmas without sugar plums?

For me what makes it all work is Claire Skinner as the unflappable Madge Arwell. Matt Smith is stellar as ever as the Doctor, the children are solid, and the trio of Androzani Major harvesters are excellent; but it is Madge who lends the exact right tone to the sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes scary proceedings. She keeps the show on an even keel, never allowing events to careen over the top despite her lack of navigational skills.

It is through Madge that the humor and the pathos breathe. She provides a very real and human element that is not slapstick and that is not maudlin (not to take anything away from slapstick and maudlin—they have their place). Practical yet fanciful, she reminds me of another Christmas mother that any kid would be lucky to have—Melinda Dillon as Mother Parker from A Christmas Story.

“More than female, she’s mum,” the Doctor exclaims when he realizes the solution to the Forest’s predicament is through Madge; “the mother ship.”  

“Funny, isn’t it,” the imperturbable Madge ponders. “One can’t imagine being a forest, then suddenly one can.”

It’s a bumpy ride, but Madge successfully transports the trees, the Doctor, and her family to safety, and all she has to do is think (seems to be a popular cure-all in New Who). Thinking of home, thinking “till it hurts,” visions of her presumed dead husband guide Madge through the Time Vortex. Not only that, she lights the way for her husband in his lost and damaged plane. (Side note, the crashing Reg saying, “I’m sorry, my love,” to his wife’s picture is much more understandable and believable than River saying the exact same line for some inexplicable reason when the TARDIS was exploding and the Pandorica was opening.) “He did it again, Madge,” the Doctor tells her. “He followed you home.” A short cut to Christmas and a happy ending for all. After the dark and heavy tone of recent serials, this is a pleasant change.

Home and family and love and friends are the uplifting themes running through this episode and providing the Christmas miracle ending. They also play nicely into recent events in the Doctor’s life and his resulting loneliness. Desperately trying to fill the empty void within, the Doctor plays Mary Poppins to the bereft Arwell family. It is amusing to watch his attempts to lift their heavy and soon to be heavy hearts with toys and hammocks and lemonade taps. And it is touching as well. “What’s the point in them being happy now,” the Doctor speaks for Madge, “if they’re going to be sad later.” He then replies with, “The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.” The Caretaker Doctor, taking care and looking after; all the more poignant knowing that he is covering his own sense of loss and pain.

In the energetic and entertaining opening sequence of the serial as the Doctor barely escapes from the exploding spacecraft (minor quibble in the Doctor murdering all of the aliens aboard, even if they are about to attack the Earth, but that just goes to the extremely inconsistent nature of the show in recent years) we are reminded along with the Doctor that Amy is no longer in the TARDIS; no one, in fact, is in the TARDIS. The Doctor is on his own. Until he meets Madge. As it turns out, Madge is his guardian angel and not the other way around as she imagines.

 “No one should be alone at Christmas,” Mother Christmas Madge tells the Doctor. Through Madge the Doctor is able to face his own tears, and the reunion scene with Amy and Rory is a satisfying way to end.

One of my favorite episodes of New Who, I have very little to say against it. Only one thing I want to mention: “I met the Forest of Cheem once; she fancied me.” This is an extremely insensitive thing for the Doctor to say given the fact that she gave up her life for the Doctor. It is indicative of one of the many things I find distasteful about New Who—cleverness for the sake of being clever at the expense of decency among other things (such as logic or common sense).

But for the sake of Christmas and the overall spirit of the episode, Gary, I will overlook this minor and throwaway flaw and send this out . . .

“Call it an idea echoing among the stars.”