Expected more

Best movie ever!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The number one favorite of any show is always a personal choice. This is not only my number one choice for Doctor Who, but for any TV series. I have watched this one so many times.It helps that Clara is my favorite companion and Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor. Clara is sassy and smart and brave and of course beautiful.This episode has so many great moments which reflects the superb writing. My favorite is when Clara proclaims "It's smaller on the outside". In the same scene, she asks "where is the kitchen" which takes us back to the Asylum of the Daleks. There is also her sarcastic observations while Strax fumbles with the memory worm. The One Word test is brilliant and brings a tear when she answers "Pond". Another tear comes when the Doctor offers a key to the Tardis saying "I never know why, only who." Clara's second test with the umbrella is brilliant and she shows here Doctor-like intellect by solving it. Clara's imminent death brings tears to the children which appropriately is more powerful than the influence of the GI. And of course "Run, you clever boy, and remember" which breaks the Doctor's self imposed curse after Amy's loss and energizes him to find his "Impossible girl". Rarely does a one hour TV episode have so many brilliant moments and without scanning it again, I'm sure I missed some.As for acting, I've already mentioned Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor as reflected by his great delivery of wise-cracks combined with his physical comedy. And somehow his very presence demands respect. Jenna Coleman is perfect as the sassy and intelligent Clara.

The Christmas specials of the Moffat era have been mixed in terms of quality with the great success of A Christmas Carol and the mixed reception to the Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe in 2011. So the two obvious questions overall then are A) How does this Christmas special rank? And B) How does this serve as the effective first story of Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary year? As a Christmas special, it is certainly one of the best. For the first time since The Christmas Invasion, we get a Christmas special tasked with effectively relaunching the show. There's the new credit sequence with a new theme arrangement, a brand new TARDIS interior and of course what was at least initially billed as the proper introduction to Jenna Louise-Coleman's character of Clara. The Snowmen becomes something more than just another Christmas special: it becomes the bridge between not only the two parts of Series Seven but also parts of the Matt Smith era.Indeed, Matt Smith's performance and new costume effectively introduce a new version of the eleventh Doctor as well. The viewer, through Clara, are introduced to a Doctor apparently still recovering from what still seems to have been recent exit of the Pond's which seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back and caused him to effectively retire. The eleventh Doctor has often been said to be an old man in a young man's body and perhaps nowhere else to date does Smith's performance bares that out more. It's Smith's performance, as well as the writing of Moffat, that makes the Doctor's journey from a man sulking in a box on a cloud to a hero once more believable. Indeed, if Smith ever needed to prove his acting chops, then his scenes with Richard E Grant's villainous Dr Simeon makes the case brilliantly.Speaking of Grant, the story features a strong supporting cast. Grant, and indeed the voice of Sir Ian McKellan, are effectively used with Grant oozing menace with every line. That said, the two of them are underused due to the focus on introducing Clara though perhaps they are so effective because of they appear so sparingly. The Paternoster Gang of Madam Vastra, Jenny and Strax return and are put to good use with Dan Starky's comedy Sontaran (never thought I'd write those words) being the most effective scene stealer Doctor Who has featured in sometime. Even the supporting roles such as that of the family that Clara works for are well acted.Which leads to the one person who hasn't been mentioned but whom the story centers around: Clara played by Jenna Louise-Coleman. Throughout the new series the companions have been the focus of the show and The Snowmen is no exception. Clara is the heart and soul of the story as it is her randomly striking up a conversation with the Doctor in a London street that sets events in motion. Without Clara, would the Doctor have quite literally come down off his cloud? I'm not so sure. What I am sure about, is the strength of Jenna Louise-Coleman's performance as she holds her own not only as Clara the character but also as a performer alongside Smith. It is in their scenes together that the story really comes alive with the wonderful interplay and chemistry between them. Unfortunately, a last second decision by Moffat undermines all this a bit but he instead offers something else: a mystery that reawakens the Doctor and takes him, and us, on a new journey.The Snowmen also works as the launch into Doctor Who's fifty anniversary year. The Snowmen looks as much backwards as it does forwards. Who or perhaps more accurately what Grant and McKellan turn out to be is a case in point. The story drops all sorts of hints about it from the title itself onwards but it's only really made clear in the final couple of minutes. It's done in a way that hopefully please fans of what came before while thankfully not alienating to those who don't know the old series (indeed, given developments since this aired, one can't help but wonder what Moffat knew and when). The fact that the Doctor has effectively retired and takes convincing to return to what he's always done is an idea that Douglas Adams proposed before he got forced to do Shada instead (something which in turn might explain Adams' attitude towards that unfinished story). Given what would come in the episodes to follow a few months down the road, it's clear that The Snowmen was meant to set the tone for what was to follow and it does so effectively.Yet The Snowmen has an interesting problem. It focuses heavily on characters, especially the journeys of the Doctor and Clara rather than on the threat posed by Simeon and his snowmen. The result is slightly lopsided as it were: the threat appears throughout the story and is certainly built up but that's not what were supposed to really focus on. For a story that makes rather a point of bringing back something from the show's past, it never really puts it to large use. That isn't to say that Doctor Who isn't or shouldn't be about character development, just that the balance here seems a bit off. How much that actually helps or hinders will certainly be a topic of debate I'm sure.In the final analysis then, The Snowmen succeeds. It does so firstly as an effective Christmas special though 2010's A Christmas Carol still ranks as the best of the Christmas specials, this one comes a close second minus a couple of faults which can be forgiven nevertheless. It also works to help launch Doctor Who into a major anniversary year with references to and use, somewhat sparingly, of the show's past without be either gratuitous or alienating to those not in the proverbial know. What more can we ask of it?

