Department of Geek: Dr. Who Christmas Special!

The adorable Matt Smith plays the 11th incarnation of The Doctor.

Who, Who, Who! Merry Christmas! As many Doctor Who fans know, the BBC loves their Christmas Specials. This year’s is called The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. This take on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (with a twist, of course!) is set in World War Two era London will air on Christmas Day on BBCAmerica (check local listings for time and channel).

The Doctor's current companions - the newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill)

If you are a Doctor Who fan, you will want to watch this for a multitude of reasons. First, this may be the last Christmas Special with the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith, above). The 50th Anniversary of the series is coming up soon, so the good Doctor will likely be regenerating, Amy and Rory will be moving on with their lives and we have been promised some EPIC episodes which may, or may not, contain several past Doctors.

Second, Steven Moffat (currently running the show) has said to be prepared for about twenty minutes of crying. If Moffat says we are going to cry, well then, we’re screwed. He has made us cry on so many occasions already, I can’t imagine what he has in store for us. (I personally cannot make it through Season 5’s  Vincent and the Doctor without being a weepy mess.)

Third, Doctor Who Christmas Specials are always pretty great. Our first one (since the series was brought back), brought us the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) in a bathrobe saving the planet. After that, we were introduced to Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), then the Titanic nearly crashed into London and last year, we got to see the Doctor as the ghost of Christmas past, present and future.

Check out the trailer and more awesomeness after the jump!

They have released a couple of teaser trailers and a prequel moment to get us properly prepared. You can check them out here! 

But you can check out the trailer right here:

If you are unfamiliar with Doctor Who, then none of what I just wrote made any sense at all. Doctor Who is a series that has been on for nearly 50 years on the BBC. The series centers around a human looking alien called “The Doctor.” He is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, which means that he has two hearts and can cheat death by regenerating instead of dying. However, each regeneration not only changes his physical appearance, but also his personality. His memories and soul remain in tact. The Doctor travels in a time machine called a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) which is actually an insanely large ship with a soul that is disguised as a London Police Box from the 1960s. The Doctor likes to travel with a variety of companions that range from humans to a robot dog named K-9. The best description of the series and what it is about was done by Craig Ferguson as seen here in an unaired cold open from his late night show:

Past seasons of the BBC’s current incarnation of Doctor Who (Season 1-5) are streaming on both Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Amazon offers season 6 streaming for $16.99 (standard def) or $19.99 (high def). However, since Season 6 is the most current season, you can also catch episodes playing on BBCAmerica. And yes, you’ll want to watch them in order.

If you are wanting to get a sense of the series as a whole (all 50 years), there is an awesome YouTuber named Stuart Humphryes, who on his “BabelColour Channel,” has done some great compilation videos including this one:

I hope you check it out and enjoy!