Doctor Who Series 7.12 - Nightmare in Silver

[elvor0]

So yeah, new episode of Dr Who, seeing as the usual thread doesn't appear to have popped up. Was pretty good, nice scientific resolution, given the last time the cyber men showed up they were beaten by the power of -ugh- love. Plus the idea of a Turk cyberman was pretty cool. I was expecting it to be a bit better seeing as Neil Gaiman was writing it, but was still a solid episode none-the less. I do really think they should increase the run time to an hour just so things don't have to get wrapped up so quickly in the last 2 minutes.

I will say the whole thing with the thing with the Cybermen upgrading to get past electricity was a bit off though, I mean as far as I'm aware they weren't using nanotechnology, so how they updated their firmware to get round that was beyond me. I reckon it could've done with a 2 parter, maybe with part of it being the Doctor losing control.

But as enjoyable as the episode was....spoilers for anyone who didn't watch the preview for next week:

Spoiler

So, is this gonna be the last episode with Matt Smith? River Song returns(boo), as does Richard E Grant (yay!), apparently leading to the Fields of Trenzelor, supposedly the fall of the 11th, and we may well find out who Clara is, fan favourite being Susan Foreman. I do really like Matt Smith as The Doctor and it's a damn shame he got stuck with such crummy writing most of the time, but I am proper stoked for next weeks episode.

 

[SuperFrankieLampard]

Those child actors were so bad my shoes could have done a better job. Matt Smith was great with the dual minds thing though.

 

[JoJo]

I think it was a good episode overall, the cybermen felt like a credible threat, it's always nice to be somewhere not on Earth and the Doctor almost getting taken over by the cyberthings was fun. My only quibble is that while I didn't mind the kids themselves, you have to wonder why the Doctor kept them there potentially in harms way when he sensed there was something wrong and they didn't even want to stay, he could have made them go back to the Tardis and avoided the whole thing.

 

[Busard]

Heavily disliked it. It's one of these episodes where you think if they cut down on some unecessary sillyness it would've gone way better. It's like they don't realise these episodes are only 45 minutes long and try to cram as much stuff as possible.

Like said above, the children are unsufferable. Bad actors, bad characters. I hope to never see them again, ever.

Cybermen were...okay. I don't see how they are scarier. Stronger, yeah. But their design looks even more plasticky and they don't seem all that much threatening. Just that they have superspeed now it seems (which looked incredibly goofy) and basically erase a weakness on the go which means any future encounter will either be resolved by explosions or convenient last minute deus ex machina (well...this is Dr Who)

The setting was rather interesting though. Funfair planet, army solely composed of rejects, rise of the cybermen. The part that stuck out a bit too much though was the emperor. It seems COMPLETELY unlikely that an emperor who governs over numerous GALAXIES can just run off like he's some kind of angsty schoolboy. And that whole marriage proposal came out of nowhere and just felt out of place. Also, if he could just port everyone all along, why didn't he do it from the start the MOMENT they saw cybermen ?

The only good part, but which was really good, was the battle of wits with the doctor against the cyber planner. There was some nice tension building up.

All in all it just felt rushed, dull and irritating for me. The supporting cast was forgettable at best, hateful at it's worst and something that should've been cool, like the cybermen comeback was just a squandered occasion for me.

 

[Pandalisk]

My lord, that girl child actor. Every word that came out of her mouth frustrated the hell out of me. The dialogue for her was painful to listen to.

Everything else was kinda of meh, most of the recent episodes have been kinda meh, its been a kinda meh season.

 

[elvor0]

Also, if he could just port everyone all along, why didn't he do it from the start the MOMENT they saw cybermen ?

I think, or at least my interpretation of it was he said the only way we can get any sort of signal through is setting the bomb off, so perhaps the bomb sent off some kind of signal by virtue of the Emperor setting it off.

