Night Terrors (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
"Night Terrors" is the ninth episode of the sixth series
of the British science fiction
television series Doctor Who
, and was first broadcast on BBC One
and BBC America
on 3 September 2011.
Meanwhile, Amy and Rory, while taking the lift down, suddenly find themselves in what appears to be an eighteenth-century house, but shortly discover most of the furnishings are wooden props. Other residents of the estate appear in the house, but are caught by life-sized peg dolls
that laugh and sing like children, and transform the residents into more dolls. Amy and Rory witness one transformation and try to flee, but Amy is caught and becomes a doll herself, joining the others in chasing Rory.
The Doctor, suspecting that the wardrobe is containing the evil that George fears, opens it to find its contents are simply clothes and toys, including a doll house. The Doctor suddenly recalls from Alex's photo album that Claire did not appear pregnant in the weeks leading up to George's supposed birth, causing Alex to remember the fact that Claire was unable to have children. The Doctor asserts that George is a Tenza child, an empathic alien who took on the form of Alex and Claire's desired child through a perception filter, and has the ability to literally lock away his fears within the wardrobe. George begins to panic from this revelation and the Doctor and Alex are pulled into the wardrobe, joining Rory in the dollhouse. As the dolls descend on the three, the Doctor calls out to George to face his fears; George is able to open the wardrobe and appears in the dollhouse, but the dolls turn to advance on him. The Doctor realises that George is still frightened that Alex and Claire plan to send him away, having mistakenly interpreted a conversation they had earlier that night; Alex rushes through the dolls to embrace George as his son. They all soon find themselves back at the estate, restored to normal. Claire returns the next morning to find George no longer scared while Alex and the Doctor make him breakfast. After being thanked, the Doctor rejoins his companions to set off for their next adventure.
and the Sontaran
s and the Emperor Dalek, two of the series' recurring monsters. He also repeats his predilection for tea and Jammie Dodgers
from another Gatiss-written episode, "Victory of the Daleks
". He expresses his irritation that his sonic screwdriver still does not have "a setting for wood," a criticism also made by Rory in "The Hungry Earth
" and "The Curse of the Black Spot
" and by Donna Noble
in "Silence in the Library
".
Rory states "we're dead again" after dropping down the lift shaft, referring to his previous deaths in "Amy's Choice
", "Cold Blood
", and in "The Doctor's Wife
", and Amy's in "The Pandorica Opens
". The episode's final shot continues the story arc for the second half of the series, showing the Teselecta file on the Doctor's date of death from "Let's Kill Hitler
".
'
told Radio Times
that he had always been scared of dolls, and was surprised that Doctor Who had never used them before. He was especially interested in peg dolls
, which he said were "the stuff of proper nightmares". In order to achieve a greater variety of stories in the first half of series 6 "Night Terrors" was moved to the second block of episodes, having been filmed as episode four. This necessitated minor changes to the episode, including the removal of a sequence featuring Madame Kovarian. The episode was originally given the title of "What Are Little Boys Made Of?"
on 3 September 2011. The episode achieved an overnight figure of 5.5 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched programme for the day. Final consolidated figures showed picked up 1.6 million timeshifted viewers, bringing the total up to 7.07 million viewers. It received an Appreciation Index
of 86, considered "excellent".
commented that the episode was an improvement on Gatiss' previous two episodes ("The Idiot's Lantern
" and "Victory of the Daleks"). He complimented it overall as "a classy, creepy episode of retro Doctor Who" in comparison to "Let's Kill Hitler
", though he saw its plot as over-similar to "The Empty Child
" and other episodes written by Steven Moffat. Martin later rated it the tenth best episode of the series, though the finale
was not included in the list. Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph
praised the dolls for "stealing the show", as well as the concept of the doll's house.
IGN
's Matt Risley rated the episode 8 out of 10, praising Gatiss's script which "moved the drama and horror straight into the miniaturised heart of a rickety creepy dolls house, with a set of villains that - while never as memorable or scary as their look may suggest - used sound design to its most effective". He said that the main story "soared", though the sidelined Amy and Rory left "little impact" in relation to the Doctor, George, and Alex. Russell Lewin of SFX gave "Night Terrors" three and a half out of five stars, saying that it had "many great things going for it but perhaps hasn't quite got that little extra something that would have turned it into a classic" and that nothing seemed especially unexpected. However, he praised the shots of the doll house and apartment buildings, the sound, dolls, the acting of Matt Smith and Daniel Mays, and the idea of George being alien who created the reality.
