Nightmare in Silver

After “The Doctor’s Wife,” a cozy little story about a man and his TARDIS, it was hard to imagine Neil Gaiman’s next script being a Cyberman story. It was even harder not to let my heart sink when “Nightmare in Silver” started out looking like the second remake of “Dalek” in this half-season (the first being “Cold War,” of course). Once again we have the last scion of a monster race thought to be long dead, held captive by humans, biding its time before it escapes and begins to wreak havoc. Fortunately the story blossomed out from there, and the result is a serious contender with “Hide” as my favorite of the season.

The secret’s in the characters. Motley crews like this are a Gaiman specialty. They’re not all equally charming; Angie in particular lays on the sullen teenager act pretty heavily, but Gaiman gives her a few good moments to help make her bearable. Her brother Artie is angelic by comparison, but if you’re allergic to child actors you can take comfort in the fact that both spend a large part of the story effectively unconscious. Then there’s Mr. Webley, who serves mostly as a rather convoluted way of getting the Cybermen into the story but himself gets at least one terrific scene (“he only wants to destroy you…at chess!” is perfectly delivered). But then there’s the punishment platoon, who are just this side of ridiculous and full of charming lines (“is it okay if I hide?” just barely losing out to “but you signed for that!” as my favorite). And of course there’s Porridge, played with perfect pitch by Warwick Davis, perhaps the best thing going in an episode full of treats.

And then there’s the Doctor and Mr. Clever, and this is the point where I’m forced to concede that charming is subjective and it’s a sure thing that some fans found the motley crew unbearably cutesy. Here’s the thing: there are a few scares, but they give way to fun pretty quickly, about the time Matt Smith gets to play Two-Face. It’s over-the-top, because the Cyberplanner version of the Doctor is as bonkers as the Doctor version of the Doctor. But it’s also subtle, in that the two of them sound very much alike, and this seems like an odd choice until you realize that all of the later scenes where Clara isn’t sure which persona she’s talking to wouldn’t work if the Cyberplanner spoke in a monotone or a Bale-Batman rasp. So both of them are funny, and even Mr. Clever is too adorable to really worry about, and if this isn’t your cup of tea, you might be wondering if there’s any real danger left in this show at all.

But it was my cup of tea, and the second time I watched it, even though I still found certain plot elements confusing (how did Porridge end up working as a professional chess player? how did all of these characters end up on the same planet together? what triggered the Cybermen to start reconstituting themselves all of a sudden?), I enjoyed it even more. Porridge beaming up even put a lump in my throat, because I’d had more time to think about what it meant to him, what he was giving up. Being really creeped out or scared by Cybermen suddenly seemed less interesting, less necessary. My understanding is that Gaiman started out aiming for that, and ended up going for fun, and quite right too.

Clara watch:
Clara remains an exceedingly pleasant screen presence, but beyond that and her Jenna-Louise Coleman’s ability to talk as quickly as Matt Smith, it’s still very difficult to pin an actual personality on her. It’s mystifying how swiftly and seamlessly she steps into the role of platoon leader; sure, these are the Bad News Bears of soldiers, but they’re not that incompetent. Her ability to step into any role that’s required of her, and the sense that she’s playing it as a role, like a little girl dressing up in grownup clothes and acting out her favorite books, are perfectly in tune with my take on who she is, and in sync with her barmaid/governess quick-change act in “The Snowmen,” but it makes for a frustratingly opaque character. Beyond her flashes of anger when the kids are threatened and her cute giggle at Porridge’s “handy” joke, she doesn’t display a lot of emotion other than steely resolve. I’m still crossing my fingers that once her secret is revealed, she can relax and be a three-dimensional human being with some depth…assuming she is one at all.

