Day 797: Nightmare in Silver

I don't especially like being negative about Doctor Who episodes. I like to think that every story has potential, everything could theoretically be extraordinary. But sometimes I'll come across episodes that just don't work. And Nightmare in Silver is unfortunately one of those episodes, and it's a little bit sad to see that potential of an episode lost.

The brief of the episode appears relatively simple: make the Cybermen scary again. In the new series the Cybermen have essentially lost their way, going from what was admittedly a good introduction in Rise of the Cybermen to a series of diminishing returns where it felt like they were forced into the background as generic bad guys. They should be seen as scary monsters, the more frightening equivalent to the Daleks, but they just haven't been portrayed in that way. So Nightmare in Silver aims to correct this, by showing the Cybermen as a deadly force that festers away in your nightmares, ready to come out and attack you. However it fails, because the Cybermen are never able to feel particularly scary.

Nightmare in Silver introduces a couple of new additions to the cyber-arsenal to attempt to make them more of a threat. The Cybermen can detach parts of their body, for instance, to attack people from a distance and lure targets into a false sense of security. And I think that this is something that's well implemented by writer Neil Gaiman in terms of story, where he tries to have the Cybermen hiding in the shadows and making them stealthier. But director Stephen Woolfenden doesn't portray it in this way, instead giving the Cybermen a wider space in which to work and removing any sort of tension associated with the scene. It could have been something special but it just wasn't, and so any sense of threat from the Cybermen is dampened.

But, at the very least, the core concept of the Cybermen is good, right? The idea that these creatures used to be humans until they were turned into emotionless, faceless beings. It's frightening, and strong, and completely ignored in Nightmare in Silver. We don't get to see people converted into Cybermen, we don't get to see them stripped of their humanity. Instead we get a half baked idea of conversion, which is based around the idea of Cyber-Mites digging into the flesh and converting living matter as efficiently as it can. But whilst that does come across as a cool concept, the converted people are not remotely like Cybermen. The Doctor, for instance, has almost half his brain controlled by the Cybermen in this episode. But, instead of that half of the brain being represented by something chilling and emotionless, we get Matt Smith running about the room, chewing on every piece of scenery that he can find and calling himself Mr. Clever. As I'm sure you can agree, this is the very height of cold, hard logic and an emotionless exterior. It's a huge misstep for the episode as it betrays the entire core concept of the Cybermen, and makes them into something far more generic.

There are good things in this episode, though. Whilst Smith does chew the scenery in his role as Mr. Clever, it is at least an entertaining performance and improves the story somewhat. Jenna Coleman as Clara has settled into her role well, but she is unfortunately hampered by still being in her first series so most writers are stuck writing for her as a generic companion instead of the stronger character development that we'll see later on in her time. And I should single out Warwick Davies in the guest cast who manages to make his final scenes work really well by just reading the lines without emotion, portraying a tired monarch who's just a little bit depressed about what he's done.

And those good things do mean that, on average, I tended to have a reasonably alright time with this episode. But the fact that the episode could have been something better if it were just directed and written just that little bit more strongly. As it is, it's just an exercise in lost potential - a story that could have earned a gold medal but had to settle for silver.

Day 774: The Doctor's Wife

The Doctor's Wife is an interesting story to think about. It's pretty much perfect, and one of my favourite episodes ever produced in the history of Doctor Who. But it has the potential to be completely ruined if any writer chooses to come back to it. Because some good things should never be touched, and should just be left alone forever.

It's all because of the concept of The Doctor's Wife: what if the TARDIS came to life. Throughout the history of Doctor Who, the TARDIS has regularly been treated as something that's alive, a living piece of machinery that helps the Doctor when he's in need. Neil Gaiman's concept for the episode was to put the mind of the TARDIS into a human body so that they can actually have a conversation with the Doctor. And what we get is something equal parts heart-warming and heartbreaking. We see the Doctor and the TARDIS arguing with each other, but also loving each other as they try to rescue Amy and Rory from the malevolent force that has taken over the TARDIS shell. It's thrilling to see these characters who have known each other for so long finally being able to sit together and talk, and it's made completely heartbreaking when we see that experience taken away from them so soon into their new relationship together because the TARDIS's human body dies. It's such a sad moment to see the Doctor look up at the TARDIS's dying body and see him lose all of that potential that they had together when it was alive, and one that's extremely well played by Matt Smith.

And that's why this episode can never be re-visited. Because of all the temptation to go back and give the TARDIS life again, it would cheat the ending of that episode because it needs to end with them only having had that short, but perfect, time together. Any more episodes like this and it would destroy that beauty found in the uniqueness of that moment. So The Doctor's Wife has to remain this way, a story that is always going to be remembered but never revisited because it would make the original story something less than it was.