6.5X09 Night Terrors (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS)

[Mr Light]

I thought that episode was boring. It was like 20 minutes of plot crammed into a 45 minute run-time. How come the great important episodes are super rushed (like the last two) and then we get a slow do-nothing like this one? "Good Man" and "Hitler" could have easily been three episodes.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I was hoping that Moffat would use this episode to bring up and explore a bit Rory and Amy's feelings about losing their child, finding out that child is River Song and brainwashed to kill the Doctor, and not being able to do parent things with River because of her warped situation.

Except that this episode was intended to go before "Let's Kill Hitler" and filmed long before it.

As stories go, it was fairly predictable, at least in terms of plot. I was expecting the "You've come to take me away" to have a different payoff, though; I thought that George was (at least unconsciously) expecting a recovery team to rescue him, not that he was unconsciously afraid that his family was going to reject him.

Gatiss' dialogue was good.

I'd call it average, trending toward above average. Certainly better than "Victory of the Daleks."

 

[Kelthaz]

Everyone loves the episodes I hate and I love the episodes everyone hates. It's quite disconcerting. I can only hope that you guys hate the rest of the season.

Anyway, that was fantastic. The best episode of the season by far. In fact, I'd call this episode the definitive Doctor Who -- everything that Doctor Who should be was encapsulated in "Night Terrors". No, the execution wasn't perfect (close though), but this was the first episode all season that actually felt like Doctor Who.

Geronimo! 5/5

 

[tomalak301]

Below Average and my least favorite episode of the season:

I'm all for stand alone episodes, heck, I hope for more so we can get further from the whole River Song thing and get back to Doctor Who (Season 1, when I started watching) but I want something to happen in episodes like this where I feel engaged and hooked. I just didn't feel it in this episode and it felt like a half hour episode stretched into an hour for no reason. We had Amy and Rory walking around in the dark for 20 minutes (Or so it felt), the Doctor and Alex arguing about opening a cupboard for 10 minutes, and George who wasn't creepy enough in an episode that almost felt like it mandated it. There was nothing memorable about this episode and that's a shame. Hopefully next week will be better.

Also, we've had a few episodes where the Companions and the Doctor are separated. I thought the whole point of the companions was to serve as a foil for the Doctor. I know it's a bit crowded in the tardis, but can we get an episode where all three of them are together?

 

[Winterwind]

Steven Moffat has done something RTD couldn't do: Make me lose interest in Doctor Who.

While I've never been a fan of RTD, and gave up on TW Miracle Day after the third episode, I never missed an episode of DW when he was the show runner.

I didn't watch tonight's DW episode. Between the trailer, which didn't "hook" me, the basic synopsis for the episode, and forum comments, I don't care whether I see it or not. I've only really enjoyed one episode this season. Hopefully I can get some interest back for the rest of the season.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Not bad - basically Fear Him - i.e. Fear Her done right

Yeah, that was my thought. I thought everything was handled well and it was enjoyable throughout. I think things sort of fell apart at the end, but I think that had more to do with pacing than anything else.

I don't know what's up with the Melody storyline. Are they still looking for her? Is there any point since they know how it plays out (right?)?

Can they even? I mean, short of screwing up their own timeline, is there any way to be with Melody before she becomes River? Obviously, once she does, they can probably just let her find them. Let's Kill Hitler seemed designed to continue the story, but end the urgency that existed with A Good Man Goes to War. Amy wanted to see her daughter grow up and she did. She just happened to see it while growing up herself.

 

[DAK]

Absolutely awful. What a disappointment.

All the arc episodes for me have been fantastic, it is the standalones that, other than "The Doctor's Wife", have been a very slight let down. They aren't very challenging, and the Flesh two-parter should have been a single episode.

Completely agree. Well, almost - other than "The Doctor's Wife", I've found the standalones to be extreme let downs.

 

[TimmyWl]

It was more of an average episode like the other posters said although with more 11th Doctor going around and helping people. I didn't catch the last part of the nursery rhyme thing ... whatever it was.

 

[Saul]

A bit disappointing and not scary. I think they spent too much time talking about the monsters rather than been chased by them. I thought it was going to be a 2 parter since they were introduced so late into the episode. Not as bad a "Fear Her" though.

 

[Brent]

This was an awesome episode, a lot of fun, a lot of humor, classic Doctor Who feel. Not every episode has to be about the main arc.

I got nervous at first, cause I thought, oh no, Earth again, modern era, but I was pleasantly surprised at the whole thing, brilliant. I love these stand alone episodes, makes it feel more like classic Doctor Who to me, just the Doctor, being the Doctor, doing Doctor'y things! More of this please.

A+ Geronimo

 

[Mitty]

I wonder if this was during "Miracle Day"?

 

[Lonemagpie]

The resolution was especially odd when the Doctor mentions his fear of rejection Dad responds by "How can we keep him? He' not even human.". Apparently, after saying this, he can just smash through the dolls and go and hug his son.

I think that's kind of meant to be foreshadowing of Melody, since this was originally supposed to be episode 3 but got swapped with the pirates. (which makes you wonder who'd have had the cameo in AGMGTW in place of Avery).

And no, they're not looking for Melody now, since they found her last week...

 

[Shazam!]

Due to the nature of the episode, it kinda bugged me that they didn't set the episode in like, 1973 or something. Just to shake things up a bit.

 

[Guy Gardener]

It doesn't have to be good if you're addicted.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I wonder if this was during "Miracle Day"?

While being turned into living dolls is a nice way around the not being able to die thing, I'm going to assume no. Since neither this episode nor Miracle Day have established years, it's probably best to assume there's no overlap.

 

[Australis]

I honestly don't know how to grade it. It wasn't great, it wasn't terrible, it wasn't average. This seems to be a problem for me this season

 

[JRoss]

I loved this one. I'm not normally a fan of meta, but I love how Gatiss wrote this specifically to scare little children, and the commentary he put into the show via the Doctor and the dad with their "should I not let him watch" conversation. That's all this episode is, that's all it has to be.

 

[wamdue]

I wonder if this was during "Miracle Day"?

While being turned into living dolls is a nice way around the not being able to die thing, I'm going to assume no. Since neither this episode nor Miracle Day have established years, it's probably best to assume there's no overlap.

im guessing for some reason that the TARDIS cant land on Earth during the events of Miracle Day.

 

[Captain Dago]

The dolls were creepy, the little boy was cute. Otherwise, meh.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I wonder if this was during "Miracle Day"?

While being turned into living dolls is a nice way around the not being able to die thing, I'm going to assume no. Since neither this episode nor Miracle Day have established years, it's probably best to assume there's no overlap.

im guessing for some reason that the TARDIS cant land on Earth during the events of Miracle Day.

The TARDIS only tends to send the Doctor to places he's needed. Presumably, this is something Torchwood will eventually be able to handle. I can't say the Doctor would have been able to solve it any faster.