Classic series watch:
If there were any direct references to classic Cybermen stories, they went over my head, other than the word “moonbase” early on (a probable nod to 1967’s “The Moonbase,” the second-ever Cybermen story). However, I have to credit my friend Jeff once again for pointing out the similarities between the Emperor of the Galaxy, on the run from his own people, and the Doctor himself. The scene in which he must trigger the planetary implosion device in order to save everyone, but can’t do so without summoning his people who will force him to take responsibility for fleeing, is strongly reminiscent of the equivalent scene at the end of 1969’s “The War Games.” Therein, the Doctor summons his own people to help him return kidnapped soldiers to their own times, and we meet the Time Lords for the very first time.

The resonance of this moment might not mean much to someone who started with New Who, and knows the Time Lords mostly as a cult of slavering megalomaniacs. But until 1969, the Doctor had been a mysterious prodigal, more given to puttering around the universe helping people than acknowledging his heritage, and since after summoning the Time Lords he was put on trial and forced to regenerate, the self-sacrifice of the act was just about as noble as anything he’d ever done. That’s why imagining the Emperor as a parallel figure to the Doctor, as Jeff suggested, made me choke up the second time through. That, and Davis’s acting, and Gaiman’s writing, and my being a big nerd.

One more classic series nod, almost certainly unintentional: instead of ten years or a hundred years, which I could almost have bought, Gaiman joins a long tradition of adding superfluous zeroes to timespans in Doctor Who (see “Genesis of the Daleks” for just one instance), rendering them almost totally implausible. A thousand years since the Cybermen were defeated, guys, really? And you still have weapons around to fight them that aren’t in a museum somewhere? So much for Moore’s Law!

12 comments

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  1. Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

    There are a lot of “dual” bits here: Porridge and the Doctor (both Lonely Gods), Doctor vs Cyberplanner, and the *holes*. Porridge points out a hole in the universe, a galaxy blasted into nothingness to stop the Cybermen. Compare this with the Cyberplanner’s comment to the Doctor that he’s left a Doctor-sized hole in the universe…and the Doctor can be extrapolated from the shape of the hole he’s left. (What does that mean in terms of the other hole?)

    One rather bad contrivance: why did the Doctor have the kids sleep at the Park instead of getting them rooms in the Tardis? “Don’t wander off!” Then why not put them in a SAFE place? The Tardis is fully-capable of stopping them from messing with things, yes? And what sparked the Doctor’s interest enough to poke around some more? Did he see the Cybermites out of the corner of his eye? Did I miss something?

    Oh, and the Cybermite upgrading Angie’s phone, coupled with The Doctor handing her a new phone…coupled with the escaped cybermite at the end, it’s a nice setup for the future.

    BTW, link with some interesting analysis:

    http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/05/11/1-is-there-an-echo-in-here-img_58901-rich-says-ive-been-noticing-a-theme-of-echoes-in-doctor-who-series-7-2-clara-splintered-echoing-through-time-in-many-versions-all-dying-also-an-ech/

    I assume you’ve seen the Eruditorium open-thread on this…some interesting analysis there, too, though there’s also some wild (or not so wild) theories on John Hurt’s character in the 50th Anniversary special…

    • encyclops · May 12, 2013

      I liked that comment about the hole the Doctor’s left. I’m glad they mentioned that, since it’s been barely remarked upon for most of the season.

      I thought “why not put them in the TARDIS?” as well. I rationalized it (weakly) by assuming that, as we saw in “Journey,” the TARDIS isn’t necessarily a safe place to be either, especially for a kid like Angie who just waltzes into trouble at the slightest opportunity. I mean, we’ve seen how the TARDIS “stops people from messing with things.”

      Clara’s last comment to “Clara’s boyfriend” made it sound like she thought he’d gone there specifically to “do something with the Cybermen.” Perhaps his insect hunt had started slightly sooner than he let on.

      And yes, I’ve been commenting on that open thread, though it’s eaten a few things I’ve said. I can’t stand Blogger’s commenting system. I really hope the rumors about John Hurt’s character are false. I’m not a fan of that idea at all, but maybe I’ll change my mind when I see it played out.

      • Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

        If they do end up following the rumored twist with John Hurt, maybe they’ll explain the past lives seen the Brain of Morbius…naaaah….

  2. Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

    Oh, and regarding Mr. Clever…note to RTD, and with no disrespect to John Simm (who showed, during the one-on-one over-the-phone bits of The Sound of Drums what he was capable of): *This* is how you do an evil version of the Doctor.

    • encyclops · May 12, 2013

      Hmm…I’m not sure I agree. First of all, the Master isn’t an evil version of the Doctor, or shouldn’t be. It’s fine to match them up in terms of persona, but that’s another matter.

      Second of all, as I mention above, I think Mr. Clever is almost indistinguishable from the Doctor himself most of the time, and even at his most sinister (“Toodle-oo!”) he still seems cuddly. It’s the performance the story needed, but perhaps not the one it deserved.

      • Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

        I agree that the Master is meant to be a foil, not a duplicate. In Delgado’s time, he’s often referenced as the Moriarty to Pertwee’s Holmes (which makes me even more surprised that Moffat hasn’t done anything with him).

        In the new series, RTD wanted him to be a foil for Tennant, but in that case I really think they did try to go for evil duplicate – particularly the manic aspect.

        I’m not sure Smith seemed all that cuddly as the episode wore on. His behavior during is initial infestation struck me almost like a regeneration, complete with body (and mind) examination. (And why, again, didn’t the Doctor just regenerate, as he’d threatened? Worried that he’d just get attacked again? Concerned with becoming someone else, as Tennant was at the end? Was it a bluff?) By the end, I thought he was downright chilling…and yet, it’s not such a stretch to see that performance as a darker aspect of the Doctor himself.

        (Oh, and now all his assorted knowledge is scattered throughout the Cyberiad collective? Uh oh….)

        • encyclops · May 12, 2013

          When he discusses regenerating, he says something like “use this me up, who knows what I’ll get.” He was remarkably functional immediately after regenerating from Ten to Eleven, but as we’ve seen, that’s the exception rather than the rule, so he might have been worried about being able to take care of the rest of the Cyberthreat afterward. One review I read pointed out that the main reason he even allowed the Cyberplanner into his head in the first place was that he needed to get the children back so that they would beam up if the planet were destroyed.

  3. Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

    Almost forgot, re: Cyberman references. One shot of the Cybermen awakening en masse seemed to be a visual callback to Tomb of the Cybermen. I loved the callback to one of the otherwise stupid vulnerabilities of theirs – though why haven’t they upgraded to get around their gold-allergy?

    Oh, and a couple other parallels between the Doctor and Porridge; both the Emperor and the Doctor had to condemn countless untold lives to death (and in the Doctor’s case, continuous re-death) with the push of a button. And the Emperor can’t abandon his life for long anymore than the Doctor could when he lost Amy and Rory.

    Clearly, then, the Doctor’s real name is Cream-of-Wheat. Or Farina. (Thinking of an old Eddie Murphy joke). Or maybe, Mr. Clever? Emperor of Time? Chief? McCloud?

    • encyclops · May 12, 2013

      I’m sure you’ve thought about the parallels between the Doctor and Dream. See Dr. Sandifer’s “Master of Fiction” theories, and of course Dream essentially regenerates from Morpheus into Daniel. It suddenly occurred to me to compare the Emperor and Destruction, who also abandoned his realm to go traveling.

      • Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

        So who’s Clara in that Pantheon? 🙂

        Regarding the Emperor, I like the parallel drawn in one of the Eruditorium comments to Gaiman’s Caesar Augustus story. (Though, truthfully, my first thought was Pratchett’s Death in Reaper Man; thought was Henry V, though his reasons for going incognito are never different)

        • Jeffrey Lampert · May 12, 2013

          The last line was supposed to say “very different”.

        • encyclops · May 12, 2013

          Perhaps she’s Death: always cheerful, and certainly immune to her own effects. 🙂