Series 4 Boxset:
Series 4 Part 1:
Series 3 Boxset:
Director:
Alice Troughton
(TV: The Doctor's Daughter, Midnight)
Screenplay:
Russell T. Davies
Cast:
The Doctor: David Tennant
Donna Noble: Catherine Tate
Sky Silvestry: Lesley Sharp
Hostess: Rakie Ayola
Professor Hobbes: David Troughton
Dee Dee Blasco: Ayesha Antoine
Val Cane: Lindsey Coulson
Biff Cane: Daniel Ryan
Jethro Cane: Colin Morgan
Driver Joe: Tony Bluto
Mechanic Claude: Duane Henr
Synopsis:
The Doctor takes a trip on a shuttle bus to see a Sapphire Waterfall, and encounters a frightening alien entity...
This one will divide audiences! For the first 10 minutes "Midnight" is the
usual mix of Russell T. Davies broad-stroke storytelling, with echoes of his
"Voyage Of The Damned" special (sketchily-written people stuck aboard a
terrorized vessel), but then things get considerably more interesting.
It doesn't quite gel together, or even end particularly well, but for a good
chunk of its runtime... the tension and claustrophobia is enough for this episode
to lodge in your brain and unsettle...
"Midnight" finds The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate)
on the same-named inhospitable planet, which is home to a leisure complex (lowered to
the surface from orbit, we learn.) Donna opts to stay inside by a pool and
get a sun tan, while The Doctor boards a shuttle bus to see a famous Sapphire
Waterfall. Unfortunately, because the planet's soaked in dangerous sunlight
at all times, the view is restricted and irritating entertainment pumped into
the craft until they reach their destination.
But The Doctor disables the audio-visual distractions and suggests his fellow passengers
actually talk to one another. Thus, we're introduced to Sky Silvestry (Lesley Sharp),
the nameless Hostess (Rakie Ayola), planetary expert Professor Hobbes
(David Troughton; son of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton), intellectual
girl Dee Dee Blasco (Ayesha Antoine), mother Val Cane (Lindsey Coulson),
her husband Biff (Daniel Ryan) and disinterested son Jethro (Colin Morgan).
In these early scenes, Davies' script shows every sign of becoming a tedious
bore, populated by stereotyped characters in a situation that seems designed
purely to save the budget. Yet, against expectation, once the threat is introduced
(a mysterious knocking on the outside of the shuttle's hull, when the craft
malfunctions and comes to a standstill) things quickly become very interesting.
In restricting the story to one primary location, Davies has to rely on his
skills with character and dialogue to entertain, and the early blandness is swept away
thanks to the introduction of a genuinely creepy antagonist...
The villain of the piece is never explained (to Davies' great credit), but
it's an entity that infiltrates the shuttle bus and proceeds to "possess"
Sky -- initially making her repeat whatever anyone else says. It's strange,
slightly amusing and weird behaviour, but The Doctor is keen to help this
alien learn to "communicate".
However, when Sky synchronizes her dialogue
with that of the other passengers -- eerily predicting every word they say,
without a split-second's delay -- things become twice as frightening. What does
this alien want? Why has it possessed one of them? And how is it able to
copy peoples' speech so precisely?
As even The Doctor struggles to find answers, fears amongst his fellows
passengers escalate and they begin to debate throwing Sky out of the airlock.
As The Doctor pleads with them not to start condoning murder as a knee-jerk
reaction to witnessing something unexplained, the others quickly start to
question The Doctor's role in this nightmare...
As a stranger with a great deal of opinions and authoritative nature, can
he be trusted? This is perhaps the most interesting facet of "Midnight", as
Davies subverts the idea that characters immediately trust and help The Doctor.
What really works about this episode is seeing characters react badly towards
The Doctor's presence, particularly once Sky starts to only synch her speech
with the Time Lord, and eventually moves on to possess him instead...
While clearly "filler" material (focused on one simple set, Donna only
bookending the story, FX reduced to a few panoramas), there's a lot to be said
for how "Midnight" uses its restrictions to its advantage. Once Davies settles
into the frightening middle-section, he doesn't put a foot wrong. The situation
is scary, tense, atmospheric and brilliantly acted. Lesley Sharp was particularly
strong as Sky, crouching insect-like in the shuttle's corner, parrotting everyone
else.
It's a mesmerising performance of a very freaky, simple idea -- and Sharp
delivers the requisite chills. The other characters stay fairly two-dimensional
throughout, but Troughton is good as the concerned academic, and Coulson makes
a great shouty mother concerned for her family's safety.
The episode's rushed climax is both a positive and a negative: the fact
"Midnight" refused to even explain the villain's motives or identity added to
its overall mystique, while also giving the whole story the vibe of a surreal
dream. But it also proves slightly unsatisfying and (beyond a brief flash of
Rose Tyler on a video-screen) the repercussions of this episode won't be felt
anywhere.
So yes; it's a "bottle show" and a budget-saving exercise (simultaneously filmed
with next week's "Turn Left"), but it also proves Russell T. Davies can write
more interesting episodes if he's challenged.
Overall, "Midnight" is definitely one of Doctor Who's stranger episodes, but I
was bewitched and unsettled by the captivating 20-minutes in the middle. The
opening wasn't particularly strong, and the ending did seem rather forced, but
Lesley Sharp's insidious performance, coupled with a genuine sense of threat
for an out-of-his-depth Doctor (by this bizarre alien and the suspicious,
frightened crew) was armchair-gripping stuff.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Series 4 Boxset:
Synopsis:
The Doctor takes a trip on a shuttle bus to see a Sapphire Waterfall, and encounters a frightening alien entity...
The villain of the piece is never explained (to Davies' great credit), but
it's an entity that infiltrates the shuttle bus and proceeds to "possess"
Sky -- initially making her repeat whatever anyone else says. It's strange,
slightly amusing and weird behaviour, but The Doctor is keen to help this
alien learn to "communicate".
The episode's rushed climax is both a positive and a negative: the fact
"Midnight" refused to even explain the villain's motives or identity added to
its overall mystique, while also giving the whole story the vibe of a surreal
dream. But it also proves slightly unsatisfying and (beyond a brief flash of
Rose Tyler on a video-screen) the repercussions of this episode won't be felt
anywhere.