This Doctor Who Christmas Special Broke a Surprising 47-Year Villain Trend

Doctor Who’s Christmas Specials have become an iconic staple of the festive season. They have proven highly entertaining to audiences of all ages, offering viewers many fun adventures through space and time. Since the show returned in 2005, Doctor Who has consistently aired new installments during the holiday season, which have aired on either Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. Traditionally, these exciting stories have been written by the current showrunner. This year’s Special, “Joy To The World,” is the first Christmas episode to be written by a guest writer. Steven Moffat has been handed the reigns by Russell T Davies, detailing the Doctor’s encounter with the bemused hotel guest, Joy. The pair find themselves inside a Time Hotel, with doors leading to Christmas in the Past, Present, and Future.

Fans are hotly anticipating this new Doctor Who escapade, because of Steven Moffat’s fantastic track record with writing these episodes, during his time as showrunner. He has written some of the best-loved Christmas Specials, such as “Last Christmas” and “The Husbands Of River Song.” The greatest of these episodes is “A Christmas Carol,” which is also widely considered one of the greatest Doctor Who installments. The Doctor’s attempt to persuade the lonely miser Kazran Sardick to open Ember’s shark-infested skies is an engrossing watch, showing the Time Lord’s desperation to save a crashing ship and its passengers trapped onboard. The standout element of Steven Moffat’s tale is Kazran Sardick, who is unlike many other Doctor Who villains. Before the episode’s airing, Steven Moffat described Kazran as being more of a “damaged” figure, because of his unfortunate childhood, and his screenplay takes a deep dive into exploring Kazran’s inner psychology.

Kazran Sardick Is A Redeemable Villain

• Kazran Sardick’s abusive childhood makes him a sympathetic figure.
• He also shows compassion for the skyfish at an early age.
• Kazran is concerned that he is becoming too much like his father.

Among the things that make “A Christmas Carol” the best Doctor Who Christmas Special is how Kazran Sardick is a redeemable villain. On the surface, Kazran seems cruel and heartless, showing a complete lack of compassion for the crashing spaceship’s passengers. However, his cold and distant personality is influenced by his harsh childhood. He was physically abused by his father, Elliot Sardick, and this left Kazran medically scarred for life.

Kazran, as a child, dreamed of seeing the skyfish that occupy Ember’s skies. He would hear tales from his friends at school about these magnificent beings. At the age of 12, Kazran attempted to film the skyfish above his home. Unfortunately, his father disapproved of Kazran taking such an interest in these creatures and struck the poor lad. This significant abuse of trust made Kazran a tortured soul, feeling lost and lonely, without anybody to talk to about Elliot’s morally reprehensible behavior.

One of Kazran’s biggest fears is his concern that he is becoming too much like his father. When the Doctor introduces Kazran to himself as a child, he comes close to hitting the young lad but hesitates as he is reminded of his Dad doing the same to him. Ultimately, Kazran shows himself to be a better person than Elliot Sardick, choosing to hug his younger self when the young Kazran bursts into tears. While Kazran may be deeply flawed, his actions are understandable, and he shows a desire to learn from his Dad’s terrible mistakes.

The Doctor Changes Kazran’s Past

• The Doctor changes Kazran’s past in “A Christmas Carol.”
• This is similar to a scrapped Series 1 storyline, which would have seen the Ninth Doctor travel alongside Rose Tyler’s timeline, in an attempt to turn her into the perfect companion.
• The Eleventh Doctor’s alterations to Kazran’s history are in vain, because of how it changes Kazran’s past so that his father never passed over control of his machine to Kazran.

The Doctor is the first to recognize Kazran’s potential to change in “A Christmas Carol.” He finds the young Kazran’s recordings of his desire to see the sky fish, which inspires him to travel back in time and alter Kazran’s personal history. The Doctor recognizes that his interest in these skyfish shows that Kazran possesses a softer side underneath the cold exterior, demonstrating some compassion toward the sentient lifeforms that traverse the planet’s skyline. It is enough to give the Time Lord hope that he can change time so that Kazran becomes a kinder person, and helps the Doctor open the skies for the crashing spaceship to safely land.

