It's an alright/okay story, and that's also how I'd sum up ALL of Season 1.

I'm just gonna list two things about the story:

1. I liked that whole sequence when the Doctor gets stuck in the hotel and bonds with Anita (the hotel manager), really wanna see her back as a companion.
2. The ending felt... ehhh. That bit with Joy floating over the Doctor just looked really goofy, but not in the typical Doctor Who camp way, just modern MCU campy.

So... yeah. Just an ok story.

Overall it was a great special! I really loved how the Christmas setting was very clear and comfy, Anita was a great character! The only that that I wish we could've got more was moments with Joy, such a incredible actress and with so little screentime, maybe if the special had 30 minutes more, it would be perfect!

Okay, so I guess, I'll start with what I liked. I liked the idea of the time hotel and I absolutely adored the set and how they made it look (even though I think it would have been cute to hand out dos and don'ts to the guests on how to avoid paradoxes or how to avoid changing history?). Hobbit Door! Thank you Disney for the budget, also for the cool dinosaur. I liked Anita and I liked Trev. I liked what I guess was the idea behind the story.

Now to the things I didn't like and boy, there were quite a few, so I will only go into my main issues here. I think this was one of the weakest, if not the weakest episode Moffat has ever written. The whole story felt kinda incomplete and all over the place. As if they tried to cram 2hrs of story into barely an hour of screen time and some things just didn't make any sense. The whole scene with the Doctor coming down at Joy to jerk her out of the trance was..... painful to watch. Too close to the reality of many people who are getting abused, mistreated and discriminated by family, friends and strangers, just to be said "oh I was just joking" especially as half the arguments the Doctor used were simply lies (Joy didn't pick the room and barely spent five minutes in it before the manager stepped through the door).

The Doctor suddenly and out of nowhere screaming at his future self about how he is hated, he is alone and nobody likes him. While it would have made sense for 10, 11 and 12 - 15 was supposed to be the Doctor who let his emotional baggage behind with 14, started a new life, fresh and light - so where was that sudden outburst of self hate coming from? It was so badly out of character that it completely threw me out of the story.

Joy - while I liked her, we didn't get to know her. We got to know her pain about losing her mother, but nothing else. And the fact that she sacrificed herself in the end with words that were more fitting to the teachings of a sect than the words of a woman who looked as if she definitely had a life outside of her pain on Christmas including friends and a job. It loses even more of its impact knowing the original idea was that the Doctor would throw the star out of the Tardis. But I guess it isn't Moffat if he somehow can't make a woman suffer or sacrifice herself for the greater good.

We lost Trev and the manager too quickly. Would have loved if we'd get to know him better so their deaths would have actually left an emotional impact.

And last - the religion stuff. Did they really just confirm the whole Jesus birth story as fact in the Whoniverse?? JFC. I absolutely utterly HATE that. Yes, it's a Christmas story, but this is taking a side and it's a terrible one. They better confirm all the other religions as real now.

All in all, the Christmas special I liked least. I watched it twice and I will definitely never watch it again.

It was alright. A bit all over the place, but I enjoyed it. Weird that they put so much importance on Joy though, when ultimately she really didn't spend that much time with the Doctor. I would've enjoyed a full episode about the Doctor and Anita living together. Would be fun. I really liked the future time hotel. Overall, decent story.

Wow. Okay, that was a fun one. Ncuti was as always a great Doctor, even if he's acting very Moffat-ish. Deliberately provoking Joy was a bit of a dick move, and having come straight from Invasion of the Dinosaurs, the new Dinosaurs were great. However, this special was littered with missed potentials. While using it to essentially time skip the creation of a star was clever, I can't help but feel like it's almost impossible to properly utilize the setting without giving it a properly timey-wimey story. Fifteen spending a year on Earth is very fun, I like the montage. That being said, there will now be three Doctors in 2025. Fourteen in therapy, Fifteen in the Hotel, and Fifteen when we inevitably spend most of Season 2 on Earth. Joy wasn't super likeable, but I did enjoy the COVID allegory. That being said, I will admit the scene where Joy's mother was sweet, but unnecessary. I think that scene was mostly there to elicit a tear-jerker reaction. Also, slight nitpick. Moffat messed up the year. When Joy takes her place as the star of Jesus, it's 0001; thus Jesus would be one, not a newborn. God, I can't believe I just wrote that. Then again, I'm surprised Doctor Who hasn't delved explicitly into religion. Also, another nitpick, everyone pronounces Villengard different to how it is in Series One. Yes, I know it also happened in Boom, but I noticed it in this one.

Usually with Doctor Who, I find it much easier to concentrate during an episode. This time, however, was different. We were still opening presents in our household, which partly contributed to the episode feeling harder to follow than usual, although judging by the reaction to the episode afterwards, it does seem like some of it is also the way the narrative itself was written.

Joy To The World is an episode I enjoyed a lot. The Time Hotel is a fantastic concept; I love the idea of a hotel where the rooms lead to different periods. However, it does also lead to the episode feeling a little disjointed. When the Doctor is bouncing between rooms that go to such wildly different times and places, it can make it harder to follow. It also doesn't help that the episode doesn't do much to explore the central concept. It never really makes full use of the idea of a hotel where you can go to any time, or spend much time in the time periods the Doctor travels to. It would have been nice to have seen more of the prehistoric era, for instance.

