History Recap / DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe

* ActorAllusion: Alexander Armstrong (one half of the ''Armstrong and Miller Show'') is [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00cnssw/the_armstrong_and_miller_show_raf_pilots_enigma once again a WWII RAF pilot]].

The one where a widow is non-widowed and the Doctor put his helmet on backwards.

* AnswerCut: Madge tells her husband that if people keep talking about war one will happen, "And then where would you be?" Cut to her husband flying a bomber during WW1.

* AmbiguousSituation: Is the Magna Carta inside the kid's bedroom a copy, or the actual thing? Knowing the Doctor, you can't rule it out...
* AnswerCut: Madge tells her husband that if people keep talking about war one will happen, "And then where would you be?" Cut to her husband flying a bomber.
* ArbitraryScepticism: The Doctor has encountered precognition before, but he dismisses the Queen's claim of knowing someone would arrive to save them. Then again, perhaps he's managed to make himself forget [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead the last time]].
* ArtisticLicenceBiology: In contrast to the Doctor's slightly mystical technobabble explaining the plot twist, in real life, there's no universal "male" and "female" dichotomy in biology, and pine trees are themselves an exception to it, bearing both male and female organs on the same tree. Then again, these are ''alien'' trees, so there might be a difference between them and the Earth variety.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: In the opening scene, the Doctor seems to have no trouble breathing (and '''talking''') while falling through space towards Earth. Its been [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars previously]] [[ContinuityNod established]] that Time Lords possess a respiratory bypass that allows them to go long periods ''without'' breathing, and likewise are able to survive exposure to hard vacuum much longer. It counts as an especially powerful ContinuityNod, since the most significant instant of the Doctor using that bit of BizarreAlienBiology was on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani Androzani]] ''Minor''. The entire scene delves in ArtisticLicenceSpace with much glee.
* BigSisterBully: Lily comes across as one to Cyril when she accusses him of making up words and "breathing".

* ChristmasEpisode: Madge is determined to make this "the best Christmas ever" so her kids don't think that Christmas is what took their father away from them.
* ChristmasMiracle: Madge inadvertently creates her own one.

** It's subtle, but the Doctor's FriendToAllChildren nature and the parenting wisdom he passes on to Madge reminds us that he used to be a father and a grandfather himself.
* CoolHouse: The Doctor "repairs" the estate in several ways. The sitting room has bumper car chairs, the kitchen has a lemonade faucet, the kids' room has everything but beds (can't fit everything, after all, so it has hammocks), and the Christmas tree is motorized in several places. Oh, and he set up a portal to a forest of living trees inside a box as a present.

-->'''The Doctor:''' ''Fairy land''? Oh, grow up, Lily...Fairy Land looks completely different.

* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: The Doctor. He introduces himself as "The Doctor, or the Caretaker, or Get Off This Planet", but throughout the episode, everyone calls him "Caretaker". This is his intention, as he is supposed to be going incognito from this point.

-->'''The Doctor:''' You and I, Cyril, we're weak, but she's FEMALE. More than female, she's mum. How else does life ever travel? The Mother ship.

%% * 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.

** Madge and Reg are shown to have a great relationship before and after the war. His death deeply hurt Madge.

* HairpinLockpick: Madge uses one to unlock the first police box she finds for her spacesuit angel. It's not the TARDIS.
%%* HappilyMarried: Madge to Reg.
* HerHeartWillGoOn: Madge puts on a brave face when she recieves news of her husband's death at sea.
* HopeSpot: The Aesop of this episode is that for all his burned bridges, the Doctor still has a “family” of his own with the Ponds, and he can always go back to them. [[spoiler: Then The Angels Take Manhattan happens…]]
* HypocriticalHumour: Of course it's not Fairyland, Lily, grow up. Fairyland looks completely different.

* ItsALongStory: When his father asks where Mum is, Cyril wisely summarizes her mother's message about taking an injured spaceman to find a police telephone box as "Out."

* NeverFoundTheBody: Madge's telegram notes that Reg is lost at sea rather than being confirmed dead. This provides the means of preventing his death; the tree people's ship provided a beacon.
* NoAntagonist: None of the factions which appear in the episode are antagonists, even if it does not appear this way at first. The harvesters are unable to do anything to help the other characters, and the trees are only trying to save their race. The main characters even cooperate with them at the end and they part ways without either side being harmed. This is quite a contrast to all previous Christmas specials, as well as most other episodes. (This obviously ignores the big spaceship seen in the opening, but they barely have any effect on the main plot anyway...)
* NonIndicativeName: The title. "Widow"? [[EverybodyLives What widow?]]

** How many police boxes did Madge and the Doctor try?

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: How the Doctor got onboard the ship (without using the TARDIS, which was back on Earth) and rigged it up to explode is never shown.

* ThePowerOfLove: Madge flies the forest through the Time Vortex, and gets her husband home, by focusing on the power in the concept of "home" which includes family.

* SpaceIsNoisy: Noisy enough that the Doctor can ''talk'' without such foolish things like air.

