Nightmare in Silver

I'M BORED!

Nightmare in Silver is one of the most disappointing episodes of Doctor Who for me. With other stories that weren't so good, they just existed as lesser stories and you moved on. But Nightmare in Silver has elements that were both good and potentially good and to have them come together in such a hot mess just lets you down.

First the story. The Doctor takes Clara and her two charges, Angie and Artie, to a theme park built on a moon in the future. The park is run down and they run into a band of misfits manning the relics as a form of exile. Unknown to anyone, an army of Cybermen has been slowly building within the park and after partially assimilating the two kids and the park worker, they attempt to turn the Doctor into a new Cyber-controller. The Doctor resists and manages to rescue the kids before the other park worker (who is actually the galactic emperor) calls in a rescue and destroys the planet.

Let's start with the good elements. First, Porridge (aka the Emperor) as played by Warwick Davis is excellent. He is a very enjoyable character and Davis gets a large degree of depth in how he plays him.

Second, the revamped Cybermen. The Cybermen suffer when they attack en masse at the end as they return to their clompy wave tactics, but before when they are scouting and attacking in solo assaults, these things are impressive. The speed and silent assault remind you more of something from Predator with cunning and guile not really seen before with the cybermen.

Now, the not so good. First, the kids. Artie wasn't bad but that's more because he was a non-element. Angie on the other hand was incredibly annoying. Some of that was due to the age she was playing, but there was a huge emphasis on all her negative qualities and the character was never really shown in any positive light. Even when she was outing the Emperor, it was in a "why are you all so stupid" way. If the kids had been gunned down at any point, there might have been actual cheering in the audience.

Next, the massed Cybermen. The cunning and great ability that the cybermen showed when conducting individual attacks went right out the window when the whole army was activated. Instead, they went back to the old clompy Cybermen that will just overwhelm you by sheer numbers rather than any use of tactics. Worse, as an attempt to justify this reckless behavior, the Cybermen pinched the adaptation technique from the Borg. It was a cheap way to try and keep the Cybermen menacing while still being able to be held off by a band of military cast offs.

Also in the negative column, I'm going to have to put the Doctor. At the beginning of the episode, he seemed a little extra dopey, allowing the Cyber-mites to take control. I also got a bit bored with the back and forth between the Doctor and the Cyber-Control personality. A little might not have been too bad, but the two sides kept going on and it just got tiresome.

I was also disappointed that they opted for the silly gold knock out when there had been such and emphasis on adaptation. Having seen Revenge of the Cybermen, I can understand how gold dust would be used to stop the Cybermen. But to expand that into a piece of gold foil slapped against some electronics is just stupid. I know this is a reference back to Silver Nemesis but given what I've heard about that story (I've not seen it yet), why would you want to?

Some folks would probably bomb this one into oblivion, but there is some good here. I would not pick this to watch again, but I wouldn't be recoiling in horror at the prospect of watching it again. Focusing on the positives.

Overall personal score: 1.5 out of 5