Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song (2015)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The Capaldi era of DW has been an especially dark and morbid one, and DW Christmas specials in general tend to be grim, heart-rending and horrific, so it came as a surprise that this one turned out to be such a comparatively lighthearted (if gruesome) story full of slapstick and corny jokes. Despite the fact that the episode continued the miserable Capaldi-era convention that the Doctor must be continually enthralled and tormented by a swaggering dominatrix, I was enjoying the fact that at least it was a different one this time, since I was good and sick of Clara by the time we were dragged through that last heavy-breathing farewell scene between her and the Doctor. But then the fun hit the wall and we were back in angsty death territory, with River begging the Doctor to extend her waning lifespan. I guess the Doctor's compensation for having to play the straight man to a cadre of saucy female female impersonators is that he gets to play God and have them pray to him. This show has definitely strayed into unhealthy territory. There are kids watching!

9/10 !Fault: moffat needs to stop recycling ideas like those of Douglas Noel Adams.Otherwise, yes get alex Kigston to come back every now and then. After all, River Song is in the middle of it.Great entry! A servant mixes up the Doctor for a Surgeon, (BTW SM it is Christmas, carollers should be welcome - another knock against you)!The Doctor unwittingly helps River with King Hydraflax (familiar name eh SM?)The object - to steal a diamond lodged in his brain (Funny sounds like James Bond). This would kill a mad king.So many twists and turn. The King's head and body can separate as individual components. So River steals the Doctor's TARDIS unknowingly with the Doctor inside.Oh dare. Head and body have to be one so TARDIS cannot take off.The King's body deals with the issue of River's treachery. Heads of a different caliber.TARDIS leaves planet for ship. Nice! Fleming is another husband of River who turns up. So now all action takes place on a ship of cutthroats, nice company for River.When the subjects of Hydraflax turn up, all Hell could break loose. not even an auction can save themFleming is a piece of work. He must be working for the highest bidder.The Doctor reveals himself to river - Hello Sweetie.The Doctor's head would become the new hydraflax if possible.The ship sails into a meteor shower sending it crash landing.The Doctor tries for a rescue. No can do. The TARDIS is his lifeboat with River Song unconscious.The Doctor give the diamond to a worker and yes a new restaurant is build.Ending is a bit soft. The 'romance' of River and the Doctor never seems to end.Guessing that Alex Kingston will turn up.

Moffat really tries too hard sometimes. The first half hour is a comedy and then he tries to introduce some drama and deep mono-/ dialogues which really doesn't mix well. In my opinion, the depth of the story itself suffers a lot when he tries that and actual sci-fi elements get glossed over or ridiculous conclusions. Who turns more and more into a fi-soap and buries the science, which is very sad. I liked that the Doctor had a proper adventure for a change. And yes, that has been neglected a lot lately. It was also great to have a story to River's "goodbye" of Forest of the Dead. Capaldi and Kingston harmonize very well and it was fun watching them together. However, there's again some of Moffat's (by now) famous issues with continuity. In Forest of the Dead, River didn't know she was going to die. She also mention several times that the Doctor gave her HIS screwdriver on Darillium. Now, she knows it's the end and he gave her her own screwdriver as a Christmas present?! As others mentioned before, the way the Doctor defeats the robot-body is just lazy and stupid. I'm not one of the RTD vs SM folks, both of them had SOME great episodes. I think the better mark to hold any of them to would be Sydney Newman, Terry Nation and Robert Holmes.

... gets away with it.To be clearer: Scibe Moffat has recently started up the "acronym staircase" that ultimately results in a Knighthood.Now, in 99% of all TV productions, there is a hierarchy, a pecking order. Before the writer gets to write, before the scribe gets to scribble, somebody higher in the pecking order (than the writer) has to sign off on the script, has to make sure the script is consistent with the guidelines and plot arcs etc.However where the writer is almost-Sir Steven, the rules change. If almost-Sir Steven wakes up one frosty morning in a bit of a mood, and fancies that, for a change of pace he will do a X-Mas script that harks back to his days as a writer of Brit Sit-Coms and RomComs, then by George that is exactly what he gets to do.So here we have a Dr. Who X-Mas special starring an actor many believe to be the weakest Dr. Who in recent memory and featuring a story line that seems to be lacking only the canned laugh track.Do I sound harsh? I have been a Dr. Who fan since I was in knee-socks and generally LOVE the modern iteration. I have seen almost every X-Mas special -- some were absolute jewels,, remember the Opera Singer? -- and this one is clever and frothy and interesting BUT OVERALL ONE OF THE WORST DR. WHO X-MAS EVENTS EVER.But that is OK, because next year we can have a jolly do-over and by then almost-Sir Steven might be feeling better.