Best of Doctor Who (scene from Midnight)

COPYRIGHT: BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_10

I've just recently got into the Doctor: as a fan of Lost, Battlestar Galactica and the good stuff from Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits & X-Files I would put the best Doctor Who can offer right up there with them.

There's a lot of dross tho', I've watched over 30 Who stories so far (New-Who), and only a third are worth watching. The rest is contrived, derivative, overblown cheese (which, to be fair, the wider & younger demographic probably enjoy).

Fortunately, the current Doctor (Matt Smith) and head writer (Steven Moffat) are consistently very good.

David Tennant, the previous Doctor, was never better than in this one-off tale. It's an age-old sci-fi premise - shuttlebus stops dead on a hostile planet and there might be a monster outside - but the drama unfolding is a masterclass, it's intensely gripping.

Massive props to the support cast, most notably Lesley Sharp as the repeating entity.

The episode Midnight reminds us that plot and effects are not the most important drivers of good TV fiction: rather it's dialogue, acting, production and direction. Compare how well the music works in this episode to the intrusively overloud and over-emotional orchestra we get in most 'epic' Who storylines.

Enjoy.

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[YaHuWaHservant]

This in my opinion is one of the best episodes Doctor Who has ever produced. Every Doctor is amazing, but we all know that certain Doctor's really shine either when they have the upper hand in a situation, when they are about to die, or when they simply have no way out. David's Doctor is the one that always shined best when put in a tough spot. Here we literally have the Doctor in a situation to which he cannot escape and it is his own need to help the woman that put him there. Thumbs up!

[dhollseed]

@YaHuWaHservant yes, agreed. Tennant does the darkness really well. Like in Waters of Mars and 42. I didn't like him when he was being all zany and 'funny'...Matt Smith is far funnier.

[Willandacamera]

Forget The Empty Child and the Weeping Angles. This episode freaked me out more than anything else in this show. Love it.

[Samuel24842]

The thing that scared me most about this episode wasn't the alien copying and taking control of the Doctor, it's the people who without his help or knowledge tried to kill him because they got too scared and were actually capable of killing him when he couldn't control his own body. This episode was so tense

[bookworm9009]

OHHHH GOD!! Right when he tries to help whatever it was.

ANd what always got me is you can see him trying to fight...and he can do nothing..GAH!

[silarnon]

That moment when she begins to precede him... I get chills down my spine every time.

[Shmeckeldorf]

Apparently we've actually found a planet made of diamond! Used to be the carbon core of a star, now it's a planet. I opt that we name it Midnight.

[Stellana]

There was so much hype for Blink and Silence in the Library and all the other "terrifying omg" episode that when I saw them I didn't see what the big deal was. They were good, but I think every episode of DW is good in it's own right so it was a bit underwhelming. I'd never heard anyone talk about this episode, but dear God, WHY NOT? This was the most terrifying thing I've seen on DW. Not to mention perfectly acted! Midnight just blew me away.

[zxpwn360xz]

Merlin!

[Wterri1]

This and "The Unicorn and the Wasp" are my two favourite episodes ever! :D

[FerretJohn]

Interesting trivia: Professor Hobbes (the heavyset balding guy with the glasses) is David Troughton, the son of the 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton

[dknights411]

This has to be the scariest scene in Doctor Who history. Hell even the Weeping Angels would piss their pants here!

[uszoninyc]

So very hard - what both Tennant and Lesley Sharp did, with this scene, and, the earlier bit, when they're face-to-face. I think this is such a terrific nail-biter, and, it is one of my faves as well.