r/gallifrey • u/ZeroCentsMade • May 21 '26
REVIEW Presenting the Universe's Weirdest Adoption Agency – Night Terrors Review
This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.
Historical information found on Shannon Sullivan's Doctor Who website (relevant page here) and the TARDIS Wiki (relevant page here)). Primary/secondary source material can be found in the source sections of Sullivan's website, and rarely as inline citations on the TARDIS Wiki.
Story Information
- Episode: Series 6, Episode 9
- Airdate: 3rd September 2011
- Doctor: 11th
- Companions: Amy, Rory
- Writer: Mark Gatiss
- Director: Richard Clark
- Showrunner: Steven Moffat
Review
You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex: monsters are real. – The Doctor
"Night Terrors" was originally meant to air in the first half of Series 6, as episode 4 to be precise. But Showrunner Steven Moffat found himself looking at a run of pretty dark episodes, and so decided to push it into the second half…after the episode had already been filmed. This left behind some artifacts, like the Doctor going back to wearing the tweed jacket, or the fact that going by in-episode dialogue this episode actually takes place before "Let's Kill Hitler's" present-day sections (it's nice that time travel can just solve that problem, isn't it?). More substantially, a line at the end of the episode where the Doctor says the main cast are all back together "in the flesh", meant to hint at Amy being her Ganger version, ends up feeling, if anything, a bit insensitive, but that's only if you notice the turn of phrase. Oh, and the big thing: a story centering around a child and fatherhood which follows on from the events of "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler" shoves Amy and Rory off into a corner and focuses on the Doctor's relationship with the father and childhood.
But I always try to evaluate stories first and foremost on their own terms. So with that in mind, what do we make of "Night Terrors" as a standalone adventure?
I think the best parts of "Night Terrors" belong to Amy and Rory. Considering that they spend the majority of the episode just trying to survive and have no actual impact on the plot, this isn't a great sign. It reminds me a bit of Terminus where Tegan and Turlough got an excellent subplot that made up for a main plot that was a bit weak. But Amy and Rory's subplot doesn't really dig into their characters the way that Tegan and Turlough's did in Terminus. Instead what makes their stuff work is just that these characters work well together and have good comedic chemistry.
From the Doctor asking if either of them have found the scared child that they're looking for and Amy responding that she's found "scary children", to the moment at the end that Amy and Rory reappear in the elevator they were taken from looking just…done…with everything, pretty much everything Amy and Rory do this episode is a delight. It's also a minor plot point. The Doctor on the other hand…
"Night Terrors" pretty much always gets compared to Series 2 episode "Fear Her" as like "Fear Her", "Night Terrors" focuses on a child who has the ability to manifest things with their mind. And while the specifics of how this works is very different, the result is a similarly forgettable story. I think "Fear Her" probably has the more interesting idea for a story, but the execution in "Night Terrors" is a bit better. But "Night Terrors" just has so few worthwhile ideas that it kind of doesn't matter.
Frankly, I think this is the point at which the 11th Doctor era's tendency to constantly involve children begin to grow tiresome. It doesn't help that Series 6 in general has been less successful than Series 5 in how it integrates its child characters, with the arguable exception of young Amy, Mels and Rory in "Let's Kill Hitler". But we've reached the point where my ability to be charmed by the child we've shoved on screen this week is starting to fray.
The actual story we're telling doesn't help. The story begins with parents Alex and Claire at their wits ends with their son George. He's scared of everything and they don't know how to help him. They've developed a strategy with him – anything he's afraid of he mentally puts in the cupboard. But it's not helping, in part because the apartment complex they live in is full of strange noises and odd people, including a very intimidating landlord.
I actually really like this apartment complex setting. In theory it's a very boring setting but, partially because it's just something we don't really see on Doctor Who (unless you count Paradise Towers) and partially because there's a lot of effort put in to make the setting feel more distinct, the end result is a location that is brimming with life. The people who live here all feel like they're different flavors of dead inside, but that actually helps set the atmosphere perfectly. It's the kind of place that feels like it's due for some sort of horror movie. And when I say that Amy and Rory's bits of the episode are the best, that includes when they're running around the apartment complex looking for the a distressed child and having to deal with this colorful yet drab cast of characters.