Although the whole thing with the processing power being used to slow the cybermen down worked quite well for me, and it least felt reasonably plausable to me, it used all the processing power it had on this one problem which would realistcly not leave power to do anything else. At least he didn't just wave his magic wand and they all died, as seems to be the general solution these days. At least it wasn't the power of love, and they actually had to do things and carry out some sort of plan.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well...that sucked. Everyone and everything was painfully stupid.

Cybermen have bullet time now...I bet that'll change things, won't have to rely on the humans being painfully stupid to kill them off then. Oh, ok, Clara, order that utterly useless woman to wander round alone in the dark, yell at the Cyberman to get its attention, and then try hiding (ok, somehow that almost worked, but it shouldn't have).[footnote]If Clara had sent her off to die on purpose, fair enough though, she didn't seem surprised or upset, she just realised it meant they were here. Using her as an alarm makes sense, if out of character[/footnote]

The Doctor/Cyberman asks Clara what weapons they have...oh, Clara is obviously going to come up with some elaborate lie...nope. Then when he grabs her hand, well, she'll have to reach out her other hand to grab the trigger then...nope, too lazy.

Cybermen being affected by gold is because they are programmed to be? They constantly upgrade themselves to get rid of their weaknesses, but didn't bother with that one?

Although the whole thing with the processing power being used to slow the cybermen down worked quite well for me, and it least felt reasonably plausable to me, it used all the processing power it had on this one problem which would realistcly not leave power to do anything else. At least he didn't just wave his magic wand and they all died, as seems to be the general solution these days. At least it wasn't the power of love, and they actually had to do things and carry out some sort of plan.

Excepting that they only needed the processing power to brute force 3 moves a head in chess, and they took it from the cybermen actually doing something. But yeah, better than power of love stuff, but that's faint praise.

 

[makano]

Did anyone notice the warhammer40k vibe from the show i was expecting orks to suddenly crash in, i liked the show but i don't like the inclusion of those kids as you know for a fact that they are put in false danger only to come out as unscathed. Even in si-fi bullets,lasers and other weapons still kill whoever they target.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Did anyone notice the warhammer40k vibe from the show i was expecting orks to suddenly crash in,

Yeah, the "Imperator of Mankind" bit? And the penal legion, I guess.

But, if it was 40k, the soldiers would have tried fighting the cybermen, who would have tried fighting the soldiers, not running round dying pointlessly at each other.

Actually, that would have unsucked the story. Colonel Schaeffer and the Last Chancers fighting Necrons

 

[Quaxar]

Yeah, I really miss TimeLord's usual thread.

And as expected as soon as he told the kids to sleep in that creepy room I felt like most of the episode could have been solved by putting the kids inside an impenetrable, infinite, intelligent spaceship instead. If only they had one available!
Apart from that the episode was brilliant though, new Cybermen that are actually a threat, good background characters except that one bratty girl, a nice setting and the return of Warwick Davies. So all in all I liked it very much.

Also, I'd like to use this thread to mention this fantastic prequel the BBC has released yesterday:
<youtube=mtaIpkjF6Ss>
<spoiler=very mild spoiler about a possibly central sentence from next week's episode preview>There's a <url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018wghc>preview video on the BBC website where Clara says "I was born to save the Doctor". Make of that what you will, I just thought it relevant.
Maybe the polar opposite to River Song, who was born to kill the Doctor?

 

[doggy go 7]

The writing was really bad, par for the course with Moffat's Doctor Who (side note: why the hell is this, he wrote one of the best Tennent episodes, and Sherlock is beautifully written?), but not for Neil Gaimen. THe kids couldn't act to save their lives, and why the fuck did the doctor take them there. The super speed Cyberman thing was used a grand total of once, and the marriage proposal was unneccessary (though I do think the writers meant it to be a joke).

Warwick Davis was good though

 

[Catfood220]

Cybermen being affected by gold is because they are programmed to be? They constantly upgrade themselves to get rid of their weaknesses, but didn't bother with that one?

