Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Night Terrors

Standard spoiler disclaimer.

Do not read further if you have not yet seen the "Doctor Who" episode entitled "Night Terrors".

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You were warned.

Per IMDB: "George, a young boy writes a "Help" note after fearing monsters in the closet and having multiple fears. The Doctor hears the cry and the team goes to visit."

That's a pretty accurate description of the premise. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory are in the TARDIS and the Doctor suddenly gets a psychic call for help from poor little George, a strange kid who is terrified of everything.

He's especially terrified of his cupboard.

There's a reason, of course.

So the episode starts off with promise. There's weird things afoot. People start to disappear. Creepy stuff happens.

Then there's the monsters. They push the buttons of creepy oh-so-nicely. The setting has a claustrophobic feel that compliments the introduction of the monsters delightfully.

It's not a bad episode until about halfway through. Suddenly the Doctor figures out what's going on and the episode just falls apart.

The final payoff for the episode is just anticlimactic and pretty much the standard fare of the majority of the Smith/Moffatt era episodes of "Dr. Who". The monster just isn't really a monster and the sinister threat is somehow diminished as a result.

It's cute as kid's fare, but ultimately disappointing given the more visceral menace promised by the Silence in the season opener or by the original Weeping Angels in "Blink".

For all that, I still enjoyed this episode more than "Let's Kill Hitler".

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