Joy is also surprisingly underwritten. Before the episode aired, I expected Joy to be the star of the show, as so much of the marketing of the episode was focused around her. She's strangely underutilised however, and abandoned for a large chunk of the plot when the Doctor is locked out of the Time Hotel by his future self.

On the other hand, I loved the Doctor's friendship with Anita. Their dynamic as friends is engaging to watch during the year that the Doctor spends working at the normal hotel, and Ncuti Gatwa and Stephanie de Whalley have tons of chemistry. I actually came away from this episode hoping Anita would become a future companion at some point, and I expected to feel that way about Joy.

Another highlight of the episode is when the Doctor manipulates Joy by being mean toward her, hoping it will make her angry to stop the suitcase brainwashing her mind. This scene felt like a classic Doctor moment, similar to the scene where Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor manipulates Sarah Jane out of the air vent in The Ark In Space. It culminates in a fantastic emotional sequence, where Joy talks about her mother's death and how she was unable to see her in hospital during COVID. It's Joy's best moment as a character, and Nicola Coughlan's best performance in the role.

The reveal that the Villenguard's artificial star is the Star of Bethlehem felt like a fitting means of tying the special to the Christmas period. I have no doubt that it was probably controversial and upset some diehard Christians, but I thought it was clever, and a neat way of explaining an iconic Christmas element within Doctor Who's lore.

It was lovely also seeing Millie Gibson briefly cameo as Ruby Sunday. She was not announced prior to the episode airing as featuring within Joy To The World, so I was surprised when she appeared. It felt like a nice and unexpected Christmas treat, as Ruby has been one of the best aspects of RTD2 so far. Overall, I would give Joy To The World an 8/10. It has a bold and brilliant concept, but the time hotel is confusing and underutilised, and Joy as a character feels surprisingly weak. I was expecting more from Joy, whilst Stephanie de Whalley's Anita was the true guest star who shined.

I've been trying to get me head around what I actually think of this episode (based on one watch, with friends, who occasionally talked over a bit of it). I'm very much finding with Who these days that I have to sift through my thoughts to decide how I feel about an episode, and that usually turns out not to be a good thing.

So, sifting...

I liked the hotel. I liked the Doctor popping into various whatevers with his room service order. That was a curiosity-inducer at the beginning, and kind of a fun thing, once we were given the why. The deadly transferring suitcase was, again, an intriguing thing. Some problems with that, as I don't think there was enough explanation behind the contents of the briefcase (I may have missed some detail), and overall it felt like someone came up with the setup but didn't put much thought into the resolution.

I liked Trev. I liked Anita and the Doctor's interaction with her. I found that bit very charming. I liked the Silurian hotel manager, but the idea that he would feel threatened by a hair dryer from his own hotel and not recognize what it was...I find that hard to swallow.

The religious and political content of the episode... To put it bluntly, I get enough of the real world in the real world, and that's not what I turn to Doctor Who for. So I could do without the writer's opinions on Partygate (whether I agree or not) being unsubtly inserted. So, that little bit of politics I could have done without.

I don't think Doctor Who should wade into religion the way this episode did. I may be oversensitive on the subject at the present time. There is a concerted effort in the US right now to eliminate the separation of church and state, to present Christianity - and a narrow-minded interpretation of it at that - as the only legitimate and correct way to be, and to demonize anyone or anything that does not conform. So, while I think the tail end of the episode is harmless in and of itself, it just goes to a place I don't want Doctor Who going anywhere near.

My conclusion: There was stuff I really liked in this episode, but I think it went in too many directions to be coherent. I think, like much of Who today, too much thought went into getting people's attention and piquing their interest, into promoting the episode, and too little into satisfactorily answering the questions in presents, putting together a story that actually holds together once you get past the cool set pieces.

There's enough joy in this world to make this episode worth watching. There's fun stuff and sentimental stuff, and that's the bulk of the episode. I found the ending unsatisfying, and I don't think the plot entirely holds together if you stop and think about it. But that doesn't entirely wipe out the good parts that come before.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"Joy To The World: Moffat’s Festive Return Shines Bright"

Steven Moffat returns to Doctor Who with Joy to the World, a festive romp full of Christmas spirit, cheeky humor, and his trademark timey-wimey twists. Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor leads the charge in this inventive tale set in the Time Hotel, where each room serves as a portal to moments in human history. It's a brilliant concept, blending whimsy and mystery with a dash of holiday charm.

Gatwa is in his element, fully embodying the quirky, compassionate, and enigmatic essence of the Doctor. This episode marks a turning point for his performance, radiating both alien energy and relatable humanity. His interactions with Nicola Coughlan's Joy, a guest-turned-companion, are warm but uneven. While Joy's backstory—losing her mother to COVID—is poignant, her character often feels more like a plot device than a fully fleshed-out figure. Surprisingly, Stephanie de Whalley’s Anita, a witty hotel receptionist, steals the spotlight in her scenes, offering heartfelt moments as the Doctor spends a year working alongside her.