Blair Marnell of Crave Online noted that "Night Terrors" was reminiscent of the second series
episode "Fear Her
", but said that this episode "fared a little bit better because it didn't rely on Jamie Oram's George to be anything more than a scared little boy". She also praised Matt Smith's performance and Arthur Darvill's Rory, who was "quickly becoming one of the funniest companions of the new Doctor Who", though she commented that Amy's transformation into a doll was "kind of glossed over within the story itself" and "there was never any doubt that it would be reversed". Overall, the episode was given a 7 out of 10 rating. Assignment X reviewer Arnold T Blumberg gave "Night Terrors" a grade of B-, praising the concept of the dolls and the performances by Daniel Mays and Jamie Oram. He said that overall it "may not be too memorable and not likely to make anyone’s favorites list, but it’s filled with enough inventive imagery and decent chills to pass the hour in an entertaining fashion".
Sam McPherson, writing for Zap2it
, called "Night Terrors" the "worst episode of series 6 so far" that was an "incoherent mess of an episode that was utterly unenjoyable" and gave it an overall grade of a C+. He criticised the idea to follow up a story arc-heavy episode with a standalone one, as he felt it "served as a speed bump for the forward momentum started in "A Good Man Goes to War
" and continued through "Let's Kill Hitler". He thought that its "biggest flaw" was that George was sidelined in favour of Alex, which missed an opportunity to make it a story "about little boys overcoming fear and fighting off the monsters in their closets". However, he did praise dialogue delivered by Smith and Darvill.
Because the episode was originally planned to be in the first half of the series, many of the reviewers mentioned that it was strange that Amy and Rory did not comment upon what had happened previously, such as what had happened to their child
. McPherson noted the "tacked-on" nursery rhyme was included, though he thought it was "unintelligible" and did not count.
Doctor Who (series 6)
The sixth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who was shown in two parts. The first seven episodes were broadcast from April to June 2011 and the final six episodes from August to October. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill continued their roles as The Doctor, Amy...
of the British science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, and was first broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
and BBC America
BBC America
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite.-History:The channel launched on March 29, 1998, broadcasting comedy, drama and lifestyle programs from BBC Television and other British television broadcasters like ITV and...
on 3 September 2011.
Synopsis
The Doctor decides to make a "house call" after his psychic paper receives a message from George, a frightened 8-year-old child, asking his help in getting rid of the monsters in his bedroom. On arrival at a council estate on present-day Earth, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory split up to try to locate the child. The Doctor, taking the guise of a social services worker, finds the right flat, and meets George's father, Alex, while his mother Claire is working a night shift. Through Alex's photo album, the Doctor learns that George has been frightened all his life, fearing many of the sounds and people around the flat and is helped to cope by various habits, including metaphorically placing his fears within his wardrobe.Meanwhile, Amy and Rory, while taking the lift down, suddenly find themselves in what appears to be an eighteenth-century house, but shortly discover most of the furnishings are wooden props. Other residents of the estate appear in the house, but are caught by life-sized peg dolls
Peg wooden doll
Peg wooden dolls also known as Dutch dolls is a type of wooden doll from Germany and the Netherlands. They originated as simple lathe turned dolls from the Val Gardena in the Alps. These dolls were sold undressed...
that laugh and sing like children, and transform the residents into more dolls. Amy and Rory witness one transformation and try to flee, but Amy is caught and becomes a doll herself, joining the others in chasing Rory.
The Doctor, suspecting that the wardrobe is containing the evil that George fears, opens it to find its contents are simply clothes and toys, including a doll house. The Doctor suddenly recalls from Alex's photo album that Claire did not appear pregnant in the weeks leading up to George's supposed birth, causing Alex to remember the fact that Claire was unable to have children. The Doctor asserts that George is a Tenza child, an empathic alien who took on the form of Alex and Claire's desired child through a perception filter, and has the ability to literally lock away his fears within the wardrobe. George begins to panic from this revelation and the Doctor and Alex are pulled into the wardrobe, joining Rory in the dollhouse. As the dolls descend on the three, the Doctor calls out to George to face his fears; George is able to open the wardrobe and appears in the dollhouse, but the dolls turn to advance on him. The Doctor realises that George is still frightened that Alex and Claire plan to send him away, having mistakenly interpreted a conversation they had earlier that night; Alex rushes through the dolls to embrace George as his son. They all soon find themselves back at the estate, restored to normal. Claire returns the next morning to find George no longer scared while Alex and the Doctor make him breakfast. After being thanked, the Doctor rejoins his companions to set off for their next adventure.
