Last week I discussed my favorite 10-6 holiday specials.  This week I’ll complete my list with my top 5.

5) K9 and Company – “A Girl’s Best Friend” (1981)

Nothing says the 80s better than a robot dog using lasers to fight evil witches on Christmas Eve. When Sarah Jane Smith travels to visit her Aunt Lavinia, she discovers her Aunt has left early for a tour in America and has forgotten Sarah Jane is coming for Christmas. Luckily, she has her aunt’s ward, and a mysterious crate that turns out to have K9, a robot dog from the Doctor, inside. While staying at her aunt’s home, she learns that the town does not like Lavinia because of her scathing letters to the newspaper against witchcraft. This may be due to the local coven of witches who must do a blood sacrifice on Christmas Eve, that apparently only K9 can stop. You would never know this was a Christmas special if not the end scene where K9 learns how to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” but it has the same spirit throughout.

4) Doctor Who – “A Christmas Carol” (2010 – Available on Netflix)

This is by far my favorite New-Who Christmas special (K9 and Company is my favorite Who holiday special in general). When a space liner on which companions Amy & Rory are spending their honeymoon gets caught in a planet’s electromagnetic field, the Doctor must travel to the planet and convince bitter old Kazran Sardick  (played by Michael Gambon), the only person in control of the planet’s atmosphere, the allow the ship freedom. To change Kazran’s mind, the Doctor takes the Tardis through time back to Kazran’s childhood, where the two release Abigail (Katherine Jenkins) from a cryogenic pod. However she can only be released one day at a time, so every year the Doctor meets up with Kazran, and the 3 have an adventure. Will the Doctor’s good deed make Kazran a better person? Will Kazran save the 4,000 people on the liner? Just ask the ghost of Christmas past, present and future.

3) Alf – “Alf’s Special Christmas” (1987 – Available on Hulu)

This is by far one of the most depressing episodes of Alf, and yet has more laugh tracks than you would expect in one. When the Tanners stay at a cabin owned by their friend Mr. Foley, Alf accidentally gets stuck in a movie van full of toys for the local hospital and gets mistaken for a toy himself. At the hospital he is picked by a girl who is dying of a mysterious illness. After befriending this girl, Alf tries to escape the hospital and get back to the cabin while getting stuck in an elevator, delivering a baby by reading a book, and convincing Mr. Foley not to commit suicide. Despite its excessive sadness, this episode is a must for the holiday season if only for Alf’s bad Christmas puns.

2) Father Ted – “A Christmassy Ted” (1996)

After seeing how other priests who have received the Golden Cleric award are respected, Father Ted wishes to have a calm, uneventful Christmas. When he, Dougal, and 6 other priests get lost in Ireland’s largest lingerie section while shopping, however, it’s up to Ted to save the day before a scandal occurs. In honor of his bravery, Father Ted is given the Golden Cleric award. My favorite part of the show is Mrs. Doyle’s hatred of the TeaMaster, a machine that would take away the one joy she has constantly – making tea. If you have never seen this show, it is a classic among Black Books and Black Adder.

1) X-files – “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” (1998 – Available on Netflix)

In 1917, a young couple living in a house in 1917 agrees to a lover’s pact – one killing the other, then committing suicide. Years after, any couple who ventured into the house on Christmas has the same fate. The ghosts, who could not stand being apart in life, wish to show how depressing Christmas can really be. After hearing this story, Mulder calls upon Scully to investigate and two ghosts of the two lovers (Ed Asner & Lily Tomlin) begin playing, causing walls and doors, bodies under floorboards to disappear and reappear, all the while appearing themselves to Muder and Scully The couple discusses Mulder & Scully’s flaws in order to force both of them to murder the other. Both Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin, playing the spirts who have now unusually aged, are the perfect couple in the episode, especially due to Asner’s grumpy old & sacastic attitude. This is one of my favorite episodes of the X-Files in general, but having an excuse to watch just this episode because it’s Christmas is even better.

What are your favorite holiday specials? Write us in the comments below.