The Snowmen

If my enthusiasm was waning for this era of Doctor Who, it has absolutely been peaked again by this incredible story. It’s now my second favourite Christmas story after A Christmas Carol. It showcases how excellent Moffat can be when he focuses on just a couple of distinct ideas. He can be really clever when he is not trying to be clever.

It is a wonderful full length introduction for Clara, I know we’ve had a sneak preview with the Asylum of the Daleks, but it is here you get a real sense of her character. The two versions of the character were done marvelously. A really nice piece of storytelling, giving this companion something quite different to do. The show feels new again as a result.

The Doctor himself feels renewed. I love the costume and TARDIS, things that I was for some reason resistant to at the time of broadcast, I now feel as necessary and invigorating with this last half series, not settling for the same old same old and trying something new.

The Paternoster Gang is a wonderful team. I can’t get enough of them.

Only Doctor Who could make a sequel to what was at that point a missing story from 1967 without it being annoying or knocking you over the head with fan references. It will have gone over the heads of non-fans. Other eras could learn from this. The Great Intelligence was a character we weren’t expecting to see again and probably won’t see for another 50 years! Richard E Grant is excellent in what could be a thankless role, really bringing it alive.

The Christmas aspects, including the snowmen themselves felt fresh - it didn’t feel like the umpteenth Christmas special.

If I was to provide a critique it would be that the series is still a flirting overload, though it does generally make more sense on this outing. I’d also say that the “Doctor Who?” gag has now been done to death at this point.

This is the only certified hit from series 7 so far!

Thought that this was by far the best Christmas special the show has done and The Christmas Invasion is the only one that even comes close.

Very funny script, a great festive story and a nice introduction to the arc over the second half of the season. Loved the Sherlock Holmes deduction scene!

Frosty the Great Old One

I actually enjoyed The Snowmen a decent amount more on this rewatch. The setting is charming, Victorian Clara is fun to watch bounce off of the Doctor, and I do enjoy the premise of 11 having given up companions following the Ponds' death. One note here is that I frankly wish the episode was a little more self-serious; we're dealing with the Doctor in a darker place than he's been in centuries, and (a) Clara literally dies at the end. The constant tonal shifts to comedy contrast with this, and makes it difficult to give the actual story enough gravitas. To that effect, I maintain that the actual plot here is fairly nonsense. It's great having Ian McKellen and Richard E. Grant in Doctor Who, but neither is really given that much to do. Overall, I enjoyed this, but it's fairly far from the best Christmas specials.

I think it's got a good strong core to it, the Snowmen and Ice Governess are quite fun villains; but I question the overall decision to have it be the Great Intelligence AND for the Doctor to have just forgotten all about it. I think that's a lil insulting to the original stories and something that it could've gone without.

Jenna Coleman has a great debut... debut? Yeah, let's call it a debut and she's more than a match against Matt Smith. I would preferred Victorian Clara over regular Clara to be the full time companion, but only for having a non modern day companion for once. Her introduction to the TARDIS is an amazing scene and hard to get enough of.

Unfortunately, the entire episode is quite heavily sexualised for no real reason and I think it weighs the episode down not insignificantly.