WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Doctor Who Christmas Specials have had a rocky road over the years. They were kick-started well with the Christmas Invasion and were an enjoyable treat across the David Tennant run; but across the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi years they descended to become a cheesy and forced rather embarrassing Doctor Who pantomime which could be difficult to watch, and the specials had run out of steam by 2017. Last year the Church on Ruby Road revived the tradition with a new energy. Following on from the departure of Ruby Sunday, Steven Moffat returns to write another episode with fans wondering if he can deliver a satisfying Christmas adventure. Let's find out.
Joy to the World involves the Doctor landing in the middle of the Time Hotel; a hotel which has capitalised upon time travel with doors leading into different moments and different Christmases across human history. The Doctor follows a mysterious man with a suitcase, uncovering a scheme by the Villengard Corporation to detonate a star seed to use as an energy source. The Doctor finds himself in the middle of an exciting situation where it's up to him to stop an unfolding chaos.
Joy to the World has the trappings of a lot of Moffat scripts with timey wimey elements, plots that inter-tangle and witty dialogue. Similar to many of his stories, it features many creative and imaginative ideas; however, it becomes overly ambitious and loses sight of its goal. I think the confused pacing means the story isn’t what it could have been. Moffat is a master at taking noticeable and strange things from everyday life and fleshing out a science fiction concept from that.
Everyone has encountered a door which does not open in a hotel room and the idea that all these doors in fact lead to the Time Hotel is an intriguing and fascinating concept. It taps into something relatable but, at the same time, incredibly fantastical and imaginative. I love the idea of the Time Hotel and the way Steven Moffat has fleshed it out. It's an idea that appeals to us all, having all of history at our disposal through a hotel room door in the moments where the rooms are unoccupied. It also makes clear business sense from the point of view of a hotel chain. They would want to take advantage of all the unsold rooms from across history. Simple things like the kitchens being 30 minutes in the future and receiving your orders immediately is a great concept: a new standard in ‘Fast Food’. I think the fatal flaw is that whilst it has a lot of spectacle, I don’t think there is an overall story point to the Time Hotel. Steven Moffat has put a lot of thought into how the Time Hotel works and functions, but I’m not sure the point of it completely translates. A story like this should teach us about the dangers of profiting from time travel, a lesson that's unfortunately missing. The Time Hotel feels a little shallow as a result.
There are a lot of moments involving the Doctor hopping across various time periods, which is entertaining during the beginning of the episode. The Pre-Title sequence is simply lovely. Seeing the Doctor coming into various moments across history with a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte is a silly and fun way to open the episode. It brings a sense of adventure and grips you immediately. It's rewarding to see how that little sequence came to transpire through the Time Hotel later on. However, at a certain point, the episode should have settled down to tell a concise and focused story, which Steven Moffat neglected amidst the tangled time travel elements. With the Doctor stuck waiting for a year, in the Sandringham Hotel, it feels like the story finds its purpose, but it's disappointing that it only turns out to be a small chunk of the episode and not what the story is actually about.
Once the Doctor gets back to the Time Hotel, the story soon goes back to hopping between time periods and by that point the gimmick has lost its impact. The dinosaur scene is a fun moment, but it takes place too late in the story at a point where the plot needed to be advancing at more of a sense of pace. You have a gripping opening, but Steven Moffat quickly loses track of the actual plot and by the time you get down to the actual meat of things you have lost interest in the scheme which is unfolding with everything going on. The Doctor being stranded for a year is by far the best part of the story, and does a great job of showing his loneliness and need of a friend to connect to. Following on from Ruby’s departure, it would have felt emotionally appropriate to tell this story and would link into the themes and aesthetics of Christmas with a story about loneliness during the holiday season and the importance of having someone to be with. If Steven Moffat had fleshed this out, you would have had an emotional and focused story with the Doctor trying to get back to a specific moment which could have been simply wrapped up.
The Villengard Corporation are the main villains of the story. They previously played a major part in Boom and tie all the way back to the Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. I don’t think their inclusion here was necessary or like they have a big enough role for their place to feel satisfying. There is some sense of threat across the story, with time being of the essence in several moments, adding a lot of suspense. I don’t think there is enough of a sense of Villengard’s overall objective and capitalist aims. Boom established Villengard as an evil and oppressive capitalist corporation which does not value human life. Bearing that in mind, the lack of capitalist focus in Villengard's portrayal means their motivations are unconvincing, especially given their late introduction.
The ultimate failing of the story is in the conclusion. Steven Moffat Christmas Specials especially across the Matt Smith era, tended to veer towards becoming sentimental, forced, and incredibly cringey. The story avoids this for the most part but descends into the forced sentimentality and sickening emotion by the very end. I don’t like the idea of Joy becoming the star at all. It feels like it ruins the drama and the stakes from the rest of the story. The story had been building up the danger of the star with a focus on keeping Joy alive. I’m not opposed to stories where the Doctor has misjudged the situation, but in this case the drama of the story is just ruined.
