Doctor Who 4x10 - "Midnight"

Danny Stewart · #1 June 14, 2008, 4:37 PM

"Midnight" by Russell T Davies
The Doctor is trapped, alone, powerless and terrified, on the planet Midnight. Soon, the knocking on the wall begins. Only a woman called Sky seems to know the truth â€“ but as paranoia turns into a witch-hunt, Sky turns the Doctor's greatest strengths against him, and a sacrifice must be made...

Jamie Minty · #2 June 14, 2008, 5:16 PM

It was really good.

Would of liked a bit more action but the acting was brilliant and the characters were written so real and acted excellently.

I think the Rose appearance was unnecessary.

Seemed shorter than 45mins but it still worked great. Dt was amazing at teh end of the episode. RTD wrote the Doctor in a whole new way and it was great!

MI7 · #3 June 14, 2008, 8:29 PM

Molto bene.

Ronnie Rowlands · #4 June 15, 2008, 3:19 PM

RTD. That episode was scary, and for that I love it. Why is no one saying anything?

Jamie Minty · #5 June 15, 2008, 4:00 PM

Originally Posted by MI7

Molto bene.

Molto bene

The whole repeating thing was really creepy. DTs face at the end was really scary. The thing is we always know the Doctor won't die but you still get scared when he is risking his life

MI7 · #6 June 15, 2008, 5:40 PM

BTW whoever voted it "1" has no taste whatsoever. Note how everyone else is voting 9? Was there not enough big action and monsters for you? Honestly it's apparently a bad thing now to have a whole episode of dialogue

. I'm all for opinions but...

Sorry if it seems overly harsh but as reviews have shown this episode really was sublime and anyone who didn't enjoy it is missing the point somewhat.

Jamie Minty · #7 June 16, 2008, 1:43 PM

Originally Posted by MI7

BTW whoever voted it "1" has no taste whatsoever. Note how everyone else is voting 9? Was there not enough big action and monsters for you? Honestly it's apparently a bad thing now to have a whole episode of dialogue

. I'm all for opinions but...

That would be CassiusKitt but I suppose everyone has different opinions.

I can understand how this episode is one that you can either love or hate.

I'm voting after the Series and judging scores by comparison to make it fair.

But I already screwed it up by giving PiC 9/10

I think it deserved 5 (my opinion)

Cassiuskitt · #8 June 18, 2008, 7:55 PM

I Voted 1 because of a few things firstly it was written by RTD and is very much in his style of fear her and love and monsters. Tom Baker used to say upon reading his scripts "This is just audable print" (im plying that the story he was reading was crap). Well I personally think that Midnight was "audable noise" basically a lot of words were said but had very little to do with the story structure to the point that any actual drama fear or suspense was in danger of being swamped by the continual cachophany of unnecessary lines from the extras. One of the stories I do like which is similar to this is The Edge of Destruction, which is set in the tardis with only the regular cast with no big action or monsters in it at all. The sooner RTD ******* off the better.

Ross Hendrie · #9 June 19, 2008, 8:40 PM

Was quite good, I agree with MI7 about how an episode of dialogue can, and in this case was, extremely impressive and made for a good episode. Also, how we finally met someone(apart from Jack) that the Doctor was scared of.

As for next weeks episode, it looks absolute bollocks. Sorry but it looks like a Doctor-light(or possibly Doctor-less) episode and has Rose as the main focus, which cannot be good at all. Billie Piper in serious sci-fi? Sorry...

Ronnie Rowlands · #10 June 20, 2008, 9:28 AM

Yes, it will be Doctor Light. You know, I think almost every week, before each episode this year, at least one person has judged and moaned. "Oh well this is going to absolutely suck, clearly." "Yeah RTD's written it it will be shit end of." And on all of those occasions, the episode has absolutely rocked. So Ross, seeing as you are the judge on this occasion, I have a challenge for you. If tomorrow's episode is awesome, and I have every faith in it being awesome, will you retract that statement there? Something you could consider, methinks.

Jamie Minty · #11 June 20, 2008, 1:26 PM

Originally Posted by Ronnie Rowlands

Yes, it will be Doctor Light. You know, I think almost every week, before each episode this year, at least one person has judged and moaned. "Oh well this is going to absolutely suck, clearly." "Yeah RTD's written it it will be shit end of." And on all of those occasions, the episode has absolutely rocked.

