Posted By Kathleen David on July 12, 2008
This is one of those scripts that you know that the writer was told that he had a buck twenty-five for the budget (or about 75p). But RTD did an admirable job with his budget and the cast was up for the challenge that reminded me of a Hitchcock film. This was a case that without the right cast it just would crash and burn. But the casting director did an excellent job of finding a group of actors that played very well with each other. And this was not an easy script to do. (more on that after the cut).
I am grateful for good friends who are really understanding at this convention (more on that later)
Peter and I did analyze from the budget point of view. It’s a one room drama which allowed them to funnel more money to the end of the season. But it does not hurt from the lack of budget.
Lesley Sharp was nothing less than brilliant as Sky Silvestry. Both her performance and then David’s when things switch is amazing to watch. The director did a fine job with the script too.
And we had another child of the Doctor (kinda sorta) in the mix with David Troughton playing Professor Hobbes. He did a good job too.
I think that is the thing that I keep going back to in my mind, how good the actors were. There was not a weak one in the bunch. Each did their job to add to the tension of the scene that was at a totally frenzy when they are trying to toss the Doctor out to save themselves or so they think. The tension is broken at Sky and that poor nameless hostess go out the airlock. Then guilt and blame abound as they wait for rescue.
And what about Tennant? Considering how frenetic his Doctor is, being reduced to being unable to move and the Doctor trying to figure a way out of his rather dire situation. I think it is one of his best performances to date.
This is one of those rare episodes that I would recommend for someone who has never seen Doctor Who and want an episode that gives them an idea of the characters and the series.
Bravo to all who participated in this.
totally off-point.
I am grateful for your WHO recaps. Because efven tho I am two years behind (I just watched “School Reunion”) because of my lack of cable, etc. I have to wait until my local PBS station shows them.
I LOVE coming to your site and reading what you thiought of each episode.
I loved Evil Giles!!!!!
Yep, classic ‘bottle show’ – one set, one set of costumes, minimal effects budget “Look, behind that rock! A monster!”… Doctor Who back to its roots with wobbly walls and a budget of shitepence… Ah, the nostalgia. 🙂
I am slightly surprised though that you’d recommend the episode as an example, since I found it noticably atypical of Who in general.
Therein lies the episode flaw for me though, because while I applaud – and am grateful for – the willingness to do the more unusual episodes that we’ve seen over the last four years – some of which have worked better than others – this one didn’t quite work for me because it didn’t get dark and nasty enough for me to really buy into it.
That’s understandable, since that would have seriously shafted the kiddy-friendly aspects of the show, but if you’re going to do Lord of the Flies meets the Heart of Darkness, you need to do that without sugar coating it…
Still, good acting all round, with more to come as we veer onto final approach for the big three..!!!
Cheers.
“Mightnight” surprised me at how good it was. I had quite a lot of trepidation about the fact that RTD was writing the final four episodes, but this one was above and beyond what I was expecting.
It’s a companion-lite story, and it’s nice that they changed things up this year by doing this story, then doing the Doctor-light story.
I found it enjoyable mainly in the sense of appreciating Tennant’s acting ability. But it was clearly not as good as last year’s Blink.
“It’s a companion-lite story, and it’s nice that they changed things up this year by doing this story, then doing the Doctor-light story.” So instead of having an episode that was both Doctor and companion -light they split the concept in two. David Troughton was quite nice. I like him in the Jericho mysteries and his son, Sam, in Robin Hood. The mention at Shore Leave that someone preferred this plot in Pitch Black threw me as I was expecting an eclipse. It was quite different.
Neil