For the past nine years, Doctor Who has been cultivating its own special holiday tradition. The Christmas special has featured alien invasions, old villains, and new faces and is often the most watched episode of the year for the show, as families gather together to spend time with each other.
If you've ever thought of becoming a Whovian, the "Last Christmas" episode is a great jumping-on point. All you need to know is that the Doctor is a time-and-space-traveling alien, who often brings human companions with him on his adventures through the multiverse.
Here are five reasons to join in the Whovian festivities this Christmas from Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, who did a roundtable interview promoting the 10th annual event.
Watch the trailer for "Last Christmas":
1. It looks like a show for sci-fi nerds or kids, but it's actually for everybody
A lot of sci-fi shows are deliberately serialized and have built huge mythologies incomprehensible to new viewers. Doctor Who has serial elements, but Moffat makes sure every episode can stand on its own, especially at Christmas. "A lot of people will be forced into watching it that don't normally watch Doctor Who," he says. "You have to have a sort of quite basic version of Doctor Who."
The show has had a long history of making British kids duck behind their couches in fear of the monsters that appear onscreen, so while very young kids may want to skip it, the show is scary but optimistic in a way that's entertaining for both children and adults.
"It's not a show that children tolerate for their parents or parents tolerate for their children. It's a show that the entire family utterly engages in. So it feels properly, utterly right for Christmas Day."
Related: 'Doctor Who': A Beginner's Guide
2. It's got Santa
"I think I always had a vague wish that Doctor Who would meet Santa Claus when I was a kid." The connection between the two seems pretty clear: They both travel enormous distances in a short period of time. They both make the world a better place. They both have weird friends.
Moffat won't go so far as to say whether Santa would actually make a good Time Lord though. "Watch on Christmas Day and find out," he says with a laugh.
"They belong together," says Moffat. "And it's something in the hearts, I'm sure, of the younger part of our audience Doctor Who and Santa Claus live — and Robin Hood — all very much live in the same place."
3. It's got Nick Frost
In retrospect, it's a wonder he isn't always cast as Santa Claus. The actor who rose to fame in Shaun of the Deadand Hot Fuzz is plump and jolly but with an endearingly cynical edge. Even his name is suggestive. "Nicholas Frost is a name Santa would choose isn't it?" jokes Moffat. "If he was going for a nom de plume, he'd callhim — and it fits much better than Kris Kringle — Nicholas Frost."
"[Casting director] Andy Pryor drew up a list of potential Santas, and Nick Frost's name sort of leapt out at us a bit because he looks like Santa. And he's really cool. And kids love him. And he is the sort of funky sort of Santa that Doctor Who would have. He's the right Santa from Doctor Who land, I would think."
Related: First Photo of 'Doctor Who' Stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan: Look How Young They Were!
4. It's got Strax… but not really
This one's actually for fans of the show. Dan Starkey has played the Sontaran commander for years now — and even appeared as different Sontarans before that. For the first time on the show, we'll get to see his face without all the makeup that makes him look like "an angry potato," in Moffat's words.
"[I] was writing quite grumpy elves. I thought, 'Oh, you know, he's got the comedic gift, and he's got the height, frankly, to play this part, so let's get him in," says Moffat. "He's been in three consecutive Christmas specials, so that's a record I think for a nonregular."
5. It's fun
As a writer and showrunner, Moffat is frequently slaving away over a keyboard while traveling the world with the actors on press tours for the show. One year, he was writing a holiday episode in the middle of a sunny, Los Angeles winter "with all the air conditioning turned on, playing Christmas music trying to get myself in the mood."
So while he admits that he sometimes has to stretch his imagination to find inspiration, Moffat says, "Being able to write dialogue between the Doctor and Santa Claus is as good as it gets."
For those who are already fans of the Doctor, Moffat had some interesting things to say as well. Of all of the modern-era companions, Clara is the most like the Doctor — in fact, it's what ruined her relationship with Danny.
"The thing about Clara," says Moffat, "is that she thinks the show's called Clara. She really does. She has no idea that she's No. 2 in the credits," which, he says, is why they wrote in the joke about her calling herself the Doctor in the "Death in Heaven" episode.
Clara is almost like a version of the Doctor if he were a young woman living in London. "He'd be clever and presentable and funny but also thinking, 'When's something interesting going to happen?'"
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"I think for the first time, the Doctor is traveling with someone who is a bit of a loony like him, and that's quite fun," he says. "She can sort of play the same game he does. She can absolutely do that. She's terribly clever. She's got a wayward ego."
However, that ego and eagerness to explore is also why her relationship with Danny falls apart. "She doesn't really give it enough attention. It's just a little bit less exciting than running off in the blue box."
The fact that they are so alike is the reason why the last episode ended like it did. "They lie and endure pain and loneliness in order to protect the other because they think they know better." Be sure that even though the Christmas episode has the ultimate guest star in Santa, the issue of their unsatisfying farewell will be dealt with.
The Doctor Who Christmas episode, "Last Christmas," airs on Dec. 25 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.
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