I agree.

Don't judge a book by its cover and all that!

Jez · #12 June 20, 2008, 1:30 PM

Best episode of the series for me but I now hate humans again thanks to the rolls played by the extras. Dangnabbit. It's gonna take weeks to stop considering the death of everybody I meet....

MI7 · #13 June 20, 2008, 6:10 PM

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

I Voted 1 because of a few things firstly it was written by RTD and is very much in his style of fear her and love and monsters.

RTD didn't write Fear Her.

Tom Baker used to say upon reading his scripts "This is just audable print" (im plying that the story he was reading was crap).

Tom Baker also has a right to complain, really. He starred in such thrillers as Meglos, The Leisure Hive and The Invasion of Time, after all. Oh and Revenge of the Cybermen. The Power of Kroll. Underworld. The Armageddon Factor. The Horns of Nimon. Creature From The Pit. Nightmare of Eden. Full Circle. Destiny of the Daleks, for God's sake.

I can't find that quote anwhere, anyway. I'm guessing though that you meant Tom Baker reading his own scripts, rather than Tom Baker reading RTDs' scripts.

Well I personally think that Midnight was "audable noise" basically a lot of words were said but had very little to do with the story structure to the point that any actual drama fear or suspense was in danger of being swamped by the continual cachophany of unnecessary lines from the extras.

I believe, and I could be wrong here, that the episode sort of revolved around speech. Therefore a lack of dialogue from the characters would not have been...ideal.

I also believe that the continual speech, one line after another from characters, in fact greatly increased the suspense.

One of the stories I do like which is similar to this is The Edge of Destruction, which is set in the tardis with only the regular cast with no big action or monsters in it at all.

It also could be seen as interminably boring. Yes, I enjoy it. But would it work on modern TV? I think not.

The sooner RTD ******* off the better.

Yes death to RTD who has done nothing except ignore the fanbase, write terrible scripts such as Army of Ghosts and The Parting of the Ways, mock Doctor Who's reputation leading to it receiving pitifully low viewing figures and AI scores and generally treating the show like shit. Yeah, thanks for nothing Russell. You hack.

Ross Hendrie · #14 June 20, 2008, 6:20 PM

Ronn, if tomorrow night's episode is brilliant, then call me wrong and leave it at that...

Cassiuskitt · #15 June 21, 2008, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by MI7

RTD didn't write Fear Her.

His name may not have been on it but that dose'nt me he did not have a very large hand in writing it.

Originally Posted by MI7

Tom Baker also has a right to complain, really. He starred in such thrillers as Meglos, The Leisure Hive and The Invasion of Time, after all. Oh and Revenge of the Cybermen. The Power of Kroll. Underworld. The Armageddon Factor. The Horns of Nimon. Creature From The Pit. Nightmare of Eden. Full Circle. Destiny of the Daleks, for God's sake.

Which was a such large chunk of his 7 years he had the job for then.

Originally Posted by MI7

I can't find that quote anwhere, anyway. I'm guessing though that you meant Tom Baker reading his own scripts, rather than Tom Baker reading RTDs' scripts.

Its on one of the dvd releases can't remember which one.
And yes I did mean Tom's own scripts

Originally Posted by MI7

I believe, and I could be wrong here, that the episode sort of revolved around speech. Therefore a lack of dialogue from the characters would not have been...ideal.

I also believe that the continual speech, one line after another from characters, in fact greatly increased the suspense.

Yes it did indeed revolve around speech but have you tried reading the subtitles?
I am partially deaf and so rely on the subtitles some what to get an idea of what the hell is going on, from my point of view it was a poor episode but on this forum I am obviously in a minority of 1 (although everyone else I have spoken to agreed with me).

In reference to the Edge of Destruction

Originally Posted by MI7

It also could be seen as interminably boring.

I only mentioned this story because you asked:-

Originally Posted by MI7

Was there not enough big action and monsters for you?

oh and:-

Originally Posted by MI7

Note how everyone else is voting 9?

Had I realised I was supposed to vote 9 I would have obviously done so but I foolishly belived that the word vote meant I had a choice?