Continuity
The Doctor refers to "Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday", "The Three Little Sontarans" and "The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes" as being among his childhood nursery stories, referencing the 1974 stage play Seven Keys to DoomsdayDoctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday
Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday was a stage play based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The play ran at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England for four weeks, beginning on 16 December 1974...
and the Sontaran
Sontaran
The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
s and the Emperor Dalek, two of the series' recurring monsters. He also repeats his predilection for tea and Jammie Dodgers
Jammie Dodgers
Jammie Dodgers are a popular British biscuit, made from shortbread and plum jam. They are produced by Burton's Foods at its factory in Cwmbran.-Varieties:According to the Burton's Foods web site, Jammie Dodgers are made in the following varieties:...
from another Gatiss-written episode, "Victory of the Daleks
Victory of the Daleks
"Victory of the Daleks" is the third episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is written by Mark Gatiss and first broadcast on BBC One on 17 April 2010....
". He expresses his irritation that his sonic screwdriver still does not have "a setting for wood," a criticism also made by Rory in "The Hungry Earth
The Hungry Earth
"The Hungry Earth" is the eighth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 22 May 2010 on BBC One. It was written by Chris Chibnall, who had previously written for Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood...
" and "The Curse of the Black Spot
The Curse of the Black Spot
"The Curse of the Black Spot" is the third episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by Stephen Thompson, and directed by Jeremy Webb, the episode was first broadcast on 7 May 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the...
" and by Donna Noble
Donna Noble
Donna Noble is a fictional character played by Catherine Tate in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A secretary from Chiswick, London, she is a companion of the Tenth Doctor, appearing in one scene at the end of the final episode of the 2006 series,...
in "Silence in the Library
Silence in the Library
"Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by "Forest of the Dead", and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to...
".
Rory states "we're dead again" after dropping down the lift shaft, referring to his previous deaths in "Amy's Choice
Amy's Choice (Doctor Who)
"Amy's Choice" is the seventh episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 15 May 2010...
", "Cold Blood
Cold Blood (Doctor Who)
"Cold Blood" is the ninth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was broadcast on Saturday 29 May 2010...
", and in "The Doctor's Wife
The Doctor's Wife
The Doctor's Wife, known in Japanese as , is a noted novel by Sawako Ariyoshi written in 1966.The partly historical novel is based on the life of noted male physician Hanaoka Seishū. Though much is based on fact, many events were added for dramatic purposes. The novel follows the protagonist, here...
", and Amy's in "The Pandorica Opens
The Pandorica Opens
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that...
". The episode's final shot continues the story arc for the second half of the series, showing the Teselecta file on the Doctor's date of death from "Let's Kill Hitler
Let's Kill Hitler
"Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story, continuing stories from "A Good Man Goes to War"...
".
'
Production
Mark GatissMark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
told Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
that he had always been scared of dolls, and was surprised that Doctor Who had never used them before. He was especially interested in peg dolls
Peg wooden dolls
Peg wooden dolls also known as Dutch dolls is a type of wooden doll from Germany and the Netherlands. They originated as simple lathe turned dolls from the Val Gardena in the Alps. These dolls were sold undressed...
, which he said were "the stuff of proper nightmares". In order to achieve a greater variety of stories in the first half of series 6 "Night Terrors" was moved to the second block of episodes, having been filmed as episode four. This necessitated minor changes to the episode, including the removal of a sequence featuring Madame Kovarian. The episode was originally given the title of "What Are Little Boys Made Of?"
Broadcast and reception
"Night Terrors" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 3 September 2011. The episode achieved an overnight figure of 5.5 million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched programme for the day. Final consolidated figures showed picked up 1.6 million timeshifted viewers, bringing the total up to 7.07 million viewers. It received an Appreciation Index
Appreciation Index
The Audience Appreciation Index is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television...
of 86, considered "excellent".