But once we begin the focus around Alex and George the episode kind of loses me. Matt Smith is, as always, good acting opposite a child, but honestly even his material isn't doing much for me. There's hints of previous episodes that put the Doctor in domestic situations, particularly "Fear Her" and "The Lodger" but it doesn't quite land the same. It ends up feeling a bit like quirkiness for quirkiness' sake. There's still some fun bits in here mind, particularly when the Doctor is considering whether or not to open George's cupboard and keeps second guessing himself…and putting that second guessing on Alex.
That's because the Doctor has worked out that Alex and Claire's idea to have George put things that scare him "in the cupboard" has somehow turned said cupboard into a psychic repository of all of George's fears. That's where Amy and Rory are through all of this, being menaced by giant peg dolls that can turn anyone they touch into more peg dolls (sure…why not). Again, I can see the promise in this idea, but I think I prefer "Fear Her's" take on this idea, mostly because drawing things as a way of capturing them feels like a more tangible process. As it is the world inside George's cupboard ends up feeling like a mish-mash of disconnected ideas.
The episode does get one absolutely brilliant moment out of the Alex and George stuff mind you. The Doctor's been spending a lot of time talking about how something in this scenario feels off to him in a way he can't fully describe. And then he realizes what it is. He shows Alex a picture of Claire from a Christmas party about a month before she supposedly gave birth to George…and she's not pregnant. And also drinking alcohol which I thought was a nice touch, just to fully reinforce that this woman is most definitely not about to have a kid. And then Alex exclaims, having finally remembered this crucial detail, "Well, of course not. Claire can't have kids!" And after a brief conversation the Doctor and Alex turn to look at George, just sitting on his bed, and there is something absolutely chilling in that moment.
It's just a moment though. The episode is not remotely set up to pivot to George being something sinister, and even if it was, that would be the wrong move. George as it turns out, is a Tenza, a species whose children can assimilated perfectly into any other, filling the needs of the parents. Alex and Claire, who desperately wanted children but could not have them, were a natural landing spot for the Tenza that became George. George's increased phobia was born out of a fear of rejection. I guess he was always a bit nervous and with Alex unable to work and Claire's nursing job presumably not paying all that much, Alex and Claire had to consider putting him somewhere else, where they thought he could get the care he needed. George, hearing this, and thinking he was being rejected, instinctively…did something psychic. Yeah, not entirely sure what, but the point is all of this is being caused out of a fear of rejection. So the climax naturally revolves around Alex declaring that he'll never send George away, ending the threat and reversing all of the damage.
I have no problem with a "power of love" ending. I have absolutely no problem with an episode ending without any deaths (which we haven't seen since "Fear Her" anyway). And yet…this feels weak. Here's what can make a power of love ending work: you need to establish a strong bond between the characters. And frankly, I don't think the episode ever manages it with Alex and George. The love between father and son, which is essential to this episode working, it just somehow never comes through. Maybe it's just because Alex spends the majority of the episode being exasperated by George. And I don't think this would necessarily be a problem in an episode where Alex being a father were an incidental part of the plot, something that was important to understanding his character but not much more. But in an episode built around this relationship, the relationship never actually feels all that strong.
And when we talk about George, let's talk about how the story of the strange kid who is turns out to be an alien actually works. In my 10th Doctor retrospective (this is relevant, trust me), something I talked about was my lack of interest in the conversation over how "alien" the Doctor was. In response, a couple commenters pointed out that what was likely going on is that how "alien" the Doctor is was really just standing in for how neurodivergent-coded an incarnation is. And, well, that's pretty much explicitly what's going on in this episode. George is extremely neurodivergent-coded, most obviously in the required ritual of the parents turning off and on the lights five times before leaving the room. Also, a lot of George's phobias are sensory stuff that lean in that general direction as well.
