Since 2005, annual Christmas Specials have become a tradition for Doctor Who. During Russell T Davies' tenure as showrunner, these specials tended to be exciting, fast paced episodes with the Christmas theme tacked on at the end. When Steven Moffat took over, the specials were more Christmassy than ever, due to the fact that the episodes were adaptations of classic Christmas-themed novels. However, 'The Snowmen' sees a return to the RTD style Christmas special, and the result is something distinctly underwhelming.

'The Snowmen' has the Doctor acting very Scrooge-like, still very much affected by Amy and Rory's departure in 'The Angels Take Manhatten', and has decided to retire from saving the universe, living in the TARDIS, which he's parked up in the clouds. Fortunately, he has the help of Madam Vastra the Silurian and her wife Jenny, as well as Strax the Sontaran (all last scene in 2011's 'A Good Man Goes to War'), and later on, Clara Oswald, a Governess and part time barmaid. Together, they have to save the world from the schemes of Doctor Simeon and his giant snow globe...sorry, an alien Intelligence.

Firstly, the good:

Unfortunately, most of the good in the episode isn't to do with the actual story itself, rather, elements that the story introduces. The new title sequence, for one, is really, really good. It's energetic, it’s exciting, and it's red. Tick, tick and tick. I love the fact that it has elementsof most, if not all, of the classic title sequences, and shows that the production team is getting geared up for the 50th Anniversary. As for the theme arrangement, well, it hasn't changed that much, not that it matters, as I liked the old one in the first place, but I liked the echoes of the 1986 version. The TARDIS redesign is also excellent, harking back to the original console, while at the same time, updating it for the modern audience. Is it strange that I feel happy when I see and hear the Doctor flicking actual switches in theTARDIS again? It takes me back...

More links are made with the past, as this episode is an origin story for the Great Intelligence, a being who menaced the Second Doctor twice, in Tibet and the London Underground (it’s implied that it was the Eleventh Doctor who gave the Intelligence the idea in the first place). In the lead up to the 50th Anniversary, it was a very nice and welcome touch to the episode.

With the introduction of Clara, I can now see what the story arc of the next eight episodes will be: the Doctor trying to work out what the relation between Clara and Oswin (from ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ is. My current theory is that Clara/Oswin was, at some point in her life/lives, splintered into different segments and scattered throughout time, similar to what happened to Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, from 1979’s City of Death (does this mean that Clara/Oswin is a green, one eyed alien from the dawn of time?).

I liked the Doctor’s Scrooge-esque behaviour in the first half of the episode, showing us that he’s still mourning the loss of the Ponds, and has subsequently decided to isolate himself from the universe (though one has to wonder why he’d do that in Victorian London when he could have easily parked the TARDIS somewhere in space).

The bad:

First up, and following on from the previous paragraph, I found the Doctor’s subsequent recovery to his usual persona to be extremely spontaneous and contrived, and this applies to his giving a TARDIS key to Clara as well. Why did he do it, he only just met her! And, as if the universe wanted to show the Doctor why he shouldn't be so impulsive, the Ice Governess grabs Clara and pulls her off the cloud about two minutes later. I think we’ve a record for the shortest tenure of any companion here!

Also, if someone is going to fall from a cloud, I’m pretty sure that they’re going to, you know, receive visible injuries, at the very least some broken bones. Yet Clara seems to have magically escaped injury (apart from death), and is subsequently revived (albeit briefly) in a very contrived way: so her tears can melt the snow, thus miraculously saving the day, and to provide the Doctor with some clues as to her identity.

Also, why did Clara kiss the Doctor? It happened spontaneously, with no character development to lead up to the big moment (and does this mean the Doctor’s cheating, as he’s married to River...?). I really don’t want to see another companion fall in love with theDoctor, so hopefully any potential romance will have died along with this version of Clara/Oswin.

The monsters do nothing, absolutely nothing. The snowmen grow and snarl, the ice lady chases the Doctor and Clara, pulls Clara off the cloud, then is shattered upon hitting the ground (come to think of it, why don't the villains just pick up a piece of her, they controled the grounds, so it wouldn't have been difficult). Doctor Simeon stands around with one expression on his face, and the Intelligence is confined to a giant snow globe (reducing Ian Mckellen’s fantastic voice to an extended cameo). I must emphasise this: there is no threat here whatsoever. I can only think of one point in the episode where I genuinely thought a character was threatened, and that was when the Doctor was being frozen by an Intelligence-controlled Simeon. Other than that, the villains and monsters were all pointless.

Oh, and why does the Doctor have an 'anti-freeze' setting on the sonic screwdriver? It's sonic, he could easily shatter the ice lady by resonating the ice, all without an 'anti-freeze' option. And I'm pretty sure somthing can't become immune to resonating or the subsequent shattering...

The Average:

The three returning characters fared a little better. Vastra and Jenny were good in their limited scenes, but weren’t as interesting as they were last year. Strax, however, was ruined, being reduced to comic relief (though I must admit it was generally effective). I really liked his character last year, and was moved when he died, but here, he’s been resurrected. How? We're not told, and the subject is simply dismissed, and we are given a weak explanation for Strax’s new found sense of humour instead. I also disliked the way the Doctor treated him,giving him noogies, and just insulting him for no reason at all. This is really out of character for the Doctor, as I can’t imagine him continuously insulting his friends. It also appears as if the Doctor does it because he knows he can get away with it, as Strax just goes along with it. He’s a Sontaran, for crying out loud, he could easily stop the Doctor bullying him!

I don’t mean to be a Scrooge here, but this episode was really disappointing. Steven Moffat has shown he can create a masterful Christmas special (‘A Christmas Carol’;), but his last two have very underwhelming. While ‘The Snowmen’ is most certainly better than ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’, it’s not great either. While there were good bits in the episode, there was plenty of bad as well. I wouldn’t call the episode bad per se, just average. Therefore, I rate ‘The Snowmen’:

6/10

What did you think of the episode? Comment below to let me (and others) know.