Doctor Who The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2005– ) Online

2005– Peter Capaldi Matt Lucas Justin Chatwin Edward Bazalgette

Original Title :: The Return of Doctor Mysterio
Genre :: TV Episode / Adventure / Drama / Family / Mystery / Sci-Fi
Year :: 2005–
Directror :: Edward Bazalgette
Cast :: Peter Capaldi,Matt Lucas,Justin Chatwin
Writer :: Steven Moffat
Type :: TV Episode
Time :: 1h 1min
Rating :: 7.5/10

Doctor Who The Return of Doctor Mysterio (2005– ) Online

In New York, with brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious masked superhero known only as the Ghost. Can the Doctor save Manhattan? And what will be revealed when we see behind the mask?

Episode complete credited cast:
	Peter Capaldi	-	The Doctor
	Matt Lucas	-	Nardole
	Justin Chatwin	-	Grant
	Charity Wakefield	-	Lucy
	Tomiwa Edun	-	Mr Brock
	Aleksandar Jovanovic	-	Dr Sim
	Logan Hoffman	-	Young Grant
	Daniel Lorente	-	Teen Grant
	Sandra Teles	-	Reporter
	Tanroh Ishida	-	Operator
	Vaughn Johseph	-	Soldier

Mr. Brock refers reporters to a pair of employees named Shuster and Siegel. Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist) are the creators of Superman.

"Doctor Misterio" (without the "y") is the name given to the Doctor Who (2005) series in Mexico. Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi went to Mexico as part of the Doctor Who World Tour and Capaldi became mildly obsessed with the name. Because of this it became one of the inspirations for this episode.

Charity Wakefield's character is named Lucy Lombard, a clear reference to how several love interests of Superman had alliterative names beginning with L, including his eventual wife, Lois Lane.

Steven Moffat confirmed that Peter Capaldi would return, stating Capaldi would like to stay for at least 3 seasons.

The large time distortion fixing machine/device the Doctor is making on the roof of young Grant's building is to fix the local time distortions, which the Doctor admits to being the cause of-referring to "Angels in Manhattan", in which due to the paradox created by Amy and Rory, the TARDIS couldn't return to go back to New York again.

With a gap of exactly one year since the previous episode in the series aired, marks the longest break in the "NuWho" section of Doctor Who since its initial beginning.

This will be the only episode of Doctor Who in 2016. Season 10 will air in spring of 2017.

Just after the 39 minute mark, a theater marquee is shown. The marquee says "Mind of Evil now showing." "The Mind of Evil" is a third Doctor adventure featuring the Master.

Grant's comic book, that The Doctor was reading, is John Byrne's "Man of Steel" a 1986 mini-series that related Superman's new origin following the continuity reboot that had just happened in "Crisis on Infinite Earths".

The comics shown in the opening are Superman #7 (July 1987, by John Byrne and Karl Kesel) and #19 (July 1988, by John Byrne and John Beatty) and Action Comics #840 (August 2006, by Geoff Johns, Kurt Busiek, and Pete Woods).

Acting debut of Logan Hoffman.

Grant Gordon is alliterative, similar to the alter ego of Superman (the original inspiration for the "flying brick" trope): Clark Kent. Most famously it is also how Stan Lee named his Silver Age characters, as riffed on in _"The Big Bang Theory" (2007) {The Excelsior Acquisition (#3.16)_, like Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdock, Reed Richards, the Fantastic Four, Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom, Dum Dum Dugan, Fin Fang Foom and J. Jonah Jameson Junior. Stan Lee wrote both "Fantastic Four" #10 (cover dated January 1963) and #16 (July 1963) whose covers announced "The Return of Doctor Doom!". He also created a Spider-Man villain called Mysterio (in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #13, June 1964).

The Ghost is an obvious nod to the comic strip superhero The Phantom. In the comic strips, The Phantom is called "The Ghost Who Walks".

The 2016 Christmas special was broadcast the same day George Michael passed away. Matt Lucas had played George Michael in Rock Profile (1999).

