Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E09 Night Terrors: Difference between revisions

And then, a few more of the residents start having really bad things happening to them. They get sucked into the earth.

 

 

Suddenly, George does something terrifying involving the cupboard, and Alex and the Doctor get sucked in. They're in the same house as Amy and Rory. The married duo find some creepy wooden dolls, and one of the victims from earlier gets turned into a doll as well. Amy and Rory hide in another room, but as they try to bust out, Amy is captured and turned into a doll. Rory finds Alex and the Doctor, the latter trying to solve the mystery surrounding George.

It turns out that they were in a dollhouse in the cupboard all along. The Doctor's screwdriver still [[Running Gag|doesn't do wood]] (it's getting embarrassing by now, he remarks), so he has to improvise. He calls out to George, who turns out to be an all-powerful [[Reality Warper]] accidentally causing all of this. He's an alien larva (a Tenza), whose species act like cuckoos: they leave their young in other species' nests. Alex is horrified at first, but then decides that he doesn't care. Even if his memories were altered, even if his son is actually an all-powerful alien, the boy is still just George. With [[The Power of Love]] from Alex, George is convinced to turn everyone back to normal.

 

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=== Tropes: ===

* [[Adult Fear]]: Partly with in the beginning parts with Alex, who neatly captures the struggles and frustrations of a parent of a child apparently suffering from some sort of disorder or syndrome he doesn't fully understand and is afraid he never will - and having to deal with all that as well as a [[Jerkass]] landlord extorting rent you have trouble paying.

* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: Rory is skeptical of the living dolls, to which Amy points out that he's a time-travelling nurse.

* [[Asshole Victim]] : The Landlord. {{spoiler|Sadly subverted, as he gets changed back to a human}}. That said, if they had let the Landlord die or {{spoiler|remain as a doll}} it would cause a serious [[What the Hell, Hero?]] moment if only Amy and the old lady were changed back.

** Asshole though he is, it's pretty apparent that his only friend is his dog. And even the dog didn't care that he disappeared.

* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Rory's almost Doctor Lite at this point, he Buffies so much. "The TARDIS has gone funny again. It's some time... slippy... thing."

* [[Call Back]]:

* [[Changeling Fantasy]]: {{spoiler|As it turns out, George ''himself'' is the source of his troubles - he's actually a Tenza, a powerfully psychic race who apparently masquerade as the children of other races in order to grow; the process is explicitly compared to cuckoos (though without the parasitic aspect, making them more like serial adoptees)}}.

* [[Captain Obvious]]: "You're not from Social Services, are you."

** The dollhouse is briefly visible when the Doctor first checks the cupboard. It later turns out that {{spoiler|it's where George has been sending people}}.

* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: {{spoiler|George's fears manifest in reality because he so completely believes them}}.

* [[Continuity Nod]]:

** "The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes".

** The Doctor's death certificate comes up again, this time being sung about by the creepy doll children.

** Rory being dead (or at least thinking he may be).

* [[Hell Is That Noise]]: The dolls' [[Evil Laugh]]. And George is scared stiff of the sound of the lift.

* Hellevator: Because George thinks it is.

** [[How Not to Live Your Life|Mrs. Treacher's lightened up a bit]].

** When did [[Three Hundred|Ephialtes]] become a landlord?

* [[Ominous Music Box Tune]]: The leitmotif for the Doll Children.

* [[Out of Order]]: The episode was originally meant for the first half of Series 6, so it can appear a bit odd that {{spoiler|Amy and Rory don't seem worried at all about their missing daughter. Plus the Doctor's offhand reference to "flesh," which could have been a neat piece of foreshadowing but now just comes off as insensitive. Only the very last scene gives any indication of the episode's new place in the story, and it's not even something any of the characters do.}}

** It is likely that one of the reasons for the change was Amy {{spoiler|temporarily being turned into a doll in this episode. It would be weird(er) if it were to happen to Ganger!Amy}}.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Alex. Unfortunately, though, he's going about protecting George in entirely the wrong way.

* [[Reality Warper]]: {{spoiler|George}}.

** [[Reality Warping Is Not a Toy]]: But since he's not aware of it, {{spoiler|and also happens to be a little boy, sort-of adopted and feeling rejected, he unwittingly makes all his nightmares come true by believing in them so much...}}

** The Doctor's fairy tales.

** Among George's toys are [[Transformers|Optimus Prime]], a [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Gundam]] and, [http://www.rangercrew.com/forum/showthread.php?19667-Doctor-Who-season-6&p=874484&viewfull=1#post874484 less noticeably], [[Gosei Sentai Dairanger|Daijinryuu]]/[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Serpentera]] (So, [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/factorialinfinity/prlggallifrey.jpg that Gallifrey shout-out] in ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' finally got its favor returned...).

** When he ends up in the Doll House, Rory suspects that it's due to the TARDIS malfunctioning and that he and Amy are there while The Doctor's been thrown into "[[Eastenders|EastEnders Land]]".

** The scene where the Doctor and Alex get sucked into the cupboard is strongly reminiscent of a similar scene from ''[[Poltergeist]]''.

** [[The Shining|Creepy twin girls.]]

* [[Things That Go Bump in The Night]]: George's world is littered with nightmares. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Good thing his parents taught him to focus all his fears on his closet...]]

* [[Tomato in The Mirror]]: {{spoiler|When the Doctor tries to confront George about his alien nature, George freaks out and traps him and his father in the dollhouse}}.

{{quote| '''Alex:''' {{spoiler|''Claire can't have kids''!}}}}

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