The story revolves around a mysterious star seed that connects with Joy, setting off a chain of events involving time loops, dinosaurs, and a dash of Indiana Jones-style action. Moffat peppers the script with clever explanations, like why hotel rooms always have locked doors, while weaving in his signature exploration of the Doctor's emotions—this time focusing on his loneliness after Ruby’s departure.

The supporting cast is delightful but underused. Joel Fry (from Game of Thrones) as Trev and Jonathan Aris (from Sherlock and His Dark Materials) as a Silurian hotel manager provide charm and humor but exit the story far too quickly. Meanwhile, the bootstrap paradox and time loops are handled with a light touch, making the story accessible without sacrificing the fun of temporal twists.

The production is stellar, with lush sets, thrilling action sequences, and even a surprisingly well-realized dinosaur encounter, showcasing the benefits of Disney’s increased budget. The Time Hotel is a visual feast, and the script balances its festive cheer with darker undertones, including a sharp critique of politics and the pandemic’s impact.

However, the resolution feels overstuffed. Joy transforming into the Bethlehem star, spreading hope across time and space, is touching but unnecessarily grandiose. The religious undertone is divisive and not essential to convey the story's message of spreading joy.

The final moments bring a tear to the eye, with a heartfelt goodbye to Joy and a brief but welcome appearance from Ruby, reminding viewers she’s not forgotten.

📝Verdict: 8.85/10

Ultimately, Joy to the World is a heartfelt and entertaining Christmas special, capturing the holiday spirit while giving Gatwa’s Doctor his best showcase yet. It’s festive, fun, and just a little bit mad—exactly what Doctor Who should be.

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:

• I really get a craving for a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte now.
• Love the motto of “Christmas Everywhere All At Once,” which also feels like a reference to the multiverse-hopping and Academy Award-winning movie Everything Everywhere All At Once.
• The Doctor walks past a round door in the Time Hotel, and the door looks a bit like a Hobbit door.

So, I liked this episode much less when I watched it the first time around on christmas day with my family. I originally rated it 2.5/5 stars, and I think that's because to me it is one of the least christmassy christmas specials, only alongside Dr Mysterio for the christmas episode with the least christmassy energy in my eyes. And I know that's a positive in some people's eyes, that a lot of the christmas specials are saccharine which isn't for everyone, but personally I need my christmas specials to feel christmassy, which doesn't always have to mean excessive sentiment, just look at the best christmas special Last Christmas for how it can be done. Joy's holy sacrifice at Bethlehem obviously has christmas spirit, but I'll get into why the ending didn't do anything for me. Besides that it's just the christmas tree in the time hotel and other random decorations to tie it down to christmas really.

I'm much more positive about it now after a rewatch, although I still stand by what criticisms I did have. I think how the episode makes us feel on the initial watch is especially important on christmas day, when christmas is in the air and we expect a certain type of doctor who episode to fill the traditional role it has.

But on rewatch I really appreciate much more the positive aspects of the story- as a lot of other people said Anita was brilliant. She stands out in a large cast of guest characters as truly being the companion to the doctor in this story, she spends a year with the doctor in comparison to Joy, the titular character, who couldn't even have spent an hour with him!!! I do hope that Anita can return in some form, although I think a full return like Donna made is unlikely given that it seems she found her calling working in the time hotel, but maybe she finds her own way into adventures there- Big Finish pay attention!!!

The whole bootstrap situation that allowed the year with Anita to happen is also classic Moffat flair in the best way, and "It came from nothing. But so did the universe and nobody complains about that" is up there in my favourite quotes honestly. The darker moments of the anger at himself and when he brews up anger in Joy really show off Ncuti's range and that just because the doctor is more of a healed man since 14 doesn't mean he's all sunshine and rainbows, I love it.

But as for the criticisms, I do still think there were too many characters dying that the episode wanted us to care about which wasn’t justified in the little runtime we spent with them. 5 different side characters (including Joy), multiple of which got tears out of the doctor but weren't close to getting any out of me with their sacrifice at the end. I do think this is a good episode, let down by the ending in the last 10 minutes. The fact that Joy didn't get the time of day throughout the episode to justify being the main, titular character she was designed to be means that her sacrifice didn't have much emotional weight to me. And I can't get behind the dead characters gaining god like powers to just up and move the star lightyears away with what seems to be just pure willpower without any other explanation from the episode. They're conscious within the containment unit's systems I understand that, but it was established in the episode that when the star does bloom, it will do so just where it is on Earth.

And this one's more of a side note than a big criticism, but I do think the COVID bit means that part of the episode is timely to a time that has already passed in my eyes. As a political statement it's redundant because the consequences of partygate have already played out, the Tory party are already ruined and all the countries political establishments have punished them dearly for everything they did. The episode isn't saying anything new or insightful about it and there’s plenty things to be angry about that are timeless and not only relevant to events 3-4 years ago. As emotional catharsis, it feels too pointed to be reaching out to a large number of people affected, although I am fortunate enough to not have lost someone in a similar way to how Joy did and have that particular perspective who it could be more meaningful to.

