Doctor Who Series Blog – Nightmare in Silver

You kind of get the sense that, sometimes, a scriptwriter wonders whether enough time has past for them to re-introduce an old foe. Enter stage left, the Cybermen. Having been all but eradicated, a rogue squadron appeared once again to attack life as we, and time-travelling extra-terrestrials, know it.

The premise was a fairly simple one, well, simple for Doctor Who anyway. The children Clara looks after, having found out about the Doctor and the T.A.R.D.I.S, go travelling with the duo, their destination being the universe’s best inter-galactic theme park. Rather than Thorpe Park on steroids, it was a barren wasteland, a planet occupied only by a troop of banished soldiers on strict orders to blow the planet up if they see a Cyberman.

Sounds like a fairly simple case of point and shoot, right? Wrong. The children become mentally “upgraded”, as does the Doctor. A schizophrenic battle ensues between the two occupants of the Doctor’s mind, his own consciousness and that of the Cybermen. Their chosen game to decide the fate of all the planet’s inhabitants (oh and probably the rest of the galaxy)? Chess, of course.

Whilst it seemed a bit of a cop-out having the Cybermen there, there was a distinct difference this time. It was less about needing human bodies to furnish the metal suits, but transforming them mentally. That said, the piece of metal that became stuck to the human skin was quite reminiscent of an episode from a previous series involving the Cybermen controlling people through their phones, specifically hands free headsets. Nevertheless, their presence is still enough to strike terror into the heart of the most battle-worn Doctor Who fan. Especially considering the fact that those responsible for keeping watch on the planet didn’t have much in the way of resources capable of destroying their silver opponents.

What’s made a real difference this series is the fact that Clara and the Doctor seem almost equally matched. In previous series, with Donna for example, the Doctor leads the way entirely with the companion only having a witty comment to contribute. Sure, Donna may have become half Time Lord, but she didn’t have a terrible amount to show for herself. In this episode, Clara was tasked with heading up a squadron of misfits, charged with the job of organising defence strategies.

The Doctor was all but incapacitated in Saturday’s episode, his body divided between two different consciousnesses. Like Journey to the Centre of the T.A.R.D.I.S, the action wasn’t as much about what was going on externally, rather it was an internal battle where the stakes were life or death. The Cybermen, if they were to have access to the Time Lord knowledge the Doctor possesses, would be able to take over the entire universe. Every sentient being was in danger. But rather than just an external threat, the danger came from within the Doctor himself. Indeed, the Doctor’s incapacitation follows on from The Crimson Horror, where he was absent from the action from the beginning, paralysed like an Action Man doll. With the finale being called The Name of the Doctor, is this spelling the end for our bow-tie wearing crusader?

The end of this episode came with a little teaser on the Red Button as a prelude to the finale. Personally, I was expecting a trailer for it, giving a few clues as to what will happen. It turned out to be the Doctor and Clara respectively musing around the mysteries surrounding the other. What was interesting though was the fact that Clara seems to know a lot more about the Doctor, indeed all his history, then he does about her. I don’t want to hypothesise wildly, but could Clara turn out to be an enemy of some description? This reviewer is sat on the edge of his seat.