Last Christmas was the 2014 Doctor Who Christmas special. It was the 813th episode of the series, as well as being the show's tenth Christmas special since its revival. It was the first full Christmas special with Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. It brought back Nick Frost as Santa Claus, who was last seen at the end of Death in Heaven.
Casting-wise, it was notable for featuring the first on-screen Doctor Who appearance of Michael Troughton, son of Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton. It also allowed recurring actor Dan Starkey, best known for portraying various Sontaran characters, to appear with minimal make-up as an elf.
The Christmas special saw the return of Danny Pink, Clara Oswald's boyfriend and former Coal Hill School maths teacher — albeit only in Clara's dream state.
Synopsis
The Doctor and Clara face their Last Christmas. Trapped on an Arctic base and under attack from terrifying creatures, who are you going to call? Santa Claus!
Plot
On a frosty night before Christmas, Clara Oswald awakens to the sound of an object crashing on her rooftop. Putting on her dressing gown, she leaves her room to investigate and discovers Santa Claus, his elves Ian and Wolf, reindeer and sleigh upon her roof, having crashed after an accident. Ian quickly informs Santa that they've been sighted. They attempt to pass themselves off as ordinary people, but after Clara sees the reindeer flying loose in the sky, they reveal their true identities. Clara though, tries to deny his existence as a fairytale when she is spotted, Santa questions if she still believes in fairy-tales, before being interrupted by the Doctor who, upon arguing that no-one loves tangerines, takes her into the TARDIS. Once inside, he questions her on her belief of Santa, to which she answers that she still does as he whisks her away.
At a base in the North Pole, a group of scientists are tracking Shona as she enters an infirmary. One of the scientist called Ashley tells Shona not to think about "them" and to concentrate on something else. She enters the infirmary, and begins dancing to Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" which appears to take her mind off the victims. She reaches the end of the infirmary, by which point the Doctor and Clara appear. As Clara wonders what's happened to the victims, they wake up and begin moving. Shona warns them not to think about what they can see, and the Doctor deduces that the creatures attached to the victim's faces are both deaf and blind, but they use telepathy to keep a constant image of themselves in someone's memory, allowing them to 'see'. As the victims close in, the scientists appear with guns ready to attack, and then several crab-like creatures appear from the ceiling and attack the group. They're then seemingly saved by Santa, who is able to send the victims back to bed. He then brings in a captured creature, which the Doctor recognises as a Kantrofarri or "dream crab".
The Doctor asked Ashley to show him CCTV footage of the other crew members arriving on the base. The footage shows the four crew members discovering the creatures, buried in the snow. The footage then shows one of the creatures coming down from the ceiling, which sends the camera static. The Doctor explains that when a dream crab attacks someone, it places them into a telepathically induced dream state. Whilst the victim is 'dreaming', the crab drills into the victim's head and eats away at their brain. And that if you are thinking about a dream crab, a dream crab is most likely coming for you. Clara goes to check on the captured crab, only to find it missing from the container. It appears and begins to stalk her, at which point Clara tries to distract herself by first thinking of maths equations and then of Danny. This however doesn't work and the crab attacks her, putting her into a dream state. She awakens in her dream state, and is surprised to find herself at her house on Christmas day - and with Danny. The Doctor and the group arrive to Clara's side, where the Doctor tries to work out a way to remove the crab without killing Clara. Ashley states that the only way to remove the crab would be to kill Clara. He refuses to do so, and instead allows himself to become attacked, so he can join Clara in her dream. Inside her dream, the Doctor urges Clara to believe that it's all just a dream, so they can wake up. She doesn't believe the Doctor, but after a final farewell from Danny, Clara believes that it's a dream and they wake up.