I think this episode is a good special in a general sense, which is let down by it's ending and let down further personally by the fact it's a christmas special that doesn't feel much like one. If it weren't broadcast at christmas it could've got a low 4/5 stars honestly but given everything 3/5 feels fitting. I hope its the start of more Anita content!!!!

A remix of other ideas - Doctor spending a year on his own (like in the Power of Three), doors to different worlds (like in Flux), an unexplained paradox (like Beneath The Lake)

It looks gorgeous but it feels like reheated leftovers (which is appropriate as I watched it on Boxing Day)

It's a fine little Christmas story, full of Christmas joy and Doctor Who-y goodness, though it borders on saccharine at times, especially the ending and the story is nothing to write home about. As with many other, I mostly connected with Anita's story of loneliness.

7/10

This is a review done by my sister (we aren't British, Scottish or else so enjoy but don't care about the mistakes) :

I've seen the Christmas Special with my brother. While we're both fans, he is way more invested than me - he's seen every episode, while I tend to watch them in random order (keep your tomatoes!). With two such perspectives, we thought, we would both enjoy the Christmas Special.
It left us a weird taste in the mouth. I'm not saying this episode is bad, but it's not good either - it's meh.
Starting with the good points : as always, Ncuti Gatwa's excellent acting. This man could play in a Hallmark movie and make it convincing and heartwrecking. I loved the beginning! The idea of the Doctor bursting in and out of various locations to offer a pumpkin latte and a grilled cheese toast - lovely. The Time Hotel, too, was a really fun concept, and the shots inside were lovely and whimsical in the best ways - I'm talking about the first shots, when both viewer and Doctor discover the inlay of the Hotel. I also enjoyed the relationship between Anita and the Doctor, the mundane really works here. Although I would have preferred that the relationship weren't romantically coded. It doesn't really fits either character. Coughlan plays pretty well, all things considered (see part two of review), and her quick wit and chemistry with the Doctor are simply delightful. And there is a dinosaur. What, do we seem to be asking ourselves, could we possibly ask for more?
While the episode does have great concepts (see: Time Hotel), it doesn't seem to exploit them as well as it should. Coughlan does play her character with talent, but said character isn't deep enough. She turns into a star, alright, but it doesn't feel natural. Her backstory with her mother, while sad, and significant (Doctor Who episodes are allowed to make references to actuality and I've missed any COVID presence in recent fiction), doesn't feel complete. Especially the ending, in which the mother becomes part of the star: very meh, and a bit too "don't worry magical sci-fi saves us all". I, for one, would have preferred to see the Doctor coming, or someone keeping her company. And the Christian end feels placated (a consequence of Disney buying DW, or my own religious issues talking?). The Anita storyline is by far the most significant and endearing but is spoilt by the romantic themes associated - it thrives in the mundane, not the romantic love.
In short (the conclusion we reached together while debriefing the episode), it feels like it could have been two episodes to allow both storylines to develop. While it is an important episode for the Doctor's development, it does feel like nobody really knows where to take this new Doctor, and it shows. The line on the armchairs is pretty wonderful, all things considered ; the moping on Ruby isn't. While I love Ruby Sunday with all my heart, her presence in the episode felt a little placated (if that's the word I want) and the Doctor's issues are just weird. I may be stupid but I don't get why he left and didn't bother coming back sometimes to have coffee with her. While I love both of them and their duo, they tend to steal the spotlight anyway - which is why we're coming back to the Star Seed plot. Nice concept, a return of Villengard (corporate greed at its finest) and definitely not enough screentime for Coughlan who could have shown her acting range had she have been given the opportunity. Joy's outburst: yes. Her becoming a big ball of gas on fire: no. She feels a lot like a mean to an end.

Points given to side characters: Trev's delightful. I love him. His determination to do good and not fail the Doctor (and isn't that a gimmick that will haunt the Doctor) is lovely and endearing. And the lady in the Orient Express, too, despite her short amount of screen time, feels right.

What I expect from a Doctor Who Christmas Special is to make me dream, throw my fist in the air and scream - this one didn't. The concepts in it feel underexploited as a plot part, overexploited as a part of Doctor Who. Again, Joy's too shallow a character to allow the viewer to feel for her (might be my heart of stone though) and feels drowned in the chaos that is the episode, as it doesn't seem to know what it's aiming for and where it's going.
All in all a six out of ten for the acting and the cosy ambiance of it, but its numerous flaws.

Hotel Tardis

Prerequisites: None explicitly needed, although Season 1 gives context to the Doctor's current psyche.

