Ah! Neil! Don't blink! God I love this man. In what's been a kind of "bleh" second half of series 7, Gaiman DELIVERS with the scariest version of the cybermen
ever. You know how zombies were always kind of scary, but at least you could always run from them... that is, until movies like
28 Days Later and
Resident Evil when not only were they terrifying but they were
FAST. Now you couldn't just run from those brain eating fuckers, you have to fight them! Well, until Gaiman came along, the cybermen were slow walking, robot voiced kind of outdated villains But Gaimen lends his genius to the Whoniverse yet again and we get fast, constantly upgrading versions of a old favorite, and they truly become "Nightmares in Silver."
Now, I'm going to honest with you folks, and please to beat me off the internet because I rather like it here, but something about series 7 hasn't been as exciting as other series. I can't quite put my finger on what's missing, but it feels like there is a lack of passion lately, there haven't been any mind blowing moments and I don't see what we are leading to. Is it just that the creators have been focusing all their energy on the 50 year anniversary? Is it true that Moffat and Gatiss are spreading themselves too thin between Sherlock and Who? I don't know. Maybe when I go back and re-watch the whole thing I'll feel differently, but right now I'm just not in it as much. So, when I knew a Gaimen episode was coming I was beyond excited and rightfully so, because this episode, in my opinion has been the best since the 2nd half of this series began.
Gaimen is an amazing writer, "Graveyard Book" is one of my all time favorite books and "American Gods" just got a development deal with HBO which is sure to produce something epic. So, when Gaimen wrote his first Doctor Who episode I was nearly bouncing off the walls to watch it, and my excitement was rewarded with "The Doctor's Wife," one of my favorite episodes ever. Only a mind like Gaimen's would think of personifying the TARDIS and only Gaimen could give her the perfect voice. Great characters are Gaimen's specialty, which is why I think he is so great at writing for Smith. The two episodes Gaimen has written have given us some of Matt Smith's
best acting. He really gets Smith's Doctor and understands how far Smith can go as an actor. In "Nightmare in Silver," the Doctor is put at war with himself, characterized by Smith's incredible ability to use his body in ways it doesn't seem he should be able to.
Now, it did get a little "Borg-ish"... a little like when Captain Picard was briefly assimilated, but WHO CARES! We got to see inside the Doctor's
mind! And it was
beautiful! Red washes and Gallifreyan script in the background, images of Clara and his previous regenerations. AND MATT SMITH SAID ALLON-SY! I actually rewound and watched that part like 5 times. I'm not ashamed. We got to watch Smith go up against himself and it was awesome. Full on nerdgasm.
Now, beyond giving us an awesome upgrade, if you will, of the cybermen, Gaimen gave Warwick Davis an opportunity to play something other than every Harry Potter character that isn't a wizard. I have loved Davis since I was a kid and saw Willow for the first time. Davis is a wonderful actor, but like many actors with dwarfism isn't always given the great parts they deserve. Davis has played his share of trolls and leprechauns, but in "Nightmares of Silver" he is an EMPEROR! It was wonderful! He really is a gifted actor who isn't used as much as he should be.
Neil Gaiman needs to write more episodes of Doctor Who. He really does such a fantastic job and I think Smith would be happy about it. Oh! And if he could get his lovely wife Amanda Palmer to write some music for the episode, well I think that would be just perfection! Maybe she could even play an alien or some futuristic rockstar, she would fit in perfectly in the world of Doctor Who with her drawn on eyebrows and devil may car attitude. That would probably be the best episode ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment