History Recap / DoctorWho2014CSLastChristmas

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BitchSlap: Clara to the Doctor when he [[GoodIsNotNice deliberately brings up some painful memories to distract her from the dreamcrabs]].

%%* CloudCuckoolander: Shona.

%%* {{Deconstruction}}: The episode partially deconstructs the 'Isolated Base Under Attack' that is a regular ''Who'' plotline.

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:

** Do the other victims ever escape from the last layer of the dream? Were they even real?

-->--'''Santa Claus'''

The one with SantaClaus.

** Santa says that things are "all a bit [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink dreamy-weamy]]".

* ArmourPiercingSlap: Clara to the Doctor when he [[GoodIsNotNice deliberately brings up some painful memories to distract her from the dreamcrabs]].

''There's three other people inside that base, actually; there’s Professor Albert, and Bellows, and one named Ashley.[[note]]Albert's played by Michael Troughton: Patrick Troughton's son, wouldn't you know! Yep, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight yet another Troughton]] appears on the show...[[/note]] And hey, looks like you'd better add on two more. You see, the Doctor and Clara just burst through the door.''

->''"So, are we going to stand about arguing about whether I'm real or not, or are we going to get busy [[SavingChristmas saving Christmas?]]''

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Discussed. The Doctor points out that it's going to be incredibly hard to differentiate between what's a dream and what's reality because he travels in a spaceship disguised as a telephone kiosk, so ''reality is also ridiculous''.

'''Tis the night before Christmas; that brightest of days! And the Doctor and Clara have parted their ways. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E12DeathInHeaven Though Gallifrey's gone still and Danny Pink died, each claimed to be fine -– and each of them lied.]]''

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During Clara's conversation with Dream Danny:
-->'''Danny:''' You don't know what I'm wearing underneath this Santa outfit.\\
'''Clara:''' Your pyjamas. You're too shy to wear less than two layers.\\
'''Danny:''' Yeah, you could'a used your imagination!\\
'''Clara:''' Yeah, I don't really have to.

''Shona starts walking, trying not to get caught; her boss plays some music to help drown out her thoughts. The song "Merry Christmas Everybody" is played! She'd better keep moving, [[LamePun or else she'll get]] [[Music/{{Slade}} slayed.]]''

* ActOfTrueLove: Discussed but ultimately averted. Danny claims that he died to save Clara, not the world, but this is ultimately revealed as just a part of the dream.

** Clara's Series 7 "Impossible Girl" arc is referenced when Old!Clara implies that she would have married the Doctor, but "he was impossible."

* BadassSanta: Santa Claus is the visualization of your mind's fight against the Dream Crab's illusion. He can save people with Slinkies and robot toys!
* BeardnessProtectionProgram: Santa apparently grew his beard as a disguise. His elves point out that people have gotten wise.(Again with the rhyme, sorry last time. [[OverlyLongGag Dang it!]])

* {{Bookends}}: To the discussion of relative age in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath Deep Breath]]". In that episode, Clara appears to have difficulty seeing the Doctor she came to know after he changes appearance and now looks older. In this episode, it's Clara who now looks older, yet the Doctor still sees her as a young woman.

* BrownNote: Yet another Moffat example - just thinking of a dreamcrab attracts them to you. In fact, this is just an effect of the dream state the crabs have already put a victim in. If the victim thinks about them, they try to trap the victim in [[DreamWithinADream another dream layer]] to keep them from ever waking up for real before their brains are consumed.

** Professor Albert mentions that the Dream Crabs are a lot like [[Film/{{Alien}} Facehuggers]], prompting a discussion about the movie ''Film/{{Alien}}''. Creator/JohnHurt -- who plays the War Doctor -- and Creator/PaulMcGann -- who plays the Eighth Doctor -- feature in ''Alien'' and ''Film/{{Alien3}}'', respectively.

* ChristmasElves: Wolf and Ian, Santa's ServileSnarker duo are short and Christmas themed and such.

** The Doctor hasn't missed his chance to travel with Clara again, as Old!Clara turns out to be a final dream layer and she is more than happy to join him again.

* DreamWeaver: The M.O. of the Dream Crabs[[labelnote:*]]AKA Kantrofarri[[/labelnote]], who put people into a euphoric dream state while their brains are digested. They are incredibly insidious: Once they've got you, they make you think you're not dreaming but in danger of being grabbed by them again. Then they grab you again and put you in another dream layer and try to repeat the process ad infinitum so that even if you manage to free yourself, you're still trapped, which gives them enough time to consume your brain.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the opening shot, as the camera pans through Clara's house and upstairs to her bedroom, eagle-eyed viewers will notice that there is the track for a stairlift running up the length of the staircase. This foreshadows the false ending where the Doctor arrives to save Clara from the dream crab, only to discover that it's 62 years since they last saw each other and she is now an old woman. Fortunately this turns out to be yet another dream.

** Shona's "to do" list includes three of the films that directly inspired this episode (and presumably her memories of them contributed to the main dream): ''Film/{{Alien}}'', ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'', and ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet''. She also planned to marathon ''Series/GameOfThrones'', but that isn't really plot relevant. Coincidentally, the actress would go on to have a recurring role in the series in 2015, while Creator/MaisieWilliams would have a recurring role in Series 9 of ''Doctor Who''.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During Clara's conversation with Dream!Danny:

** Old!Clara's statement that she never found another man in her life to measure up to the Doctor echoes Sarah Jane Smith's feelings towards the Doctor in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]". In fact, although the time frame is different, the Doctor expressing regret at not visiting a beloved former companion sooner, and said companion bemoaning the fact she'd gotten old in the meantime, also reflects the Doctor-Sarah Jane reunion in "School Reunion".

