New Preview for the Doctor Who 2012 Christmas Special, The Snowmen!
We got our first sneak peek at the Who holiday installment during the BBC’s annual Children in Need charity telethon, but now the “official” trailer has arrived, which features some new footage and a longer look at our titular Snowmen villains.
The Snowmen will also be our first “official” introduction to new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman who will be attempting to fill the shoes of previous TARDIS residents Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. If her surprise appearance in Series 7’s Asylum of the Daleks was any indication, she’s going to do better than fine here in her new gig. (I’m still rabidly curious to find out how this new girl Clara Oswin is connected to the Oswin Oswald we met on the Dalek ship, but it’s probably best not to get our hopes up that that is going to be addressed in any meaningful way in the holiday episode.)
All that said – if you ask me just from the roughly two minutes of footage between these two trailers, The Snowmen already looks miles better than The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe from last year. Richard E. Grant looks appropriately evil and villainous – and he’s not even the episode’s biggest guest star. That’s because the Snowmen are being voiced by none other than Sir Ian McKellen! It’s really like Santa is bringing me an episode featuring pretty much every one of my favorite flavors of geek in one big, fabulously nerdy ball. Best present ever! (Well, almost. Throw Benedict Cumberbatch in there, Santa, and I’ll be happy forever. Just so you know!)
The official synopsis for the episode is as follows:
Christmas Eve 1892 and the falling snow is the stuff of fairy-tales. When the fairy-tale becomes a nightmare and a chilling menace threatens Earth, an unorthodox young governess, Clara, calls on the Doctor for help. But the Doctor is in mourning, reclusive and determined not to engage in the problems of the universe. As old friends return, will the Doctor really abandon humankind or will he fight to save the world – and Christmas – from the icy clutches of this mysterious menace?
Well, um, I guess I’m glad to see we’re getting that awkward “new companion has to kiss the Doctor at some point” moment out of the way early? (Clearly it’s a fake out, but really do we have to do this every time?)
