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| "Save me from the monsters!" |
1 episode. Approx. 48 minutes. Written by: Mark Gatiss. Directed by: Richard Clark. Produced by: Sanne Wohlenberg.
THE PLOT
"Save me from the monsters!"
The Doctor's psychic paper picks up this message, which he follows to its source: a terrified child in a very ordinary London council estate. The Doctor impersonates... well, a doctor in order to see the child and figure out what it is so afraid of. He quickly determines that there are real monsters here, or at least something otherworldly.
It's all linked to the boy's cupboard. Inside the cupboard is a dollhouse. Inside the dollhouse are a miniaturized Amy and Rory - who find themselves on the run from deadly, cackling wooden dolls!
CHARACTERS
The Doctor: Well, he's better-characterized than his two companions, at least. I'll give Matt Smith credit for cranking up the eccentricity to cover the weak characterization given him by this script. Still, this may be the most generic characterization of the Doctor we've seen yet in the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era. You could plug any of the other Doctors into this story without changing much of the script at all. Some of the others - Hartnell and Pertwee, in particular - would actually work better. Given that Smith is playing a Doctor who's a plot device rather than a character, it's not surprising that he comes across much weaker than usual.
Amy: Is deeply stupid. She and Rory have successfully blocked the killer dolls from getting into the room where they're hiding. OK, they can't get out - but the dolls also can't get in. Without even looking very hard to see if there might be another way out, without even taking five minutes for a breather, Amy suddenly decides that they have to open the door again. Why? Why, to provoke a Third Act crisis, of course. There's really no reason that makes any sense within the plot, particularly since the dollhouse doesn't really give them any place to run.
Rory: Inside the dollhouse, before they see a single walking doll, Rory is panicking. Fine - if this was last season. But just two episodes ago, we saw him facing down a Cyberleader and standing impassively while huge explosions went off behind him. We've seen Rory deliberately putting himself in danger to try to save people who are little more than strangers. He has faced down monsters and aliens, put himself in the center of battlefields. And he's reduced to panic by disembodied laughter in a spooky house? Still, it perfects the symmetry: We have Doctor Generic, Amy the Idiot, and Rory the Coward, thus allowing all three of the regulars to be mischaracterized in the same episode!
THOUGHTS
As thrilled as I am thus far with the Moffat era (and I genuinely am!), it does come with one big hitch: the return of Mark Gatiss to the writer's table. Night Terrors at least represents an improvement over Gatiss' previous episode. This time, the story shows some initial promise. There are good elements. A frightened child, a darkened room, a sinister cupboard containing a dollhouse that's more than it seems... 1960's Twilight Zone episodes would have a field day!
But Night Terrors never pushes past the surface of any of its ideas. People are running around inside a dollhouse? Well, other than a few remarks about wooden food, that whole plot angle amounts to nothing more than a lot of corridor crawling. The terrified child is more than he seems? Don't worry - A little soppy sentiment and everything's better. Oh, and did I mention? Everybody lives!
This is one of the most child-friendly Who episodes I think I've seen, to the point that even a child would be likely to find it dull. The story elements and atmosphere cry out for something darker and more horror-themed, but instead everything is made "safe." There might be a few creepy moments sprinkled around the edges, but this Doctor Who is not going to send anyone ducking behind the sofa. And that's even before the Doctor makes his speech about fatherhood and love and sunshine and puppies that inspires the kid's dad to save the day.
After four episodes, it increasingly seems a fact that Mark Gatiss will never write a Doctor Who story that I actually like. Still, if one weak Gatiss Who per season is the price of getting a good Sherlock from him every year or two, then I suppose I'll count it as a fair trade. I just wish he could write with the same energy for this show that he does for that one.
Rating: 3/10.
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