Joy to the World was profoundly mediocre, and a reminder that Moffat is weirdly at his most inconsistent when writing Christmas specials. You either get something classic like A Christmas Carol, or you get something utterly inane like The Return of Doctor Mysterio. The premise here is decent enough, and the Time Hotel as a setting is relatively fun. Joy as a character soon shows some initial promise, and I'll admit to being a preexisting fan of Nicola Coughlan (Derry Girls shoutout). However, this is all irrelevant for the fact that Joy simply receives zero development, and is frankly absent for almost the entire special. For probably 95% of her scenes, she's either possessed or crying, which doesn't exactly build up a coherent character. While this is happening, the Doctor takes a detour to working in a hotel for a year (despite numerous ways he could've hijacked a ride there immediately). This segment is one I'm mixed on. On one hand, it's easily the most likable segment of the episode, and Anita is far more interesting than any other character here. But it also just does something I'm always annoyed by: it utterly ignores the show's past. This episode treats the fact that the Doctor was forced to stay in one place as something completely novel and new... but he's done it quite a lot in previous incarnations! 11 did it in the Lodger and The Power of Three, 12 did it in The Pilot, and 14 is still doing it with the Nobles. Anyway, once the Doctor gets back to the episode proper, things proceed mostly as usual. I only have two more comments here. The first is (yet another) complaint towards the Doctor crying so much. He does it three times in this episode alone! My goodness, at this point I feel nothing when he cries, and Ncuti is a good crier. Before this era, the Doctor crying was a huge thing, and usually meant things were at their worst. With the Fifteenth Doctor, him crying literally means nothing, and I frankly hate it. Finally, I do think the ending shot and implication was in poor taste. Not only was the CGI on Joy pretty bad, but the idea that a dead Doctor Who character actually being the Star of Bethlehem for the Three Wise Men just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

In summary, Anita was sweet, Trev was fun, and the Time Hotel is a cool idea, but I dislike most everything else on display here. This isn't a terrible episode, and it never reaches the pits of the absolute worst episodes on the show, but it's consistently bad.

Those are some fresh Thoughts, so they may change drastically in the Future.

To be honest, my excitement for this was almost non-existing and maybe because of it my Opinion is so positive, but my God this was excellent. Perfect? Probably not. But my God, this hit so many right notes for me.

Of course there is a Discussion to be had with how it handles two Things: One of which being the Ending with Bethlehem, which I didn’t mind personally but then again I am not really religious. Although the Ending with Joy becoming this Star was probably the one part which makes me unsure if I would rate this Episode so highly, it’s hard for me to properly articulate why, but I don’t know.

The other Thing is Covid, which I can see why People would find it insensitive, it hasn’t been too long since it, but personally I really thought that Part was done well, in particular how Joy vents about it to the Doctor. Coughlan plays it so well and in general is just a blast to watch as this one-off Companion, she is very sweet but portrays the Emotions quite well.

The big Star of this Special is Ncuti, my God. I must admit while I already really liked the Energy he brought to the Role, for me, he kinda didn’t click yet, but my god, he clicked now. Maybe I am the only one with that, but while I think every Doctor has something unique about, I absolutely adore those Moments, where it feels like a past doctor is taking control again, and I think we get quite a few of those in these Specials. Prominently when he talks down to Joy, that reminded me a lot of 7. And in general, I love how he acts in this Episode, he still has the Charm and the Energy from the previous Episodes, but it feels like he has found his footing here for sure.

There are a lot of charming or sweet Moments to be found here. Moffat hasn’t lost a bit with his dialogue. I do want to highlight the Moment where 15 talks to the Silurian, it’s just quite lovely.

I also really liked the Supporting Cast, especially 15 and Anita are a Highlight. You’d think having the Doctor have a normal day job might be annoying, I mean looking at you Care Taker, but no it works so well here! Maybe I am alone with this, but usually NuWho doesn’t get me emotionally, and yet the Speech 15 had towards Anita got me a bit teary.

The first Half of this Special is REALLY fun, presenting the Concept in a fun way and giving out a lot of Exposition without feeling boring at any Moment.

I love how those other Rooms we see at the beginning gets used throughout this Story! That being said, if I had to hear somebody say “Ham Cheese Toastie and a Pumpkin Latte” again, I will go wild!! 

Overall I loved this Episode, which is rare for me with a Christmas Special, but this just hit all the right beats, it’s by far not flawless, but it’s fun, emotional and gives me easily my favorite Ncuti Performance so far. Oh, and the whole Time Travel Aspect gets used here so well, which is always a big plus in my Books.

2024 Christmas Special - “Joy to the World” by Stephen Moffat

When I heard that Moffat would be writing this year’s Christmas special, I thought it could’ve gone one of two ways. On one hand, Moffat has written all of my favourite Christmas specials from the underrated Last Christmas to the utterly beautiful A Christmas Carol. However, he has also written The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, The Snowmen and The Return of Dr. Mysterio, all episodes I utterly loathe. Now, I’ve found RDT 2 to be, so far, mediocre. Whilst a couple good episodes here and there regained the lost magic of the late 2000s and the cast is really trying their best with corny and unnatural dialogue, it all felt like a poor man’s imitation of what came before and I’m sad to say, I found Joy to the World to be the same.

