‘NIGHTMARE IN SILVER’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Clara and the Cybermen
This is the penultimate TV episode of Series 7 in the ‘Doctor Who’ series. The episode is by Neil Gaiman and it features the return of the Cybermen, making this a really fun and an enjoyable episode to watch.
The episode has the Doctor taking Clara and her nanny responsibilities, Angie and Artie Maitland, on an adventure in the TARDIS. They all go off to visit ‘Hedgewick’s World of Wonders’ on this alien world.
This is an extra-terrestrial theme park that was filmed in Castell Coch, a castle close to where I live in Cardiff. But there are Cybermen waiting to wake up and the battle is set between them and humanity.
The Cybermen in this episode undergo a complete make-over and a new upgrade for a new TV audience. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you think these new Cybermen look great for this story.
I think they look great, but I prefer the original look of the Cybermen when they returned in 2006. There’s certainly a lot of Borg influences from ‘Star Trek’ with the Cybermen featured for this episode.
The way that the Doctor looks with all those metallic implants on his face makes him almost like Borg-like. Also with Webley’s face looking so half human, half Cyberman seems very Borg-like in this TV tale.
The Cybermen can also adapt like the Borg whenever they get shot and adapt to new frequencies. They can also trudge through a moat and also overcome obstacles with stating “Upgrade in progress!”
The Cybermen voices are still provided by the great Nicholas Briggs. But they sound throaty and on first viewing I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I really prefer it when their voices sounded deeper.
I found the Doctor as the Cyber Planner quite frightening on some level. Matt Smith delivers a vicious performance when he is playing two characters inside his head and he also enthuses plenty of venom.
However, I’m not sure whether the Cyber Planner should have expressed a lot of emotion in the way that Matt Smith plays him. This is taking into account the Cybermen are so emotionless and unfeeling.
Jason Watkins guest stars as Webley. I’ve seen Jason Watkins before in the ‘Dirk Gently’ TV series. I liked his eccentric, whimsical performance as Webley, before he gets Cyber-fied so quickly in the story.
Warwick Davis guest stars as Porridge. Warwick was in the BBC version of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ as Reepicheep and Glimfeather as well as in the movie version of ‘Prince Caspian’ as Nikabrik. It was good to see him here.
This episode also features Eve de Leon Allen as Angie and Kassius Carey Johnson as Artie, the Maitland children. Angie is quite abrasive in this episode and Artie gets to play a game of chess with a Cyberman.
It was terrifying when Angie and Artie get cyber implants in their ears and are under the control of the Cybermen. Clara isn’t happy when this happens as she expects the Doctor to get them back to normal.
I’ve enjoyed Jenna Coleman as Clara in this episode. Jenna is lovely playing a ‘Doctor Who’ companion. I did enjoy it when she gets to be the leader of a group of soldiers in their battle against the Cybermen.
Matt Smith’s Doctor is also good in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. I liked how determined he was to save the children and he immediately puts his faith in Clara when she takes command of the human troops.
‘Nightmare In Silver’ is a really good entertaining ‘Doctor Who’ episode with the Cybermen. They’re good in this story, although I do miss the 2006 new series Cybermen with their deep, menacing voices.
The DVD special features on this episode are as follows. On Disc 5 of ‘The Complete Series 7’ of ‘Doctor Who’, there’s the ‘Behind-The-Scenes: Nightmare In Silver’ featurette featuring cast and crew interviews.
‘Nightmare In Silver’ rating – 8/10
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Bradley's Basement 
Like the new Cybermen design but i found the kids being companions quite annoying, Warwick Davis was brilliant however & the episode had some unsettling scary moments.
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Hi Simon.
Thanks for your thoughts on ‘Nightmare in Silver’.
Yeah the new Cybermen designs are great. I just prefer the 2006 Cybermen designs more from ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’.
I agree the two kids’ appearance in the episode does feel rather tagged on and I don’t think it helped to serve the plot. I enjoyed Warwick Davis’ appearance in this episode after seeing him in adaptations of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’.
Tim. 🙂
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