"Sleep No More" Grade and Discussion Thread

[Marsden]

I don't know why I wasted the time, but I thought about it afterwards.

The electronic signal reworking the brain chemistry can be comparable to the Fisher King's message in Under the Lake/Before the Flood. Then the resulting change causes the human to change into that thing. I could almost buy that one, but why wouldn't it be apparent for anyone that's used one of those? Possibly only the improved units on that satellite were the ones that made the change?

It's the most disappointing episode this season for me, but I'd still say it's better than Kill the Moon or Forest of the Night.

 

[TommyR01D]

And yes, creatures formed out of the gunk in your eye is a bit silly, but this is Doctor Who, is it as silly as cute little things made of human fat?

Comedy episode vs something that was supposed to be serious.

There's a difference in presentation as well: In Partners in Crime, they at least tried to make the explanation sound convincing (they even had an informative video). Here they mumbled through the explanation in about thirty seconds, and at the ending they casually said the whole thing was a lie anyway. It was as if they couldn't even be bothered!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

And yes, creatures formed out of the gunk in your eye is a bit silly, but this is Doctor Who, is it as silly as cute little things made of human fat?

The difference is, that the Adipose were played for Awwwww moments and laughs... mostly, if you get over the horror of fat becoming living beings leaving your body.

That script acknowledged how silly that was and the focus of the episode was the comedy between the Doctor and Donna.

Since we're mentioning "Partners in Crime," I would just like to mention that the one thing that really bugs me about that episode was that the Doctor actually made things worse. Had he & Donna not bungled their way into it, the Adipose could have had a perfectly healthy symbiotic relationship with humanity.

 

[DWF]

And yes, creatures formed out of the gunk in your eye is a bit silly, but this is Doctor Who, is it as silly as cute little things made of human fat?

The difference is, that the Adipose were played for Awwwww moments and laughs... mostly, if you get over the horror of fat becoming living beings leaving your body.

That script acknowledged how silly that was and the focus of the episode was the comedy between the Doctor and Donna.

Since we're mentioning "Partners in Crime," I would just like to mention that the one thing that really bugs me about that episode was that the Doctor actually made things worse. Had he & Donna not bungled their way into it, the Adipose could have had a perfectly healthy symbiotic relationship with humanity.

And how many Americans died in Turn Left because of the Adipose without the Doctor to save the day?

 

[Squiggy]

How much longer are we going to be stuck with the sonic sunglasses?

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

The difference is, that the Adipose were played for Awwwww moments and laughs... mostly, if you get over the horror of fat becoming living beings leaving your body.

That script acknowledged how silly that was and the focus of the episode was the comedy between the Doctor and Donna.

Since we're mentioning "Partners in Crime," I would just like to mention that the one thing that really bugs me about that episode was that the Doctor actually made things worse. Had he & Donna not bungled their way into it, the Adipose could have had a perfectly healthy symbiotic relationship with humanity.

And how many Americans died in Turn Left because of the Adipose without the Doctor to save the day?

"Turn Left" makes no sense to me because "Partners in Crime" makes it pretty clear that the Adipose were perfectly content to quietly breed in secret a couple pounds at a time with no one the wiser. It was only after the Doctor & Donna discovered what they were doing and objected for some reason that they accelerated their plans and started transforming entire people into Adipose en masse.

Meanwhile, in "Turn Left," this should all be a moot point anyway because dialogue in "Voyage of the Damned" indicated that, had Starship Titanic crashed into the Earth, the radiation from its engines would have wiped out all life on the planet. But in "Turn Left," when Starship Titanic crashed, it only wiped out London. The rest of England seemed fine.

 

[The Wormhole]

How much longer are we going to be stuck with the sonic sunglasses?

I find it so funny fandom spent years whining about the sonic screwdriver only to immediately hate its replacement. The Doctor is always going to have a device, be it a sonic screwdriver, sonic sunglasses or something which goes ding.

Meanwhile, in "Turn Left," this should all be a moot point anyway because dialogue in "Voyage of the Damned" indicated that, had Starship Titanic crashed into the Earth, the radiation from its engines would have wiped out all life on the planet. But in "Turn Left," when Starship Titanic crashed, it only wiped out London. The rest of England seemed fine.

Obviously everyone was exaggerating in Voyage of the Damned.

 

[DWF]

Since we're mentioning "Partners in Crime," I would just like to mention that the one thing that really bugs me about that episode was that the Doctor actually made things worse. Had he & Donna not bungled their way into it, the Adipose could have had a perfectly healthy symbiotic relationship with humanity.

And how many Americans died in Turn Left because of the Adipose without the Doctor to save the day?

