In the TARDIS: Christmas Day

This is a very short and simple poem featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric.

Val Douglas does a competent job at telling a light-hearted story, but I do have some mild issues with In the TARDIS: Christmas Day.

The whole short is a parody of Christmas Day in the Workhouse, but that poem is about tragedy, poverty, and death. I know it is parodied a lot, but does that mean it should be? Why are people making light of this when it is about a man's wife being allowed to starve to death?

It's just odd to use that as a format to tell a story of the Doctor having Christmas. It's odder that the Doctor is unusually selfish, and decides, after making pudding for everyone, only he is to get any pudding. This leads to an argument that ends with Nyssa shoving pudding up Tegan's nose, which is... well, that almost makes the whole thing worth it, really. It's not much of a story at all, but TARDIS: Christmas Day is short enough to be a bit of silliness even if there is no substance whatsoever. In some ways, I do appreciate how this is a story with no real action or stakes. This is just a pleasant Christmas experience without a major event happening to any of our characters. Given the nature of how most Doctor Who stories simply can't have a complete absence of a plot and just feature our characters enjoying a holiday together, TARDIS: Christmas Day is at least a refreshing change of pace in that regard.