TV Review: Doctor Who: S07E12

TV Review: Doctor Who

Series 7, Episode 12: Nightmare In Silver

Air date: May 11th

Series 6 of the revived run of Doctor Who boasted one of its best episodes to date: The Doctor's Wife. Written by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, it truly captured the essence of The Doctor and his relationship to both his companions and his TARDIS, making it an enormous fan-favourite (it even made it into my top 10 stories of Doctor Who countdown, which you can read by clicking right here!).

Gaiman returns to Doctor Who with this week's episode Nightmare In Silver, a story which boldly presents us with the return of classic villains The Cybermen while also giving Matt Smith some fantastic material with which to show off his considerable acting capabilities. 

Obviously comparisons between Gaiman's two episodes are an inevitability, so lets start things off by being as blunt as The Doctor would be: Nightmare In Silver is nowhere near as good as The Doctor's Wife. That being said, it is a whole other species of episode completely so it's almost unfair to compare them - where the latter delved further into The Doctor's own psychology and the personality of his TARDIS, Nightmare In Silver aims to give us a more action-packed 45 minutes of fun with a wider supporting cast. 

Warwick Davis really comes out on top in said cast, with each of his scenes really pushing the story forward positively and his character is easily the most entertaining addition to the episode. On the other side of the spectrum, however, are the two annoying kids whose presence only seeks to give Nightmare In Silver (an episode which has been hyped as one which "makes the Cybermen scary again") an incessant Sarah Jane Adventures vibe. 

Their appearance is warranted by last week's conclusion, in which they incredibly easily deducted that their nanny Clara has a means of travelling in time - apparently The Doctor takes a photo with people wherever he goes despite having previously made an extensive effort to erase himself from history. Seems legit. 

To stop the kids from telling anybody (because obviously everyone would believe them), The Doctor and Clara take them to an outer-space amusement park. When they arrive, however, they find that the park has been closed for years due to an inter-planetery war against The Cybermen. Presumed dead, they've been slowly but surely planning a means of resurrection, and The Doctor's arrival is the catalyst for The Cybermen's return and their upgrade - an upgrade which latches on to the Time Lord himself. 

It's here where Gaiman's script truly shines, with Matt Smith playing a dual role as The Doctor and the Cyber-leader attempting to take over his mind. Smith once again proves that he can be an absolutely fantastic Doctor, it just takes the right story to let him shine - when he gets serious, he gets really serious.

Of course, with The Doctor too busy metaphorically and physically playing himself at chess, it's up to Clara to lead the military resistance against The Cybermen. The monsters are genuinely quite threatening this time around, with a more agile, creepy arsenal of tactics up their metal sleeves and thankfully their "delete" catchphrase has been thrown in to the hypothetical trash can. Still, for all the hype that they are going to be scarier and meaner, Gaiman doesn't really add in any more pant-soiling moments for them thanks to their noisy, clunky nature. 

He does fit the story into the overall series though, sowing the seeds for some more tantalising plot threads which will hopefully be wrapped up in next week's series finale. "You've been deleting yourself from history, Doctor. Don't you think there will be an enormous Doctor-sized hole in the universe?" Then there's the ongoing story regarding Clara which has only really intensified in the last two or three episodes. Even The Cybermen recognise her as "impossible" - just who or what exactly is she? 

Plus you have to give Gaiman credit for having The Doctor say "allonsy!" just for old time's sake.

Summary

Ultimately then, Nightmare In Silver is a much better quality of Doctor Who than we've come to expect from this series run so far, with writer Neil Gaiman giving The Cybermen a worthy story with which to return to our screens. It doesn't quite live up to its name, lacking in the fear factor but making up for it with an astounding performance from Matt Smith and a nicely action-packed climax. Let's just hope that's the last we've seen of those bloody kids. 

8/10 - Great

Don't miss the review of next week's series finale of Doctor Who, The Name of The Doctor! Check out the trailer below:

Starring Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman and Alex Kingston, the story sees The Doctor's friends taken hostage by a mysterious enemy. Summoned to the fields of Trenzalore, The Doctor and Clara are about to find their greatest secrets revealed...

Air date: May 18th