Got a chance to watch Night Terrors while I was home the other day. I have to say that this episode I was looking forward to almost as much as The God Complex because that episode had a really awesome extended scene that was shown at Comic Con. It was all "The Shining" and spooky. But to me, Night Terrors has an awesome title. As usual, spoilers abound from here on in.
I really liked how the episode started. It seemed like classic Doctor Who to me, with something happening to this scared little boy, thousands of lightyears away from where the Doctor and the Tardis are which serves as the hook for this episode. Of course, the Tardis alerts the Doctor to the little boy's troubles and he and Amy and Rory rush off to earth to help the boy.
"Today we're going to the scariest place in the universe. a child's bedroom."
What ensues is a terribly amusing search to actually find the kid. Apparently the Tardis needs to work on a better GPS locator for its distress calls. Or else it just likes to watch the Doctor go door to door and see how he interacts with people. I was reminded of the time when the Tenth Doctor and Rose go door to door in The Idiot's Lantern in season 2.
I love how Rory teasing with Amy that they should leave the monsters to eat the kid freaks George out. Then once in the elevator it's goodbye Amy and Rory.
"We're dead aren't we? The lift fell and we're dead. We're dead!"
I actually figured out pretty quickly they were in the dollhouse which is surprising considering that almost never happens in a Doctor Who episode for me. Now, when Amy grabs the wooden pot for a weapon, is it just me or did anyone else think of "Tangled" just then? "Frying pans, who knew, right?"
Also, the episode overall wasn't as scary as it had been made out to be. I mean, just look at the title! I did enjoy how Amy and Rory took to looking around the creepy dollhouse. Especially since it was wicked dark in there.
"Why aren't there any lights? I miss lights. You don't really miss things til they're gone, do you?"
However, it was as clever as I'd hoped for. Even more so, in a way, because I didn't see the alien kid thing coming. One of my favorite sort of recurring themes this series has been the whole relationship between fathers and sons, or even just parents and their children.
My favorite moment in the episode was definitely when the Doctor faces one of the creepy dolls and tries to sonic it and nothing happens so he just goes "I've got to invent a setting for wood, it's embarrassing!" One of my first thoughts when they ended up surrounded by wood was how little help the sonic would be. I think it's amazing that even the sonic screwdriver has a weakness. Everything does in any good story, and yet when the heroes overcome it anyway that's when things are really satisfying.
After I watched this episode a second time I had a better appreciation for it. It may not be that scary compared to other episodes in this season but it was still really enjoyable as always.
You can just tell that the creepy kid's poem at the end of the episode will have significance later on.
"Tick tock, goes the clock, even for the Doctor."
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