These reviews are based on the UK broadcast of the series, which is several episodes ahead of the US broadcast, so beware of spoilers.
SUMMARY:
The Doctor and Donna are taking a vacation on the planet Midnight, a glittering jewel of a world. Midnight also has it's lethal side: there is no atmosphere, and it orbits close enough to its sun that the Xtonic radiation vaporizes any life walking on the surface unprotected. While Donna opts to stay at the spa and lounge around the pool, the Doctor takes a bus tour out to the Sapphire Falls.
As the Doctor settles in for the four-hour ride, he observes the other passengers: Val and Biff Cane and their teenage son, Jethro; Professor Hobbes and his assistant Dee Dee, there to study the planet; and businesswoman Sky Silvestry. The Hostess passes out all the complementary knick-knacks and leaves a music channel, a film of classic cartoons, and an artistic display of strobe lights on. Disturbed by the tacky entertainment, the Doctor disables all of it with his sonic screwdriver, and suggests everyone talk and actually get to know each other during the trip. Val and Biff tell vacation stories, Professor Hobbes shows his research slides, and the Doctor talks with Dee Dee and Sky.
The transport comes to a halt, and the Doctor flashes his psychic paper, saying he's an engineer, to enter the crew cabin. Driver Joe and mechanic Claude tell him all the systems are operating normally, but the bus has mysteriously stopped and won't move; the bus has also taken an alternate route mapped out by the computer, a path that no one has ever traveled before. They take a brief look at the Falls, but as they lower the radiation shields, Cluade thinks he sees something, a dark shape, moving out on the landscape, heading toward the bus.
Back out with the rest of the passengers, the Doctor tries to keep them calm by repeating the lie that the engines just need stabilizing, but Dee Dee doesn't buy the explaination because her father was a mechanic and she knows the engines on the bus aren't the kind to need "stabilizing". Professor Hobbes is concerned about the air supply, which starts a panic about running out of air. The Doctor gets everyone quiet to let Dee Dee explain that the circulator could give them ten year of air.
A series of loud knocks resound against the side of the bus. It sounds as if something is outside, but Hobbes continues to explain that nothing could exist in the Xtonic radiation. The knocking moves around the bus, from the side to the rear hatch, then to the roof, then to the side entrance. Biff tests the solidity of the door by knocking on it three times, and the knocking outside responds, shifting from two knocks to three. The Doctor knocks four times, and the knocking repeats him. Sky begins to panic, convinced that whatever is outside is coming for her. She backs up toward the cabim as the knocking follows her. A dent is pounded into the side of the bus as the entire transport is tossed around violently, cutting off the power. Rose appears on one of the overhead screens, calling out to the Doctor, but his back is turned.
There seems to be no damage aside from the dent, but the seats up front where Sky is cowering have been ripped up. The Hostess is unable to contact the crew, and when she opens the cabin door there is nothing but the open air and the blinding sunlight. The cabin has been torn away, killing the driver and the mechanic. The Doctor checks on Sky, who is still curled in the corner; when she finally turns around, she stares at the others with cold, malevolent eyes.
Sky begins to repeat everyone, driving them into another panic before the lights come back on. After a pause, Sky then talks in perfect unison with the passengers. The Doctor theorizes that something got into the bus and has taken over Sky, using her to learn: first it repeats, then catches up. The Doctor ushers everyone to the back of the bus, keeping them away from Sky in case whatever is in her could move into them.
The Hostess suggests they throw Sky out of the bus, but the Doctor tries to convince them not to become murderers; Sky may still be alive, and they should help her rather than harm her. The passengers' suspicions begin to shift to the Doctor; he won't tell them his name, and all his attempts to make them see reason come across as arrogant and sympathetic to the force possessing Sky. They even suggest throwing him out as well.
Jethro notices that Sky has stopped speaking in unison with everyone except the Doctor. He tries to communicate with the alien force, saying he can help it if it leaves everyone else alone, but then it jumps ahead and says what he was about to before he does. Now the Doctor is repeating what Sky says, and to the others it appears as if the alien has jumped into the Doctor. Biff, Jethro, and Hobbes drag the Doctor to the exit, intent on throwing him out, as Sky goads them on. Only Dee Dee and the Hostess realize that this is the force's final stage; it hasn't jumped to the Doctor, it's stolen his words. When Sky speaks a couple of phrases the Doctor had used earlier, the Hostess grabs her and pulls her to the cabin door. She opens it, and both are sucked out onto the surface.
