Talk is Cheap

After a clash with the football last night I was able to watch Doctor Who this afternoon, and – wow. I wasn’t expecting much from Midnight, mainly because of the clever way that the producers disguised the episode as a fun romp in the vein of Voyage of the Damned – last week’s trailer showed us none of the chilling tension that we saw throughout the full episode. All of my attention had been on the next three episodes anyway. Yet still – wow.

Midnight turned out to be the scariest episode of the series so far, easily surpassing the creepy Silence in the Library, and though it was a different type of fright than Blink, I think it was right up there with my much-trumpeted favourite ever episode for the scare factor. Lesley Sharp was mesmerising as the woman possessed by the voice-stealing monster without a name. As commented on by the (pretty good) supporting cast, her eyes were what really did it. I was expecting some hideous face contortion when she turned around to face us after that build-up, but the simple reveal of the same face but different aura was excellent.

The best bit was how scary we humans were made to look. The mob mentality kicked in subtly, and though as a viewer you knew the Doctor was right, you empathised totally with the passengers and genuinely feared for his life. It was sickening, but utterly compelling.

And I have to say, while she’s been getting a bit better recently – wasn’t it lovely to have an episode almost entirely sans Donna? I didn’t notice until she came back at the end just how much I really wasn’t missing her in the slightest. Luckily for me, next week’s ep is the Doctor-light one with much more of her, but it doesn’t matter, because ROSE IS BACK! YES!

I’m excited.

Doctor Who etcetera.

Firstly, apologies (again) for later-than-promised updates. Keeping up with all of Euro 2008 for the CDB Pod means about five hours of my day have to be devoted to that (it’s such a hard life, eh?), which has cut into time for the CDB Desk. Fear not, however, as I’m here to cover some things I’d been wanting to, but for the rest of the championships I’ll probably only have time to review Doctor Who each week. So, in about two and a half weeks, I should be able to settle in to a decent steady rhythm on both blogs. Go me.

So, better start with the Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead two-parter that aired over the last two Saturdays. And wasn’t it bloody brilliant! Coming just after the news that writer Steven Moffat is replacing Russell T. Davies as showrunner from season five onwards was released couldn’t have been a better time – we’ve been reassured completely with these two episodes that the show is in safe hands.

Where to start? The shadow monsters, the Vashta Nerada, were genius, playing tricks with lighting rather than huge special effects for maximum scare value. That throwaway line about being able to see the Vashta Nerada as the specks in sunlight was typical Moffat, finding little ways to terrify small children, like he did with statues in last season’s stunning Blink.

I guess we’ve also been successfully hoodwinked, myself included, by the line in Planet of the Ood warning that “the Doctor’s song must end soon”. Originally, as documented here, I’d thought that meant imminent regeneration for the Doctor, but no – clearly, the word song had a capital S, and I’m hugely looking forward to seeing River Song’s next (or technically first?) appearance sometime in the future. Is she a future companion, or, seemingly more likely, a future wife? Brilliantly played by Alex Kingston, her death scene in particular was heart-wrenching.

My favourite episode of the relaunched series ever? Probably.

A quick word on the Britain’s Got Talent and Pushing Daisies finales – I might have done more if I’d had time closer to their broadcasting, but such is life – rather good. I’d been rooting for dance group Signature in BGT since their audition (if you haven’t seen their first audition, YouTube it. It’s hilarious), but considering some of the dross that was in the final (Cheeky Monkeys anyone?), George Sampson was a worthy winner. I may now tune in for 2 minutes of the Royal Variety Show later this year (OK, no I won’t). Pushing Daisies has flown by, though, and I will be tuning in to season two (that’s assuming ITV don’t drop even more episodes). I’d like to see them pushing the format as much as they can, though, as I suspect more of the same may grow tiresome very quickly – mind you, I said that about the series as a whole after watching the pilot, so…we’ll see. I’m still, of course, in love with Anna Friel.