To be fair the Doctor does say that they are running old code. Maybe they never expected anyone to have anything gold to hand or know about that weakness. The Cybermen were not exactly a fully functioning army when they were revived, so it is possible that these things have slipped through the cracks while getting back to full strength.

I actually liked this episode, the irritating kids were used to a minimum and despite the Cyberman moving at superhuman speed (which was lame) I reckon it was the best episode of the second part of ths series. Which is not saying much I know.

I'm not holding out muc hope for the finale. It will be all squeezed into 45 minutes which means the conclusion will be squeezed into the last 5 minutes. I do think the finale should be a 2 parter so it has time to do what it wants without having to rush it.

 

[Tactical Pause]

I thought it was pretty good, but I had some of the complaints stated above such as the upgrading to bypass electricity (It seemed a little like when kids have gun fights: 'Pew pew, you're dead!' 'Nu-uh, I upgraded myself, now I'm immune to that gun.') and thinking it would be better having been written by Neil Gaiman. The main issue I had will contain serious spoilers for Ender's Game as well as the Doctor Who episode, so I have spoilered them below.

Spoiler

Near the beginning of the episode, Warwick's character (the emperor) hinted at the episode going down a darker, much more serious and, frankly, more interesting path. It was the point at which he was talking about the obliteration of an entire populated galaxy to stop the cybermen. The way it was done suggested the episode could delve into the ramifications of such an act a la the finale of Ender's Game. But then: Nope, back to the irritating goddamn children, and we never again hear of the unimaginable genocide.

Really though, it's been too damn long since we've had a dark, somewhat contemplative episode. How about it Steve?

 

[elvor0]

Although the whole thing with the processing power being used to slow the cybermen down worked quite well for me, and it least felt reasonably plausable to me, it used all the processing power it had on this one problem which would realistcly not leave power to do anything else. At least he didn't just wave his magic wand and they all died, as seems to be the general solution these days. At least it wasn't the power of love, and they actually had to do things and carry out some sort of plan.

Excepting that they only needed the processing power to brute force 3 moves a head in chess, and they took it from the cybermen actually doing something. But yeah, better than power of love stuff, but that's faint praise.

If Clara had sent her off to die on purpose, fair enough though, she didn't seem surprised or upset, she just realised it meant they were here. Using her as an alarm makes sense, if out of character

mm, it was contrived, but at least it made "sense".

But yeah, I forgot about that bit with Clara, she doesn't so much as bat an eyelid, I know she's been on an adventure or two, but even so, it's like "She's dead!", "Well they're on their way then!" Show some heart Clara!

In retrospect, I think I've been Malnourished with Dr Who writing and by virtue of this not being the usual stuff, this felt good in comparison.

 

[SciMal]

<.conspiracy.... Anybody else notice how the Cyber Planner called himself Mr. Clever, whereas Clara has always described herself as 'clever' since her introduction? </conspiracy

I was expecting more from Gaiman, but it wasn't bad.

Nothing great, but nothing terrible. Fairly forgettable, and hoping the next episode lights a fire under this series' ass.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Why didn't the Doctor just shock the Cyber Planner off his face the moment he met up with the troops while he still had the golden ticket stuck to his face?

Why didn't the Emperor just do the teleporting bomb trick the moment thinks started to look grim? I mean, I can understand not doing it at once because he's hoping to stay hidden and hoping that it'll get sorted out easily, but surely the moment he saw hundreds of Cybermen outside he should have done it.

Why was that girl such a brat? I mean seriously, you get teleported thousands of years into the future and onto another planet, possibly in another galaxy, and then you act unimpressed?! And then you complain about Clara always ruining things when you wander off on an alien planet into a barracks full of trigger-happy soldiers?! What's wrong with you?!?!

Why did they say that technically the bomb would make the planet implode, when at the end of the episode it clearly makes it explode?

Why did Warwick Davis seem to become instantly terrible the moment he admitted he's the Emperor?