When the Doctor talks about Spider-Man, right after discussing Superman, and the discussion turns to why Peter Parker didn't get sick from a radioactive spider instead of getting powers, this has always been a running joke in the scientific/comic fan community, "Why? " is always asked. In the comics , Superman Versus Spider-Man was an actual comic , albeit an extra large dimensions comic in the later 1970's. One of a few times that DC/Marvel has had anactual team up.

The main antagonists in this episode were foreshadowed in last year's Christmas special (The Husbands of River Song) as the buyer for the diamond. The buyer states he "represents the Shoal of the Winter Harmony" and has the cut on his face that the duplicates have in this episode. The antagonists are part of a company called Harmony Shoals.

Doctor Who: This episode takes place 24 years after Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015). One night on the planet Darilium takes 24 (earth) years.

Matt Lucas's 2nd appearance as Nardole, who first appeared in Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015). The Doctor mentions that he reattached Nardole's head to his body (because it was decapitated by King Hydroflax's robotic body).

User reviews

Bajinn

8.5

I am a sucker for superhero-inspired TV shows and I loved this. Grant was basically Superman with a Batman costume. It was such a fun time & it really made me see how much Clara was weighing the Doctor down. Nardole is so funny & I hope he remains a companion for a while because he makes the 12 Doctor better.

Ready for Season 10 !!!!

Mr.Savik

I thought the Return of Doctor Mysterio was a nice, well rounded episode. I still like the Husbands of River Song much more, but these two specials are completely different episodes with different objectives. They're both light-hearted for the most part, but Husbands focuses more on the Doctor and River's story while the Return of Doctor Mysterio just wants to be an entertaining hour of television that continues Doctor Who's tradition of having a Christmas special. What I really liked about this episode though was that it wasn't afraid to be fun. Capaldi and Nardole made a great team, and their words to Lucy and Grant at the end of the episode were probably the highlights of the episode. I do think that the best parts of this episode stemmed from the references to the Doctor and River Song's relationship and her death at the Library though. Those small, yet deeper moments really made this episode for me, and it's nice to see Capaldi's Doctor develop a bit more and show that he really is attached to those who travel with him and to see that Nardole has different sides to his character.

While I wasn't a huge fan of director Ed Bazalgette's episodes in series 9, I liked how he made this episode feel like a comic book and how there was such a long pre-credits sequence. I think he did a great job directing this episode. The writing seemed a bit weaker in this episode than usual: the Doctor's "Plan B" seemed rushed and was a bit hard to follow in the moment, and there were a few lines here and there that felt unnecessary. Aside from that, Grant and Lucy were good characters and it would be cool for them to come back in the future of the show. The actors who portrayed them were good and the Doctor has obviously impacted their lives in a big way. The villains weren't really threatening though and to be honest I'm not that excited to hear that Osgood might be coming back. I hope that the cliffhanger with the brain aliens is developed a bit more next series though.

Overall, I think that the Return of Doctor Mysterio was a nice episode. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was funny, adventurous, well acted and directed, Matt Lucas and Peter Capaldi were great, and it had a pretty nice ending as well.

Kagda

Well, I'm a big comic book fan myself, so this 2016 Doctor Who Christmas Special was right down my street. No doubt it was show-runner Stephen Moffat's response to the Doc's army of super-heroic rivals on TV from Marvel & DC but either way, it was a win-win for me.

The only real concession to the season itself was the Doctor's initial Christmas Eve meeting with young Grant, effectively the latter's origin story for his super-powered adult alter-ego The Ghost, the comedic nature of which immediately tells you this isn't going to be one of the Doc's more serious adventures.

Fast forward to the future as the Doctor and now fully-grown Grant are pitched against an alien race out to replace all the world leader's brains with their own. Given recent events across the water, one has to wonder if they succeeded in their aim at least in America. There's an engaging sub-plot with the jaw-jutting super-hero moonlighting as the meek-mannered nanny of his schoolboy-crush-now-grown-up crime reporter Lucy with the three of them coming together to save the world leaving the youngsters to fall in love, naturally at the very end (well Superman married Lois in the end, didn't he?).

