Midnight

I guess we'll just have to talk to each other.

Midnight is pretty good especially in that it's not really like a traditional Doctor Who story. It is far closer to something that you would see in The Twilight Zone.

Plot Summary

The Doctor and Donna are visiting a spa on an alien planet. Donna stays behind while the Doctor goes on shuttle to a tourist part of the planet. The Doctor disables the entertainment and the tourists spend several hours chatting. While on a slight detour from the normal route, the shuttle suddenly stops. Whilst investigating, the mechanic notices a shadow moving outside. Shortly afterwards, there is a knocking on the outside of the shuttle. The knocking continues and responds to anyone knocking back. One woman named Sky panics, thinking the thing is coming for her. The shuttle is suddenly knocked about and the power goes off.

The passengers soon find that the cockpit has been destroyed and that Sky is now in a trance. The Doctor informs the passengers that a distress signal had been sent and that a rescue shuttle should be there in an hour. Sky begins to repeat what they are saying that begins to unnerve the passengers even more. She progresses and starts repeating what they are saying as they are saying it. At this point the passengers begin to discuss throwing her out of the shuttle to be killed by the overpowered sun. The Doctor protests, trying to talk them out of it and the passengers begin to talk about throwing him out as well. Sky then stops repeating all of them and only repeats the Doctor. The passengers relax a little but then Sky takes command of the Doctor, talking with him repeating her words while his body stops moving. Sky convinces most of the passengers that the entity has passed from her to the Doctor and they must throw him out before it can move to each of them. They grab the Doctor and begin to drag him to the door but when Sky starts using phrases only the Doctor had used earlier, the hostess realizes that the entity is still in Sky and has merely taken over the Doctor's mind. She grabs Sky and propels both of them out the door. The Doctor instantly is released and the passengers back away from each other. The rescue ship arrives soon afterward and they are taken back to the resort.

Analysis

This episode was quite good. It is off the beaten path in style and it is an interesting experiment in how quickly people will turn into animals when trapped in a stressful environment. The act of simply repeating what someone says is very unnerving when done without stopping and it is also easy to feel that increased sense of panic when someone else starts going off the rails. This was well enhanced by the fact that the first 10-15 minutes of the episode is devoted to friendly interaction between the passengers which not only introduces each of them, but shows each of them in a fairly friendly and sympathetic light. The contrast formed when they turn like viscous dogs amplifies the tension all the more.

One of the best moments is the debate on whether to throw Sky out of the shuttle. The Doctor is protesting and the episode looks like it will follow the typical Doctor Who formula of the Doctor being the voice of reason and calming everyone down. But after every short appeal speech the Doctor makes, someone, usually the hostess, states the opposite of what you expect and the argument starts over again, the stakes now elevated as the passengers are both increasing in rabidity as well as animosity against the Doctor. In the absence of a companion, we feel the Doctor's panic as he is moving to a point of having no allies on the shuttle. It is also interesting that the passengers are ultimately proven right in that throwing out Sky was the only way to stop the creature.

There are a few nits to pick in this story though. Constrained by the episode time, some of the panic happens a little quickly. In fact, a number of the emotional turns happen just a little too much on a dime and that shift is a bit jarring. It undercuts the tension at times.

The other thing that bothered me was the resolution. In the debate I mentioned above, it is usually the hostess driving the argument of throwing out Sky. The only person who comes close to being on the Doctor's side is the Professor's assistant Dee Dee. It therefore seems odd that it is the hostess who retains her head and realizes that Sky is still possessed and moves to throw her out. Granted, it needed to be the hostess because she was the one who had overheard the Doctor using foreign phrases and that is what trips the light bulb as to what is going on. I just think that the hostess should not have been the one leading the argument to throwing Sky out as it made her sudden support of the Doctor look odd. Either that or it should have been Dee Dee to throw Sky out.

The other niggle I had was in Sky getting thrown out. As the Doctor is being dragged, the hostess grabs Sky and opens the door, holding her for six seconds until the pressure bubble collapses and they are both sucked out. The problem was that it didn't look like Sky was struggling that much so I didn't see a reason why the hostess needed to hold her there until they were both sucked out rather than simply try to push her out. Perhaps there was a risk of not getting her out but the way it was shot made it look like the sacrifice was rather unnecessary.

Despite these, it is a very good episode and any time that the Doctor is completely powerless in the face of an enemy is always a bit unsettling and packs an extra punch. This might be even more true for the Tenth Doctor who is always so brash with villains like the Daleks and Cybermen. Seeing him in real fear and peril gives the episode that little bit of extra oomph that is so good.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5