From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   NIGHT TERRORS   
      
   1 episode. Approx. 48 minutes. Written by: Mark Gatiss. Directed by:   
   Richard Clark. Produced by: Sanne Wohlenberg.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   "Save me from the monsters!"   
      
   The Doctor's psychic paper picks up this message, which he follows to   
   its source: a terrified child in a very ordinary London council   
   estate. The Doctor impersonates... well, a doctor in order to see the   
   child and figure out what it is so afraid of. He quickly determines   
   that there are real monsters here, or at least something otherworldly.   
   It's all linked to the boy's cupboard. Inside the cupboard is a   
   dollhouse. Inside the dollhouse are a miniaturized Amy and Rory - who   
   find themselves on the run from deadly, cackling wooden dolls!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Um. Well, he's better-characterized than his two   
   companions, at least. I'll give Matt Smith credit for cranking up the   
   eccentricity to cover the weak characterization given him by this   
   script. Still, this may be the most generic characterization of the   
   Doctor we've seen yet in the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era. You could   
   plug any of the other Doctors into this story (even Hartnell), without   
   changing much of the script at all. Some of the others - Hartnell and   
   Pertwee particularly, I think - would actually work better. Given that   
   Smith is playing a Doctor who's a plot device rather than a character   
   here, it's not surprising that he comes across much weaker than usual.   
      
   Amy: Is deeply stupid. She and Rory have successfully blocked the   
   killer dolls from getting into the room where they're hiding. OK, they   
   can't get out - but the dolls also can't get in. Without even looking   
   around very hard to see if there might be another way out, without   
   even taking five minutes for a breather, Amy suddenly decides that   
   they have to open the door again. Why? Well, to provoke a Third Act   
   crisis, of course. There's really no reason that makes any sense   
   within the plot, particularly since the dollhouse doesn't really give   
   them any particular place to run.   
      
   Rory: Inside the dollhouse, before they see a single walking doll,   
   Rory is panicking. Fine - if this was last season. But just two   
   episodes ago, we saw him facing down a Cyberleader and standing   
   impassively while huge explosions went off behind him. We've seen Rory   
   deliberately putting himself in danger to try to save virtual   
   strangers. He has faced down monsters and aliens, put himself in the   
   center of battlefields. And he's reduced to panic by disembodied   
   laughter in a spooky house? After Doctor Generic and Amy the Idiot,   
   Rory the Coward just rounds out the team of mischaracterizations that   
   are only a small part of what's wrong with this episode!   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   As thrilled as I am thus far with the Moffat era (and I genuinely   
   am!), it does come with one big hitch: the return of Mark Gatiss to   
   the writer's table. Night Terrors at least represents a marked   
   improvement over Gatiss' previous episode, the noisy and barely-   
   coherent Victory of the Daleks. This time, the story shows some   
   initial promise. There are good elements here. A frightened child, a   
   darkened room, a sinister cupboard containing a dollhouse that's more   
   than it seems... 1960's Twilight Zone episodes would have a field day!   
      
   But Night Terrors never pushes past the surface of any of its ideas.   
   People are running around inside a dollhouse? Well, other than a few   
   remarks about wooden food, that whole plot angle amounts to nothing   
   more than a lot of corridor crawling. The terrified child is more than   
   he seems? Don't worry - A little soppy sentiment and everything's   
   better. Oh, and did I mention? Everybody lives!   
      
   This is one of the most child-friendly Who episodes I think I've seen,   
   to the point that even a child would be likely to find it dull. The   
   story elements and atmosphere cry out for something darker and more   
   horror-themed, but instead everything is made "safe." There might be a   
   few creepy moments sprinkled around the edges, but this is one Doctor   
   Who that's not going to send anyone ducking behind the sofa, even   
   before the Doctor makes a speech about fatherhood and love and   
   sunshine and puppies that inspires the kid's dad to save the day.   
      
   In any case, after four episodes it increasingly seems a fact that   
   Mark Gatiss will never write a Doctor Who story that I actually like.   
   Still, if one weak Gatiss Who per season is the price of getting a   
   good Sherlock from him every year or two, then I suppose I'll count it   
   as a fair trade. I just wish he could write with the same energy for   
   this show that he does for that one.   
      
      
   Rating: 4/10.   
      
   --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp   
    * Origin: http://groups.google.com (1:2320/105.97)   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux   
    * Origin: telnet & http://cco.ath.cx - Dial-Up: 502-875-8938 (1:2320/105.1)