From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated
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NIGHT TERRORS

1 episode. Approx. 48 minutes. Written by: Mark Gatiss. Directed by:
Richard Clark. Produced by: Sanne Wohlenberg.


THE PLOT

"Save me from the monsters!"

The Doctor's psychic paper picks up this message, which he follows to
its source: a terrified child in a very ordinary London council
estate. The Doctor impersonates... well, a doctor in order to see the
child and figure out what it is so afraid of. He quickly determines
that there are real monsters here, or at least something otherworldly.
It's all linked to the boy's cupboard. Inside the cupboard is a
dollhouse. Inside the dollhouse are a miniaturized Amy and Rory - who
find themselves on the run from deadly, cackling wooden dolls!


CHARACTERS

The Doctor: Um. Well, he's better-characterized than his two
companions, at least. I'll give Matt Smith credit for cranking up the
eccentricity to cover the weak characterization given him by this
script. Still, this may be the most generic characterization of the
Doctor we've seen yet in the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era. You could
plug any of the other Doctors into this story (even Hartnell), without
changing much of the script at all. Some of the others - Hartnell and
Pertwee particularly, I think - would actually work better. Given that
Smith is playing a Doctor who's a plot device rather than a character
here, it's not surprising that he comes across much weaker than usual.

Amy: Is deeply stupid. She and Rory have successfully blocked the
killer dolls from getting into the room where they're hiding. OK, they
can't get out - but the dolls also can't get in. Without even looking
around very hard to see if there might be another way out, without
even taking five minutes for a breather, Amy suddenly decides that
they have to open the door again. Why? Well, to provoke a Third Act
crisis, of course. There's really no reason that makes any sense
within the plot, particularly since the dollhouse doesn't really give
them any particular place to run.

Rory: Inside the dollhouse, before they see a single walking doll,
Rory is panicking. Fine - if this was last season. But just two
episodes ago, we saw him facing down a Cyberleader and standing
impassively while huge explosions went off behind him. We've seen Rory
deliberately putting himself in danger to try to save virtual
strangers. He has faced down monsters and aliens, put himself in the
center of battlefields. And he's reduced to panic by disembodied
laughter in a spooky house? After Doctor Generic and Amy the Idiot,
Rory the Coward just rounds out the team of mischaracterizations that
are only a small part of what's wrong with this episode!


THOUGHTS

As thrilled as I am thus far with the Moffat era (and I genuinely
am!), it does come with one big hitch: the return of Mark Gatiss to
the writer's table. Night Terrors at least represents a marked
improvement over Gatiss' previous episode, the noisy and barely-
coherent Victory of the Daleks. This time, the story shows some
initial promise. There are good elements here. A frightened child, a
darkened room, a sinister cupboard containing a dollhouse that's more
than it seems... 1960's Twilight Zone episodes would have a field day!

But Night Terrors never pushes past the surface of any of its ideas.
People are running around inside a dollhouse? Well, other than a few
remarks about wooden food, that whole plot angle amounts to nothing
more than a lot of corridor crawling. The terrified child is more than
he seems? Don't worry - A little soppy sentiment and everything's
better. Oh, and did I mention? Everybody lives!

This is one of the most child-friendly Who episodes I think I've seen,
to the point that even a child would be likely to find it dull. The
story elements and atmosphere cry out for something darker and more
horror-themed, but instead everything is made "safe." There might be a
few creepy moments sprinkled around the edges, but this is one Doctor
Who that's not going to send anyone ducking behind the sofa, even
before the Doctor makes a speech about fatherhood and love and
sunshine and puppies that inspires the kid's dad to save the day.

In any case, after four episodes it increasingly seems a fact that
Mark Gatiss will never write a Doctor Who story that I actually like.
Still, if one weak Gatiss Who per season is the price of getting a
good Sherlock from him every year or two, then I suppose I'll count it
as a fair trade. I just wish he could write with the same energy for
this show that he does for that one.


Rating: 4/10.

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