Posted in: BBC, Disney+, TV | Tagged: doctor who, Santa Claus

Doctor Who: Was Santa Claus a Time Lord (or The Doctor) All Along?

Doctor Who: Last Christmas is one of Steven Moffat's best Christmas special episodes, but did he secretly write Santa as a hidden Doctor?

Doctor Who Christmas specials have been an annual mainstay for nearly a whole generation now, barring the four years when they were replaced by a New Year's Special that didn't have quite the same sense that they were a special event, and Steven Moffat has written more Christmas specials since he was the longest-serving showrunner of the series. That means his specials varied in quality, but one of his best was 2014's "Last Christmas." Ten years later, a thought suddenly occurred – Was Santa Claus (Nick Frost) a Time Lord? In fact, was he another hidden Doctor? Hear me out.

Santa Acted A Lot Like The Doctor

Nearly all "Last Christmas" occurred in a dream shared by Clara (Jenna Coleman), the Doctor, and several people who all found themselves in danger in a scenario that combined John Carpenter's The Thing and the first Alien. Santa shows up in the dream to help The Doctor figure out how to save everyone so that nobody dies. We're led to assume that Santa is just a figment of this dream, but in hindsight, there's something off about him. Instead of a warm, jolly fellow, he's sardonic and slightly gruff, somewhat like… The Doctor. The elves are his snarky companions. The Doctor reacts to him as he would whenever he encounters another incarnation of himself: with outright hostility and reluctantly working with him.

Santa is wise, wisecracking, and knows what is going on more than our hero. He was frequently two steps ahead of the Doctor and showed up in the nick of time to help save the day more than once, just like you-know-who likes to do. He was also slightly arrogant, declaring early that "You'll be glad of my help before the day is done, Doctor." You could say the Doctor is already Santa Claus. He's every child's magical imaginary friend, and here he's Clara's. He also becomes The Doctor's imaginary friend when he doesn't know he needs his help. He's a figure of fatherly comfort and solace, especially to a lonely and grieving Clara.

A Dream Within a Dream Within a Dream, but Who is Santa Exactly?

So is Santa merely a dream, everyone's projection of the Santa they need to help the Doctor save them from the alien menace that's killing them through that dream? Or is Santa real? Is Santa really the Doctor's own projection of one part of his personality or is there an incarnation of The Doctor out there who's decided to just be Santa forever? How else would he be able to deliver presents to every kid in the world on Christmas Eve except through timey-wimey time travel? His sack is almost certainly a TARDIS, bigger on the inside. Moffat keeps it ambiguous at the end, but Santa has given the Doctor and Clara what they wanted most for Christmas: an end to their loneliness and a rekindling of their friendship.

Was Moffat Up to His Usual Tricks Again?

We wouldn't put it past Moffat to have written Santa as another hidden Doctor. It's just the kind of thing he does as much to amuse himself, his geeky fanboy self, and chuckle at having a secret nobody figured out or spotted. After all, he only admitted recently that he wrote a hidden future Doctor in "Silence in the Library." Doctor Moon (Colin Salmon) seemed to be an AI character in the digital afterlife that Donna (Catherine Tate) and later River Song (Alex Kingston) met with regularly. As far as Moffat is concerned, Doctor Moon is a future incarnation of The Doctor who uploaded his consciousness, or a copy of it, to the digital afterlife to be with his wife, River. None of us knew it or even suspected it until Moffat came out and admitted it.

This is all purely speculation on our part, but it's the holidays. What else is there to do but idly imagine, dream, and fantasize about silly things, especially Doctor Who?

Doctor Who: Last Christmas is streaming on MAX in the US.

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