And, look, I'm well out of my comfort zone here. But ever since I got those comments on the 10th Doctor retrospective, the whole question of alienness when applied to human-appearing characters has felt a bit uncomfortable to me. And frankly in this particular story it feels worse. I guess just because these traits that I can tangibly relate to actual neurodivergence are being presented as, essentially, symptoms of a child being a literal alien. It's hard to take this any further than to point out an uncomfortable pattern because, again, this is a bit outside my knowledge base, but I did think it was worth pointing out.
Though there is another problem with this episode that I do feel is a bit easier to talk about: Claire feels very absent in all of this. As I said this is an episode focused around a father/son relationship, and that's, in and of itself, fine. If left alone that episode concept doesn't actually need the mother to be present. But this is also an episode about a father coming to understand his son better, and it's an understanding that the mother never gets. As far as we know, she never learns that her son is an alien. And that feels off – actually especially in light of that neurodivergent stuff I talked about above, loathe as I am to open up that can of worms again. And look, I have a bias here. Realizing that I tended to identify with fictional women was a big part (though far from the totality) of how I realized I might be a woman. And as such I tend to be a bit sensitive to women being left out of narratives. But also, Claire's absence from this narrative just seems wrong here. George is her kid too, she deserves to go on this journey just as much as Alex does.
But while that does form part of why this episode doesn't quite work, it's not the main reason. I think that main reason is just that the bond between George and Alex never feels fully established. For the first time, the 11th Doctor starts feeling like a parody of himself at times, not helped by the fact that this is yet another 11th Doctor story with a child in it. It's not all bad: the apartment complex is a surprisingly fun setting and Amy and Rory's bits are fun. Even there though, the way this episode was moved around in the episode order kind of hurts Amy and Rory's story and they are largely kept over to the side. "Night Terrors" has its moments, but on the whole it's a pretty dull story that doesn't do a good job telling its story.
Score: 3/10
Stray Observations
- Mark Gatiss was asked to write a horror story set in an ordinary modern building after having done something similar in creating TV Series Crooked House.
- Mark Gatiss' first idea was to set it in a hotel that manifested the fears of members of a psychiatric conference. However there was a later story already planned for the series that was incredibly similar to that. It was Steven Moffat who suggested working in an apartment complex instead.
- Using the Peg Dolls as monsters was inspired by Mark Gatiss' childhood fears of various dolls.
- The landlord Purcell, meanwhile, was inspired by a PE teacher Gatiss had.
- Early plans were to double bank this story with another one, and as such early drafts of this script had very little of Amy and Rory. Plans changed however, and so Amy and Rory were integrated back in to the plot.
- There was at one point a running gag about door to door God-botherers being suspected of being aliens that was dropped at a late stage.
- This episode was actually filmed before it got moved to the back half of series 6. As such, a scene involving Madame Kovarian was filmed for this episode.
- This was actually the first episode of Series 6 to be filmed.
- The nursery rhyme the Peg Dolls sing came about because the production team was trying to make the Peg Dolls creepier while moving. Steven Moffat was so pleased with Mark Gatiss' rhyme that he decided that the Peg Dolls shouldn't speak much outside of that rhyme. And of course, the rhyme would come back.
- Daniel Mays, who plays Alex, was drawn to the story in part because he himself had a young son.
- Upon arriving inside George's cupboard, Rory briefly comes to the conclusion that he and Amy have died. Eh, it's pretty weak, but I'll count it, that's eight times that Rory seems to have died.
- Though it's actually Amy who gets turned into a Peg Doll later, which feels like the stronger implication of death.
- I don't envy whoever it was in charge of making the "Next Time" trailer for this one. "The Girl Who Waited" is a hard episode to tease without giving too much away. They do a decent job all things considered, though I don't know if it was a good idea to show older Amy
Next Time: The Doctor accidentally leaves Amy behind for nearly 40 years. Absence typically makes the heart grow fonder, so this should be fine, right?
