Following on with our favorite Doctor Who Christmas crossovers, another perennial favorite of the season, at least here at THT Towers is the 1966 animated classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Forget the overblown and overlong Jim Carrey movie from awhile back, this is the definitive version, and of course there's a crossover for that.
Marvelous. A for those who prefer a Seuss-ian treatment of the current Time Team, here's an example of that as well.
It's that time of year when every Doctor Who site worth it's salt brings forth it's own countdown list. We did this last year regarding a countdown of the Christmastime episodes itself, this year we're going for a slightly different tack, going through a few of out favorite Doctor Who things which are Christmas-sy without necessarily directly tying into episodes themselves.
First off, few things here in the tundra are more synonymous with Christmas than the quintessential 1965 Charlie Brown Christmas special. Fortunately someone was clever enough to graft a little of Matt Smith's Doctor Who era into one of the seminal images from that show. We love it.
And in case you thought Matt Smith as a Peanuts character hadn't been done, think again.
If it's late December it must mean a couple of things for Doctor Who fans. First of course is that we're running headlong into another Christmas special (just imagine saying that in 2001!), and the second is that every website does their own variation of a Christmas countdown. Here at THT Towers we're no less guilty of this than anyone else. Last year we counted down the seven Christmas specials (to date). A year has passed but our resolve hasn't weakened in the slightest, so here we present our countdown lost (in one go this time) of the 8 Specials of Christmas.
What can we say, you never forget your first special. The first of the modern run of Christmas Specials not only had to entertain the masses, it was the first post-regenerative story in the modern era and had to educate viewers in that as well. But what sets this story ahead of all others in our opinion is it's sense of scale. While very much a Christmas story, the invasion as the title suggests was massively global, and the way the cast reacts seems very in keeping. Rose's increasing helplessness and courage in the face of the threat make the story work. Billie Piper was probably never better than here. And Tennant showed in his brief twenty minutes many of the manic qualities which defined his early run of stories.
Matt Smith's first Christmas Special A Christmas Carol was wonderful and we liked it a ton. We have similarly high hopes for "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe."
Happy Holidays to all.
Everybody and their brother will have something to say today about the passing of Elisabeth Sladen. I myself had a sharp intake of breath upon reading the news not only due to it seemingly coming from out of the blue (I had no idea she was battling cancer) but also because she just seemed so ageless. It's sometimes easy to forget she was Jon Pertwee's last companion (look at how young she seems to be in that picture to the right) because she spent so much more time (it seemed) with Tom Baker. Certainly that run of stories are what I'll always treasure the most.
And yet she always seemed to elevate the material around her, a quality which kept her fondly remembered and kept her association with the program very current indeed.
Thank you Liz.
Awhile back we set aside a "Who Not Who" section for her work outside Doctor Who. We encourage everyone to visit that the see her through the years.
Found in the course of daily travels December 8th. Yellow and blue and not one bit Martian. Probably doesn't even hiss when it talks. Amateurs. If only the manufacturers had consulted the Tour beforehand these mistakes almost certainly wouldn't have been made.
Over the river and through the woods…. Thanksgiving time here in the tundra means packin' up and goin' to the relatives, usually in a car trip of some length, which in turn means music (or podcasts, some of them Doctor Who related, of some length). The THT Brain Trust has some old reliables, traditions unto themselves, with which to accompany us on this trip, but it isn't music per se. For a long time I've made sure to bring the audio from various shows with me to fulfill these special occasions as it's a wonderfully evocative way to re-visit some of these old faves.
On a very long plane trip in May 2005 I made sure I had audio from the first few stories of the Eccleston series to take my through the 8-hours we were airborne. It was glorious. I always find a way to bring audio for the last two episodes of The Prisoner, Once Upon a Time and Fallout. I dare you not to drive down a long, straight road very fast whilst listening to that. I also brought a Macnee/Rigg Avengers episode The Cybernauts (which aired a year before The Tenth Planet).
Another essential track in this vein is audio from The Caves of Androzani. Oh how we love this story. And who knows? Next year we might be taking Vincent and the Doctor along for the ride.
What Doctor Who do you take on trips?
P.S. It turned out that because I did a disproportionate amount of the driving and to spare the other passengers (ahem, family) from their howls of protest, I didn't get around to listening to much of the above audio on this trip… But I'll always take it with me.