Doctor Who: Nightmare in Silver Non-Spoiler Review

Aside from Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and the finale, this is very possibly the most anticipated episode this part of the series. Why? It's written by Neil Gaiman, writer of some of the most critically acclaimed Science Fiction in the world and of the very successful Doctor Who episode The Doctor's Wife. Now, he's back and he's here to make the Cybermen scary again.

Did he succeed in making the Cybermen frightening again? Yes and no, I believe. He did succeed in making the Cybermen more scary than they have been so far, mostly through things other than how they fight. While the prospect of super-speed (which was clearly done to over-come one of the Cybermen's main weaknesses), as shown in the preview clip here, can be scary, I'm not sure it was pulled off too well in the episode, though this could be more down to the production after the writing.

The redesign of the Cybermen worked for and against itself too. While the redesign can be likened to Iron Man, *cough*, a lot more, I find the much smoother and less human-like face to show off their lack of human emotions much better.

However, I don't think Gaiman managed to give them the bone-chilling effect that Moffat gave the Daleks in Asylum of the Daleks. But the episode is enjoyable enough to not let this get to you.

Classic fans will be pleased to hear that this episode is centred mostly around the Mondasian Cybermen, however the appearance of the Cybus Cybermen in the next time trailer can be a little confusing. As this episode is set in the future, we can possibly assume that these 2 Cyberman were 2 of the few Cybermen converted using metal from our world during the Battle of Canary Warf.

The pacing of the episode was adequate, however I am a little disappointed that it started upon arrival, without giving us a chance to get the kids reactions at all. We've got a bit more new music in this episode, which is always enjoyable, but we also get the chance to hear March of the Cybermen again! It also sounds a lot less "lets just randomly place epic music somewhere!" than the previous episode, which my ears much appreciate.

The acting of this episode was superb, with special mentions to Matt Smith, where I would have loved to have been in the room with him during this episode, and Warwick Davis.

It's a pretty good episode, but not as good as The Doctor's Wife, though that was at perfect level and it's hard to beat perfect. I would rate it 9/10.

Please note that this is a non-spoiler review. Details have been left out so as not to spoiler you. A full review will be posted the day after the episode has aired.