Critical reception
Reception to the episode has been generally positive to mixed. Dan Martin of the GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
commented that the episode was an improvement on Gatiss' previous two episodes ("The Idiot's Lantern
The Idiot's Lantern
"The Idiot's Lantern" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 27 May 2006.-Plot:...
" and "Victory of the Daleks"). He complimented it overall as "a classy, creepy episode of retro Doctor Who" in comparison to "Let's Kill Hitler
Let's Kill Hitler
"Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story, continuing stories from "A Good Man Goes to War"...
", though he saw its plot as over-similar to "The Empty Child
The Empty Child
"The Empty Child" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 21 May 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, "The Doctor Dances", was broadcast on 28 May...
" and other episodes written by Steven Moffat. Martin later rated it the tenth best episode of the series, though the finale
The Wedding of River Song
"The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 1 October 2011.-Plot:...
was not included in the list. Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
praised the dolls for "stealing the show", as well as the concept of the doll's house.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Matt Risley rated the episode 8 out of 10, praising Gatiss's script which "moved the drama and horror straight into the miniaturised heart of a rickety creepy dolls house, with a set of villains that - while never as memorable or scary as their look may suggest - used sound design to its most effective". He said that the main story "soared", though the sidelined Amy and Rory left "little impact" in relation to the Doctor, George, and Alex. Russell Lewin of SFX gave "Night Terrors" three and a half out of five stars, saying that it had "many great things going for it but perhaps hasn't quite got that little extra something that would have turned it into a classic" and that nothing seemed especially unexpected. However, he praised the shots of the doll house and apartment buildings, the sound, dolls, the acting of Matt Smith and Daniel Mays, and the idea of George being alien who created the reality.
Blair Marnell of Crave Online noted that "Night Terrors" was reminiscent of the second series
Doctor Who (series 2)
The second series of British science fiction series Doctor Who began on 25 December 2005 with the Christmas special "The Christmas Invasion". Following the special, a regular series of thirteen episodes was broadcast, starting with "New Earth" on 15 April 2006...
episode "Fear Her
Fear Her
"Fear Her" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 24 June 2006.The episode takes part on the day of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, almost exclusively on a fictitious cul-de-sac named after the British athlete...
", but said that this episode "fared a little bit better because it didn't rely on Jamie Oram's George to be anything more than a scared little boy". She also praised Matt Smith's performance and Arthur Darvill's Rory, who was "quickly becoming one of the funniest companions of the new Doctor Who", though she commented that Amy's transformation into a doll was "kind of glossed over within the story itself" and "there was never any doubt that it would be reversed". Overall, the episode was given a 7 out of 10 rating. Assignment X reviewer Arnold T Blumberg gave "Night Terrors" a grade of B-, praising the concept of the dolls and the performances by Daniel Mays and Jamie Oram. He said that overall it "may not be too memorable and not likely to make anyone’s favorites list, but it’s filled with enough inventive imagery and decent chills to pass the hour in an entertaining fashion".
Sam McPherson, writing for Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
, called "Night Terrors" the "worst episode of series 6 so far" that was an "incoherent mess of an episode that was utterly unenjoyable" and gave it an overall grade of a C+. He criticised the idea to follow up a story arc-heavy episode with a standalone one, as he felt it "served as a speed bump for the forward momentum started in "A Good Man Goes to War
A Good Man Goes to War
"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011...
" and continued through "Let's Kill Hitler". He thought that its "biggest flaw" was that George was sidelined in favour of Alex, which missed an opportunity to make it a story "about little boys overcoming fear and fighting off the monsters in their closets". However, he did praise dialogue delivered by Smith and Darvill.
Because the episode was originally planned to be in the first half of the series, many of the reviewers mentioned that it was strange that Amy and Rory did not comment upon what had happened previously, such as what had happened to their child
River Song (Doctor Who)
River Song is a fictional character played primarily by Alex Kingston in the British science-fiction series Doctor Who. River Song was introduced to the series as an experienced future companion of series protagonist the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time in his TARDIS...
. McPherson noted the "tacked-on" nursery rhyme was included, though he thought it was "unintelligible" and did not count.