This story got a negative review from the usually faithful Radio Times. Not a good sign. Indeed, it truly was a rotten story.
Having hated The Doctor's Wife, I was really dreading another story by Neil Gaiman. I have read only a few of his writings, but he comes across as just a bit too cool. Like Gaiman's previous Doctor Who story, Nightmare in Silver tries to combine seemingly original ideas with a strong sense of nostalgia, yet ends up falling very flat.
Nightmare in Silver feels very much like a mishmash of several different stories from the classic series. We have the obvious Tomb of the Cybermen reference, future soldiers (Earthshock), Dr. Who playing chess (Curse of Fenric), children being turned into battle computers (Remembrance of the Daleks), the Cyber-planner (The Invasion) and a mental contest (Brain of Morbius). I'm sure I have missed one or two others. Even the Cyberman playing chess was plundered from a Big Finish story.
Central to the story was Dr. Who being turned into the Cyber-Planner and forced into an internal conflict. This felt very tedious. It also did not quite feel quite right for a Cyberman story. A Cybernised Dr. Who ought to be cold and logical, but Matt Smith played the part as demented as he usually does. He came across more like another version of the Master. The Cybermen themselves were just clunky robots and used only as drones. I quite like the Cybermites, but they were underused.
A lot of people have complained about Clara. She switches very easily to the role of military leaders in this story. Her characterisation seems to be whatever a particular script demands of her. She showed little emotional engagement with anything in this story. I'm also not the only one disappointed by how quickly Tamzin Outhwaite's captain was killed off.
The story resolution felt a little too easy- blow up the planet, transmat to the spaceship, then safely home.
I really do hope Moffat, or whoever is producing Doctor Who next time does not hire Neil Gaiman again.
I got scolded a bit by one commenter on my blog for being critical of this episode -- in a review that I felt was largely positive, but obviously not enough for the taste of some -- so I hope you've got thick skin if she ever finds this post!
ReplyDeleteClara's sliding into the role of military officer by field promotion was a bit of a stretch, but I understood that to be part of her puppyish desire to win the Doctor's approval. Not that that makes it OK, because I think it demeans the character; however, if her character had been written to be overwhelmed, stumble, and fail in that setting, I think I would have been critical of that decision as well, so I guess we're left with: "How could the Doctor think putting Clara in charge was a good idea?" The only answer to that, I suspect, was that he knew what would happen if he didn't.
Can you believe there are folks hoping Gaiman would be the next showrunner? Luckily, that will never happen, but I think a couple doses of Gaiman was enough, and I wouldn't be in a hurry to ask him back.
Smith seems to be getting mostly praise for his handling of the Cyber-Planner, but I've seen at least one review in addition to yours that wished he had played it more emotionless and logical. The best defense I've seen of the decision to play it the way he did is that it showed how the Doctor is that much more advanced than anything the Cybermen had attempted to assimilate before, and the Cybermen themselves, and so he ended up influencing the Cyber-Planner by force of his intellect and will into being that kind of madcap villain. In any event, I think this kind of doubling of the Base Under Siege in the story, where the Doctor's mind is under siege in parallel with a more literal, if 'comical', base that's under as under siege as well might be one of the niftier bits of writing we've seen in a while.
As always, I enjoy reading your thoughts on the show.
Thanks for your response.
DeleteA Cybernised Dr. Who ought to be cold and logical, but Matt Smith played the part as demented as he usually does
ReplyDeleteAlong the same lines as Cdog: I thought the idea was that Cyberplanner software was running on Doctorish brainware that it hadn't yet managed to reconfigure ("I'm going to have to completely rewrite the neural interface," it says, meaning it hasn't yet, presumably because of the doctor's "hyperconductive nervous system" and "remarkable brain processing speed"), so that its personality was influenced by the Doctor's (hence the "fantastic!," "allons-y," etc.) even as its goals remained cyberish.
Clara's sliding into the role of military officer by field promotion was a bit of a stretch, but I understood that to be part of her puppyish desire to win the Doctor's approval
I didn't read it that way at all. I thought it was another instance of her being highly competent, unusually clever, ingenious at improvising, and up for anything -- which is how she's been portrayed all along. Closer to Romana than to Ace, I think.
Thanks for dropping in and sharing your thoughts.
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