Along the way, for comic-fans there was a nod to Superman's creators Siegel and Shuster, elsewhere there were lots of humour, nice New York motifs and better-than-expected special effects. I'm not keen on Matt Lucas so his dimwitted character grated on me somewhat but Capaldi is on good form, plus I liked the actors who played the young couple in best Superman and Lois style.

A really fun, light-hearted one-off episode, with nary a Christmas tree in sight.

Otiel

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'

Lanionge

This Christmas special opens in New York City with the Doctor hanging outside the window of young Grant Gordon; once inside he gives Grant a small crystal which he mistakes for medicine and swallows it is no ordinary crystal; it has the power to make the users dreams come true and this young boy dreams of having similar powers to Superman! Twenty four years later the Doctor is back in New York investigating the sinister Harmony Shoals Corporation; also there is reporter Lucy Fletcher and Nardole, who has become The Doctor's latest companion. The find a room full of brains in jars; brains that want human hosts as part of an alien invasion plot! They are captured but then they are rescued by a flying superhero known as The Ghost. We soon learn that he is Grant Gordon and when he isn't The Ghost he is working as Lucy's nanny. It turns out he has known her since they were children but she has no idea that he has superpowers. Lucy is determined to find out more about The Ghost but he tries to keep his identity secret. While this is going on The Doctor tries to find the details of Harmony Shoals' plans and with the help of The Ghost thwart them.

When I saw trailers for this special I wasn't too optimistic; it looked like an attempt to cash in on the popularity of superhero lately and the New York setting made me think the creators were just trying to attract more US viewers. It is possible that this was true but ultimately it didn't matter as the story was rather good. I liked the alien invaders; they were suitably unpleasant and were just about as scary as one could hope for in a show aimed at a family audience; the way their heads opened was delightfully disturbing. The story played with the conventions of the superhero genre in an enjoyable way; never taking itself too seriously but equally not being deliberately silly. The cast did a fine job; Peter Capaldi continues to impress as The Doctor and Matt Lucas made a surprisingly good companion in the role of Nardole I know there will be a new female companion next year but he showed that a male companion can work. Justin Chatwin did a solid job as Grant/The Ghost and Charity Wakefield was pretty good as his love interest Lucy. Tomiwa Edun and Aleksandar Jovanovic also impress as the story's villains. Overall this was a really solid episode which thankfully didn't overdo the fact that it is a Christmas special.

Folsa

There was really nothing that excited me about the return of Doctor Who for the Christmas special; generally they are only so-so episodes, and too often they overplay the seasonal aspect and throw lots of glitter-like aspects into the mix (by which I mean stuff that looks nice from a distance but is a mess and an annoyance when you get to it – source, I have a small daughter and lots of things with glitter stuck to them, and over everything else). On top of that the promotional poster looked cheap and silly – much like the superhero costume itself; and the title (The Return of Doctor Mysterio) screamed of cheese. So, like Doctor Who generally, I almost come at it now with a much lower bar for what will work for me – ie if it is not awful, then it must be one of the good episodes.

And by that yardstick, this Christmas special was quite enjoyable. It featured a topical (if overdone) genre of superheroes, had some sinister creature elements, showed restraint in a lot of areas, and generally was interesting in what it did with the characters. Generally it was greeted by those around me in the same way – satisfied indifference, which I do think is sometimes what this show is happy with – particularly in these big seasonal event shows. However this is not to say that the special is a good watch, because it isn't, and there is a lot to be irritated by. It wastes the aliens – it has some sinister images and ideas but doesn't follow them up, and the invasion plot really has limited menace. It does have a nice romantic plot but it doesn't do it that well, it is very much BBC sitcom level (and that is not a good thing). I liked the restraint it showed regarding the seasonal stuff, and that Matt Lucas was not a big part of it and was really limited in his impact (enough to be a good addition, not enough to be too annoying).

In the end it is an okay Christmas special but suffers from the same issue that much of Doctor Who – it really doesn't know what it wants to do, and feels produced by committee. The mix of content doesn't always work, and as usual we end with the Doctor being all dark and alone – something Capaldi can work with, but is never really fleshed out as it should be. In the context of Christmas Day though, it did work well enough to pass muster thanks to the state of the audience, and the low expectations/requirements the vast majority will have brought with them.

