One of my all time favorites.

How sad is this?

A Masterpiece!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Amy and Rory are celebrating their honeymoon on board a spaceship, but it's out of control and hurtling towards a planet ruled by the Scrooge like Kazran Sardick. Kazran is refusing to help, his machinery could save the crash, but he chooses to let the thousands of people die. We step in to a Christmas carol as the Doctor shows Kazran the error of his ways. Using all manner of techniques to make Kazran change his mind.This is possibly my favourite Christmas episode, it is so different from all the others, I think even Dickens would have loved it.It is a Christmas fairy tale perfect for the Festive period. Without patrsonising it, I'd say it's the prettiest episode to date, it looks incredible (you can see where the budget went.) Michael Gambon is utterly brilliant, so to is Katherine Jenkins, she did a great job considering it was her first real character part. The music is simply beautiful, I love it, works so wonderfully, in particular the moving Abigail's song.Touchingly beautiful, best Christmas episode to date. 10/10

This was the first full episode of Doctor Who I watched (I had previously caught bits and pieces and enjoyed it, but last Christmas I sat down and watched this one), and it was a beautiful thing. I love Matt Smith as the Doctor (don't love the series quite as much as with Tennant, but he was helped by a wealth of amazing companions, both in the Tardis and back on Earth), and he is at his best in this episode. When he's allowed to act on his own, without Amy constantly harping on him, he is brilliant.A couple reviews have discussed the unfortunate broken rule of time travel, that you can't go back on your own timeline. Thankfully, they have not repeated this error. Also, upon discussing it with some other fans, we decided that this episode shows what happens when you DO violate that rule. Kazran, even after what should have been a happier adolescence, still ends up bitter, unhappy, and basically exactly the same as he started. Going back on your own timeline doesn't work - it wasn't until the Doctor helped him in the present that he became happier.Either way, it is a beautiful, poignant story, with Matt Smith at his best.

I am a great fan of Dr Who and think that the new lineud's great and Mr Moffatt is a breath of fresh air from repetitive offerings of Mr T.Davies. So initially I was really looking forward to this and then I'd read somewhere it was going to be 'A Christmas Carol' with Sharks! My hopes were lowered at that point and I thought 'Hmmm', but I'll give it a chance. Wish I hadn't. IMHO the BBC signed up a couple of stars and then thought "How can we spin a story around these 2?", so they came up with a Christmas Carol (for pity's sake, just leave it will you, I'm sick of renditions of this average morality tail) and a flying shark. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Gambon acted well as usual. Matt Smith was wasted. Katherine Kenkins tried (God Bless her), but she's not an actress. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill may as well have not bothered turning up, they had no role to play. Far too much time spent on Christmas past and almost nothing on Christmas Present and Future. Unexplained character actions (why all the face slapping/non-slapping?) Flying Sharks? Maybe I missed something, but I get the impression I watched a different program to those who raved about it. I just hope the next season is better.

Highly entertaining and perfectly fitting for Christmas.Takes an old tale and masterfully reinvents it, meshing it seamlessly with the Doctor Who look and feel. Where many try to simply shift the story into a new setting, and by so doing botch the underlying message of the tale or make it so blatantly obvious as to strip it of all of its poetry, the Doctor Who team have managed to make it entirely their own while keeping its simple elegance.This once again reaffirms my belief that Doctor Who is one of the best series on television in quite some time, even after having watched now for five years, each new episode continues to be new and refreshing.One comment on the music ... beautifully executed, and magnificently sung by Katherine Jenkins ... did anyone else get the impression that "Abigail's Song" was strongly influenced by Philip Glass' "Open the Kingdom"?