![]() ![]() But it doesn’t work in terms of editing and direction. It’s another thing to have him looking at you, giving you a full look at his intelligence, his wonder, disdain, and his annoyance. It’s one thing to see the Doctor in profile, boldly telling off the monsters. It works in the regard that there’s a sense of urgency that comes from the viewer being directly in the action, not just when the Sandmen attack but when the Doctor is staring the viewer directly in the face. Sleep No More both works and doesn’t work in this regard. Done badly, the story gets lost in the throes of “shaky cam” and confusion of who is filming and who is talking. Done right, the format can tell a gripping and engaging story. The format has continued since then with releases such as the horror movie REC (and its American remake Quarantine), the monster movie Cloverfield and the comedy movie Project X, as well as a new style of making…ahem…adult movies. It’s a style popularized by the release of The Blair With Project in the late 1990’s as a low-budget way to tell stories. The viewer sees the story unravel from the direct point-of-view of the characters and security cameras. Sleep No More is ambitious, told solely in the first-person in a “found footage” style. It’s not a knock on Gatiss…for the record, I’ve enjoyed the majority of his output both in and out of Who…but with his writing pedigree comes some expectations with regards to his stories. His slate of episodes have been uneven and divisive among the fan base, running from “serviceable” ( Cold War, Robot of Sherwood) to “what could have been” ( The Idiot’s Lantern, Victory of the Daleks). While there’s no denying his love for the show, his writing efforts haven’t quite lived up to expectations. Gatiss has also been a fan of Doctor Who since childhood, writing for both the television as well as penning two stories for Big Finish and the 50th anniversary television movie An Adventure in Space and Time about the early days of the show and appearing as the villain in the Tenth Doctor story The Lazarus Experiment. Gatiss is one of the United Kingdom’s most influential entertainment figures as an actor and writer, starring in shows such as Game of Thrones as well as serving as co-creator for The League of Gentlemen and Sherlock. If there’s one thing I can say about Mark Gatiss, it’s this – he writes episodes of Doctor Who. But before they meet him, they encounter the creatures responsible for the death of the station’s crew – creatures who appeared to be comprised of congealed sand and spring from the depths of human sleep…or lack thereof… It doesn’t take long for the team to encounter the station’s sole survivor, Doctor Rassmussen. The team encounters the Doctor and Clara who have also found themselves drawn to the deserted station. A four-person rescue team has landed in an attempt to establish communications and determine what has happened to the station’s workers. Orbiting Neptune’s moon of Triton, the The Le Verrier space station has gone dark. If they’re not then it doesn’t matter how bold or innovative the episode is. But a concept episode such as this one only works if the story and narrative are good enough to carry it. Sleep No More is a neat experiment – an episode of Doctor Who told solely through “found footage.” It’s a bold attempt at storytelling, putting the viewer directly in the heart of the action as the Doctor and Clara find themselves under siege by a relentless new foe. The new thing has to mix well with the old thing, much like how this opening paragraph needs a much better set of analogies to go along with its attempt at a central idea. ![]() Trying something new solely for the sake of trying something new can lead to the original object looking faded and frayed. However, one can’t just throw a new coat of paint on the wall and call it a day. A new cast member, different narrative directions, a change in the budget anything to spice up the show’s familiar trappings with a fresh coat of paint. When a show has been part of pop culture for over five decades, it’s important to try new things every now and again. Sandmen – Paul Davis, Tom Wilton, Matthew Doman Peter Capaldi is the Doctor in Sleep No More. This terrifying story is assembled from footage discovered in the wreckage of Le Verrier Space Station. ![]()
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