Episode #246 : Nightmare in Silver

"No need to panic, my young friends. We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle. The six hundred and ninety ninth wonder of the universe, as displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you at chess."

Episode #246:      Nightmare in Silver.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              11th May 2013.

The Eleventh Doctor takes his companion, Clara Oswald, and her wards, Angie and Artie, to the biggest amusement park, Hedgewick's World of Wonders. The theme park is empty, occupied 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.

Watching this again has been only the third time I've watched this episode. Two of those times was on TV or the BBC website. Back then I really was not impressed by what I saw. Neil Gaiman, who wrote the fantastic The Doctor's Wife really lost the plot here. This time round four years later it has grown on my a little bit more. But not by much.

Nightmare in Silver fails for me purely in how it treats the Cybermen. In this adventure they have became a rip off of Star Trek's the Borg. They had been like this for some time and it never bothered me but I feel here that element of their existence is pushed too far. They don't just assimilate other humans to increase their numbers but are also able to upgrade themselves in a matter of seconds to adapt to weapons and conditions otherwise dangerous or difficult for them.

I'm also not so much a fan of how the children were treated in this one. Angie and Artie, the two children that Clara looks after, are just used to be hostages to the story. They have appeared once or twice previously in the background and despite this episode giving them a little air time they are just used as plot scenery. I'm sure something better could have been made of them.

Lastly, I didn't like the strange back and forth Doctor and Mister Clever double dialogue moments. Might have sounded clever on paper but it was just silly on screen. Why would the collective mind of the Cyber race sound and act like the Doctor? Didn't work for me.

Enough grumbling. What did work in this episode. Mainly it is Warwick Davis has Porridge ( aka Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cord Longstaff XLI ). I'm sure I don't need to remind you of his many screen roles. It is nice to see that as the show goes on we continue to get well known actors and actresses popping up here and there.

I am sure that somewhere I am being extremely harsh on this episode but I truly feel that they missed something cool with the Cybermen here and it could have been a much better adventure. Perhaps Nightmare in Silver is another adventure that may have worked better as a two part story.