Jump to content

Nightmare in Silver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 81.111.126.82 (talk) at 13:47, 12 May 2013 (→‎Continuity: added cyber continuity). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

238 – "Nightmare in Silver"
Doctor Who episode
Cast
Guest
Production
Directed byStephen Woolfenden
Written byNeil Gaiman
Produced byDenise Paul
Marcus Wilson (series producer)
Executive producer(s)
  • Steven Moffat
  • Caroline Skinner
Music byMurray Gold
SeriesSeries 7
Running time45 minutes
First broadcast11 May 2013
Chronology
← Preceded by
"The Crimson Horror" 		Followed by →
"The Name of the Doctor"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Nightmare in Silver"[1] is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 11 May 2013. It was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Stephen Woolfenden.

The episode starred Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswald. The episode marked the return of the Cybermen, following their last appearance in the sixth series episode "Closing Time".

Plot

The Doctor takes Clara and two children, Angie and Artie, to an extraterrestrial theme park in a future where the Cybermen have apparently long ago been eradicated. However, the four of them, along with a world weary chess master called Porridge, soon discover the Cybermen are far from dead. Clara must lead an incompetent platoon defending the park from the Cybermen while the Doctor contends with Cyberman technology invading his mind via cybermites.

Continuity

The Cyber Planner/Plotter first appeared in two 2nd Doctor storys "The Wheel in Space" and "The Invasion" though in these instances it was a stationary mechanical device.

The Cybermen having died out/been wiped out was also a plot element of both "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967) and "Revenge of the Cybermen" (1975).

The Doctor mentions the Cybermats seen previously in "The Tomb of the Cybermen", "The Wheel in Space", "Revenge of the Cybermen" and most recently in "Closing Time".

The Cyber Tombs featured in two previous storys "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (1967) and "Attack of the Cybermen" (1984).

The revived series Cybermen from the parallel world appear as do Cybermen from our universe. Gaiman's theory is that the "Cybus" Cybermen and the "Mondas" Cybermen joined together to upgrade themselves into the new look Cybermen.[2]

When inside the Doctor's mind all 10 of his incarnations appear, including the regeneration sequence into his eleventh form from The End of Time.

When playing chess against the Cyber Planner, the Doctor reveals that the Time Lords invented chess, but it is not explained how this invention came to Earth.

Outside reference

A very similar chess-playing machine, the Turk, was constructed by the Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen in the 18th century (This invention was also referenced in the Eighth Doctor audio The Silver Turk, where the Doctor encountered a damaged early Cyberman that was being used to play chess).

Production

Lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat contacted Neil Gaiman about writing for the series and asked him to make the Cybermen "scary again". Gaiman thought back to classic series serials The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) and decided to "take the 1960s Cybermen and [incorporate] everything that's happened since".[3] Warwick Davis stated that it was a "thrill" to be in Doctor Who, especially in an episode with the Cybermen written by Gaiman.[4] However, Gaiman said that he "got completely side-tracked by a mad, strange romp".[5]

Moffat stated that the Cybermen were redesigned because they did so often in the classic series, and yet had been consistent in the new series.[6] However the new series Cybermen are to make an appearance in the episode as shown in the trailer for the episode.[7] Gaiman was motivated to provide a "rationalisation" for the Cybermen in current Doctor Who continuity. The classic series had depicted the Cybermen as alien cyborgs, while the revived series depicted them as human upgrades from a parallel Earth; Gaiman opined that his Cybermen stemmed from an encounter and amalgamation of these two types of Cybermen following "The Next Doctor".[8]

Some location filming took place in early November 2012 at Castell Coch.[9] During this time, a copy of the readthrough script was found in a taxi in Cardiff. It was marked as being Eve De Leon Allen's copy and had the working title of "The Last Cyberman", which has since changed. The script was found by Hannah Durham, who posted a picture of the script to Facebook with the caption: "found Dr Who script in the back of a taxi. Cheeky spoilers anyone?" It was then posted to Reddit by Dan Rowling with the caption: "Look what a Facebook friend found in a taxi in Cardiff on Monday".[10] Arrangements were then made by Hannah Durham and Dan Rowling to return the script to the BBC.[11][12]

Broadcast and reception

Overnight viewing figures estimate that the episode was watched by 4.7 million viewers.

The episode received generally mixed to positive reviews. The Independent gave a mixed review saying "it was another episode which failed to live up to the hype," and that "None of this episode seemed to make much sense." But praised Matt Smith's performance saying "Matt Smith’s performance was one of the few reasons to watch this episode."[13] The Telegraph gave the episode 4 stars out of 5. They felt that Gaiman succeeded in making the Cybermen scary again. They also praised Smith's and Davies performances.[14] IGN's Mark Snow gave a negative review saying there was an "underwhelming concept and execution," "terrible child actors." He thought that it was "hard to feel as though Gaiman missed an opportunity to reinstate the psychotic cyborgs as one of the Doctor's most terrifying enemies." He did however praise Warwick Davis' performance.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Tweet". Doctor Who Magazine. Twitter. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  2. ^ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/gaiman-on-upgrading-the-cybermen-48926.htm
  3. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (9 November 2012). "'Doctor Who' writer Neil Gaiman: 'I want to make the Cybermen scary again'". Digital Spoff. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  4. ^ Golder, Dave (24 January 2013). "Warwick Davis On Doctor Who And Star Wars Sequels". SFX. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Neil Gaiman Interview: Part One". BBC. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Steven Moffat on the Finale, New Monsters and More!". BBC. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  7. ^ http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/next-time-nightmare-in-silver-48709.htm
  8. ^ Setchfield, Nick (7 May 2013). "EXCLUSIVE – Neil Gaiman Talks Doctor Who And Cybermen". SFX. Future plc. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  9. ^ Golder, Dave (9 November 2012). "New Look For Doctor Who Series 7 Cybermen". SFX. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  10. ^ Rowling, Dan. "Look what a facebook friend found in a taxi in Cardiff on Monday". Reddit. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  11. ^ "Script to Neil Gaiman's New Doctor Who Episode Gets Left in the Back of a Cab; Rescued by Good Samaritans". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  12. ^ Rich Johnston (8 November 2012). "The New Neil Gaiman Doctor Who Script Found In The Back Of A Cab In Cardiff". Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  13. ^ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/11/doctor-who-nightmare-in-silver-series-7-episode-12/
  14. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/10050173/Doctor-Who-Nightmare-in-Silver-BBC-One-review.html
  15. ^ http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/12/doctor-who-nightmare-in-silver-review
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nightmare_in_Silver&oldid=554732045"