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The episode begins with the Doctor (Matt Smith) on a spaceship (nothing new) which is exploding around him. 'Intruder alert' sounds and the Doctor in yet more mayhem, as he reaches for the spacesuit and can't get hold of it. He drops from the ship and freefalls behind the suit, finally catching up to it and putting it on before he reaches Earth. This episode was anything but chaos, aside from the opening; it was more serene, appropriate for the time of year.
The Doctor is found in the field by a woman, he thinks he's blind, but he's got his helmet on the wrong way round. The woman returns home and gives a message to her son, Cyril (Maurice Cole) for their father. She thinks she's found an angel in the field and she's taking the car. She drops the Doctor off at a Policebox. The impact suit is repairing him and she picks the lock with her hairpin cos he can't get to his key. It's not his Box, should have known since it was easily picked. She takes him to find his own Box (TARDIS) and Madge (Claire Skinner) tells him, "no one should be alone at Christmas." If she needs him then she should make a wish.
Three Years later: her husband (Alexander Armstrong) is a pilot in the war and his Lancaster is lost over the English Channel, "We're going home for Christmas," he tells the crewman. Well he was shown for a reason as we'll later see. Madge receives a telegram to inform her of his death. She doesn't tell the children yet. They're going to uncle Digby's house for Christmas. Lily (Holly Earl) and Cyril make a wish and so does Madge - for the Doctor.
Christmas Eve: It's not the Caretaker but the Doctor who has made the house ready for them. He asks if he can take their cases but then tells them to carry them for themselves. He's "usually called the Doctor, or the Caretaker or 'get off this planet'" though that's not a name. He shows them around the house, commenting the sitting room is pointless if there's no TV and makes the armchairs spin. There's also a tap for lemonade he's installed in the kitchen and he thinks the staircase should be an escalator and everything's so "sciencey wiencey." He couldn't get onto the hammock either, "this hammock has developed a fault." Just like everything else.
Madge can't tell them about their father yet since Christmas will be responsible for taking their father away. Doctor: "Everytime you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be and it breaks your heart." Still some poignant moments in this episode continuing on from the season 6 finale as this line refers to the Doctor and his death and how Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) still believe he's dead, or so he thinks. As do many others. He's left a large present under the tree. Lily and Cyril like the Doctor, calling him the Caretaker, cos he's really taking care of them isn't he. Cyril can hear voices from the box and he goes through it into a snow covered wonderland. Picking a bauble from the tree which grows and falls to the ground, cracking into two. Lily asks the Doctor about the Policebox, which he calls his wardrobe commenting on the clothes he wears.
They find Cyril isn't asleep and then go through the box too. He says "time moves differently through dimensional planes" and asks who opens their presents early. Cyril follows the footprints to a building like a huge tower, or lighthouse even. Lily exclaims the tree is alive and he says yes, it's a tree, "naturally occurring Christmas trees...do you know the difference between the wind and the trees talking to each other - no wind." Something's not right. Well no, that' why the Doctor is here. He sees a wooden face in the bauble. Madge comes looking for her children and three people appear carrying guns. They're Harvest rangers. Madge sobs. The Doctor claims people can't resist a door and wonders why the forest needs people.
One of the men, Venn-Garr (Paul Bazely) has mother issues and also cries. The woman, Billis (Arabella Weir) puts down her gun and they have to as well, allowing Madge to pull out her own gun. Droxil (Bill Bailey) tells her it is 5345 and they're from Androzani Major. The woman inside the tower moves with the crown in her hand. The Doctor realizes again that the Sonic doesn't work on wood, as we've witnessed on several occasions. The Forest of Cheem fancied him once. Lily notices stars rising from the trees which he calls pure life force. Cyril has the crown placed on his head, stirring the wooden man from downstairs. Billis detects for life forms and Droxil tells Madge the forest is being harvested as a fuel source, to be melted with acid rain.
