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Consider the following about Santa Claus:

  1. He can carry presents for every little boy and girl around the world in one bag that sits on a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer, so his bag has to be bigger on the inside.

  2. He's able to make it around the entire world, including time to go down every chimney and leave toys and presents for every kid, which means he has some way to manipulate time or travel back and forth in the time stream.

  3. His appearance changes from movie to movie, indicating he might undergo regenerations between movies.

These feats, and many others Santa Claus is known for, could be explained by the Time Lord technology.

Is Santa Claus a Time Lord?

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    I thought it was obvious that Santa's actually a Q. – user1027 Dec 15 '11 at 19:03
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    his TARDIS must be a TT Type 40 too ... its faulty chameleon circuit is locked on 'sleigh pulled by reindeer'. – abcooper Dec 15 '11 at 20:20
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    @abcooper They just don't make chameleon circuits like they used to. – Kalamane Dec 15 '11 at 20:35
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    A gigantic THWACK to the lot of you. Hmph. – Martha Dec 16 '11 at 0:20
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    @Martha: You do know that your comment just landed you on Santa's naughty list, don't you? For shame! – Tango Dec 16 '11 at 2:20
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Well, most of these are from related works (books and the like), so the canoninity of them is questionable... BUT... Check the Doctor Who Wiki entry on Santa Claus, and there's a bit there...

Dodging the possibly non-canon entries.. In 'The Doctor Dances', he does hint to Rose that he may be Santa, via a bike she once got. Although this is contradicted by the later picture he later shows a child of himself, Santa and Albert Einstein at Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge from 'A Christmas Carol.'

So, the Doctor either IS him (and the photo is a trick... he IS a time traveler, after all; such tricks would be easy for him, or, optionally, it would hardly be the first time he has been seen in the company of himself in a different incarnation), or knows him. I'd lean toward Santa being some pan-dimensional being the the Doctor is friends with / aware of, myself.

Addendum
As of the end of the episode 'Death in Heaven', we see what appears to be Santa entering the Tardis; that being said, everything being Timey-Wimey and the Doctor having met himself in different incarnations before, I can't see that this really preempts either of the possibilities I've mentioned. I'm still leaning toward him being a pan-dimensional being, but we'll see how this plays out. It is somewhat supported by him entering a Tardis in mid-flight; something we've seen beings like the White and Black guardians do.

Addendum 2
Ok; having watched it, I can confirm; it changes nothing. WHY, I'll leave unspoken to avoid spoilers, but it's fairly conclusive, despite a TINY hint at the end that there could be more later.

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    I have this image of the TARDIS being pulled through the sky by a team of flying K9s, the lead one blasting fire from his nose. – gnovice Dec 15 '11 at 20:42
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    @gnovice thanks a lot, now everyone at the office is staring at me, wondering why I could not stop my uncontrollable laughter. – Scott Chamberlain Dec 15 '11 at 20:46
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    "he IS a time traveler, after all; such tricks would be easy for him" - Perhaps, but that doesn't factor in all the running through corridors that such trickery would entail. – Goodbye Stack Exchange Dec 16 '11 at 0:17
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From the NORAD FAQ Site:

NORAD intelligence reports indicate that Santa does not experience time the way we do. His trip seems to take 24 hours to us, but to Santa it might last days, weeks or even months. Santa would not want to rush the important job of delivering presents to children and spreading joy to everyone, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions within his own time-space continuum.

Wouldn't a TARDIS-Sleigh explain the ambiguous "somehow"? And why would a TARDIS have to be a blue police box? A fully functioning chameleon circuit would pick the most appropriate camouflage. Is a brilliantly blue (sexy) Police Box the most appropriate in all situations?

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Yes, Santa being a Time Lord is plausible, albeit unlikely.

If Santa used a TARDIS to achieve his feats, he would have to use the chameleon circuit to create the shape of a sleigh, reindeer and a "fake Santa" sitting on the sleigh. Santa himself would have to climb out of what appears to be the sack of presents, as that would be the door to the interior of the TARDIS.

Because this shape would be both impractical and silly, his only reason for doing this would have to be to align with existing lore about Santa. Thus making him more of a pretender than the real Santa.

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  • The Doctor is not only aware of Santa Claus, but has helped him out. Santa has appeared in at least 2 stories of Doctor Who. – Tango Feb 1 '12 at 16:29
  • @TangoOversway Thank you, I wasn't aware of those episodes, since I haven't seen anything prior to the third Doctor. I'll edit my answer to reflect this information – Kevin Laity Feb 2 '12 at 13:58
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    @KevinLaity Unless you're talking about Jon Pertwee, you don't mean "third Doctor"... – Adeptus Nov 18 '14 at 1:20

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