Despite waking up, Clara complains of a pain on the right side of her head. Shona compares it to the "ice cream pain" and confirms she has the same pain. The Doctor then works out that they are in fact in a dream, having been attacked when they arrived. With some help from Santa, who is revealed to be a manifestion of everyone's brains telling them something is wrong, the group are able to wake up. The Doctor and Clara then leave, only for Clara to note that they both saw Santa on her rooftop, meaning that they're still dreaming - from different times and places. The Doctor and Clara return to the base where the Doctor questions the scientists on why they only have four manuals, when they're a crew of eight people. They then come to the realisation that the victims are really themselves, or rather dream constructs of what's coming to kill them. The victims awaken and transport themselves through the CCTV, killing Albert in the process. The group travel outside and try to work out a way to escape, of which the Doctor suggests using the TARDIS to escape. Clara notes that it isn't the real TARDIS, and as they head towards the TARDIS, dream constructs of the Doctor and Clara appear. The Doctor tells everybody to use their imagination to get themselves home, and so they all dream of Santa, who appears in his slegh and rescues the group.
Having been rescued by Santa, the memories of the group's real lives start coming back to them, meaning that they're waking up in the real world. Shona suggests that they exchange phone numbers so they can meet up once they awaken, but the Doctor states that it's unlikely that they're remember anything that's happened in the dream. Everyone expect Clara awakens, who wants to stay in the dream world forever. The Doctor travels to Clara's house and is successful in removing the crab from her face, but finds that she is much older than when he last left her. 62 years have passed since they said goodbye in the coffee shop. The Doctor apologizes to Clara for not returning for her sooner, but then Santa appears, revealing this to be another crab-induced dream. The Doctor awakens for real this time and he travels to Clara's house and removes the crab from her face again. Realising what could have been, the Doctor invites Clara to resume her travels in the TARDIS with him. She happily agrees and he whisks her away. Meanwhile, a tangerine sits on the window sill.
Cast
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin |
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| Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources. |
References
- When Santa's elves tell him that no one likes tangerines, Santa asks "how dare you?". The Doctor later exclaims that "nobody likes the tangerines." Santa is visibly offended.
- Shona dances to the song "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade to distract her from thinking about the dream crabs while she is in the infirmary on the North Pole base.
- Professor Albert compares the dream crabs to the facehuggers from the 1979 sci-fi/horror movie Alien. The Doctor has neither heard of the facehuggers, nor the film, and is visibly appalled that a horror movie is named Alien, commenting, "No wonder everyone keeps invading you!"
- When the Doctor conducts the dream test using the four instruction manuals, the page numbers that Clara gives contain hidden references to the numbering of the Doctor's current incarnation:
- The first page number, 57, consist of the digits 5 and 7, which add up to 12.
- The second page number, 24, is a multiple of 12.
- The last page number itself is 12.
- The Doctor tells Clara not to get too attached to the people at the arctic base because it "isn't Facebook."
- When the Doctor leaves Santa on the roof-top, he mockingly tells Santa, "Happy Easter".
- Santa mentions My Little Pony when proving to Shona that he is real.
- In Shona's Christmas Day Itinerary are referenced the movies Alien, The Thing from Another World and Miracle on 34th Street, along with "Thrones". The first three films are very clearly sources for the episode (the facehuggers, a group of scientists trapped in an isolated Arctic base, and a man who believes he is Santa, respectively).
Story notes
- This episode saw a one-off modification to the title sequence. The clock faces the TARDIS flies through are blue and icy, and the TARDIS is covered in snow, which both dissipate. The names of the lead actors dissolve into snowy particles, and the subsequent time vortex has flying snowflakes.
- For the first time for this title sequence, more than two people are credited. Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman's names appear normally, then Nick Frost's name appears between the Doctor Who logo and the episode title credit.
- This is the third consecutive Christmas special to feature Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald and Dan Starkey. He had previously appeared in his recurring Sontaran role, Strax, in The Snowmen, then as Commander Skarr and his unnamed subordinate in The Time of the Doctor. Clara has now appeared in the most Christmas specials as current companion.
- To keep the appearance of Danny Pink a surprise, Samuel Anderson was uncredited in Radio Times and on the BBC website.
