Soapland Christmas: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''Oh, [[You Just Had to Say It|did you have to?]] No turning back? That's almost as bad as "[[Nothing Can Stop Us Now|nothing could]] [[Tempting Fate|possibly]] [[What Could Possibly Go Wrong?|go wrong]]" or "this is going to be the best Christmas [[Eastenders|Walford]]'s ever had"''.|'''The Doctor''', "The Impossible Planet", ''[[Doctor Who]]''}}

In [[Soap Opera~~|Soap Operas~~]], Christmas is a time of death, divorce, infidelity and violence. In British soaps especially, at least one person will end up dying, getting knocked down, or crying all alone on the happiest day of the year. That's the Spirit of Christmas for you.

In [[Soap Opera]]s, Christmas is a time of death, divorce, infidelity and violence. In British soaps especially, at least one person will end up dying, getting knocked down, or crying all alone on the happiest day of the year. That's the Spirit of Christmas for you.

On the other hand, having to be hospitable to relatives you secretly hate, [[Unwanted Gift Plot|graciously receiving presents you neither need nor want]], and the certain knowledge you'll eating leftover turkey until Easter won't seem quite so bad by the closing credits.

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* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2005 CS the Christmas Invasion|The Christmas Invasion]]" (2005, set in 2006): The Tenth Doctor's first adventure had him spending most of the day going through regenerative sickness, almost being killed by a giant tree, and then had his triumphant moment getting rid of the aliens spoiled by Torchwood shooting the alien ship down. And {{spoiler|he has a huge falling out with his friend Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, which ends with him getting her sacked, destroying "Britain's Golden Age"}}.

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2006 CS the Runaway Bride|The Runaway Bride]]" (2006, set in 2007): He had to face an ancient menace called the Racnoss whose offspring wished to gorge on life across the cosmos. Their web-shaped ship was mistaken for a giant decorative Christmas star by Londoners until it started zapping the city with bolts of electricity. This adventure immediately follows the loss of one of the Doctor's dearest companions and features an especially dark moment for him in which he kills a ton of alien babies and almost lets himself die along with them. Oh, and the Thames is drained.

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2007 CS Voyage of the Damned|Voyage of the Damned]]" (2007, set in 2008): He vows to save everyone on the Starship Titanic and ~~fails -- in~~ part because the good characters consider saving ''him'' a higher priority. Among the casualties is {{spoiler|the woman he'd wanted for his next companion}}. At least he managed to keep that ship from crashing into the Earth. Beautifully lampshaded as everyone in London knows nasty things have been happening for the past two Christmases, so, this year, practically nobody's ''in'' central London for the nasty things to happen.

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2007 CS Voyage of the Damned|Voyage of the Damned]]" (2007, set in 2008): He vows to save everyone on the Starship Titanic and fails—in part because the good characters consider saving ''him'' a higher priority. Among the casualties is {{spoiler|the woman he'd wanted for his next companion}}. At least he managed to keep that ship from crashing into the Earth. Beautifully lampshaded as everyone in London knows nasty things have been happening for the past two Christmases, so, this year, practically nobody's ''in'' central London for the nasty things to happen.

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S4/E14 The Next Doctor|The Next Doctor]]" (2008, set in 1851): The Cybermen escaped from the void and ended up in a past era, which the Doctor happens to be visiting. On the other hand that meant {{spoiler|[[Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha|GIANT CYBERMAN ROBOT]] RAMPAGING THOUGH TOKY- ER, [[Victorian London]]!}}

* "[[Doctor Who/Recap/NS/S4/E17 E18 The End of Time|The End of Time]]" (Christmas 2009/New Year's Day 2010, set Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day 2009): {{spoiler|The Master comes back from the dead-ish and transforms every single human being but two into copies of himself, and the Time Lords hatch a plan to escape from the Time War. Both villainous sides eventually fail, and the Doctor's regeneration isn't even directly caused by either of them}}.

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* ''[[The X-Files]]'' first Christmas episode (actually a two-parter) falls victim to this in the worst kind of way. The episode starts with Scully spending the holidays with her brother and his wife in San Diego. They're expecting a baby and are very exciting, unknowingly digging the proverbial knife deeper for Scully, who has just found out that she is unable to conceive. A mysterious phone call leads Scully to a muder mystery, in which the parents of a sick 3-year-old die in quick succession. The little girl looks an awful lot like Scully's sister, Melissa, who had been killed two seasons before. So, Scully has some DNA tests run. While they run, Scully tries to adopt the orphaned Emily, but is denied. When the tests come back and reveal that Emily is actually Scully's daughter, things get worse. The little girl has an incurable form of anemia, which would be bad enough except when taken to the hospital, an entire conspiracy involving surrogate mothers taken from the local nursing home and alien hybrids is discovered after Emily's blood burns an ER doctor. On top of that, Emily has a growth that's shutting down her body systematically. The final scene is her funeral, which happens just after Scully's sister-in-law gives birth to Scully's nephew. Quite possibly one of the most depressing Christmas episodes.

** Their only other Christmas episode also has depressing themes, though is markedly less [[Tear Jerker]] and more comedic. The episode's premise is a lover's murder/suicide pact, which two ghosts are trying to get Mulder and Scully to re-enact.

* In ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'', Cooper Hawkes, an [[Artificial Human|InVitro]] who until he joined the Marines, had been homeless with no family, described Christmas as being the one time of the year when he was even lonlier than usual. Meanwhile, the squad spends Christmas in a crippled transport drifting in space, with no means of calling for help or getting home<ref> until the [[Nicknaming the Enemy|Chigs]] choose to give them information to help them get home rather than leave them to die.</ref>

* In ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'', Cooper Hawkes, an [[Artificial Human|InVitro]] who until he joined the Marines, had been homeless with no family, described Christmas as being the one time of the year when he was even lonlier than usual. Meanwhile, the squad spends Christmas in a crippled transport drifting in space, with no means of calling for help or getting home<ref>until the [[Nicknaming the Enemy|Chigs]] choose to give them information to help them get home rather than leave them to die.</ref>

== [[Western Animation]] ==