Later, as everyone recovers and the rescue transport arrives, the Doctor asks if anyone knew the Hostess' name, but no one did. Back at the resort, he tells Donna what happened, and she comforts him.
REVIEW:
As Franklin Roosevelt famously said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." In Doctor Who, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the Doctor is fighting a well defined enemy, something he can see or easily identify, some alien monster that falls under the comforting notion of "Us vs. Them". But what if that notion turns on him? What if he's trapped with a group of frightened people, who become "Us" and label him as "Them"?
This episode plays on an entirely different level of human fear, one born of our inner darkness and pack nature. That nature refuses to listen to the voice of reason, prefering the quickest, dirtiest way to preserve our life. It is painful to watch the Doctor's pleas fall on deaf ears, as the panic and desperation overtakes the passengers and they turn on him. The force itself is unknown: nothing is revealed about it's origins or nature, about what it is and why it needs to learn by copying and then stealing the words of others. It certainly seems to be malevolent, feeding the paranoia so that the passengers will kill the Doctor, the only person capable of stopping it. Beyond this, its true motives remain unclear, and in the end it is the humans who are the real monsters of the story. It is very, very rare for the series to attempt this kind of psychological horror, and it does so perfectly. It relies entirely on the dialogue rather than CGI or other effects, and the dialogue succeeds at continually building the tension.
The key to making this episode work is the absence of Donna. Without anyone to vouch for the Doctor, to back him up, he comes across as arrogant and suspicious to these strangers. Would Donna's presence have helped? Perhaps, perhaps not, but this highlights the danger the Doctor faces when traveling alone. He may say he prefers to be on his own, but the fact is that he needs that backup provided by another, not only for emotional support, but also to help keep him alive.
The idea of having Sky repeat everyone does have its annoying side, and it begins to wear on the nerves rather fast, although that is the point. Imagine being one of those passengers, trapped in a confined space on a hostile planet, fearing for your life, and having this woman repeat everything you and everyone else says; it would drive anyone mad. In a way, this allows the audience to connect with the characters on an emotional level. We are feeling the same frustration they are.
For fans of the classic series, this episode offers up a small treat in the casting. Professor Hobbes is played by David Troughton, son of Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton. Fans will also remember him as the young King Peladon from the Jon Pertwee serial The Curse Of Peladon.
BUILDING THE STORY ARC:
- Rose is seen again, trying to contact the Doctor. And from the trailer for next week's episode, we know she will finally return in the flesh.
- The Medusa cascade is mentioned again. This has cropped up repeatedly in dialogue since the 3rd season episode The Sound Of Drums.
REACTION:
This was a whole lot scarier than I expected it to be.
With the knocking on the outside of the bus, I thought it would be the Doctor Who equivalent of those campfire stories about hook-handed murderers stalking kids on a school trip. What we were given was even more frightening.
I appreciate psychological horror, and I am scared by the dark depths to which ordinary people can bring themselves to if they are scared, or indifferent, or callous, or what have you. I wasn't kidding in the review when I stressed how rare this is in the series. Even though I know there's more episodes to come, I was genuinely frightened when the passengers turned on the Doctor and almost killed him, especially when he was trying to help them all enjoy the trip in the beginning.
I will admit my own annoyance with the repetition idea, but when it ended and the unison began, it entered into the meat of the story.
I'm sure they filmed this episode in the way that they did partly for budget reasons, since it only requires one set for the majority of the story and very little CGI (reserved for the planet's surface). But the way Russell constructed the script is captivating: it makes sense to marry the idea of a dialogue-driven script to an alien force that learns, evolves, and grows more powerful by copying and stealing people's words. I'm still amazed that he can make such a horrible mess with stores like Aliens Of London / World War Three (DAMN FARTING ALIENS!), but then come up with glittering jems like this.
I was physically drained by the end of this episode. It's brilliant, but one I wouldn't watch too often because I find it quite disturbing. A very claustrophobic and intense story.
