Midnight (Doctor Who 4:10 Big Spoilers)
O’er, where’s the sofa? That was good! Very scary but without any scary effects, bar a few omnious knockings. If anyone dare knock Russell T Davies for that effort!
Basically the Doctor Who – cheap episode, the majority of this episode is set in a small space vehicle on it’s way to visit the sights of Midnight, an airless planet with sunlight that can vaporise you in a second. The vehicle ‘breaks down’, cue ominous knocking on the outside of the vehicle. The lights go out and when they get out their torches one of the passengers seems to have been taken over by an alien presence who repeats everything they say. The claustrophobic passengers panic, turning on the alien invaded passenger and then turning on the Doctor himself, resulting in the Doctor, in a very rare occurrence actually loosing control.
Absolutely brilliant. Just as I posted Stephen Moffat’s praise of Russell T Davies writing from the Doctor Who forum here, particularly talking about how well written Smith and Jones was, the same can definitely be said for Midnight, he introduced all the passengers of the space vehicle and then ratcheted up the tension, revealing a rather horrible side to human nature. I thought it interesting how the humans responded to a possible first contact, they all want to kill it, makes you wonder what will happen when we do make first contact?
On one final note, yet another epsode the showcased David Tennant’s very fine acting ability.
The conversation and wording really made of a David Mamet performance, people talking but no one properly communicating. I loved the episode.