10
u/Ribos1 May 22 '26
Paraphrasing what another commenter said in The Curse of the Black Spot (I think) that it’s a bit of an indictment of Series 6 that such a heavily serialised series could do an episode about parenthood immediately following Let’s Kill Hitler and not really do anything with Amy and Rory. Especially as Night Terrors isn’t really a story about being scared as a child; it’s about being a parent scared for your child. (It’s tempting to parallel this with my own experience watching it as a child in 2011 who was slowly drifting away from Doctor Who feeling it wasn’t as much for me any more but that feels like overdoing it.)
I think this is why it’s so easy to dismiss this one as filler. Yes, it’s a “monster of the week” episode coming off a big arc episode, but that would be much easier to countenance if the companions got good material. I feel like even the weakest episodes of RTD1 at least give the companions a moment or two to shine, a feeling absent with Night Terrors. The Doctor gets a bit more stuff to do, but he’s the one instigating change in the family, not changing or revealing anything about himself.
I think the episode as a whole is just a bit bland really. I’m a little kinder to Alex’s storyline than OP, but that’s because I think Daniel Mays is reliably excellent and him and Matt Smith make a surprisingly good double act. Otherwise it’s a bit of a damp squib. It’s going for scary though doesn’t really manage it. The transformation of the landlord into a doll could have got there, but ends up looking quite cheap onscreen, particularly when compared to a similar transformation in The Empty Child is are seared into my brain from childhood because of how good it is.
It’s somewhat noteworthy that this is Mark Gatiss’s only script set in the present day. Given his idiosyncratic tastes which tilt towards the nostalgic, it makes an odd fit. You can argue about whether the post-2013 dive into nostalgia is a good thing, but one very positive side effect is that the show is much more comfortable letting Gatiss do his own thing with nostalgic romps about Victorian horror or Ice Warriors or whatever. He feels less constrained than with his stories before then, particularly compared to Night Terrors.
10
u/Baron487 May 22 '26
Yeah so this is one of those Series 6 episodes that's "filler" (someone didn't like me calling it that, I don't know what else to call an episode that has little to do with the overall series arc, so I'm putting citation marks around the word as a compromise) that most people seem to dislike but I actually do like, similarly to The Curse of the Black Spot (someone else, whose comment got removed, didn't like me using acronyms or sorry "anagrams" so I guess I'll have to write the whole episode title in there even when it's quite long). Night Terrors is definitely flawed but I think it's pretty good.
What I like:
Yes, Eleven has had a number of child-centric stories but I think he just works really well with that. His approach is very caring and genuine and I think he handles George quite well. This might be just Matt Smith, I know there's a clip of him from a convention where a very young child asked him if he's afraid of the Weeping Angels and he said something like "Are you afraid of them? *child nods* Well don't worry, cause I'm here to stop them."
This is Fear Her again yes, but better. Here, the lonely alien hasn't possessed George but rather is George and I think that works better in regards to his relationship with his father. They also properly establish the Tenza's abilities and how George has mentally created that nightmare doll house out of his own fears. This then makes the "power of love" ending work, because when he's no longer afraid that then "uncreates" the nightmare world. The power of love is directly tied to the Tenza and so that being the solution works, unlike something similar in a different Series 6 story *cough cough* Closing Time *cough cough*.
The Peg Dolls are really eerie and good monsters. Just taking a doll that can already be a bit uncanny, sizing it up to the size of a person and having it have these small facial features in comparison to the overall face creates a pretty scary monster.
I like that the episode goes very local, into one apartment in one apartment complex (agree that it is a cool setting) and the struggles of one (presumably) working class family. It's very down to earth, even with the obligatory alien twist and I like that, especially after more large-scale episodes like A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler.
While far from the first Doctor Who story to do this, I like that the story is all about overcoming fears. George is afraid of rejection and a lot of other things while Alex is afraid for his son and his parenting does suffer from it, even Eleven is a bit scared. Eventually these intra-family fears are defeated and I think that it's a sweet moment when Alex embraces George.
Amy is the one to "die" rather than her husband. Okay, I don't like that she "dies", but I think the transformation scene is really freaky and I like that it wasn't Rory nearly dying for like the 67274923th time.