The religious aspect of the story is also very misjudged with Joy becoming the star that leads the Three Wise Men to Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus Christ in the Nativity story. Doctor Who Christmas Specials have always stayed away from the religious aspect of the holiday for good reason. They focus on the festive spirit and the themes and messaging surrounding Christmas. The Doctor is by tradition a very scientific character who is very sceptical of faith and religion. Most Doctor Who stories that deal with religion deal with the concept in an alien and science fiction way that might have mirrors to religion in the real world. This feels wise, as the show taking a stance on real religions and faiths in the world feels a little too close to home. Doctor Who often uses science fiction as a way to explain mythology, certain superstitions and odd moments from history. Using science fiction as a way to explain the events from the Bible though, feels too familiar and like it undermines the Christian religion too much. I’m an atheist, so I don’t have a stake in the conversation, but the whole thing feels a little uncomfortable. Doctor Who tackling religion and faith can be very interesting and done in a very thought provoking and challenging manner, but there should be a certain distance in the way it's done.
Let's move onto Ncuti Gatwa and his performance playing the Fifteenth Doctor. Following on from the departure of Ruby Sunday, this story focuses on the Doctor travelling alone and the solitude of the character. There is still a humour and adventure to Ncuti Gatwa’s performance; a cheekiness in him coming to the Time Hotel to steal milk, but he instinctively fetches his coat and gets his sonic screwdriver. Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor has a real sense of trouble, cheekiness and passion and automatically takes control of things which I love. One thing I also adore about Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor is the intelligence hidden inside the character. Though lively and youthful, he possesses wisdom and intellect. The Doctor recognises things that are out of place and don’t align, such as the man with the suitcase and how he behaves in the hotel. There is a cunning personality to the Doctor’s intrigue in the suitcase. The way he prods Joy and cruelly brings out her anger shows the seemingly alien callousness of the Doctor. The Fifteenth Doctor is deeply compassionate but still has an anger and ruthlessness he is able to utilise if the situation warrants it.
The sadness and pain of the Fifteenth Doctor is at the centre of his character in this story. The way he fetches a second mug for Ruby at the start of the episode shows how he is still adapting to life without a companion, and not being able to share the universe with somebody. The story brings out the loss and the emotion of the Doctor as a character. When he is left behind in Christmas 2024, the rage and insecurities of the Doctor are exposed, and you see the lingering self-hate. We see how he has learned to cope with loss in a healthy way through his relationship with Anita. He understands that people need to get on with their lives, but he struggles to let go. There is something very pleasing about the relationship he develops with Anita where he is able to connect with someone and I like what that offers for Ncuti Gatwa as an actor. There is love and passion in his performance and by the end the Doctor realises why he needs a friend by his side.
Nicola Coughlan features in this story as Joy playing the companion role and, in my opinion, she’s rather wasted and under-used. She brings a lot of lively energy, likeability and loneliness to the character and is very easy to connect with. The problem is that there is a massive chunk of the episode where she does not feature. The sequence with Anita is so powerful that you kind of lose your connection and interest with Joy when you go back to her. I like her motivations with her mother dying lonely at Christmas during lockdown and being angry at the figures of authority who acted with careless arrogance and disregard. Joy choosing to spend Christmas alone out of guilt makes sense for her character. However, her character still feels shallow and very underdeveloped. I like the idea of Joy and the Doctor connecting in their loneliness and finding comfort in each other, but you don’t really get the potential of that idea because the relationship between the characters is so underdeveloped.
Steph de Whalley plays Anita who works in the Sandringham Hotel and is a highlight of the episode. Anita is a very reserved person and has somewhat of a loneliness to her, whilst being a very pleasant and an optimistic person. She finds it very easy to connect with the Doctor and they find a lot of enjoyment and comfort in one another’s company through their day-to-day operations. They both brighten each other’s lives, and I love the way she challenges the Doctor, and the Doctor sees the kindness and the warmth in her as a person. The Doctor ultimately rewards Anita's kindness by giving her a job at the Time Hotel; a thoughtful gesture.
I was very fond of Trev as a character played by Joel Fry who in my opinion should have had a bigger role. He has a likeable personality and naive optimism and insecurity, which is very endearing and has great chemistry with Ncuti Gatwa. Jonathon Aris plays the Silurian manager of the hotel named Melnak who is also a very likeable character. At the Time Hotel, a Silurian manager makes sense, and Jonathan Aris brings tangibility and believability to the character, and his death is tragic.
Joy to the World is directed by Alex Pillai, whose previous work includes Merlin and Bridgerton, and I appreciate the focused stability his directing brings to this episode. The opening shot of Basil looking over the balcony at the hotel has a very gentle movement, as does the whole opening sequence. Despite the frantic pace of the opening, the camera's fluid and gentle movement creates a sense of stability. I also really like the similar approach during Joy’s introduction. The way the frame focuses on her and follows her in such a central and gentle manner grounds things and makes the story focused upon Joy as a character. There is a focused and simple movement around the Time Hotel which places the spectacle in the environment very wisely. This simplistic and laid-back approach benefits the drama as the camera can sit and let the actors thrive. It also means the frantic visual moments have a clear impact and feel like vital plot moments.
So, how did I feel about Joy to the World? I think it's rather a mixed bag overall. It has promising and positive elements. The idea of the Time Hotel has a lot of scope, scale and imagination and I love the tangible idea of the unused door in every hotel room. However, the idea of the Time Hotel never feels like it comes to anything. There is a lot of hopping around time and entangled elements, but the story loses track of itself too quickly with overly frantic storytelling. Ncuti Gatwa is great as the Doctor and the middle section with the Doctor waiting around in the Sandringham Hotel to get back to the Time Hotel is a highlight of the story, but the episode doesn’t take advantage of the idea. Nicola Coughlan is wasted, and the ending descends into sentimental and contrived silliness. The religious undertones and suggestions feel very ill judged and unnecessary subject matter for Doctor Who to deal with.
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