From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   NIGHT AND THE DOCTOR   
      
   4 episodes: Bad Night, Good Night, First Night, Last Night. Approx. 14   
   minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by: Richard Senior.   
   Produced by: Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger, Beth Willis.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   As Amy and Rory sleep, the Doctor continues to have adventures.   
   Whether getting up to madcap antics at a party involving ambassadors   
   and princes changed into fish and flies, or simply going out with   
   River Song on dates that are like as not to end in danger, his life   
   just continues even as his companions slumber. "We're such small parts   
   of your life," Amy realizes when she walks into the midst of one of   
   his nocturnal outings. But Amy isn't the only one catching just a   
   small glimpse of a larger picture. Even the Doctor himself sees only   
   patches of the full tapestry, particularly on a night involving   
   multiple versions of River Song, two versions of himself, and a night   
   that is both a first and a last...   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: In The Doctor's Wife, his companions asked if he had a   
   room. The answer was implicit - He didn't need a room, he had a   
   TARDIS. This short piece raises another question: Does the Doctor   
   actually sleep? I'm pretty sure some of his earlier incarnations were   
   seen to, or referred to as sleeping. But the 11th Doctor doesn't seem   
   to sleep. He just keeps on with his life and his adventures. He   
   counters Amy's fears about being just a tiny part of his existence by   
   telling her that his companions are all that he truly remembers. But   
   he keeps pushing forward with activity, perhaps afraid to stand still   
   and let real emotion touch him.   
      
   Amy: Good Night gives Amy some charming material. She remembers two   
   versions of her life - one from the universe with the Crack, in which   
   she had no parents or family, and one from the rebooted universe, in   
   which she always has had parents. "My life doesn't make any sense,"   
   she complains.   
      
   River Song: On her first night in Stormcage, the Doctor rescues her   
   with a date and lays down the rules which will be entrenched in her   
   mind by the time they first meet. We see three different versions of   
   River in this story. The youngest River is tentative, clearly   
   concerned about a life in prison. The middle River is jealous at the   
   thought that the Doctor has another woman on the TARDIS (not realizing   
   that the other woman is her). The latest River is the most carefree   
   and comfortable with the Doctor. All three are highly firtatious, and   
   both the youngest and oldest River make the same remark about the   
   possibilities posed by two Doctors at the same time. The interplay   
   between Matt Smith and Alex Kingston is charming, and they have an   
   evident screen chemistry that keeps the last two episodes humming   
   smoothly.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   First off: Yes, I'm aware there's a fifth episode - "Up All Night" -   
   included on the Series Six set. But it's fairly clear watching it (and   
   looking up its credits) that this is just an unaired episode prequel   
   to Closing Time, no more worthy of a separate review than any of the   
   other episode prequels. It has no connection whatever with the other   
   four Night and the Doctor scenes, and so I feel quite justified in   
   simply ignoring it for purposes of this review.  After all, I didn't   
   review the "additional scenes" on the Series Five set - and "Up All   
   Night" is even more inconsequential than those were.   
      
   Mind you, those Series Five additional scenes probably form the root   
   of this bonus serial.  Those two comedy scenes, the first acting as a   
   bridge between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below, the second as a   
   bridge between Flesh and Stone and Vampires of Venice, were terrific   
   bonuses.  They were also well-received, which is probably why writer/   
   executive producer Steven Moffat decided to take the idea even further   
   for the Series Six set.   
      
   At first, the "Night and the Doctor" scenes appear to be more comedy   
   extras along the same lines.  "Bad Night" offers a madcap glimpse of   
   an extra adventure, with an amusing payoff to Amy's swatting of a fly.   
   "Good Night" is slower and more sincerely emotional, offering a   
   genuinely charming scene between the Doctor and Amy. It's also during   
   this scene that it becomes obvious that these bits are interconnected,   
   as the conversation Amy has with the Doctor is the same one he evaded   
   during "Bad Night."   
      
   The last two episodes are the most clearly linked, as the Doctor   
   interrupts River Song's first night in Stormcage with a TARDIS trip.   
   As with the first episode, the tone is almost entirely comical.  But   
   "First Night" doesn't even pretend to resolve, instead ending with a   
   (comic) cliffhanger leading into "Last Night." The final episode   
   retains the comedy tone - right up to the end, when we get a surprise   
   emotional kicker, allowing the entire four episode piece to end on a   
   poignant note.   
      
   Ultimately, all four episodes are thematically linked in a way that's   
   best summed up by the Doctor's own words to Amy in "Good Night." When   
   she talks about a strange woman (who ends up being herself) buying the   
   child Amy an ice cream and telling her, "Cheer up. Have an ice cream,"   
   the Doctor replies with some rare, perfect advice:   
      
   "Amy, time and space is never ever going to make any kind of sense. A   
   long time ago, you got the best possible advice on how to deal with   
   that. So I suggest you go and give it."   
      
      
   A lovely little home video bonus, one whose ambition and   
   accomplishment goes above and beyond what could reasonably be expected   
   of a simple dvd extra.  Taking into account that this is a bonus story   
   shot almost entirely on one set, with no guest stars, then this is   
   stunningly good.   
      
      
   Rating: 9/10.   
      
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