** The final shot of the tangerine, implying that Santa Claus is real or that they’re still dreaming. It's even possible that, perhaps, the tangerine was real and influenced his predilection for them.

** Old!Clara and the Doctor's bittersweet reunion is rudely interrupted by Santa... but neither of them are complaining after.

* OrWasItADream: Dream!Danny starts to sound a lot less like a figment of Clara's memory and more like Danny's spirit itself saying goodbye to Clara when the Doctor convinces her she's not in the real world. One wonders if the Doctor's presence influenced Dream!Danny to speak in a way that would give Clara closure, or if this was the real Danny from beyond the grave.

** The ExpandedUniverse book ''The Time Lord Letters'' reveals that when all is said and done, the Doctor believes him to be really-real. He writes Santa a thank-you letter for reuniting him with Clara in reality (having lied to her about not knowing who to thank)... which he leaves stuffed up a chimney.

** The Clara-Danny ship sails one final time as Dream!Danny not only says goodbye, he tells her to get on with her life, clearly implying that she mustn't hang onto him. Almost immediately after she "wakes up" from this level of the dream, she becomes more affectionate towards the Doctor, leading to her making the statement (while believing herself to be elderly) that she'd have married the Doctor, and later kissing him on the cheek and agreeing to travel with him once more.

** One of the Arctic base scientists comments that the Dream Crabs are rather like the facehuggers from ''{{Film/Alien}}''. The "PURGE" screen toward the beginning of the film (when Shona is entering the infirmary) is remarkably similar to the screen that's shown as the ''Narcissus'' launch process starts in ''Alien''. However, they have rather more in common in appearance and habits with the headcrabs in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series.
** The setting and tone bring to mind Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982'' (although that was set in Antarctica). It's confirmed by one of the movies on Shona's list being ''Literature/{{The Thing From Another World}}'' (which was set in the Arctic), the inspiration for Carpenter's movie.
** The layers upon layers of artificial dream state and the presence of outsiders trying to communicate with those trapped inside by leaving written messages and making surreal visits is from ''{{Literature/Ubik}}''.
** The very ''idea'' of the dreamcrabs is very similar to ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'', with the dreamcrabs standing in for the equally destructive [[LotusEaterMachine Black Mercy]].

* ThoseTwoGuys: Wolf and Ian, Santa's right-hand elves, are interchangable and here to provide comedy. They are comedy elves!

* ThisIsReality: Everyone points out how Santa is impossible, and then he throws it back in their face by proving it's all very real. Then we learn he's only a dream figment and it what was all trying to get them to see they needed help.
** Played for laughs when the elves rubbish Clara's claim that her parents bought her the presents she found under the tree every year at Christmas by scoffing at how ridiculous it is that her parents would suddenly decide to give her a huge amount of presents on the same randomly-chosen night every year purely because they "love you so much":
-->''It's a lovely story, dear. But it's time to start living in the real world.''
* TitledAfterTheSong: By Wham!.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Tangerines. They're Santa's "signature gift" and he gets very annoyed when he's told no one actually likes them. But he still leaves one on Clara's windowsill after she and the Doctor run away together.
* TrappedWithMonsterPlot: The Doctor, Clara, and the four researchers are stuck at the North Pole with brain eating alien parasites. Actually, they're stuck ''in a dream'' with brain eating alien parasites who are on their faces at that very moment eating their brains!

** [[FridgeBrilliance On the other hand]], numbers don't work very well in dreams.

* BeardnessProtectionProgram: Santa apparently grew his beard as a disguise. His elves point out that people have gotten wise.(Again with the rhyme, sorry last time.[[OverlyLongGag Dang it!]])

* BeardnessProtectionProgram: Santa apparently grew his beard as a disguise. His elves point out that people have gotten wise.

* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys: Santa claims his sleigh is BiggerOnTheInside. However, we only see him in dream layers...

-->'''Santa:''' We, we are just three passing, perfectly ordinary roof people, [[BlatantLies doing some emergency... roof things!]]

* When Santa first arrives at the Arctic base, Shona declares, "This is ridiculous! Am I dreaming?", to which the Doctor replies, "Oh, very good." Later the Doctor confirms that they all are having a shared dream, and Santa is part of it.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Clara's answer to the Doctor asking 304 minus 17 plus 20? 507, which is 200 in excess of the mark. Her math attempts in a later scene are hard to parse, but still only half-right (358x3 = 1,074, and she say 1,774).

* GoodWithNumbers: We find out that Clara is ''very'' good at solving math problems in her head. The Doctor at one point wishes she wasn't. (Made even more impressive if you recall she is actually ''asleep'' at the time.)

** When trying to break out from the dream, Bellows invokes: [[Literature/{{AChristmasCarol}} "God bless us everyone!"]].

The one with SantaClaus. Scratch that- Santa Claus gone Badass.

As well as Dan Starkey out of makeup (mostly) for a change and Clara's [[HerHeartWillGoOn final farewell to Danny.]]

''Clara's grown up past all those fairy-tales; she stands her ground, giving Santa [[NoSell No Sale]]. Then up on that roof there's [[MostWonderfulSound a wonderful sound]] -- the TARDIS! It's back! Is there sense to be found? The Doctor pops out, attack eyebrows half-mast; he wants Clara inside, and no questions asked.''

* MostWonderfulSound: InUniverse; Clara can't believe how much she missed the sound of the TARDIS.