Sleep No More

[daibhidc]

Very spooky.

I'm not usually a huge fan of "found footage" stories; I usually think they're a bit contrived, but this was pretty well done, especially given the double reveal of where the footage was coming from and why. In fact, I enjoyed this despite the fact I was watching it on the computer because the Skybox was acting up. This meant that every so often the screensaver would go on and I'd have to jiggle the mouse, which overlayed the majenta iPlayer controls. Not the best conditions for watching something based on claustrophobia and creepiness. (Which may explain how I managed to miss that the Sandmen were supposed to have killed Dr Rassmussen. Narrator-Rassmussen announced he wasn't dead, and I went "Huh?")

The soldiers were pretty well realised as "a bunch of soldiers in a Base Under Siege  whose primary role in life is to die" go. The "grunt" in particular really drove home the horrible nature of this future; a complete innocent designed to kill. Exactly the sort of thing a society that wants to eliminate sleep so people can work harder would think was a good idea.

I liked the scene where the Doctor shows the psychic paper to the soldiers and it clearly shows that it's blank. I was half expecting Nagata to call him on this when they replayed the sequence, but no.

Was anyone else completely shocked when Reece Sheersmith's character turned out to be the deranged villain? No? Didn't think so. But, hey, he's good at it. (And as loveandgarbage pointed out on Twitter, he shares his taste in eyewear with Dastari from "The Two Doctors"!)

It bugged me a little that Patient Zero didn't make sense; if he hasn't slept in years, what's he doing in the pod? Crosswords? But then it turned out Patient Zero didn't have to make sense because Dr Rassmussen was making stuff up, so that's okay.

And the final ending, well "By watching this you've become the next victim" is always a little cheap, but the collapse of Rassmussen's body was certainly effective, the collapsing eye-socket in particular making his narration not so much Blair Witch Project as Tales From the Crypt.

And so ... the monsters win? For the first time this season, it doesn't look like next week's episode is connected in any way, so I guess so.

Comments

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it despite the found footage angle, It worked well.

[scarfman]

When the Doctor stated at least once that the monsters escaping the station meant doom for our solar system, and the season theme is consequences, I suspect we'll revisit this before the season's out.