Risa

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

Runemane

I eagerly awaited the first new episode of Doctor Who in a year, and it did not disappoint! While I've never been a particularly huge fan of the superhero genre, I did like the nods to Superman, which I watched from time to time as a child. I never thought that having X-ray vision could be so troublesome! ;)

I enjoyed the lighthearted moments in The Return of Doctor Mysterio much as I did while watching The Husbands of River Song last year. It's refreshing to see some humorous episodes after the conclusion of the dark but gripping Series 9. Peter Capaldi is brilliant at comedy--I was laughing out loud at several points in the story. Here's to hoping he stays at least four seasons. Three is simply not enough for one Doctor!

Androlhala

I wish there was a 0/10 rating on IMDb because I would use it for this. I've always been a huge Doctor Who lover, but this is the absolute epitome of Moffat-Era Doctor Who being ruined. Everything about this episode is god awful. It's written like a 12 year old's fan-fiction, the costume design is cringy at best, the effects are worse than ever. I could not keep a straight face during watching this, laughing at it and just wanting to fall through the earth. It's quite unfortunate, Peter Capaldi is a brilliant Doctor but he got the worst team making the show behind him. Predictable, boring, rehashed. Every single Hollywood trope was used to the point of annoyance. Not at all clever. Not at all magical. Not at all Doctor Who. Season 9 was bad I thought, because they passed brilliant opportunities and made them boring somehow but here they took a whole new level. I personally can't wait until Season 11, because both Moffat and Capaldi are to retire from the show after Season 10. I also don't understand how they could've taken a whole year off to come up with this... Also why would BBC spend a bunch of money developing another garbage spin-off show, when they could've just put more money into actual Doctor Who to make it good and re-kindle the audience. Doctor Who is one of the few shows that can make me feel that child-like wonder again, did not happen to me this time around. I'm sorry but this is a Zero out of Ten for me. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone, let's hope Season 10 is good...

Iraraeal

Okay it's Christmas time so let's tick off the checklist

Nice Xmas card from Bob The Moo ? Check

Ton of food from a kitchen I work in ? Much better than the food at the care home last year . Check

DOCTOR WHO Christmas special ? Check

Don't get your hopes built up about it ? Check

My enthusiasm if not my addiction to the show has become increasingly diluted over the years . This is entirely down to the direction of the show under Moffat and catching a couple of trailers late in the day I noticed thus year's special revolves around superhero mode . Well let's be honest and like them or not Super-heroes are very popular in popular culture but does DOCTOR WHO have to follow trends ? Especially since it has been rewriting icons from the show such as The Master played by John Simm all the way back to the RTD era as literal comic strip characters

That said this special remains rather low key compared to many of the other specials and overblown season finales . It's basically a run around type of adventure involving an alien invasion where the aliens have all ready landed and it's up to the Doctor and a masked hero to save the day . There's not much you haven't seen here before but one noticeable thing is that the villain isn't a White Anglo Saxon Protestant type . Foreign type dude wants to destroy New York in a big explosion . Don't worry about any controversy because it's a family show so that makes it all right

In all a relatively enjoyable though forgettable special . Of course it always helps that you're not expecting too much of a feast

Wenes

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.

Zyniam

I've been a Whovian for the better part of half a century. I go back to Patrick Troughton.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this rebooted Doctor Who since Ecclestone. I think that Tennant and Smith were fantastic. Their companions have been superb also.

I have tried to enjoy Capaldi's tetchy incarnation but its been a challenge. That challenge has been getting bigger since Clara left us. I do hope the coming season breathes new life into the franchise.

But if this 'special' is anything to go by, my hopes are dwindling. First the premise. Aliens invading the Earth.... Oh wait. That wasn't the premise this time. Just a byline. Almost a distraction from the actual premise which was just a weak rip off of Lois and Clark.

I waited a few days before writing this review because I wanted to see it a second time... It didn't help.

Since Clara left us its been downhill.

And can somebody tell me what Matt Lucas' irritating character adds to the program?

