Talk:Santa Claus

Geoff?

Where did the Geoff thing come from? 24.8.4.217 22:04, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

I believe that's from A Christmas Carol, where the Eleventh Doctor alleged his name was Geoff (or Jeff?). It's a fairly offhand joke, so who knows if that really "counts". -- Tybort (talk page) 22:14, November 24, 2011 (UTC)

Yep, that's where it comes from. "Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him, Geoff." -- Tybort (talk page) 01:09, December 23, 2011 (UTC)

The DVD subtitles spell it "Jeff". Of course, they're not infallible, but in the absence of another source I think we can go with that spelling. —Josiah Rowe ☎ 01:29, January 20, 2013 (UTC)

Agreed. OS25 (talk to me, baby.) 02:45, January 20, 2013 (UTC)

Main image

Santa was in a comic, right? Then, if I understand our policies right, no cover art should be used in the main box. I shall now remove it. --OS24 04:03, December 17, 2011 (UTC)

Name

As we use British English on this wiki, shouldn't this page be titled Father Christmas rather than Santa Claus? Santa Claus can be considered an Americanisation. 66 Seconds ☎ 21:50, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

Both versions of the name have been used in stories. JagoAndLitefoot ☎ 22:09, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

He's called "Santa" in The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas and "Santa Claus" in Home Fires. Shambala108 ☎ 22:13, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

I believe that despite it being an americanism, "Santa Claus" is more commonly used in DW stories than "Father Christmas", although the latter also appears. JagoAndLitefoot ☎ 22:15, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

Incidentally, Tardis:Use British English applies to "spelling, punctuation, and word usage". Names of characters, locations, etc. are usually spelled the way they are in the stories. If there is a difference among stories, there is sometimes debate over which name to use. Shambala108 ☎ 22:22, December 19, 2014 (UTC)

What about "Saint Nicholas"? Are there explicit connections in the narrative? If so, shouldn't we have a single page? HarveyWallbanger ☎ 14:38, December 20, 2014 (UTC)

Yes, there are: A Visit from Saint Nicholas. JagoAndLitefoot ☎ 23:58, December 21, 2014 (UTC)

Death in Blackpool

I believe the Death in Blackpool part should be removed - I never got an impression that the drunken "Santa" from the story was anything more than a man in a costume. JagoAndLitefoot ☎ 15:40, August 13, 2015 (UTC)

Split with Santa Claus (Last Christmas)? (And Change in Page Image!)

Though based, of course, on the present humans' knowledge of the Santa Claus legend, the Santa Claus played by Nick Frost in Last Christmas appears, to me, to be a different individual from the "real" Santa Claus the First Doctor encounters in A Christmas Story and other tales, the one whom he knows as "Jeff".

It is, to me, quite telling that the Twelfth Doctor repeatedly disbelieves Frost's characters claims of being Santa Claus; he doesn't acknowledge him as the Santa, only an impersonator (or, as it turns out, a shared hallucination).

Thus, I move that a Santa Claus (Last Christmas) page be created, covering the individual who temporarily existed inside the Dream Crabs' shared dream. There is at least one precedent for such a "dream entity" of questionable sentience obtaining a page: Dream Lord. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 21:27, August 3, 2018 (UTC)

I would further suggest that we change the page image. We've got images of unambiguously real Santas, so why are we using an image from a dream manifestation instead, split or no split? --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 11:54, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

I don't really mind either way but if they were split, the Frost Santa should be moved to Santa Claus (Death in Heaven) as that was his first appearance. --Borisashton ☎ 12:06, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

Ah, true. Do you agree with me regarding the page image, though? Even if one doesn't want a split I still think it's akin to using an image from the Doctor's mind-palace in Heaven Sent as the main infobox image for Clara Oswald. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 12:14, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I can agree with that. --Borisashton ☎ 12:24, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

Which new infobox image is being put forward?
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 19:47, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

None was being put forward specifically, I was just pointing out that the current image really oughtn't pass muster because it shows a dream manifestation of Santa whom the Doctor continually refuses to accept as the real thing, whereas this page is mostly about the real being in the DWU even if it also (up till now) covers the dream Santa from Last Christmas.

But since you ask, just going off of images already on the Wiki, File:Santa_in_'Twas.jpg (or, I suppose, a recropping thereof) would do, wouldn't it? If not I can always look for an image from A Christmas Story. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 19:56, December 23, 2019 (UTC)

Separate page for Saint Nicholas?

Currently Saint Nicholas redirects to the Santa Claus page, however I think this may pose an issue now that the historical and biblical Saint Nicholas has actually appeared in a story (Ravenous 2 Krampus two parter) and seemingly has no connection to “Santa Claus”.

So I’m wondering whether a separate page should be made for the “real” Saint Nicholas rather than adding him to the page of his mythical counterpart. SarahJaneFan ☎ 20:47, October 12, 2018 (UTC)

Probably, yeah. Though I'd like to point out that Santa Claus isn't a "mythical" counterpart to a "real" Saint Nicholas; he is also a perfectly real person in the Doctor Who universe, whom several Doctors were friends with. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 22:56, October 12, 2018 (UTC)

That’s why I used air quotes. Like from a real world perspective, Saint Nicholas is a historical figure and Santa Claus is a mythical figure inspired by him, amongst other things. In the DWU, Saint Nicholas is also a historical figure, however Santa Claus is a separate entity, despite being based on the mythical figure inspired by Saint Nicholas. SarahJaneFan ☎ 23:14, October 12, 2018 (UTC)

Well… to be entirely honest, the folkloric Saint Nicholas who goes about on the white horse with the long white beard and the bishop's hat and gives out oranges is… pretty much as far removed from the historical figure as Santa Claus himself. Though I see what you mean. --Scrooge MacDuck ☎ 23:20, October 12, 2018 (UTC)

I agree. Given the Kramus two-parter, the historical Saint Nicholas certainly needs his own page. It also gives some context to his influence on later mythology, and a mythical Saint Nick apart from the modern Santa Claus from the anglophone world.
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 06:45, March 12, 2019 (UTC)

Heh, it does touch on his connection to Santa Claus at the end.
× SOTO (☎/✍/↯) 06:51, March 12, 2019 (UTC)

Not seeing this discussion, I created the page for Saint Nick at Nicholas of Myra back in October. Just thought I'd mention it here. Danochy ☎ 10:23, December 24, 2019 (UTC)