Impossible Snowfall Machine - A Doctor Who Christmas

For Danny McClanahan And other Whovians

Bells rang. Children laughed. Lovers cried. Poets dreamed. All of them for one thing, one powerful thing, where joy could be found anywhere and everywhere, a time when everyone shined their brightest, when everything was beautiful: Christmas.

            Christmas.

            A perfect day. For everyone.

            The TARDIS materialised. The Doctor stepped out, spreading his arms out widely, welcoming the breeze of refreshingly cold air. “Yes!” he exclaimed. “I, once again, managed to land on the perfect day!”

            He spun in the open area in front of him. From here, he could see the crowded streets filled with laughter and music. This day could never be happier.

            And yet…

            There was a sound. A tiny little bleep. A distant noise.

            The TARDIS, the Doctor thought. He spun around and marched back in. He snapped on a few controls and peeked at the screen.

            “A strong signal coming from nearby… not very sophisticated technology but not alien…” he stopped. “What year is this? 2011? Wow, they must’ve advanced. Good for them, humans. Always liked them.”

            The TARDIS groaned. The doors snapped shut. A fizzle of sparks went off. “Huh?” the Doctor exclaimed. “What?” It whooped a couple times and it disappeared from the place.

After a rough ride, it landed again. The Doctor, armed with his sonic screwdriver, stepped out of his blue box, this time much more carefully. He was inside a modern laboratory. He quickly popped his head back in to check the date. Same date, same year.

He stepped back out and gave the place a quick scan. A man was sitting at a desk full of wires and spare metal parts, working feverously.

            “Ooo, a scientist!” the Doctor exclaimed. He fixed up his bow tie, tucked his screwdriver back in his coat pocket and strode confidently towards the man.

            “Hello!!” he called out loudly. The man jumped in his seat. He turned around with a Phillips screwdriver in one hand and a bundle of wires in the other. Without waiting for the man to greet back, the Doctor rushed to him, grabbed a hand and shook it eagerly. “Hello, hello! Merry Christmas!! I’m the Doctor, and I LOVE science! But you’re working and it’s Christmas… so either you’re atheist, a people-hater, an alien, or working on something very important. So, what have you got here?”

            He said all this very fast.

            The man blinked. “Er…”

            The Doctor let go of his hand. “What’s your name?”

            “Oh, er, Professor Danny McClanahan of Oxford College,” he stammered.

            “Oh PROFESSOR!! EXCELLENT!”

            “Ah, yes, yes, and you are a doctor?”

            “Not just A doctor. I’m the Doctor.”

            “Okay…?”

            “Just think of it as a nickname. Well, no, not a nickname, but if it helps, a nickname.”

            Danny looked as confused as ever.

            “It’s alright, what have you got here?”

            “This,” he swallowed, “is just an experiment. It’s nothing.” He began to clear the table.

            The Doctor stopped him. He grabbed the big metal box with multiple wires sticking out. “Whoa, what is this?”

            “It’s, it’s nothing.”

            “No, it’s magnificent! How did you make this with the technology of this time period?”

            “What?”

            “It’s a powerful sonic energy magnifier! You must’ve sent a frequency that corresponded with my TARDIS and attracted it to here.”

            “Er, okay?”

            “What were you trying to do with this?”

            “I, er, I was just trying to make a Christmas present for my wife, but, no, never mind. It’s a failure.”

            “A failure?! You brought my TARDIS here, didn’t you? Whatever that was, it was not failure. I’d call that a… an interesting trial run.”

            Danny sighed. “But it would only make noises. It was suppose to lock the water molecules in the clouds together to make snow. A white Christmas. All my wife asked for this year. And I failed her.”

            “That’s beautiful, Danny,” the Doctor said kindly. “You did build this,” he gestured to the hunk of metal. “Only a few modifications,” he connected a few wires, slapped on some metal pieces, “and a little help from my sonic,” the screwdriver whirred and flashed, “and an extra kick of power from the TARDIS,” he ran back to the blue box, grabbed a thick, long cable, and ran back to connect it to the metal box, “and VOILA! We’ve got a simple, yet ingeniously engineered, weather manipulation machine!!”

            Danny stared at it and the Doctor in awe.

            “Will you do the honours?” the Doctor said, smiling broadly.

            A grin spread across his face. Danny, triumphant, threw on the final switch.

            Big rumble. Powerful shaking. A zap. A thunder. Then…

            The Doctor and the professor both sprinted out the door. Moments before, the clouds have gathered unfortunately to cover the beauty of the moon, but now, light flakes of snow fell gently from them. The crowd below spun in circles, their faces turned up, filled with delight.

            Danny turned to the Doctor. With a broad smile, he said, “Be right back.”

 

Danny led his wife out the door. “You have to come see!”

            “But it’s cold out,” she whined.

            “Just wait and see!”

            “Oh alright, I …” she stopped. She stared at the beautiful snowfall, unable to believe it. “How… did you…”

            He smiled at his wife. The happiest, the most delightful smile she’s ever seen.

            “Merry Christmas.”

 

And on Christmas Day, 2011, the Doctor not only helped two lovers come together and enjoy their Christmas together, he has given the entire world a gift �" the gift of a white Christmas. Beautiful and bright.

            Merry Christmas everyone

Reviews

[Dominique]

That is beautiful. I like that its neat storyline. I love the Christmas gift.

[tamsin]

I actually prefer Matt Smith to David Tennant's Doctor, I liked the way you wrote this Doctor as a bit of a mix of both : D

[SamanthaDanielle]

This was such a fun read! Until the part where you mentioned the bow tie, I read this as Tennant's Doctor. Immediately after that line he switched to Smith's. Anyway, well done. Keep writing! Allons-y!