You remember how I mentioned that Gaiman got our expectations up impossibly high? I was wrong, he did meet them, somehow. It wasn't quite full marks, but it wasn't an actual nightmare in silver as some people expected.
So, the Cybermen are scary again, the kids weren't annoying, well, not unintentionally, even though at times they did feel a bit pointless, Clara turned down a wedding proposal, and Matt Smith said 'Allons-y!', although I'll have to re-watch the whole thing to make sure which version of the Doctor actually said the tenth Doctor's catch-phrase. But I have to say that his... 'version' of the former Doctors (that should have been 9 and 10 I guess) weren't that authentic. To say it with 11th words: Let's never do that again. And all this was set between the ruins of an old amusement park. Which was rather spooky, even though IMHO they did not make proper use of it... Oh, and I LOVE the final shot: a cybermite floating through space.
One thing to nag about, except the lost opportunity of not really involving the CGI-ed amusement park, is that again, an episode failed to add anything to the *big* who-is-Clara story. That is fine for 'causal' viewers, I guess. But isn't giving hints and teasers throughout the series the way Moffat has been writing 'Who' these days? Or are we just too stupid to see those supposedly red herrings this time? Or is that just me?
So, the Cybermen are scary again, the kids weren't annoying, well, not unintentionally, even though at times they did feel a bit pointless, Clara turned down a wedding proposal, and Matt Smith said 'Allons-y!', although I'll have to re-watch the whole thing to make sure which version of the Doctor actually said the tenth Doctor's catch-phrase. But I have to say that his... 'version' of the former Doctors (that should have been 9 and 10 I guess) weren't that authentic. To say it with 11th words: Let's never do that again. And all this was set between the ruins of an old amusement park. Which was rather spooky, even though IMHO they did not make proper use of it... Oh, and I LOVE the final shot: a cybermite floating through space.
One thing to nag about, except the lost opportunity of not really involving the CGI-ed amusement park, is that again, an episode failed to add anything to the *big* who-is-Clara story. That is fine for 'causal' viewers, I guess. But isn't giving hints and teasers throughout the series the way Moffat has been writing 'Who' these days? Or are we just too stupid to see those supposedly red herrings this time? Or is that just me?
Anyway, Nightmare in Silver' is still rather good. I love the fact that the crucial plot device was the Doctor bluffing in a game of chess he was playing against himself, or rather the Cybermen's hive-mind. Oh, and chess was invented by the mighty Time Lords now? Didn't know that bit. But we'll make sure to add it to the big chunk of fun-facts of the Whoniverse*.
And it's episodes like this which make it even worse that Neil Gaiman does not feel like becoming the new showrunner of 'Who'. I just wanted to make that point clear.
Next week is the last time we get 'Who' on screen before the big 5oth anniversary. So better make it a good one then.
___
* ... and to Wikipedia. After all, you could quote Neil Gaiman as reasonable source.
No comments:
Post a Comment