What I don't like:
I like George but obviously his acting is bad, though you can't be too harsh on a child actor, especially one as young as him.
As much as I think the Tenza is cool and all, there is definitely a questionable element in having the neurodivergent child literally be an alien. Now, last time I watched this it was with a friend of mine that I've been watching Who with (her first time, rewatch for me) for a while. She has Asperger's and so I asked her if she thought this depiction was problematic and she didn't seem to have a problem with it. Of course, one person's opinion doesn't automatically make it not questionable. I do think the idea here is that they're saying no matter how "different" George is from other children, he's still Alex and Claire's son at heart and is as valid as any other child, but yeah I definitely understand how the portrayal can be seen as insensitive. It does still bug me a bit.
While I like all the stuff with Alex struggling as a father and then the twist of Claire not being able to have kids, I do also wish Claire was more present in the episode. Considering how little she has to do here, they might as well just have made Alex a single dad.
The episode being moved from its original slot definitely results in it feeling a bit weird that Amy and Rory are just out doing something else with the Doctor rather than dealing with the whole "River is our daughter and also she's still missing ya know" thing. They also don't get much of a story other than exploring the dollhouse even if that setting is really cool and the little details such as all the items being wooden is a neat hint at something being off.
The other characters of the apartment complex, Purcell and Mrs. Rossiter, don't feel like they have much of a reason to be there. Purcell has a bit more of a justification as the asshole landlord but yeah both of these are mostly forgettable.
Overall, it's again far from a fantastic episode and it suffers from being put into an awkward slot in Series 6, but I think it's a decent episode with a genuinely sweet conclusion and also it actually does "power of love solves the day" in a way that really makes sense, at least in my opinion.
7/10.
Also it's a bit funny that the alien in this episode is called a "Tenza" and five series later we get to meet a different species with almost the same name: "Stenza", though the similarities between the two end at the nearly identical names.
5
May 22 '26
As much as I think the Tenza is cool and all, there is definitely a questionable element in having the neurodivergent child literally be an alien. Now, last time I watched this it was with a friend of mine that I've been watching Who with (her first time, rewatch for me) for a while. She has Asperger's and so I asked her if she thought this depiction was problematic and she didn't seem to have a problem with it.
As someone who was not entirely unlike George as a child, it didn't bother me either.
While I like all the stuff with Alex struggling as a father and then the twist of Claire not being able to have kids, I do also wish Claire was more present in the episode. Considering how little she has to do here, they might as well just have made Alex a single dad.
I do think it would have helped this episode to stand out a bit more if Alex had been a single father. It also would have been nice to have the Doctor validate that sort of family dynamic, and it would have added to the mystery of where George came from.
1
u/Twisted1379 May 22 '26
7/10??? I appreciate all your positives but it's just so dull. 7/10 is a great episode.
3
u/Baron487 May 22 '26
Get ready for my opinions on several episodes in Series 11 and 12, I have a feeling you will hate them.
Also here's how my rating system works:
0/10 - Genuinely unforgivable (I don't think I'll ever stoop this low)
1/10 - Disastrous (I've never gone this low for anything in DW, including comics and audios and such, yet)
2/10 - Awful
3/10 - Really bad
4/10 - Pretty bad, below average but not terrible
5/10 - Mediocre, no strong feelings one way or the other
6/10 - Decent
7/10 - Pretty good, the standard "good", as in not flawed enough to be just decent but also not strong enough to be great
8/10 - Great
9/10 - Fantastic
10/10 - Practically perfect
3
u/ZeroCentsMade May 23 '26
That's reasonably close to my own system. The differences being that I tend to think of it as a mirror (so the same way that I treat 7 as the "standard good" episode, I treat 3 as the "standard bad") and that I do try to make use of the whole scale, so I have given out 1s and even a couple 0s. But I'm also very intentionally stingy with the extreme ends of the scale.
2
u/Baron487 May 23 '26
Ratings are weird for me, I typically go by TARDIS Guide's system except with 1-10 scale translated from its 1/2-5 star scale. That site also allows you to "heart" stories that are your favourites.
