New Who Review of Nightmare in Silver

[puppetmaker]

Usual rules apply especial this week since a bunch of people already got their 2nd half of the season disks and have seen both this and next weeks episode. I am staying away from the Doctor Who sites right now.

Also Neil is a friend of mine so I might be coloring this through the lens of friendship.

This one was a little more 11th Doctor oriented, especially with the Clara in charge sections. Although I could see Sarah Jane or Leela doing something like this in the same situation. Ace would have been all over it.

Overall I liked it. Even the kids didn’t bother me, they were part of the story rather than horned in.

Warwick Davis is such a good actor and he proves it again with this gem. I will say they have gotten dynamite actors for all these episodes and the directors have done well as well.

The rest of this behind the cut and in the comments. Spoilers only up to this episode.



Not a perfect episode and I don’t think it entirely fulfilled its mandate (Make the Cybermen scary again) but it sure got close. The cybermites were a nice touch.

The Doctor fighting the Cyber Planner in his brain was fun. Nice that we got the shout out to all the previous Doctors. Matt Smith bouncing between the two was done well by him. Clara sorting out who she was talking to made sense.

The stand out was Warwick Davis in this one. I couldn’t see the coin clearly so I didn’t catch the picture. But I went back and they did leave the pipework there. I do love the physical change as well as the voice when he finally admits he is the emperor. He seems to get taller when all he is doing is holding himself in a more regal bearing.

We learn a little more about Clara as a person but less about the mystery.

So far this has been my favorite episode of this half of the season.

Next week is “The Name of the Doctor” and I fully expect a shiny red reset button in there somewhere.

I am grateful that Neil got to write another episode.

Comments

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was stellar. The kids were a little annoyingly one-note, the rebellious fault-finder and the eager-to-impress youngster. The main point of the ep seemed to be to have Matt Smith play against himself, which was fun but got a little dull after a bit. I do agree that Warwick Davis was excellent, though.