On Christmas Day, the Doctor finds himself in the Time Hotel - a time-hopping establishment that allows you to stay anywhere, anytime. But when a mysterious briefcase psychically links to young Joy Almondo, the Doctor must play with causality to save her life.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Frankly, I found Joy to the World to be indicative of all of RTD2: a visually stunning, creatively rich soap opera with a great cast of weak characters. Joy to the World’s greatest attribute is its appearance. Not only are the effects magnificent (and strangely placed) but the sets are wonderful too. Vibrant and endlessly detailed, the Time Hotel especially makes for a great setting. It’s really obvious how much bigger the budget is here than in RTD1 because I’m pretty sure they blew the cost of a Series One episode on the cold open. The effects begin to stumble towards the end - used up on the five seconds of dinosaur we get halfway through -  but mostly it’s the strong suit. Plus, since we’re dealing with a Moffat script you just know that it's going to have a good idea or two in there. The Time Hotel is a fantastic concept that’s used excellently, though not as well as it could be due to the episode’s preoccupation with the Doctor’s character. I liked the paradox stuff and using the hotel’s time zones to speed up action but this episode isn't really about the hotel, it’s more just Moffat coming up with a good idea and running with it which is fine but insubstantial. As for characters, I’ll get onto why I think this episode struggles with them but I have to say I got by on the performances alone. Despite having a personality that can be summed up in a short sentence, Nicola Coughlan adds a lot of likability to her “companion”. I found Joel Fry, an actor I always am excited to see pop up, misused and yet still the best member of our cast and Steph de Whalley did a lot of heavy lifting in Moffat’s attempt to make Anita interesting. As for the episode itself, whilst I mostly enjoy the cosmetic aspects of Joy to the World, I did find it to be a good time. Really, that’s RTD2’s saving grace, whilst I think it is undeniably flawed, it is fun, it is lively and a great big shot of character has been injected into the show’s veins. Which is strange because I find many of this era’s main problems to align with the issues of my oh-so-beloved Chibnall era: underbaked plotlines, cardboard cutout characters and cringe-worthy, inhuman dialogue are all present here, but rather than play it straight like Chibnall does, RTD manages to have a little fun with it and his ability to cast electric talent certainly helps. I didn’t hate Joy to the World, and it was certainly more tolerable than last year’s effort, but it was incredibly flawed.

For instance, every time Moffat tried to write in an emotional beat it simply fell flat. There are about five in this special alone, three of them about characters we’ve known for five minutes. Like, do you seriously expect me to care that the Silurian with five lines of dialogue is dying? When people kept complaining about 15’s incessant crying, I didn’t really see the problem before I started noticing it here and, truth be told, he cries so often it loses all emotional weight that might come with the Doctor letting his emotions slip out. And this is where my big problem comes in, this is an episode not about the Time Hotel, or Villengard or even Christmas, it’s about 15, a character whom I do not like. RTD’s attempts at making a more human Doctor simply haven’t worked and with this episode entirely based on his inability to accept companionship I start to see why. RTD has abandoned the character arc. I agree, it could be interesting to watch a Doctor become more akin to us, to start settling down, to begin a retirement and get more in touch with his emotions, but the problem is he just is this character without any development. From his first episode, this was 15 and RTD refusing to acknowledge that for 2000 years the Doctor has been a weird little alien man ruins it. Plus, I don’t know if Moffat didn’t watch the previous season or something, but these are character beats I thought we’d covered, I was under the impression that was what the whole bigeneration storyline was for - transitioning over to a more human Doctor so RTD wouldn’t have to think about it. We even get him settling down, again, which works even less this time because he gets a job and finds out he actually loves staying in one place at one time because he has a friend (the entire UNIT era is irrelevant, apparently). Also, 15 whinging about being alone forever doesn’t really work when he told Ruby to leave. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t she want to go with him and he told her not to because he thought she needed to spend time with her “real mum” because f**k Carla I guess. Basically, this whole episode was an attempt to characterise a character who skipped his own development and because of that, every attempt to say anything about 15 fell flat.

And as for the other characters, it's really not much better. Joy is barely even there, her personality built in one hokey speech after a scene that fully just stole from The Curse of Fenric. And really, the actual companion here seems to be Anita, the random hotel manager the Doctor spends a year with whose entire character is established in a montage sequence. Once again, I am asking why I should care? As for Joel Fry, he is immediately the most likable person in this cast (mostly because he’s Joel Fry) but is then killed in about ten minutes and I can’t actually remember his character’s name an hour after finishing the episode. Three characters established in an episode beholden to none of them leads only to a hollow side cast that fails to impress and when anything unfortunate happens to any one of them, I’m left feeling nothing. Especially in the ending, which is just weird and one of the most absurd emotional beats I’ve ever seen. You could not have convinced me before this episode came out that it would end with Nicola Coughlan turning into the North f**king Star. Plus, I really don’t know what this is trying to say. Don’t be worried because Grace from Derry Girls is up in the sky looking down at you? How many times has anybody looked at the North Star and magically felt better? It’s out of the blue, doesn’t hold any weight because of Joy’s under-characterisation and its absurdity and also means that Villengard won. Honestly, I think choosing to have a concrete villain in this episode, especially a reused one, was a misstep but it’s strange that they just… succeeded. Like, great, we’re all looking up in hope at the power source that will fuel a billion wars. In the end, I’m just confused as to what the point of this whole episode was. It was near plotless, its own namesake had little to do with it and it was strangely lacking in substance. It’s a weak attempt at a character study that doesn’t even feel like a Christmas special, with little festive cheer to it at all (and no, a title card saying “Bethlehem” does not make it any more merry). It all felt like there was no point to any of it, it had next to nothing to say and had all the impact of a Hallmark movie. Whilst not particularly painful to sit through, this is just such a nothing episode. It’s the TV equivalent of empty calories.