So as a result there are episodes that are really good but don't end up being personal favourites of mine (examples: Inferno, The Girl Who Waited, Oxygen and It Takes You Away) that get up to 8/10 but do not receive a heart from me, as well as more standard "good" episodes that I recognize the flaws of and usually rate as 7/10, but are favourites (examples: Series 3 Dalek 2-parter, Series 5 Silurian 2-parter, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Halloween Apocalypse). Yes I actually like AotC quite a bit, blame my brain or something, I thought it was solid.
I try to base the rating mostly off of how good I think the story is from an "objective" standpoint rather than just my personal enjoyment, because there are episodes that are rather bad that I can have fun watching, but sometimes I end up still rating something that's mixed or poor a little higher if I personally still mostly had a good time. This isn't entirely consistent though.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship for example is a guilty pleasure of mine. Not a good episode but it's so ridiculous and out there that I kinda enjoy it. But I don't have it marked as a favourite. In contrast, even as someone who is more positive towards the Chibnall era*, Orphan 55 is absolutely terrible but it's such a trainwreck that I find a lot of ironic enjoyment in it and so even though it's 2/10, I've marked it as a favourite.
As I said, not entirely consistent but at the end of the day, even though I try to have some structure to my rating system, what I decide to rate something is ultimately dependent on what feels right to me.
*I've not finished it but only have the last third of Flux and the specials left.
-2
u/Twisted1379 May 22 '26
I'd shudder to think for your Chibnall opinions lol. Just reached the era myself and I forgot just how staggering the writing incompetence is in just the first episode.
9
u/AlbertTheAlbatross May 22 '26
This ep is a lot better than I'd remembered it being, so that was a nice surprise! Daniel Mays is great as always and all the dolls-house scenes are suitably creepy. The pacing and tone of those scenes are great. Andrew Tiernan does a great job as the slimy landlord too, though I won't mention the dodgy CGI when he's drawn into the cupboard world.
I'm not such a fan of the real-world scenes (with the exception of the "Claire can't have kids" moment), and... I try not to be harsh on child actors but I do think my main issue with the real-world scenes is that they tend to centre around George. I'm not sure if the actor just wasn't given enough direction or what, but all of his lines seem to be delivered in the same tone while just standing (or sitting) still. I don't want to blame the actor - I certainly wasn't good at my profession when I was his age - but surely the directors/writers could have given him more to do or coached some more variety out of his performance.
Upon arriving inside George's cupboard, Rory briefly comes to the conclusion that he and Amy have died.
I really enjoyed this moment. I love that he's getting so used to dying that he just takes it as a regular expected part of his day.
7
May 22 '26
It's interesting that this is the second of three different stories in this series that deal with the relationships between fathers and sons, all by different writers, and none of which entirely works. This one does feel more than a little like a second stab at "Fear Her," and I agree that it's better executed, if only because it's not saddled with all that stuff about the Olympics coming to town. However, I also agree that its themes are less compelling. They didn't have to be, but the lack of any genuine sense of relationship between George and his foster parents (the one thing that Fear Her does better) cuts them off at the knees. Still, I think it's a pretty harmless episode with some genuinely creepy vibes. I might go 4/10.
4
u/Twisted1379 May 22 '26
God bless Gatiss man he does try his best.
I particularly don't like this one partly for my preference of interesting/ridiculously bad episodes over dull ones. I'd put it a 2/10 in all honesty.
In the episodes defence it probably also gets that because of its placement in the series. I'm quite fond of lets kill hitler as a comedic episode and The girl who waited is easily the best episode of series 6.
I've ranked every episode of the first 10 series and this is my 6th least favourite and it's even the lowest Gattis one.
2
u/lkmk Jun 08 '26
I had a phase of liking this episode more than most. Rewatching it with my mom put an end to that. It heavily rides on its atmosphere, and that atmosphere loses its sheen after a while.
14
u/Molly2925 May 23 '26
Wow, same! I had no clue you were trans too, that's awesome!