(Avert your eyes if you haven’t seen the Doctor Who Christmas special yet. *SPOILERS*)
This is one of the reasons I love Doctor Who so much…especially when it’s being run by someone who’s a fan of the show, like Steven Moffat. If you’re a casual fan, then The Snowmen is a lovely little romp through Victorian England with a disembodied voice controlling evil snow and ice. We get to meet the new companion and big mystery for the second half of the season (who is Clara Oswin Oswald?) and enjoy some hilarity at the expense of a somehow-resurrected-from-the-dead Sontaran nurse (who I hope will return as a sidekick for the Doctor, as they make a very funny team).
BUT if you’re an obsessed Whovian, you also get one of the most awesome nerdy nods to your devotion to all things “Who” yet. Not only was the villain of the piece the Great Intelligence, but that is an enemy who appeared in two previous episodes starring Matt Smith’s professed “favorite” Doctor, Patrick Troughton (the 2nd Doctor). That would be a nifty little reference by itself, but the name of the first episode? The Abominable Snowmen. (Heh) And, then, just to add icing to this continuity cake, he has the 11th Doctor waving a map of the London Underground in the “face” of the Intelligence and telling him that it’s from 1967 and shows London’s greatest weakness….meaning that the 11th Doctor gave the Great Intelligence the idea to attack the London Underground in the 2nd Doctor’s story, The Web of Fear.
I know that all this is not meant for you normal people, but how amazing is it that we have a show-runner who is good enough to weave such things into a story that appeals to casual fans as well as über-nerds like me without messing up the tale for either set of people? Pretty fricking amazing, I’d say. Thank you, Steven Moffat.
Yeah, I caught those references myself and giggled when I realized what they implied. It was a very cool way to bring back one of the lesser-known villains from the original series without pounding people over the head about it.