Clandratha

The 2016 Xmas Special of Doctor Who was disappointing. After waiting a whole year for Doctor Who to return to our screens in 2016. Doctor Who doesn't return with a bang. The Xmas special was not great, it was average. It wasn't as good as the previous Christmas Specials Last Christmas and The Husbands of River Song. It is a bit slow in places. But I found it predictable and it was obvious what was going to happen. It was obvious the boy Grant grows to become The Ghost and that the ruby he swallows gives him his powers. I thought The Ghost was a obvious nod to another comic book strip character The Phantom. In the comic strips, The Phantom is called "The Ghosts Who Walks". It had some goods, but despite the pacing, Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas and Justin Chatwin's performances which were good, it just wasn't enough. Steven Moffat is a great writer and I don't think The Return of Dr. Mysterio was one of his best work on Doctor Who. Apart from the Xmas special, I shall look forward to Series 10 and I hope it's going to be amazing.

Nirad

Weaker than previous specials. It's OK enough as a DW rip-off of Marvel movies but that's all. Not bad, not great. I wouldn't like to see another similar "americanization" of DW, though.

X-MEN

So because of the absence of Doctor Who episodes for the entirety of 2016, this is the first episode aired since the last Christmas special. I kinda knew just by looking by the advertising that I wasn't going to enjoy it, because the inclusion of superhero elements looked incredibly cheesy.

This is meant to be a science fiction show. The laziest bit of writing I have ever seen is when the Doctor accidentally gives the little boy in the beginning a "wish granting crystal" which gives him his superpowers. If you're writing a science fiction show, at least have some fictitious science-y justification as opposed to full blown fantasy.

Also, this episode is a straight up Superman ripoff, down to the hero wearing spectacles as his secret identity. All the tired clichés are still here, Capaldi is once again being let down by weak writing, and I just lost hope for the show at that point.

Completely forgettable plot, Matt Lucas is brought back for no reason, and Justin Chatwin is playing the hero? Really? The guy who portrayed Goku in that abomination of a live-action Dragonball Z film? Sigh.

Needless to say, I wasted an hour of my life.

Gajurus

One plus for the Doctor Who creative team is they're consistent. 2015's Christmas Special was blah. 2016's Christmas Special was blah.

I think I have this thing figured out. Cable TV stations run Christmas specials through November and December. The majority of these are what I call cut rate Christmas specials. They're romantic comedies that are set at Christmas time. Other than the time - there are a few Christmas decorations, some snow, maybe a Christmas dinner - the specials have nothing to do with Christmas. They're mostly about some girl and guy getting together.

This episode is a cut rate Doctor Who episode. It takes place in a Doctor Who setting, but it's mainly about a girl and guy getting together. It's secondarily about the Doctor's grief at losing one of the many loves of his life.

This one uses the now becoming generic Doctor meets someone when they're a child, and then Doctor checks in throughout their life.

It also has the Doctor create one of his wonder machines. This is a machine that's so complicated the Doctor can't even begin to describe what it does or why he built it. He blathers some ridiculous explanation, then he immediately admits that explanation is baloney.

The end of the episode is a coming attractions for Series 10 of "Doctor Whaaaa". There's a new cockney companion basically saying "Doctor Who is gonna be so COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ustamya

our time is precious. We watch Dr Who for a variety of reasons but not to waste our time with junk science fiction and rip off's of other stories. Too bad, after a year of waiting I thought I would be excited at the return.

With episodes like this they shouldn't have bothered returning

Mallador

If this, the latest special, is any indication, then new show runner Chris Chibnall can't get here quick enough. This is without question, the worst special episode of the New Who and inarguably the single worst episode of the run yet. And I am in no way a Moffat hater. Last year's special, with the exception of the horrid Matt Lucas, was the best ever. Moffat has shepherded, in my opinion, one of the show's finest eras and has written shome of the show's finest scripts. This is not one, and it's extremely low quality in all respects was shocking. This is Moffat Doctor Who? Was it supposed to parody the super hero genre, or pay homage to it? You simply don't know. I feel it would have been better if Moffat had turned this over to someone with a better grasp of the genre, because he seemingly has none. The superheroics are extremely lame as is the very generic menace. Of all the characters that could have been brought back from previous seasons, we get the astonishingly obnoxious and hateable Nardole, played by the equally obnoxious and hateable Matt Lucas. And the moment he asked for the little boy's room? That was without doubt, the single most disturbing television moment of 2016. I simply cannot believe that passed the script editing process. What's next for the show, an appearance by Gary Glitter? I sincerely hope the series did not jump the shark. But even if it didn't, this one had the show strapping on the skis. An absolute new low for Doctor Who, a total insult to the fans and the hard work of Peter Capaldi. I pray it doesn't get worse than this. Jerry Warren's "Wild World of Batwoman" did superheroes better. And yes, I know how horrific that sounds. Doctor Who may be in for his greatest threat yet, Moffat's final season.

