Sleep No More

[dbskyler]

I really liked the joke about the bad choice of name for the Silurians. Other than that, this was possibly the worst episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen. I got so bored during it, I actually started surfing the internet while I was waiting for it to be over. Worse yet, I seriously considered just turning it off. I think the only thing that stopped me was a forlorn hope that there would be something redeeming at the end. Instead we got that ridiculous "monsters are coming for you NOW" ending. Since I'd been laughing at the "monsters" since around 48 minutes previously, I don't think it had the effect that Gatiss was going for.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I've *never* rated Gatiss as either a writer or an actor, TBH, so I didn't have high hopes for this episode going in.

The fact that it was filmed exclusively in low lighting just pissed me off from the outset - what the hell's the point of making it so bloody dark that you can't see the action? I mean, I literally had the brightness on my computer turned all the way up, and I still couldn't see what was happening at times.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

The filming was horrible. And from what I can gather, it was also the point of the whole episode. Gatiss got this idea to do a Blair Witch Project approach to Doctor Who, and built an episode around "found footage." It's a classic example of style over substance, like those movies that care more about how many explosions they can fit in than the actual plot.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The episode was at least 25 minutes too long in that style. I found I didn't care about the characters because (a) I could barely tell one from the other since they were pretty much pale blurs of faces in the darkness, and (b) they were one dimensional anyway.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Yes and yes. I couldn't tell them apart either because of the dark filming and because they were all dressed the same, with helmets that cast shadows on their faces. But I really didn't care that I couldn't tell them apart because there was no need to tell them apart as they were all basically interchangeable.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they were obviously all going to die. Which was not the impression I got with the last "base under siege" story... Which also made me care about the characters.

[clocketpatch]

On the one hand, the plot made no sense, the lighting was TERRIBLE, and I couldn't tell half of the characters apart

On the other hand, I liked how ridiculous and vulnerable Twelve and Clara were in this format without dramatic music and quick editing to highlight their speeches and actions.

So while I'm not certain I liked it overall, I did like the insight it gave on how the Doctor is seen by regular people without the dramatic trappings the make up a regular episode.

(I don't know if I count this as an actual episode at all because of the format and lack of the title-sequence. More of a weird, episode-length extra.)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the show experimenting with format, but making that more important than the actual story being told is a recipe for disaster -- as this episode proved.

[arcanetrivia]

I don't mind the found footage idea as such, but the result didn't do it for me. Likewise, I think the idea of a machine that compresses sleep into tiny amounts so you can be awake to work work work for more profit, yet its actual purpose is even more bleak and sinister than that, is interesting, but I was really let down. I found the monsters just weird and ugly and not at all actually scary. The future setting with, what was it, Indo-Japanese fusion and a few sprinkles of possible cultural flavor on that (like their repeated greeting phrase) was kind of neat, but it was just... sorta there. I was basically just narratively lost 85% of the time and long story short, I was really disappointed. It reminded me of how I felt almost totally unengaged with all of series 8.

(Apparently Gatiss is going to do a sequel? say it ain't so!)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I heard they were talking about a sequel, but I really hope they reexamine that in light of the reception this one got. Unless there are people who loved it in some corner of fandom? If so, I haven't come across them.