If I had to call Joy to the World one thing, it would be disappointing. Even some heinous mistake would’ve been more interesting than this, which I left only feeling hollow. RTD2 feels like RTD1 with all the magic and character stripped away, left with pretty lights and empty characters, a violent clash of attempts at relatability and heightened reality. This feels like the poster child for this whole era now, it’s not bad but it’s overwhelmingly mediocre, like the off brand reboot of Doctor Who. I just pray this doesn’t actually end up being Moffat’s final hour, because this is such a low note to go out on.

5/10

Pros:

+ Fantastic set design and a great overall look

+ Brimming with brilliant concepts

+ Great performances from all members of the cast

+ Effortlessly fun

Cons:

- Overbloated with poorly written emotional beats

- Nearly every companion was barely a character

- Reinforces why 15’s character just doesn’t work for me

- Absurd ending that fails to land

- Bizarrely lacking in substance

- Near plotless

Oh boy, where do I even start. The story came to a close and I went, "Wait, what? That's it? But nothing even happened!" What is it with Moffat writing episodes with basically no plot? It was just so...nothing.

Who is Joy? For all the Doctor psychoanalyses her, I don't feel like we really get to know her. For the titular character, she has close to no impact on the plot, let alone on me, the viewer.

While I really like Anita, and the chemistry she had with the Doctor was fantastic and very sweet, I felt that the story took a very unnecessary detour with the Doctor staying at the hotel for a year. In hindsight, it feels like they needed something to pad out the runtime since the plot was already stretched incredibly thin. I think it says more about how naff the rest of the story was for me to say this was by far my favourite part.

We've had so many stories about the Doctor needing to find someone to spend Christmas with, and as someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas and instead spent the day watching movies and reading fanfiction and making a phone call to my health insurance company, I just don't connect to this sort of story. The older I get, the more these kinds of stories grate on me; I have a family I see for holidays too! Why is it always Christmas? Why do they always act like you can't have that without celebrating this Christian holiday?

The episode kept introducing characters that had the potential to be interesting and then unceremoniously killed them off and moved on. Poor Trev. Hell, even Joy; does she not have any other family? Is no one going to miss her?

One of the complaints I see about the Moffat era is that, as a show runner, he tends to be somewhat self-obsessed and digs himself into holes when he thinks an idea is interesting but doesn't actually have a plan to make it all pay off. I finally understand that complaint, now with Villengard. It was fun as a throwaway line in The Doctor Dances and made for a pretty good backdrop to Boom, but unless RTD has plans for them to become a big villain (which I don't think I would like anyway, because what more is left to say?), it definitely feels like he's reaching for the one thing that no one has ever complained about. Well, here I am, complaining about it.

Then comes the thing that is more than just mild annoyance: the reveal of Bethlehem. I could feel it coming as the scenery was revealed, and I hate it. I get the feeling people don't know that most of Israel/Palestine is a lot more similar to Greece than Egypt in climate and environment. It's Mediterranean. There are no sand dunes. It made me groan out loud. Not to mention, these specials get Christian enough without directly calling back to the time and place of Jesus's birth.

Honestly, I thought nothing could be worse than last year's blood libel, but at least Church on Ruby Road had, well, a plot.

my favourite character was actually trev

I enjoyed this episode, I think. Undeniably though it is very Written By Steven Moffat. I don't necessarily mean that as a criticism - nor as a compliment - just observing that if you made a Steven Moffat Writing Tropes Bingo you could probably get a full house

Kind of all over the place, fairly underwhelming, overall one of Moffat's poorer Christmas episodes. The idea of the Time Hotel was compelling enough, but the execution really wasn't adequately explored. Actually, that's true of most of this story; characters like Joy, Anita, and Trev were all set up to be quite interesting, and I did like all of them, but there wasn't enough time spent with any of them to make an impression. The arc of the Doctor getting stuck on Earth as a handyman was interesting, and the threat of the Star Seed was as well, but ramming one into the other like that was a tonal mishmash that detracted from the narrative flow more than it supported the theme of the Doctor being lonely and needing to be around someone (very original, by the way, certainly hasn't been the central theme of countless other Christmas specials).

On the positives, as I said, I thought the characters were interesting and likeable, if underdeveloped. I especially liked how the Doctor was done; Moffat does do a good 'smiling through the pain' Doctor, after all, and when he was verbally eviscerating Joy... yowch. His... semi-apology afterwards was good as well. "There is no bad way to save a life," indeed. It's giving Seven.

The Bethlehem bit... eh. I didn't love it, I thought it was weird, kind of a twist to end on... I suppose it was a bit inevitable, really, given the whole Christmas star thing.

