Busy with press tour, so I'll be brief, but spoilers for "Doctor Who" coming up just as soon as I repeat myself...When I saw the preview for "Midnight," and then saw that Russell T. Davies himself had written it, I assumed it would be a continuation of the disaster movie fetish he showed off in "Voyage of the Damned," or maybe some idea he originally had for "Voyage" before taking the Christmas movie off in a different direction. And though "Midnight" starts off in a similar vein -- The Doctor trapped on a badly-damaged pleasure craft with a group of colorful strangers -- it quickly veers off in a different, and much more interesting, direction.
I've been more scared by other "Doctor Who" episodes ("Blink," to name one), but I've rarely been as disturbed as I was by this one. It's a straight-up horror story, less creepy because of the monster than because of the effect she/it has on the other passengers. In some ways, the building paranoia and infighting reminded me of "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street," one of the best "Twilight Zone" episodes ever; there's a genuine alien threat present, but the bigger threat is what it makes the humans do.
What's interesting is the way this episode seems to take place in the future and yet in a part of the universe where humans haven't had much exposure to aliens. The characters were much more xenophobic than I'm used to seeing in The Doctor's travels.)
As always, we are going to respect the American broadcast order, which means no talk, however vague, about the season's final three episodes. Any comment that discusses episodes that have yet to air here will be deleted.
What did everybody else think?
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