Originally Posted by MI7

Yes death to RTD who has done nothing except ignore the fanbase, write terrible scripts such as Army of Ghosts and The Parting of the Ways, mock Doctor Who's reputation leading to it receiving pitifully low viewing figures and AI scores and generally treating the show like shit. Yeah, thanks for nothing Russell. You hack.

Yes totally agree thank god we agree on something.

Ah but it is all to easy to pick at other peoples posts and criticise isn't it.

Jez · #16 June 21, 2008, 11:29 AM

Cassiuskitt +1

Danny Stewart · #17 June 21, 2008, 1:18 PM

Originally Posted by Jez

Cassiuskitt +1

Cassiuskitt +2

Ronnie Rowlands · #18 June 21, 2008, 5:11 PM

His name may not have been on it but that dose'nt me he did not have a very large hand in writing it.

Yeah, he also had a large hand in writing such UTTER CRAP as "The Empty Child", "42", "Blink", "The Shakespeare Code", "The Lazarus Experiment", "Human Nature", "The Fires of Pompeii", "The Poison Sky", "Silence in the Library", "Rise of the Cybermen", "The Idiot's Lantern", "The Satan Pit", "The Unquiet Dead", "Dalek" and "Father's Day". What a bastard. I hope he dies.

MI7 · #19 June 21, 2008, 5:13 PM

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

Ah but it is all to easy to pick at other peoples posts and criticise isn't it.

Of course it is, but then you end up making errors. Like:

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

Yes totally agree thank god we agree on something.

If you honestly believe that what I said is true rather than sarcasm then you are completely ignorant. Take the opposite of what I said, and that is true. The only one that could possibly be taken literally is ignoring the fanbase. And that's done for good reason. A fan wrote Attack of the Cybermen. A 'fan' wrote Blink, Silence in the Library, Time Crash etc. Go figure.

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

His name may not have been on it but that dose'nt me he did not have a very large hand in writing it.

Since when? Surely the script editor Simon Winstone, is more at fault than RTD?! And if you are going to be so quick to be petty then surely we can then say RTD is responsible for The Empty Child, The Shakespeare Code, Blink, The Sontaran Strategem, 42, Dalek, The Fires of Pompeii, The Family of Blood etc etc etc.
To give a literal example. In series three RTD was ill for several weeks and played no part in production or writing. The episodes that were written in these several weeks were Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks.

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

Which was a such large chunk of his 7 years he had the job for then.

Yes, actually. About half the episodes in which he played the Doctor are listed there.

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

Had I realised I was supposed to vote 9 I would have obviously done so but I foolishly belived that the word vote meant I had a choice?

Of course. But if you look at the results in reviews and on fansites you'll see you're in the small (and, as usual, very very vocal

) minority on this one.

Originally Posted by Cassiuskitt

Yes it did indeed revolve around speech but have you tried reading the subtitles?
I am partially deaf and so rely on the subtitles some what to get an idea of what the hell is going on, from my point of view it was a poor episode but on this forum I am obviously in a minority of 1 (although everyone else I have spoken to agreed with me).

I can understand that it may be difficult for deaf people, however this was the episode that "utilised sound in a completely unique way for Doctor Who" . I personally am half blind and miss a lot of the visual subtleties but I don't let it get in the way of my enjoyment of the bigger, spectacle episodes.
And yet everyone I have spoken to, be it in real life or on the internet, has agreed with me that it was excellent. Even one of my friends, who vehemently hates RTD, the new series, and the old series, said it was a fantastic bit of television. Which really gets us nowhere.

I really don't mind if you disliked it, but I feel that if you did, you're really missing out on something good. I was the same with Silence in the Library.

Cassiuskitt · #20 June 21, 2008, 7:08 PM

MI7
It was You that started me on this if you remember, I was quite happy to merely have voted and leave it at that but you decided to accuse me of being an idiot and now ignorant as well!!
I would hardly say I was vocal as it was only your initial insults that prompted me to reply in the first place.
You are quite clearly attempting to bully me into conforming to your ideas on this subject. However, since everyone is entitled to their own opinion you should agree that it would be best to concur that we disagree on this subject and leave it at that, since I have no interest in mud slinging or name calling.