Overall, I thought it was fairly mediocre and saccharine, but that's Christmas specials for you. Most likely I'll enjoy it more on a rewatch when it isn't the middle of the holiday season.

A tale of two Christmas specials. One is a 4.5, which is the Doctor hanging out with Anita and lot of the beginning. Then it's surrounded by a lot of 3.5, which all averages itself out to a four. Who would've guessed that with Joy as the title character she gets upstaged halfway through. Still, the part about covid and her mother dying while the government partied was delivered with conviction. We also got Trev this story!

The most important thing though is that Ncuti Gatwa desperately needed this episode and he got it, we spent so much more time with his Doctor than it felt like we really had before and he's absolutely clicking for me. Ready for 2025!

Predictable but very VERY enjoyable

moffat genio asentando a 15 como Doctor Who, mientras hace un especial agradable que lleva a las lágrimas. ¿Qué más que decir? Se nota una diferencia abismal con el especial del año pasado 🐐

After the season 1 finale and last year's Christmas special, my expectations for this were not too high, but after seeing the concept and that it was a Moffat episode, I was cautiously optimistic. I'm happy to say that that optimism was warranted, this was probably one of my favourite Christmas specials of all time, I loved the idea, the execution (for the most part), and the character work, the year the Doctor spent on earth (reminiscent of The Power Of Three) being the highlight for me. As someone who loves to see the Doctor's complex relationship with time in this manner, I really thought that this was one of the best character moments of the Gatwa era so far, and I'm really hoping that the rest of the era follows suit stylistically. There were some parts of the episode that didn't quite land for me, like the slightly ropey CGI of Joy at the end and some of the ways the plot moved forwards, but overall I would say that this is a great, festive, timey wimey story.

Good, but too sentimental for me towards the end. I did love Ncuti throughout the story, but I felt that Anita came across as a more developed character than Joy and she had a stronger chemistry with the Doctor which unbalanced the relationships aspect.

Lots of fun Moffat touches and observations which I enjoyed. I'll probably watch this again soon as, overall, it was fun.

Steven Moffats second story of the RTD2 era is a banger, it may not be his best Christmas special let alone story but it sure is a hell of a good one to go out on, there are issues with this but Moffat nails 15s characterization , you can also tell that Ncuti is really in his stride here , like damn he’s good, he really feels like the doctor (not that he didn’t before) it really felt that Moffat was going for a mix of 7 and 12 here (more 7) and I really liked that, the use of a bootstrap paradox to show a year of the doctors life passing, joy becoming a star, one made of the hearts of life to bring joy and peace to earth, was absolutely beautiful, it’s a banging start for Season 2 of this era and with that fantastic trailer, I can only look forward for what’s more to come!

I felt that this episode was enjoyable and largely very funny, good qualities for a stand-alone Christmas special to have. I felt that the plot was really interesting and nicely done. It was clever and interesting yet simple enough to follow.

However, while I love the amount of time given over to the timey-wimey plot, I feel that the episode may have benefited from spending some more time on Joy. I feel that, as is, some of the emotional elements were a little shallow and that some more time to develop the character may have really helped this to stand out a bit more. The issue is that I think the time given to the plot was perfect, so I'm ultimately not really sure how I would concretely change anything to improve this aspect for me.

In other areas, the music was nice but nothing really stood out to me as particularly memorable. The set design, costumes, prosthetics and CGI were as great as they've always been this era.

In summary, I found this to be an enjoyable one-off episode that gave me some good laughs.

I liked that! But I didn't love it!

The opening sequence feels incredibly Moffat quips and all, but I appreciate that these somewhat died down once we got into the meat of the story after the opening sequence.

Performances round the board were amazing, but Gatwa puts in one of his best yet! I really love his take on The Doctor, and I really love how Moffat writes for him specifically. The scene where he acts like an awful person to manipulate Joy was amazing. I love when Doctors have a mean, manipulative edge to them.

Joy herself was good but I think a little underdeveloped. I wish we had gotten more time with her, and because we didn't, I didn't feel as attached as the story wanted when she sacrificed herself.

The long way round scene was perfect.... Or would have been if it didn't leave me feeling like Anita was more developed than Joy.

Still, I absolutely adore seeing other sides to this Doctor that we haven't seen before in Season 40.

The setting of a time hotel rules, and I really love how the story utilised its internal logic and rules. Moffat has always excelled at this within episodes!

The ending itself... I have mixed feelings. As I said, the sacrifice didn't feel earned emotionally to me really. And the Bethlehem reveal genuinely made me laugh at how earnest it was. Just felt silly to me.

Still, what a fun episode overall! Definitely in the upper middle of Christmas specials for me.

Fun as hell. Emotional, gripping, great acting (Ncuti is so great!). Loved the bootstrap paradox. Anita and The Doctor had great chemistry (Big Finish you know what to do). Even got a little teary eyed at the end. Top 3 christmas episode (along side A Christmas Carol and the Husbands of River Song).

and incidentally, a happy christmas to all of you at home!

‘has it always been that christian’ - my mum