Doctor Who 2009 Recap & Holiday Specials

He will knock four times. And we won’t answer. Please don’t hurt our Doctor!

The Doctor Who Christmas special is rolling around yet again, it being Christmas and all.

The last full season of Doctor Who was in 2008, when we left companion Donna Noble recovering from absorbing all the knowledge of a time lord and saving the day, only to get her memories wiped by the Doctor for fear that time lordy knowledge would make her go utterly mad. I personally think that Donna got the biggest shaft out of any companion. Seriously? Memory Wipe?

The Doctor continues alone on his journeys with a mediocre 2008 Christmas special called ‘The Next Doctor’ involving Cybermen. The Doctor makes an outrageous comment about why he hasn’t found a new companion: “They leave. Because they should. Or they find someone else. And some of them— some of them forget me. I suppose in the end… they break my heart.”

Not so, good Doctor, it is you who breaks our hearts.

So the Doctor continues on his travels, chatting up a jewel thief on a bus, only to end up on a sand-that’s-really-dead-people planet in the Easter 2009 special ‘The Planet of the Dead.’ The jewel thief turns out to be Lady Christina De Souza, a match to the Doctor both intellectually, and charismatically, who pretty much begs to be the next companion. Her request is unequivocally turned down by the Doctor.

He also gets this ominous warning from a semi-psychic predicting his upcoming death, telling him that his song is ending, and that “it is returning through the dark. And then Doctor… oh, but then… he will knock four times.” This echoes a previous warning from the Ood, a squidy servant race whom the Doctor liberates earlier in the season.

Next, we are treated to creepy Martian Water Zombies (not a technical term) in the ‘Waters of Mars’ fall 2009 special, which serves as a background for the Doctor’s biggest ethical dilemma to date. His mind cracks a little, and he refers to himself as the TIME LORD VICTORIOUS, saying “There are laws of time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws, but they died. They all died. Do you know who that leaves? Me! It’s taken me all these years to realise the laws of time are mine! And they will obey me!” Quickly and harshly realizing his hubris, he has a vision of an ominous Ood off in the distance.

This sets us up for our 2009 Christmas special and 2010 New Years Day special. It is a two-parter called ‘The End of Time.’ What are we in for? The Doctor is unwilling to take on a new companion for fear of another broken heart. He is alone, sad, and unsure of his purpose in the universe. His death has been foretold twice and he keeps on jumping at the sound of repeated knocking. The morale of the franchise can’t get any lower.

Fans know that David Tennant is exiting the series, off to Hollywood to play a misanthropic lawyer for NBC. This means that during ‘The End of Time’ the Doctor will regenerate.

The regeneration of the Doctor is kind of a strange thing, because he doesn’t actually die, but it is still really sad because he regenerates into not only a new physical body, but into a new personality as well. This is a clever device used to phase in new actors without the pressure of making them act like the previous Doctor, and fresh faces/personalities have largely contributed to the longevity of the show. Unfortunately, it means that we must now mourn the 10th Doctor. David Tennant will be sorely missed, and the specials will certainly be full of tears for Who-fans.

Now, I have been hiding out from spoilers, but there are a few things I can tell you at this point. The Master is back. He is the Doctor’s lifelong nemesis who died at the end of series three. The Master is also a time lord, but after his previous death, he did not regenerate, so the mechanism that they’re going to use to bring him back is unknown.

Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) is listed as a guest star, as is John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness). Barrowman is not featured in the trailers or the press for the specials, so it is likely to be a small part, but Torchwood fans are hoping to get some clues on what Captain Jack has been doing since he suffered the death of his grandson and Ianto Jones and his base of operations got blown to smithereens.

Matt Smith will start out as the 11th Doctor in 2010. He is the youngest actor to play the Doctor ever. Early photos show him with a leggy red-headed companion, and they seem to be frolicking and smiling, so as dark as the Christmas specials may turn out to be, I think we’re in for a lighter series five, especially since evil genius writer Russell T Davies is leaving as well.

So ditch your loved ones this holiday season, grab that handkerchief, and prepare yourself for another page in Doctor Who history. Doctor Who ‘The End of Time’ part one will air on Christmas day on the BBC, and December 26th on BBC America. Part two will air on New Year’s Day in the UK, and January 2nd on BBC America. Both specials will be airing back to back on January 2nd on the Space Channel in Canada.