Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Greg]

Well, there we go - another 'base under siege' story. And what a great one it was!

I was very pleased to see David Troughton in his fourth appearance in Doctor Who (previously in The Enemy of the World, The War Games and The Curse of Peladon), Troughton is a great actor in his own right, as well as being the son of the late, great Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Doctor - plus a former flatmate of Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor.

And speaking of fourth appearances, the even more wonderful Lesley Sharp makes her fourth in a Russell T Davies production (previously Queer as Folk, Bob and Rose and The Second Coming). Wasn't she just amazing in this?

I loved the small scale of this story. It was like Airport meets Lord of the Flies with a very large dose of paranoia thrown in to sweeten the mix.

I'll have to look back, but this may be the best acted episode of this year. Tennant was on top form, but Lesley Sharp stole the show. But there really wasn't a dud performance in the whole thing.

Given the nature of the plot, which is about working out what is going on, I'm not going to get into detail, but I'd be very happy to jettison all your Roses, Marthas and Donnas, and get someone as good as Lesley Sharp in any time.

Oh, did I mention how good Lesley Sharp was?

And speaking of surprises, did I see the Brigadier in the shorts for the next episode. No, not Sir Alistair, he's stuck in Peru! Brigadier Winifred Bambera, played by Angela Bruce. Never expected to see her again.

And is that the return of another old foe, 34 years after their first appearance? Couldn't see well enough to say.

[KnottyEmily]

I think this actually out-did Moffat's story when it came to the scare factor.
It's a tough call to make, because we know the Doctor isn't going to die (or do we?), but I was on the edge of my seat anyway.

I'll second the great acting comment. I love it when the story pushes Tennant , because he always hits the mark, but yes, fantastic performances all round.

Next episode seems to prove the prophesies made by Lucius back in The Fires of Pompeii - Rose returns, and Donna has something on her back.

[Sulp Niar]

At the end of 'Forest of the Dead', I watched the trailer for 'Midnight' and thought, "Wonderful! We're gonna have another lovely little standalone ep, like 'Love & Monsters' and 'Gridlock'."

But halfway through the week I sort of lost confidence. Series Four's been a bit safe so far, and when I remembered that I'd found Moffat's story this year to be his weakest, I started to get a bit worried.

In short: needn't have worried.

This is superb. Ala 'Gridlock', it's set in a vehicle for most of its duration (in fact, RTD has arguably done this "self-contained spaces" thing a few times), and centres around character and what it means to be human rather than anything whacky. It's a theme that RTD always addressed, o'course, but it works so much better with a small group of humans as the main focus, rather than, say, showing a companion and their family's woes against an alien invasion. This story mixes the humanity and the enemy as effectively the same thing, and it really really just works.

Unlike 'Gridlock' though, which was a more warm view of the faith humanity has and how they can survive in the worst of conditions, 'Midnight' actually shows the opposite; the passengers know they could die, so they become potential murderers.

What I really loved was how everyone really turned against the Doctor. It makes sense, too; at the start he bluffs his way in and waves his psychic paper around, but later on they realise he hasn't even told them his name. The story also twisted some of his "mannerisms" (read: catchphrases) in some excellent ways; I loved the "Don't do that" ending. That actually made up for the other times that'd been used annoyingly.

Oh, and the first 8-or-so minutes were bloody hilarious. Even the conceptual pool joke!

I can't do much but gush here. As Greg said, the performances were astounding, the characters were great, the music was great, and, well, it was just great.

I'll be interested in how this is received, though. I'm guessing that, cos it's scary, it'll be better received than 'Love & Monsters', but I'm really not very sure. For me, though: probably the best story this year.

[Tegan]

At long last an RTD written episode that kept me enthralled all the way through.

I was actually surprised when it ended, not because I thought the story was unfinished, but because the time went so quickly.

Ok, the pre-title sequence was very RTD, but I liked it. A great contrast to the episode proper, and it didn't give away anything of the actual story.

I have to say though that seeing the Doctor NOT able to convince people to do the right thing simply by the force of his character was a bit unnerving. An interesting concept, but one I could do without for a while.

[KnottyEmily]

[Panecea]

Well, we all seem to agree that this episode is of a very high quality but the aspect of this episode I find most interesting is this point that nit makes about humans in general. The Doctor's own personality was used against him. This episode is vidid illustration of the human capacity to surrender their sense and their wills in a fit of panic. Solid performances from all the actors and well put together in general.
Well done RTD. A very intraspective episode.