Golden Lama

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). Honestly, that intro is so convoluted and stupid. It only exists to jumpstart the terrible plot.

-The music is mixed so loud that its next to impossible to understand anything anyone is saying. I had to wait a few extra days after it came out to even watch it so that I could watch with the subtitles. Even my dad, whose hearing is fine couldn't understand what was going on in this episode the sound design was so bad.

-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. Or in any episode. They are gross and don't make sense.

-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. Even then its been done to death. Even if they had actually tried, it probably would have ended up as mediocre at best.

-Its painfully unfunny. The writers gave up in this episode. The plot is simplistic, leaving the episode filled to the brim with scenes that feel like they are supposed to be funny, but aren't. There is even a Pokemon Go reference. Word to the wise if anyone reading this, don't put internet memes in your tv shows. They will be dead by the time the episode comes out. That scene actually got a laugh out of me because it was already dated. (For anyone who says that Doctor who has referenced things like Ghostbusters in the past, I'd like to point out that Ghostbusters is an iconic movie that has been around for decades while Pokemon Go was a big thing for the summer of 2016 and then most people forgot about it. I'm not saying no-one plays it, but a lot less people even know what it is. Say "who you gonna call" and you'll have way more people answer "Ghostbusters" then there are people playing Pokemon Go.) Also, if you are going to put a meme in your tv show, try to have it make sense in context. The Doctor says that he flooded the downstairs floors with Pokemon and that is why the floor he was on was empty. Where is the correlation? If he means that security had gone to deal with it then why are all the scientists gone? If he means that all of the scientists were playing this phone app, I'd like to point out that most of them are supposed to be aliens intent on taking over the Earth. And those who aren't are supposed to be professionals. I'm picking this apart because its not just a joke, its a plot point, and it makes no sense.

-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. Also, I like superhero movies. That's not the problem. The problem is that this episode is painfully uncreative.

Tat

If I was to summarise this episode in one word it would be crap. Didn't feel Christmassy in any way. Probably the worst episode of modern Who ever. After seeing the previous Christmas special "The Husbands of River Song" which was good, the 2016 Christmas special was a complete and utter piece of crap. Didn't make me feel in a Christmas mood at all, but instead made me as bored as hell. Why oh why did they have to put a flipping superhero into the mix. The worst episode ever! Do yourselves a favor and watch, the Time of Doctor or The End of Time for God sake two of the best Christmas specials so far. Although I reckon Twice Upon A Time will be amazing. Can't wait to see that episode and I definitely won't be switching off this time!

Thetahuginn

I can't believe this is by Steven Moffat. I was expecting it would be good! This is not doctor who. I was buying loads of stuff to get more evidence about it and it actually sounded cool. the actual episode was a big mistake. The doctor goes into America and brings a superhero to life. what is this? SUPERMAN???? You can leave this one out guys. It is not what you were expecting it would be.

Berkohi

I think it's a sign of the times that the BBC were just pleased that this episode got into the top 10 in terms of ratings over Christmas. Years ago it would have been the top rated programme.

But times change, just ask the Doctor. Capaldi's Doctor has divided opinion more than any other Doctor, and he's not been helped by weak writing, or in this case, just a weak plot.

There are moments of quality, that's actually the frustrating thing, but there's nothing in this episode to make me alter my opinion that Capaldi leaving with Moffatt is perhaps the best thing to try to revive a flagging show before the BBC wields the axe.

Perhaps it's time anyway.

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