Unspoilery thoughts on the Dr Who special

[alias_sqbr]

(Well, no more spoilery than the trailer)

This is a deft, entertaining retelling of "A Christmas Carol", with all the nuanced and modern gender roles, racial dynamics and social commentary of the original 1843 novel(*).

But my main reaction(**) is: SCREW YOU NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WRITERS SOME PEOPLE "ON EARTH" CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IN SUMMER. OR HAVE NO WINTER AT ALL. Also midwinter here is a little gloomy but also a period of budding greenery and refreshing rain, while midsummer is an ordeal of sun, scorched earth and broken airconditioners.

(*)Admittedly a step up from many modern adaptations.
(**)Which has also been niggling at me with a lot of the general response to christmas about the place online, but none of it was as smugly annoying as this.

Comments

Also non-spoilery

[susanreads]

I haven't got round to posting my thoughts, but they include "Ow, NO ... that's not going to go down well in Australia". Or at more length, "All human-occupied worlds have a pronounced axial tilt and are totally dominated by civilisations based well away from the equator in only one hemisphere !!11!" In general, it seems particularly heavy on the "fantasy, not science fiction" aspect.

Also, "Have we done 'Yes we cater for straight people' now?"

The original 1843 novel had black extras??

[kerravonsen]

Yeah, yeah, I found that a bit irritating... but... I loved the repeated line of "half-way out of the dark"...

[deird1]

But my main reaction(**) is: SCREW YOU NORTHERN HEMISPHERE WRITERS SOME PEOPLE "ON EARTH" CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IN SUMMER. OR HAVE NO WINTER AT ALL. Also midwinter here is a little gloomy but also a period of budding greenery and refreshing rain, while midsummer is an ordeal of sun, scorched earth and broken airconditioners.

Heh. My thoughts exactly.

[alias_sqbr]

Oh yes, that was a great line. I just could have done without the implication that it was a universal property of Christmas, rather than a universal property of midwinter.

Re: Also non-spoilery

[alias_sqbr]

Stephen Moffat does seem very focussed on straight romance, which is a bit jarring after RTD :/

The original 1843 novel had black extras??

Yes!

...ok, no, not that I remember :P Still, they were very much extras, and Dickens did have the odd minor black character here and there in his books.