Nightmare in Silver

"Hail to you, the Doctor! Saviour of the Cybermen." 

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Format: TV

Broadcast: 11th April 2013

Series: 7.12

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Clara

Synopsis 

The Doctor takes Clara, and her wards, Angie and Artie, to the biggest amusement park in the universe, Hedgewick's World of Wonders. The theme park is empty, occupier by a 'punishment platoon' and a lone impresario with empty Cyberman shells as exhibits. The Doctor decides to stay a while, however, to investigate strange insect creatures that are roaming the park. But these insects are really machines seeking to convert the life forms on Hedgewick's World into the newest generation of the ever-upgrading menace...

Verdict 

Nightmare in Silver was another superb episode in this mostly consistent seventh series! For the first time since the Cybermen made their anticipated return to the revived series in 2006, they've had their first major redesign and despite them still easily being recognisable as the infamous foe of the Doctor's, the change really is quite drastic. I am in favour of the revamp as I think after Closing Time the Cybermen were becoming a bit stale and potentially running out of ideas but now with Neil Gaiman writing a redesign they have so much direction! I love the design of the Cybermen, they look even more emotionless and despite my dislike for the height, something I think takes away the monster aspect from them, they do look frightening and potentially more conniving. I'm not sure I liked the fact that Angie and Artie were travelling with the Doctor and Clara on the basis of blackmail and I wasn't keen on the character of Angie at all to be honest. Her attitude was a bit too pompous for my liking. She'd been given the opportunity of time and space travel and she was complaining of boredom? Ha. Silly little girl. Clara was absolutely brilliant in this episode and might just be my favourite performance from Jenna Coleman who was sporting a very simple yet sexy and elegant look. Jenna never fails to impress me with her looks and fashion sense and judging by some dialogue in this episode the Doctor thinks she's rather attractive too! He was found daydreaming about her rather too tight dress which was wonderful. It's like he's not allowed to think of his companions, or anyone really, in that way! Anyway, speaking of sparkling performances, Matt Smith was staggeringly good here and showed just why he is my all time favourite Doctor. Funny, genius and everything in between. The battle against the Cyber-Planner, technically dubbing a double part, was just phenomenal. The design of Smith as the Planner, or 'Mr Clever', was very good I thought. His use of speech for both parts was incredible and gave us an intriguing insight as to how the actor playing the Doctor would do as a villain. I think Matt Smith would easily do the job! The way he defeated the Cyber-Planner was done very cleverly as he knew that even if he won the game of chess the Planner wouldn't hold up to his end of the bargain so he took things into his own hands and cheated to gain victory. No argument here! I loved how authoritative Clara was when she was put in charge. No nerves, she thrived under the pressure with ease. It was nice seeing how much she trusted the Doctor, so much so that she happily placed the lives of Angie and Artie under his protection. The Doctor describing Clara as too short and having a funny nose when asked if he thought she was pretty was an expected sort of answer but one I couldn't understand. She's utterly perfect in my eyes. I love the new threat of the Cyberman and they now seem incapable of defeat with their ability to just upgrade their weaknesses on the spot. Imploding the planet destroyed them here, but would that be an option should they invade Earth any time soon? I think not. Overall, a great episode with a lot riding for the next episode and series finale. Clara knows the Doctor thinks of her as the impossible girl, and the Cybermen are more deadly than ever. Exciting times ahead. 

Rating: 9/10