Spoiler

Near the beginning of the episode, Warwick's character (the emperor) hinted at the episode going down a darker, much more serious and, frankly, more interesting path. It was the point at which he was talking about the obliteration of an entire populated galaxy to stop the cybermen. The way it was done suggested the episode could delve into the ramifications of such an act a la the finale of Ender's Game. But then: Nope, back to the irritating goddamn children, and we never again hear of the unimaginable genocide.

Really though, it's been too damn long since we've had a dark, somewhat contemplative episode. How about it Steve?

Yeah, what this guy says. When Porridge mentioned that he feels like a bad person because he feels more sorry for the person who destroyed the galaxy than the people getting destroyed, that seemed like a really interesting bit of dialogue. And then they just forget about it.

 

[gazumped]

Well, being easily pleased and not too hung up on details I enjoyed it well enough, but even so I really don't understand why cyber-Doctor was eccentric, excitable and... well... emotional? Isn't the whole point of the Cybermen that they are without emotion? I mean, he even mocks the Doctor at one point for being emotional, when cyber-Doctor's been angry and jubilant and frustrated and triumphant throughout the episode.

Makes for a more entertaining villain/showdown and everything, but save that banter for a race of bad guys who it makes some amount of sense for, no?

 

[Zhadramekel]

Did anybody else notice a few parallels between this episode and the Second Doctor episode Tomb of the Cybermen?

But I thought this episode was just okay. Matt Smith did the mental battle thing pretty well even though it sometimes took a line or two for me to figure out which one was talking. The 'having both sides of his mind in control of different body parts' was well done, especially when he wrote the note for Clara. And of course, Warwick Davis was pretty cool.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

I loved the beginning of the episode, with an well-done Doctor V. Doctor and a cool new Cyberman design. Also, those Cyber-mites really intrigued me. I liked how they can convert people without needing a dedicated conversion chamber. Also, the fact that the Cybermen FINALLY decided to upgrade non-humans was a very well-needed touch to a villain that always struck me as cool but needlessly inefficient and arbitrary.

Then they gave the Cybermen superpowers... I was not amused.

The part when they upgraded to resist the candy wrapper was fine, I think it even the contributed positively to the episode as a whole. The upgrade to resist the electricity was... ok, I guess, but this is Doctor Who, and I should learn to broaden my suspension of disbelief as much as possible. However, the part when they resisted a LASER CANNON THAT COULD DISINTEGRATE THEM IN ONE SHOT by what essentially boiled down to thinking about it really hard made me rage something awful. They could have at least handwaved it by saying that these Cybermen have adjustable energy shields or nanobots or something, but Neil Gailman decided not to, and I was not pleased.
Bonus points for the absurd superspeed animation looking like a fast-motion C-3PO.

The deus-ex-machina (deus-ex-midget?) was the icing on what was at the time a moldy, wasted cake.

 

[thiosk]

Did anyone notice the warhammer40k vibe from the show i was expecting orks to suddenly crash in, i liked the show but i don't like the inclusion of those kids as you know for a fact that they are put in false danger only to come out as unscathed. Even in si-fi bullets,lasers and other weapons still kill whoever they target.

This was the very first vibe I picked up. Even the imperial symbol emblazoned on the platoon was reminescent of the aquila.

They had a penchant for exterminatus as well.

However, the emperor turned out to be a squat, and representing Him on Earth in such a way is heretical.

However, the part when they resisted a LASER CANNON THAT COULD DISINTEGRATE THEM IN ONE SHOT by what essentially boiled down to thinking about it really hard made me rage something awful.

The cybermen have always been sort of borg-lite; in this episode they seemed to become borg-incarnate.

Did anybody else notice a few parallels between this episode and the Second Doctor episode Tomb of the Cybermen?

I thought the doctor was overly goofy for a long time. In one of those "all the doctors" episodes, though, it was revealed that Matt Smith's entire character is channeling the second doctor, in much the same way that tennant channeled the fourth.

This realization made me like Smith's character much more.