Diagonaldi Very well executed

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

invisibleunicornninja This episode does so much wrong I can make a whole review listing stupid stuff from it off the top of my head. -The kid has both DC and Marvel comics. Either he's smart enough to appreciate Marvel or he's dumb enough to be a DC fan - he can't be both.-The Doctor never explains why he was setting up a trap on top of the roof. -The Doctor doesn't spend Christmas taking the kid around the universe trying to get the thing out of him (this is just a better idea for a story I came up with - also it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that the Doctor doesn't try to get the thing out of him).-The music is mixed so loud that its next to impossible to understand anything anyone is saying. -Its pretty dark. Normally, I wouldn't be against that but this is a special, something that people who aren't regular fans of the show are more prone to watch. I don't see how putting some of the ugliest character designs I've ever seen in your special is a very good idea. -This is a Superman parody. On its own, that sounds like it could be good, right? The problem is that they do nothing with it. The "love interest is a reporter that can't tell the difference between friend and hero even though they barely do anything to alter their appearance" isn't funny on its own. Its frustratingly annoying unless there are jokes.-Its not funny. I'm not saying that Doctor Who is a comedy, but its usually somewhat light-hearted, even in more serious episode. This is a show that is somewhat known for witty (and sometimes goofy) banter. There are a few scenes that try to be funny but they barely work. Only one or two jokes actually work, and that's being generous. There is Pokemon Go reference that was already dated when it came out, and it doesn't even make sense in context. Its a very bad idea to inject internet culture into your movie or show because by the time it comes out the internet has moved on. A guy being a "Manny" isn't funny on its own. The only thing that's funny about this episode is how much it fails. -This ends on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved, and its painfully stupid. Honestly this episode has a set up that could have gone in dozens of different directions (one of which I mentioned). They did nothing with the plot they picked, and I wouldn't even recommend this episode to fans of the show.

Paul Evans After such an absence of the show I looked forward to this very much, despite being underwhelmed by the trailers. A show we all love which has a distinctly British feel to it, I did not like the American setting, in my humble opinion it felt like it was trying to be something it's not. That uncomfortable feel was further pushed by the Superhero, something we've not encountered on the show before, it just felt like they were trying to force the show into a direction it's not meant to be in.I can't criticise the acting, I love Capaldi in the role, if the powers that be aren't careful, he will unfortunately be remembered in the same way that Sylvester McCoy was, the actor that saw the cancellation of the show.A very stylish episode with some snazzy special effects, but sadly a woeful script, an uninteresting adversary, it's no surprise to me that audiences are turning off.Mr Moffat you have given us some treats in your time, but please don't utterly destroy the show before you leave. This episode has genuinely left me fearful for the future of Doctor Who. Rubbish. 4/10

Abe Dein So, it's been a year since The Husbands of River Song, with only the spin-off, Class, to enjoy in a year of mad politics and no Doctor Who. But this Christmas blockbuster felt fresh from the Christmas specials of the recent past where the characters were the sole focus rather than stories with Christmas as the backbone and the focal point. Here, Moffat created a story, ironically ripping-off a DC Superman movie and putting it in a Doctor Who episode. Hilarious comparisons include Lois Lane becoming Lucy nee Lombard Fletcher and that scene with the telephone conversation and the screen splits paralleling the comics.The prolonged pre-title sequence was very cute but worked tremendously. The pacing of the episode worked well with decent directing by Ed Bazalgette (The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived).Peter Capaldi, once again displayed his wonderful acting skills with his wit, his ignorance of popular culture and pure Doctor-ness. For me, Capaldi is becoming very close to knocking a certain David Tennant off the top of my favourite Doctor rank. Overall, this pretty 'un-christmassy' Christmas special proved how far Doctor Who can go in its wide range of styles and genres making this episode, in my opinion, Moffat's best ever Christmas Special after 2014's 'Last Christmas'

Samuel Its Christmas time again, thus we are treated to our first Doctor who episode in an entire year and... well... the word dull comes to mind. First things first this was supposed to be a Christmas story, think back to the 'Christmas invasion' where the Earth was saved by a satsuma and ended with a charming scene of the Doctor opening presents and pulling crackers or a Moffat era story like 'The snowmen' maybe not the most Christmassy episode ever but it was set at Christmas time with a Christmas themed villain, now look at this years special, which bar an opening scene had little to nothing to do with the actual holiday. The theme was "super heroes" the genre I'm sure we all associate with the winter season and not, you know, like the summer when all the major superhero movies come out. That's not exactly a bad thing and I wouldn't hold this against the show if the story was good but I'm a huge superhero fan and I've read, watched and played stories so much better than this. The show felt like a golden age comic come to life with all the nonsense plot points, technobabble and leaps in logic that were products of a shoe string budget and a system were the art was drawn before the story was written. Doctor who does not have these excuses yet still comes off like babies first Superman story. The Doctor takes a back seat in his own special only appearing to act like the whimsical madman with no room for character development, this is, I'm afraid the legacy the Moffat will leave for his era of Doctor who, the earl of Deus ex machina who only exists as a plot device to move the plot forward, never breaking for character development. This episode spends far too much time with characters who are really bland, the point of Clark Kent is that he's dull and mild mannered to contrast with the Superman persona yet so why does the show stick us with the Ghost, a character whose boring and underdeveloped with powers never defined so I never get the sense anyone is in danger because much like Sup's in the 90's Ghost could just pull out a new power from anywhere and snap his fingers till the bad guys poof away. The episode climaxes with the Ghost catching a falling space ship but we're never shown the limits of his strength so the character never seems like he's in any danger. Sadly the show takes one to many directions from the 90's when it comes to the art style, it loses the vibrant colours that were a staple of the type of stories the episode references and tries to emulate. The episode has a gray filter hanging over it and if it wasn't for the accents the show could have taken place on a mild June night in Manchester. The bad guys are all right one part face hugger, one part Krang from TMNT with the kind of plan you'd expect from a race that can build faster than light spaceships but not exist outside of jars without help. Nardol, the character that people expected to be the downfall of this episode added a sweet bit of comic relief and made the show that little bit more bearable with some genuinely funny lines and this episode gave us the first look at the new season so watch it if you've got the time but it might be worth downing an energy drink cause the dull tone and grey filter might just send you off to sleep.