It's become apparent that it's quite difficult for columns like this one to fairly appraise the Doctor Who Christmas Specials. Quite cleverly, they are made ever-so-slightly differently to the usual episodes - tailored, in fact, towards a discrete moment in time, that full-to-bursting-with-turkey, collapse-out moment on Christmas Day afternoon when all you want to do is sit slumped in a chair, pop a Quality Street into your mouth and watch something undemanding. This might explain why all three forays into that world where monsters suddenly resemble Christmassy Type Things and it just happens to be snowing in Cardiff when the Doctor visits, are all weak on plot and high on painted-on glitz. They aren't great Doctor Who stories - they are great slices of Christmas TV though. You might of course ask how "Only Fools and Horses" managed to also nab twenty million viewers while entertaining us with plots as complex as those in the Christmas episodes "Fatal Extraction" or "Mother Natures Son", but we'll gloss over that.

As Doctor Who Christmas Specials go, though, "Voyage of the Damned" was possibly the best so far - true, after the talky, nonsensical Sycorax episode and the similarly pointless run-around with the Racnoss in 2006, that's a bit like being the best Big Brother winner so far. And "Voyage" was as filled with glittery tack (tinsel, snow, characters turning into a gay special effects when they die) as previous efforts (this is a GREAT thing if it's December, stomach-turningly schmaltzy if you're re-watching it in July). But where it won out is in nailing down a decent enough parody for its plot, namely a walk through "Titanic" and "The Pseudonym Adventure", to keep everything ticking over for an hour. The trappings were also more classy, Bernard Cribbins making a worthy debut, Geoffrey Palmer steering a cruise ship-shaped Space Vessel high above the Earth, and some decent guest stars in Clive Swift and Kylie. There were echoes of other Christmas favourites here too, the theme of redemption at Christmas Time going back through everything from "It's A Wonderful Life" to "Home Alone". Even Kylie managing to produce a phone-in performance couldn't spoil things - it's Christmas, Kylie is there! It was enough.

The Robots of Death-apeing monsters were as sub-standard as previous Christmas Monster efforts, but as just another ingredient in this spicy mix, also passed muster. As a fan, you can't really complain when a scene from thirty years ago is repeated, and hopefully as a kid you were as chilled as they were back in '77 on the Sandminer.

So what we have is a bucket full of fun - another disposable monster, another memorable guest character, another sparkling trek to an emotional resolution, and another chance for Jimmy Vee to paint himself a different colour. As a Christmas Bonanza it hit the spot absolutely, and while, eventually, it would be nice to have something a little more 'classical' and dignified at Christmas, there IS nothing dignified about all that stuffing your face and shouting out the answers to the family quiz is there? (Besides, they seem to currently filming something that might fit these requirements for this years trick).

Just keep it in the DVD box until the decorations come out again. Okay?