New from BBC America is the Blu-ray release of the recent festive episode of Doctor Who. A staple of the Christmas TV programming back in the UK, the festive special usually has a longer runtime and brings in special guests or perhaps a change in the cast of the show. This year’s shakeup fulfilled one criteria with Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) dropping by but actually played into wrapping up some of the threads laid out in Peter Capaldi’s first season as the esteemed Time Lord. Read on to see what Last Christmas on Blu-ray offers!
The episode centers around the Doctor and Clara being trapped on an Arctic base in the midst of an Alien outbreak, with researchers being attacked by creatures that clamp onto victims faces (sound familiar?) and control their hosts. Deemed “Dream crabs” by the Doctor, they induce a dream state while slowly digesting their prey’s brains. The crew of the station find themselves in a situation where it’s unclear if they’re cornered on the station or already in a dream state. Their hope lies with the Doctor and a certain jolly man in a red suit… Santa.
Last Christmas plays out as a cross between Inception, Miracle on 24th Street and the aforementioned Alien (with the “facehugger” parallel being so on the nose it’s actually addressed in the episode). “There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.” The suspense and fear is built up nicely, cleverly layered throughout. The “dream crabs” and shared consciousness of the characters is a clever mechanism to reunite the Time Lord and his human companion, estranged after events of the past season. The episode reveals some heartbreaking truths they have been concealing from each other allowing them to get close again. It’s well balanced against the core tale.
The big addition to this episode is Father Christmas himself, taken on by the larger than life Nick Frost. The show always treads carefully when bringing in a historical figure and more so when bringing in a fictional one, often treating them with skepticism and turning things on their head. Look at the recent Robot of Sherwood as an example. Frost did well, playing a slightly blustery rather than loveable Santa, with a mysterious edge to leave the viewers guessing as to his true role in events. While obviously an addition to take advantage of the holiday season, it was one that ultimately worked. The writing crafted a mystery his character played into, added wonderful quips (tangerines anyone?) and ultimately Santa saved the day, real or not. That’s what we all expect at Christmas.
THE PACKAGESeveral years ago, Doctor Who switched to digital and the resulting Blu-ray transfers have been pristine. Last Christmas is no different. Superb detail, great color and contrast, no artifacts or issues at all.
The disc contains a Behind The Scenes Inside Doctor Who feature that shows some of the production work on the episode as well as shining some light on the guest stars, notably Nick Frost. There is also a commentary from Producer Paul Frift and Director Paul Wilmshurst. It’s a nice addition and goes a long way to showing how complex a show Doctor Who can be as well as how much effort gos into its production. Thoughts from writer and showrunner Stven Moffat would have been a nice addition to this, though.
THE BOTTOM LINELast Christmas is a great standalone episode that serves as a solid companion to the recent Season 8 Blu-ray release. Blending the whimsy of the festive period effectively with a horror element paying direct homage to Alien and backed up by great production values and a superb cast, it’s one of the better “specials” in recent memory. As part of the Who-niverse, it is particularly effective at healing the divisions between the Doctor and his companion and putting them on a better path for what is sure to be another great season of this enduring show.
Doctor Who: Last Christmas is available now on Blu-ray from BBC America or via the Amazon link below.