As a longtime fan of Doctor Who, this episode was absolutely brilliant for me. The plot's twists and turns provided just enough action and excitement while maintaining enough "still" moments to develop Clara's character. Having said that, however, the one issue with the episode was undoubtedly its callbacks to Doctor Who history--particularly, the main villain. The villain (not Dr. Simeon, but the force that Dr. Simeon is working for/with) is actually derived from Season 2 of Doctor Who, or classic Who as it is now referred. Such references for me, a longtime fan, added another dimension to the show but likely confused newcomers. Unlike past companion introduction episodes, this episode focused more on the story and adventure than truly unveiling Clara as a character, which, again, could defer newcomers.Unlike Amy Pond, who got a proper backstory in her introduction episode, Clara seems to be getting her introduction through the arc of the season--and though I am thoroughly excited for the journey, I fear it will put off some viewers who are contemplating watching the show in the long run. My advice to newcomers would be to do a bit of background research on Doctor Who before watching this episode. Otherwise, it could just be an altogether confusing experience.

Although I generally hold Steven Moffat in high regard - thanks in no small part to the brilliant "Sherlock" - this episode to me marked one too many Doctor Who stories resolved by something of the form: "humans showing a deep emotion is all-powerful". Don't get me wrong, I have no beef with a "love conquers all"-type ending; I wouldn't be watching Doctor Who if I did. My point is that I don't much like it when a big complicated crisis (typically the impending doom of humanity, planet Earth or even the entire universe) is literally and *directly* solved by something like "a mother's love", or "children crying", or everyone just wishing really hard. Why? Because it's cheating! It's lazy storytelling. It's a deus ex machina where even the deus is poorly worked out, and it means you don't get a satisfying return on your emotional investment in the plot.So it is with this story. One gets the feeling that Moffat wasn't that interested in writing a plot for the episode to begin with. It seems like really all it was about for him was getting to the end, where we are introduced to the mystery that will presumably form the story arc for the next season. And then he hastily fills in the rest of the episode with some vague christmassy threat, only to dispel it all too easily and through very little involvement of the Doctor.I don't want that, Mr. Moffat. I want you to care about individual episodes as well as about big, clever, season-spanning mysteries. But perhaps even more so, I would like the Doctor to be a hero again, for once. Not one of the swashbuckling, gun-slinging variety (hell no: I want specs, brains and quirkiness), but simply somebody who actually properly saves the bloody day, rather than wait until something sufficiently touching happens that automatically does the job for him. He's a Time Lord, for crying out loud! Also, new console room: meh, Jenna Louise Coleman: meh. But I'm hoping to change my mind on those two counts.