Doctor Who - Night Terrors

First up, let me say this - there is nothing wrong with Night Terrors. Had I seen this as a kid, I would have loved it. I'd have wanted to watch it over and over again because it does have some striking images and, crucially, it is also very creepy in places. But the adult in me - the jaded critic who has somehow wound up writing Doctor Who for free each week (if anyone wants to pay me to do this, please feel free) can't help but think that Night Terrors was an entertaining way to spend 45 minutes but nothing more.

Part of the problem was it is incredibly derivative. It combines elements of Ghostwatch with Sapphire and Steel. It also robs the rich heritage of Doctor Who a lot as well. The whole thing - especially the human/doll transformation and the parent needs to love child resolution - is pretty much The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances rewritten once again. The dolls house thing has been done before as part of the Hornet's Nest series, and the music was very reminiscent of the creepy girl theme from Remembrance of the Daleks. Yeah, it is becoming increasingly difficult to write original Who, and if you are going to rob, rob from the best. But if you want to create something genuinely iconic, you need to come up with something more than a greatest hits package.

Then there's Daniel Mays. I don't know why so many people rate him as an actor. To me, he's not very convincing. And here that is brought into sharp relief by the fact that he is acting opposite Matt Smith, who is in his element once again as the Time Lord. The problem is that Smith - playing a young/old wise yet silly alien - comes across as far more convincing than Mays - who is playing a human father. Plus Mays is surely the very a much more deserving recipient of Amy's frequent jibe to Rory - he really does have a stupid face.

Speaking of Amy and Rory, way to write them out of the episode. They spent pretty much the whole time exploring a house. In the dark. Yeah, it is all very atmospheric and threatening, but they did nothing to drive the story forward and nothing to resolve it. They were basically given busy work to do. Plus, as soon as Amy was converted into a doll, the threat of such a conversion was neutralised. We instantly knew that the conversion would be reversed.

Which leads me to another gripe - why is it becoming increasingly the norm to have Doctor Who stories where no-one dies? The reason why it was so effective at the end of The Doctor Dances is because it was the exception, not the rule. The problem with a lack of death, though, is that it makes everything less threatening. The doll conversion is a classic example - why not have the greasy, odious landlord permenantly converted into a little wooden doll? That is both a fitting fate and a memorable one. And please don't tell me that it is because this is a family show - just go watch Earthshock or Revelation of the Daleks and look at the body count there.

I know, I know, it sounds like I am just whining and sniping at something that, while not perfect, is still the best thing on TV. And I'd like to stress again that there is Night Terrors isn't a clunker, and is a perfectly acceptable outing for the nation's favourite Time Lord. But it could have been a story for any Doctor at any point in the show's history. It is Doctor Who by the numbers. And coming after the iconoclastic and utterly mad Let's Kill Hitler, it can't help but end up being a little bit nondescript. It's fine, but as a hyper-critical adult, it's nothing more than that.