BBC America has finally released the official trailer for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special. Entitled Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol, the trailer indicates that the storyline seems to emulate the classic Dickens tale of the same name.

Scroll down to watch the full trailer.

A Christmas Carol features Matt Smith continuing his journey as the Eleventh Doctor, along with his time-traveling companions, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. The adventure has been penned by show runner Steven Moffat who has previously stated that this year’s special will be the most “Christmassy Christmas special ever“.

Directed by Toby Haynes, the 2010 Doctor Who Christmas Special picks up where Series 5 left off, and also features Michael Gambon (otherwise recognized as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series) who, according to the TARDIS Index File, will be playing a character named Kazran. Additionally, Katherine Jenkins joins the cast playing an as-of-yet unspecified role.

After setting record-breaking ratings on BBC America, the Doctor Who cast and crew will film a two-part story on American soil for the first time in the show’s history, announced BBC.

Those trying to deduce what the story could be about might start by looking for anything significant that might have happened in a Utah desert during the 1960s. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory start their adventure in Utah and end up in The Oval Office itself, which means one of four different U.S. presidents could make an appearance: Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, or Richard Nixon.

“The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually! And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he’s been in America before. But not for real, not on location — and not with a story like this one! Oh, you wait!” said showrunner Steven Moffat, who will write the two-parter.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Chase Anderson
20th Century Fox
Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: March 23, 2010

I’ve never been a big Wes Anderson fan. The films I have seen from the filmmaker have been too quirky for my tastes, the kind of quirk that crosses the line between adorable and just plain weird. Anderson definitely makes the kinds of films where I would deem it mandatory to find out precisely what type of experience you’re in for before seeing them, because if you don’t you could end up thinking someone switched films on you leaving you lost and bewildered. Keeping that in mind, I think Fantastic Mr. Fox just might be my favorite Wes Anderson film to date.

Based on the children’s novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, the story is about Mr. Fox (George Clooney) and how he outwits his farmer neighbors, stealing their food right from under their noses. Anderson stated that he signed on because Roald Dahl was one of his heroes, so he had a strong personal connection in making the film. I’ve not had the pleasure of reading the book, but while doing some research I learned that the story the book covers would amount to the second act of the film. New scenes were apparently added by Anderson to serve for the film’s beginning and end.

Fantastic Mr. Fox
Directed by Wes Anderson
Voiced by George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker
Release date: November 25, 2009

My relationship with the movies of Wes Anderson can best be described as strained, to say the least. I have a sympathetic ear for the dysfunction he makes his characters wallow in each movie, but aren’t they all really just singing the same song?; that a family, no matter how damaged and quirky, can get through anything as long as they stick together? He has a definitive style, but more and more I get the impression that he is really telling a variation of the same story and trying to hide it by out-weirding the last one. Considering it to be my loudest objection to his movies, I find it curious that one of the biggest compliments I can give Fantastic Mr. Fox is that it feels like a Wes Anderson movie.

The children’s novel by Roald Dahl that the movie is based on is pretty straightforward. Mr. Fox steals chickens, turkeys, and cider from three wealthy nearby farmers. The farmers band together to try to ambush and kill him. He escapes with his family but ends up trapped and starving. After a spell he hatches a plan to create an underground safe haven and steal from them again out from under their noses while they wait for him to emerge.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Directed by David Yates
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter
Rated PG
Release Date: July 15, 2009

With each new Harry Potter movie, one must prepare themselves to be deafened by the cries of the divide. People either want the movies to follow the books page for bloody page or they want a standalone movie that they can enjoy outright. At this stage in the game I’m afraid neither one is fully possible.

Before you walk into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, you have to decide what it is you want out of it before you will be allowed to enjoy it for whatever it is you are looking for. The movie lover in me wants to be able to look at this or any film in the series as a singular unit and enjoy it for what it is and for what it accomplishes — as a film — but I am also a realist. The problem with this approach is that you are dealing with a canon of material that, to me, makes this an unattainable request. If you were dealing with a series of movies that simply involved central characters with a new story each time you might have a better shot at it, but the complete story of Harry Potter was told by way of seven books; each adding more layers and revealing more of the story as it goes along. You are almost forced to enjoy the arc rather than the individual pieces.