"Turn Left" makes no sense to me because "Partners in Crime" makes it pretty clear that the Adipose were perfectly content to quietly breed in secret a couple pounds at a time with no one the wiser. It was only after the Doctor & Donna discovered what they were doing and objected for some reason that they accelerated their plans and started transforming entire people into Adipose en masse.

the machinery was ini place and once it was time Doctor or no Doctor upon their birthing the Adipose would've taken out a large number of the population.

 

[JRoss]

Finally watched it. Its new villains are doomed to replace the Kandyman as the most notorious Who villains of all time. Eyeboogers, really?

On the plus side, I like that the Doctor lost for once. Got tricked into warping away and missing the real implementation of the plan.

The characterization was weak throughout. There was some good dialog (space restaurants), but there was nothing really compelling to me about the Doctor or anyone else.

The idea was nice, but it could have been executed better. Not great, but certainly better than Curse of the Black Spot, The Zygon Invasion (but not The Zygon Inversion), Fear Her and probably a few others. I actually find myself wishing that it were better since there was so much potential.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

OMG someone else remembered the very stupid "curse of the black spot" Ugh... I thought I'd washed that one out of my memory.

Eye booger monster will definitely unseat the Kandyman as the worst monster ever.

 

[RoJoHen]

How much longer are we going to be stuck with the sonic sunglasses?

I find it so funny fandom spent years whining about the sonic screwdriver only to immediately hate its replacement. The Doctor is always going to have a device, be it a sonic screwdriver, sonic sunglasses or something which goes ding.

It was never the screwdriver itself that was the problem. It's that it became a crutch; it could solve every single problem the Doctor ever ran into (except wood-related problems, apparently).

So now he has sunglasses instead, which do exactly the same thing (AND MORE!). It's a lame attempt to give Capaldi his own "thing." Sunglasses and guitar = bow tie and fez, only they seem forced.

 

[Skellington]

I'm just waiting for a scene where the Doctor tosses his sunglasses in the air and they morph into a screwdriver before he catches them in his hand.

It makes sense that he would have a multitool. What doesn't make sense is him choosing to go without, and of course the inability to do wood.

I have no problem with the screwdriver when used properly, eg as a plot expediter that allows our heroes to access otherwise locked areas or as a tricorder. He's had a very long time to tinker with the design, after all. As long as it's not used to resolve the plot (an actual rule in the RTD era, if I recall correctly) it's in my humble opinion a valuable part of Whovian mythology.

 

[RoJoHen]

^And I agree with that. I just think the sunglasses are dumb. I'd rather he just kept the screwdriver.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

^And I agree with that. I just think the sunglasses are dumb. I'd rather he just kept the screwdriver.

I'd blame the whiny fans who made a big noise about the screwdriver. You just can't please everyone.

 

[Marsden]

I'm just waiting for a scene where the Doctor tosses his sunglasses in the air and they morph into a screwdriver before he catches them in his hand.

Yes, with a 2001 motif playing in the background!

 

[arch101]

Thank goodness we didn't have to travel to present day Earth to pick up Clara at school. I'm pining for the days where the Doc and companion just traveled from ep to ep.

 

[Squiggy]

How much longer are we going to be stuck with the sonic sunglasses?

I find it so funny fandom spent years whining about the sonic screwdriver only to immediately hate its replacement. The Doctor is always going to have a device, be it a sonic screwdriver, sonic sunglasses or something which goes ding.

It was never the screwdriver itself that was the problem. It's that it became a crutch; it could solve every single problem the Doctor ever ran into (except wood-related problems, apparently).

And they got around that in the 50th so...

Yeah, the sonic became a magic wand. That was the problem. I mean, it's iconic. Might as well turn the TARDIS into a motorcycle.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I find it so funny fandom spent years whining about the sonic screwdriver only to immediately hate its replacement. The Doctor is always going to have a device, be it a sonic screwdriver, sonic sunglasses or something which goes ding.

It was never the screwdriver itself that was the problem. It's that it became a crutch; it could solve every single problem the Doctor ever ran into (except wood-related problems, apparently).

And they got around that in the 50th so...

Yeah, the sonic became a magic wand. That was the problem. I mean, it's iconic. Might as well turn the TARDIS into a motorcycle.

This post will give them ideas...

 

[I am not Spock]

Unfortunately, rubbish. I fell asleep in this episode. More drab characters running through the same drab space station corridor sets. A shame, because this season has been quite strong up to this point

 

[Captrek]

But there has to be a sequel because quite simply the way it ends the Doctor loses and Earth is wiped out.

That's the way it is left as of the end of your first viewing of the episode. Then you go to bed that night and sleep normally. The next day, you know that the footage you saw must have had the infectious signal removed, leaving only the video glitches in its place. Somebody (probably the Doctor) got to it and fixed it. Maybe a future episode mentions how.

It's trying to be meta. Not that you actually believed you were infected in the first place, but I think that's the game it's playing.