Next weeks episode sees a few prophecies fulfilled (Note also Ood Sigma's prediction).

Spiders on backs. Yes, perhaps the return of an old foe.

[meglos]

The best story That RTD has written. A great test of how humans react to extremely desperate situations.

[Dazza]

RTD's stories tend to be my least favourite, however this one was very good. Particularly for a cheap filler episode.

My only criticism is the ending. If the alien came from outside how was throwing it out going to stop it? I must've missed something.

Rated "Good". May have rated higher if Steven Moffat didn't set such a high benchmark.

[FredDag]

Soooooooooooooooo much better then the last story, was actually scary bits in it. Doctor Who works so well when the characters are trapped in a small space. The 45 mins felt like 10 or 15 mins. I'm glad the show got back on it's feet. Great acting and great story. Yay!

[Hiruma]

Great episode. I especially loved the visual of Midnight as seen from the front. It looked beautiful, so it reinforced the point it was deadly.

Gee Rose has really bad timing dosnt she? Cant seem to catch a break with the Doctor always distracted from seeing her.. I felt a bit sorry for the driver and mechanic. I somehow knew they were going to die, but when they actually got speaking lines I thought one of them mind end up doing something heroic. Instead they were just atomised.

All in all a good episode. Very enjoyable. Although for some reason i thought the kid Jethro? would end up siding more with the Doctor.

[dave]

I also enjoyed this a great deal, in contrast to those with whom I watched it. It's by far my favourite RTD story to date, and I thought it was very well acted. As has been noted, it was also nice to see DW taking a look at the darker side of human nature, and how great a motivator fear can be. I also enjoy stories which involve a threat which is largely still a mystery at the end, and this delivered. No one has any idea what that thing was, or how it survived in that deadly light, or where it came from, etc, etc. Hopefully this is just a warm-up for the finale...

[Sulp Niar]

Haha, what did those watching it with you think?

[dave]

That it was awful, and probably the worst new DW episode they'd ever seen. I wondered if we'd watched the same thing...

[Sulp Niar]

Wow. We should fully make a thread about what the other people thought. I still can't get over the fact that my parents loved 'Shakespeare Code' and hated 'Love & Monsters' and 'Gridlock' .

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!

[Speckled Jim]

Well, as someone whose opinion of RTD is pretty much set in stone, I gotta eat humble pie on this one. It was awesome. Good god, is this the same man who penned Voyage of the Damned??
The script was tight, the performances flawless, the story ... wow. Such a subtle yet terrifying alien. Such a simple premise, stretched and twisted and bent into something so wonderfully creepy and riveting, not to mention thrillingly complex. Understatement was such a powerful weapon in this story.
If it weren't for Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, this'd be the outright winner of the season so far - a season, I'm happy to add, has exceeded expectations wonderfully.
Oh, and ...

[Sulp Niar]

...I wrote "loved" and "hated". Preferred, maybe, but did you actually love 'Shakespeare Code'?

If so, I'm surprised, but ah well. I'll sniffle in the corner of my room or something, but get over it pretty darn quickly.

[Speckled Jim]

Well, not loved I guess, but I thought it was pretty clever. Good yarn, and the humour was snappy without getting too corny.
But as for Love & Monsters ... I just like to pretend it never happened, like the Dr Who movie and the Star Wars Christmas Special '78.

[Theta Sigma]

Given what Lesley Sharp has been in before I am so glad she finally appears in Doctor Who. It is too bad that Chris Eccleston has long since left as the Doctor as it would have been good to have seen a reunion for the two of them in Doctor Who. Here she plays Sky Silvestry who is not so dissimilar to her Afterlife character and she brings a superb performance to it.
David Troughton appears in this episode directed by the unrelated Alice Troughton. It is too bad that he was not in The Doctor's Daughter also directed by Alice as it would have been something to have seen him in the same episode with fellow Doctor offspring Georgia Moffett.

It was amusing to see how much time passes by early on in the episode.
Yet another blink and miss appearance of Rose.

This is a very creepy episode and it is one in which the pace has been served well by the dialogue. It kept me guessing on how things were going to turn out.
With Donna only appearing in this episode for about 3 minutes in total, David Tennant as the Doctor gets very good material to work on, on his own.