Add some timey-wimey fun to the holiday season

Prepare for the Holidays with these 'Doctor Who' Christmas Specials

BBC/BBC Worldwide

The countdown to Christmas has started, and we are all sad to note that the current season of Doctor Who will not have the traditional Christmas special that existed since the start of the new series in 2005. Though we still have a New Year's special for "Doctor Who," we can still get ready for the holiday season, with some 'Doctor Who' Christmas specials listed in order from "okay" to "brilliant."

13.  "The Snowmen" (2012)

BBC One

The 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) fights the lackluster Great Intelligence, an old "Doctor Who" villain and his minions, the snowmen and icy governess. A Victorian incarnation of Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) stands alongside the Doctor in this chilling Christmas special from 2012; it is a fun ride as all Doctor Who episodes are but it is not a legendary one.

12.  "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" (2016)

BBC

There is some Christmas spirit to this 2016 special with the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi), but the main focus is on the superhero, Ghost (Justin Chawin). The Doctor teams up with companion Nardole (Matt Lucas) and an investigative journalist (Charity Wakefield)), and of course the superhero to save New York City from brain-swapping aliens. Putting a superhero with the Doctor feels strange, but it does not have that classic "Doctor Who" Christmas feel to it.

11. "The End of Time" (2009)

Mark Oshiro

As the last two-part Christmas special for the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), the episode focuses on a legendary send-off for the 10th Doctor against the classic villain the Master (John Simm). The Master takes over the present-day Earth by turning every human into him, which makes this dramatically-told tale ridiculous.

10. "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe" (2011)

BBC One

The 11th Doctor brings more shenanigans to this Christmas special as he gifts Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner) a box to a wintry, Narnia-esque world. It's heavy with themes of the strength of mothers and the harsh reality of World War II all packaged in a little episode.

9. "The Next Doctor" (2008)

BBC/Paul Kelley

This special was really writer Russell T. Davis's way of trolling the fans. The so-called "Next Doctor" is actually a normal human (David Morissey) who believes he is the Doctor. This human-Doctor teams up with the 10th Doctor to stop the Cybermen army in 19th century London.

8. "The Time of the Doctor" (2013)

Adrian Rogers/BBC

On the Doctor's fated end on the planet Trenzalore, the 11th Doctor goes out with a bang by defending the town called Christmas from threats by the Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels and more. The fanatics of the episode really focuses on the 11th Doctor's regeneration, and Matt Smith's goodbye, as the 12th Doctor is introduced.

7.  "The Runaway Bride" (2006)

BBC America

Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) makes her first appearance in a wedding dress a year earlier then her season as a companion. She joins the 10th Doctor in stopping the plot of a giant arachnid and her colony from emerging from the center of the Earth to conquer it. Watch out for the fun action scene involving Donna, in her white dress, jumping into the TARDIS from a moving car.

6. "The Voyage of the Damned" (2007)

BBC

The 10th Doctor find himself on a spaceship called the Titanic on a collision course to Earth due to a malicious captain, and he must change the Titanic's path with waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue) even as people die around him. This is an action packed episode with the Doctor saving the Earth at the cost of the space-Titanic.

5.  "A Christmas Carol" (2010)

BBC One

A twist on Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol," Kazran Sardick (Michael Gambon) is the Scrooge who leaves a space liner with 4,000 people captive in a cloud belt. The 11th Doctor travels to Kazran's past to influence his future self into being kinder. This is a fun take on the classic Christmas story with its own crazy time-travelling, flying shark craziness that only "Doctor Who" can pull off.

4. "Twice Upon a Time" (2017)

BBC

The 12th Doctor and the First Doctor (David Bradley) find each other both unwilling to regenerate and allowing their current selves to die. Together, they overcome this fear of death along with a First World War British captain in the history-preserving, time-travelling spaceship. The episode ends on a tearful note as the Doctors watching soldiers on both sides of the battle singing "Silent Night," as well as the exciting reveal of the 13th Doctor (Jodie Whittaker).

3. "The Husbands of River Song" (2015)

BBC

The episode kicks off with the introduction of the companion Nardole and the final appearance of River Song (Alex Kingston). Not recognizing the 12th Doctor, she brings him along on her adventures with her one husband, while fighting against her other husband. By the end, however, River Song realizes that the 12th Doctor is her husband, the Doctor. This episode is worth it for the final date between the Doctor and River Song.

2. "Last Christmas" (2014)

BBC One/Seb Patrick

In all of "Doctor Who," never has there been a stranger sight than seeing Santa Claus help the 12th Doctor and Clara fight Alien-inspired dream crabs on a space station. It's truly what any sci-fi fan would wish for Christmas: a combination of "Doctor Who," "Inception" and "Alien."

1. "The Christmas Invasion" (2005)

Tom Bishop/BBC

As the first Christmas special in the new series, it is unlike many others where it gifts a legendary ending to a Doctor, but it truly introduces the 10th Doctor. The Doctor, weakened in his still-regenerating state, saves humanity from enslavement by the Sycorax alongside companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Of course, this is where the classic Santa-masked Roboforms and their bazooka-trombones are introduced as well.



Though the 13th Doctor will not get a Christmas special of her own this year, she will still be seen in the New Years special. Get into the holiday season with all the past Doctors before starting the new year with the female Doctor.

BBC One