Kazran’s eyes are opened to the magic and wonder of the Doctor’s adventures, embarking on several trips across the Ember homeworld and Earth’s history. During these travels, they are joined by a frail young woman, Abigail, who has been kept in cryogenic suspension by Elliot Sardick. Kazran develops a passionate romantic relationship with Abigail, showing that Kazan can care about someone other than himself. These alterations to Kazran’s timeline make him a more kindhearted individual, giving him many happy memories alongside the less pleasant ones from his childhood.

Changing an individual’s timeline is not something that the Doctor normally partakes in, because of the potential damage it could cause to the Web of Time. However, on rare occasions, the Doctor has attempted to alter a being’s past, like when he tried to avert the Daleks’ creation in “Genesis Of The Daleks.” An early idea for the first series of Doctor Who’s 2005 revival would have also seen the Ninth Doctor reveal that he traveled back in time and changed Rose Tyler’s personal history, to mold her into the perfect companion. Russell T Davies revealed in Doctor Who Magazine #360 that Paul Abbot was tapped to write this ambitious storyline, and has expressed his disappointment that the episode never made it to air, lamenting that it would have been a “brilliant” installment.

Perhaps it is for the best that the Doctor never changed Rose’s timeline, as his manipulation of Kazran’s past does not work as intended. By turning Kazran into a kinder person, he inadvertently creates a future where Kazran’s father never gave his son control of the machine that opens up the planet’s cloud belt. The controls are isomorphic, meaning that only the late Elliot Sardick can operate them. Fortunately, Abigail’s singing can open up Ember’s skies so that the passengers onboard the crashing spaceship can be saved. It does show the Doctor’s decision to change Kazran to have been a risky gamble, though.

Kazran Is Also Based On Ebenezer Scrooge

• Kazran Sardick has many similarities to Ebenezer Scrooge, including his strong dislike for Christmas.
• Kazran’s callous disregard toward Abigail and his family is similar to how Scrooge denies Bob Crachett time off work for Christmas Day.
• The Doctor, Amy and Rory, and the old Kazran Sardick fulfill the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.

A major inspiration behind this Special is Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” and the episode is considered one of the book’s best adaptations. The late Michael Gambon’s Kazran Sardick bears a few similarities to Ebenezer Scrooge. The pair are both portrayed as being grumpy and self-serving individuals, who show contempt toward other people. Similarly to how Scrooge denies his employee Bob Crachett time off work for Christmas Day, Kazran refuses to remove Abigail from cryogenic suspension. Abigail’s family pleaded with Kazran to allow them to spend Christmas Eve with her. She was placed into a cyro-chamber as part of the terms of a loan arrangement between Kazran and Abigail’s family, who owe Kazran a huge debt. Kazran shows a callous disregard towards Abigail and her family, viewing Abigail as little more than collateral for her family’s unpaid loan.

Both Kazran and Ebenezer also show a strong dislike towards the Christmas period. Kazran loudly proclaims that he “despises” Christmas in the episode, with his thoughts towards the festive season having largely been influenced by his traumatic childhood. He held no positive memories of Christmas until the Doctor’s arrival, which saw the young Kazran spend several Christmas Eves with the Doctor. Among the most magical Christmas Eves Kazran shared with the Doctor was his sleigh ride through the planet’s skies, which saw them dragged above Sardicktown by a flying fish.

Perhaps the most notable is the way that “A Christmas Carol” plays with the concept of Charles Dickens’ ghosts. Steven Moffat’s outstanding screenplay recontextualizes the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future through the use of Doctor Who’s signature time travel dynamic. The Doctor proudly labels himself the “Ghost of Christmas Past” while he alters Kazran’s history, fixing the miserable miser’s old video diary so that the old Kazran can witness the Time Lord inserting himself into his child self’s past. Meanwhile, Amy and Rory, who are trapped aboard the crashing spaceship, become the “Ghosts of Christmas Present,” warning Kazran about the people who will die if he doesn’t open up Ember’s skies. Finally, Kazran himself becomes the “Ghost of Christmas Future,” when the Doctor takes the young Kazran Sardick to meet the person he will become. Young Kazran mistakes the old Kazran for his father because of his horrible demeanor, forcing Kazran to confront his vile behavior toward the people of Sardicktown. It’s a deeply clever reimagining of Charles Dickens’ famous tale, offering a unique Doctor Who spin on the festive favorite.