The doors open by themselves and the Doctor calls the wooden woman the queen bee. The life force leaves the forest and the "aliens are made of "again making the Sonic useless on them. Cyril can hear the trees scream. The three are beamed from the harvester leaving Madge behind. She can hear the voices of the Doctor and the children. The Doctor wants to wear the crown, "I look great in a hat." A not so subtle reference to his fave the Fez and his other hat, his Stetson. He's weak like Cyril but Lily is strong though young. The acid rain falls and Madge arrives in the harvester since Cyril refuses to leave without her. Madge is crowned as she is strong and the life forces gather at the tower and enter Madge. The Doctor explains it's a translation from the "base code of nature." She's female and a mother, life travels in the "mothership." He tells everyone to "hold tight and pretend it's a plan." Like he does.
The orb from the top of the tower flies though the time vortex and she must think to get them home. The Doctor doesn't have a home, he's older than he looks and he can't feel anymore. So Madge has to fly it, she has to think "until it hurts." Until she feels the pain. She and her husband were bound to meet, that's why he was shown in the beginning. The glowing light will guide them home. They arrive back and Madge tells the Doctor no one "would prefer to be alone," when he suggests she needs to tell the children about their father, alone. She begins to tell them but he stops her, cos he's here. There were stars to light the way, those in her head and there was Madge, his star. Doctor: "Happy Crying. Humaney wumaney."
Madge recalls him now, "my Spaceman angel." He was about to show her how the box worked but he's got to leave now. He doesn't have a family but people who love him, friends. Everyone thinks he's dead. Madge tells him not to let them think this and if he wants her to return, she should make a wish.
Amy opens the door to carol singers, she thinks, with water pistol in hand. It's been two years and River (Alex Kingston) told them about his being alive. She's not hugging first and neither is he and they both do, eventually. Amy always sets him a place for dinner. Notice the TARDIS disappears from behind the Doctor after Rory invites him in. Then it's back when the Doctor is shown from the back standing in the doorway. He cries and then he smiles.
At least Amy and Rory did make an appearance albeit at the end. The Doctor should have known River would've told them he's alive, so his turning up wasn't a surprise to Amy but it was to the Doctor.
Trust Cyril to open the present before Christmas, as most do and this leads to no end of trouble; but on the plus side, Madge gets to guide their father home, who otherwise would have remained lost and as dead as the telegram stated. This was Christmas and we couldn't have that sort of a bleak ending. It had to be "schmaltzy waltzy." Not even a bleak ending for the Doctor as he goes home to his friends and the friends he chose were Amy and Rory of course. Not to mention the tear he sheds - he's the Doctor - he feels emotion, but he never cries. So there were lots of references to crying from him too, such as "Happy crying." Also when he tells Madge of their heartbreak once they learn of their father's death. The heartbreak Amy and Rory must have felt or would have felt if River hadn't told them beforehand. But the Doctor didn't know, so he felt their sorrow - their sadness for them.
Androzani Major is the sister planet to Androzani Minor from the story with the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, The Caves of Androzani. Alexander Armstrong who played their father was also in the Doctor Who episodes Journey's End and The Stolen Earth, as well as being the voice of the computer Mr Smith in the Sarah Jane Adventures. Amy can't get enough of guns and here she sports a water pistol. In the episode with David Tennant, The Fires of Pompeii, he also had a water pistol and Karen Gillan played a soothsayer in that episode.
Mixed reviews for this episode but it wasn't that bad. At least there weren't any flying fish this time round and well, A Christmas Carol and ghosts have been done to smithereens really. This was an episode without all the violence or saving the Earth and was more about rescuing the trees and bringing a family home for Christmas, or should I say two families home, including that of reuniting the Doctor with the Ponds.
The Forest of Cheem was in the episode The End of the World with the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston. The one who fancied him was called Jabe Ceth Ceth Jafe and she gave her life to save him.
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