Ratings
9.63 million (overnight)
Production errors
to be added
Continuity
- This is the second time where almost the entire episode is a dream. The Dream Lord used psychic pollen at an earlier point to get the same result, forcing the Doctor to try to distinguish between dreams and reality. (TV: Amy's Choice)
- The Doctor is likened to a magician because of his appearance. He previously noted this about himself. (TV: Time Heist)
- Both Clara and the Doctor reveal that they previously lied to each other to stop the other from worrying: (TV: Death in Heaven)
- Clara lets it slip that Danny Pink is still dead, something she'd withheld from the Doctor. Danny appears in a crab-induced dream she's later in, in a Santa suit and slightly taller.
- The Doctor admits that he didn't find Gallifrey.
- The Doctor, in Clara's dream, tells Clara that Danny died saving the world, but Danny says that he died saving her. (TV: Death in Heaven)
- During his dream of elderly Clara, the Doctor helps her pull a cracker. Clara had previously done the same for the elderly Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Time of the Doctor)
- A nightie-clad Clara leaves in the TARDIS in the dead of night. Amy Pond's travels with the Doctor began in similar fashion. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
- Clara is wearing a nightie for the entire episode. Amy wore one (without a dressing-gown on top, though) in her first trip in the TARDIS. (TV: The Beast Below)
- The Doctor has Clara concentrate on doing sums to distract her from the crabs, something she later does when trying to avoid the escaped crab in the lab. The Third Doctor used the same technique - albeit with simpler sums - to force Jo Grant to focus on something except the brainstorm being experienced by Axos. (TV: The Claws of Axos)
- Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody", which Shona is listening and dancing to in order to distract herself from the crabs, was playing in the garage where Mickey worked when the newly-regenerated Tenth Doctor crashed back into the Powell Estate. (TV: The Christmas Invasion) It was also playing at Donna Noble's first wedding reception (TV: The Runaway Bride) and was later on the radio. (TV: Turn Left, The Power of Three)
- When the Doctor gained himself access to Clara's dream and meets Danny, the Doctor greets him "Merry Christmas, PE." He had previously mockingly called Danny by PE. (TV: The Caretaker et.al.)
- When the Doctor questions how Santa can have all those presents in his bag, Santa claims that it's "bigger on the inside", to the Doctor's annoyance. (TV: An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who, Rose et.al.)
- Clara gives the Doctor a hug, to which the Doctor is annoyed. The Doctor previously told her that this self doesn't like hugging. He doesn't seem to like joining hands, too. (TV: Deep Breath, Listen, Death in Heaven)
- In Clara's Christmas Day-dream, while standing in the hallway, she becomes suspicious about something not being right and sees blackboards all over the hallway telling her that she's dying. Previously the Doctor used chalk and blackboards to write notes. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek, Robot of Sherwood, Listen)
- Santa was able to tell the Dream-infected people to get back in their beds, telling them it was Christmas Eve and they should go early to bed. The Ninth Doctor was previously able to tell all the Empty-people to go to bed by acting as their requested "Mummy" and grounding them. (TV: The Doctor Dances)
- When Rudolph acts up Santa used a key to park him, which calms him down and turns his red nose off. The Tenth Doctor previously used his TARDIS key to lock his TARDIS like a car. (TV: The End of Time)
- The Doctor states that all the people affected by the dream crabs could very well be from different times and places, as time travel is possible within dreams. Madame Vastra once told Clara something similar when explaining the psychic conference call. (TV: The Name of the Doctor) When Clara asked how they were communicating across time, Vastra stated that time travel was possible in dreams.
- The First Doctor previously met Santa Claus (COMIC: A Christmas Story), though it was later insinuated that the encounter was all in his head. (COMIC: The Land of Happy Endings) The Second Doctor also prevented him from inadvertently tearing the fabric of space. (PROSE: The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas) The Eleventh Doctor showed a child in Sardicktown a photograph of himself with Santa Claus and Albert Einstein, and claimed that Santa's real name was Jeff. (TV: A Christmas Carol)
Home video releases
DVD releases
to be added
Blu-ray releases
to be added
Footnotes