* StalkingIsLove: Reg kept following Madge home until she agreed to marry him. She didn't want to cause a scene. It's not as creepy as it sounds as Madge's memories show them walking together and conversing like friends, so it's more like he was walking her home instead of stalking her.

* TearsOfJoy: When Amy invites him inside for Christmas dinner, this happens.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** What happened to the rest of the crew aboard Reg's plane?
** What happened to the people Madge was expecting to be waiting for them at the house? Although it isn't mentioned in the episode, Maurice Cole mentions in an interview that they won the lottery, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion which the Doctor]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime often]] [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol arranges]].

** The tree people have a magic crown (relay!) that, when somebody wears on their head, allows them to absorb the forest's life force. It rejects Cyril and the Doctor, works slightly for Lily, and completely works for Madge, as the tree people consider her the [[StealthPun "mothership"]].

* AdultFear: This episode involves a lot of this. Imagine, your children are lost in the wilderness, with a very strange man you don't trust, and now people are telling you that the whole area is about to become horrifically dangerous and anyone within is doomed. When Madge pulls a gun on them, the workers don't believe for a second that she'd use it. Until she says the words "[[MamaBear I'm looking for my children.]]" Then they know she is ''very'' serious.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: The Doctor has encountered precognition before, but he dismisses the Queen's claim of knowing someone would arrive to save them. Then again, perhaps he's managed to make himself forget [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead the last time]].

* RealityEnsues: After his spacesuit helmet gets stuck the wrong way round, the Doctor instructs Madge to simply help him get to a police box. After she does so, he remembers that it's the 1930s and there are ''real'' police boxes around.
** Also, regarding the shooting of the scenes with Matt Smith in the spacesuit helmet, his hair coif was too poofy to fit inside the helmet as it was, resulting in it being combed down into a rather cute pile of fluff.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In contrast to the Doctor's slightly mystical technobabble explaining the plot twist, in real life, there's no universal "male" and "female" dichotomy in biology, and pine trees are themselves an exception to it, bearing both male and female organs on the same tree. Then again, these are ''alien'' trees, so there might be a difference between them and the Earth variety.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: In the opening scene, the Doctor seems to have no trouble breathing (and '''talking''') while falling through space towards Earth. Its been [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars previously]] [[ContinuityNod established]] that Time Lords possess a respiratory bypass that allows them to go long periods ''without'' breathing, and likewise are able to survive exposure to hard vacuum much longer. It counts as an especially powerful ContinuityNod, since the most significant instant of the Doctor using that bit of BizarreAlienBiology was on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani Androzani]] ''Minor''. The entire scene delves in ArtisticLicenseSpace with much glee.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: In the opening scene, the Doctor seems to have no trouble breathing (and '''talking''') while falling through space towards Earth. Its been [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars previously]] [[ContinuityNod established]] that Time Lords possess a respiratory bypass that allows them to go long periods ''without'' breathing, and likewise are able to survive exposure to hard vacuum much longer. It counts as an especially powerful ContinuityNod, since the most significant instant of the Doctor using that bit of BizarreAlienBiology was on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani Androzani]] ''Minor''. The entire scene delves in SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay with much glee.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: When the Doctor mentions he can't take off the impact suit (which is on backwards) because it's repairing him, Madge asks if it might accidentally repair him backwards as well. The first thing he checks is his crotch.

* ArtMajorBiology: In contrast to the Doctor's slightly mystical technobabble explaining the plot twist, in real life, there's no universal "male" and "female" dichotomy in biology, and pine trees are themselves an exception to it, bearing both male and female organs on the same tree. Then again, these are ''alien'' trees, so there might be a difference between them and the Earth variety.

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: We're back in the London Blitz again.

* RunningGag: The Doctor looks great in a hat.

The Doctor is blowing up a space ship. This is a bad idea, [[CaptainObvious because space ships are]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment generally in space]], so he has to quickly improvise with putting on a space suit ''after'' being thrown out of the ship by the explosion. His [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani respiratory]] [[BizarreAlienBiology bypass system]] comes in handy.

* TearsOfJoy: When Amy invites him inside for Christmas dinner, this happens. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Very humany-wumany of you, Doctor.]]

It’s Christmas Eve, 1938, when Madge Arwell finds a crater with a man in it. The man is wearing a space suit with a his helmet on backwards and can't see a thing. He got dressed in a bit of a hurry, what with free floating in space and a ship exploding behind him and all. Madge tells her children, Lily and Cyril, that she'll be off for a bit: she has to take a man with a backwards helmet who may or may not be an angel to find a phone box. When they find the TARDIS (after several false starts), he tells her that he'll thank her properly someday, once the suit is done healing him.

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* WomenDrivers: Madge bump into lots of things while driving the Doctor to the phone box. She doesn't fare much better when she hijacks a HumongousMecha; the Doctor calls it a total write off. She does pretty well at traversing the Time Vortex, but accidentally goes further into the past then she needed to before landing in the right era.