Nightmare in Silver (TV story)

Nightmare in Silver
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Clara, Angie, Artie
Main enemy:	Mr Clever, Cybermen, Cybermites
Main setting:	Hedgewick's World of Wonders, Cyberiat
Key crew
Writer:	Neil Gaiman
Director:	Stephen Woolfenden
Producer:	Denise Paul
Release details
Story number:	237
Premiere broadcast:	11 May 2013
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x45 minute episode
Production code:	3.12
Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Crimson Horror
Production order
← Previous	The Rings of Akhaten

Nightmare in Silver was the twelfth regular episode of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales.

Synopsis

Hedgewick's World of Wonders: the perfect theme park day out. And ground zero for a deadly silver resurrection.

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Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Clara - Jenna-Louise Coleman
• Angie - Eve De Leon Allen
• Artie - Kassius Carey Johnson
• Webley - Jason Watkins
• Porridge - Warwick Davis
• Captain - Tamzin Outhwaite
• Beauty - Eloise Joseph
• Brains - Will Merrick
• Ha-Ha - Calvin Dean
• Missy - Zahra Ahmadi
• Cyberman - Aidan Cook
• Voice of the Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs

References

Alien Species

• The head of a Uvodni and upper body of a Blowfish can be seen on display inside the room housing the chessboard.

Cybermen

• The Cyber-Wars lasted 1,000 years. The planet Hedgewick's World is on was used to hide 3 billion Cybermen and repair them.
• Whilst not being able to convert non-humans in the past, the Cybermen can now process creatures like Time Lords, at least partially.
• The "Cyberiad" refers to collective consciousness of the Cybermen.

The Doctor

• Whilst under possession by the Cyber-Planner, the Doctor mimics the Ninth Doctor's accent and catchphrase of "Fantastic", as well as the Tenth Doctor's of "Allons-y".
• When the Cybermites take over, the Doctor lets them see the regeneration power, by showing him his previous incarnations, plus the regeneration from his tenth to his current self.
• The Doctor has been erasing himself from history, leaving a hole in the Cybermen's records that used to be him.

Games

• The game of chess was invented by the Time Lords.

Cultural references from the real world

• Porridge is inside an undefeated "automated" chess player. This is very similar to real-world the Turk, who was too exhibited as an undefeatable chess-playing machine, but was actually controlled by a man inside.
• Interestingly, the Turk was the inspiration for the Clockwork Droids. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)

Story notes

• The episode's title, Nightmare in Silver, is reminiscent of Silver Nemesis, in that, in both cases, the "Silver" is referring to Cybermen.
• A working title for the episode was The Last Cyberman.
• The Cyber-Doctor answers to Clara's question of "More Cybermen?" with "They're waking from their tomb right now." which is a possible reference to the television story TV: Tomb of the Cybermen.
• Subsequently, the Cybermen exiting their tombs mirrors the cliffhanger of Earthshock Part 3 when three rows of Cybermen march towards the camera. It's also very simalair of the scene where the Cybermen come out of their tombs in The Tomb of the Cybermen.
• When the Doctor lets the Cyber-Doctor access his memories on regeneration, his previous ten incarnations are seen. Each image of an incarnation is taken from photograph stills used as promotional material during the respective actors' tenures.
• The Cybermen's ability to adapt to attacks is reminiscient of the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Additionally, the Borg used nanotechnology to convert individuals, similar to the cybermites, and Webley's cyber-appearance is reminiscient of the Borg's "half machine, half human" face. And as of "Star Trek: First Contact" they, like these Cybermen, assimilated new members by use of something coming out of their wrists.
• The Cyber-Doctor imitates the Ninth Doctor and says "Allons-y" like the Tenth Doctor.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

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Continuity

• It is never made clear whether these Cybermen are of the Mondasian or Cybus variety, although they use the phrase "upgrade" and one of Webley's Cybermen being similar to the ones from Closing Time with his other two having the Cybus logo like the ones from The Pandorica Opens. Webley's explanation that the Cybermen have adapted and that the new model will be unstoppable may hint that the two types of Cybermen have encountered each other and merged their technology. This would explain why Cybus-like versions had Mondasian ships in The Pandorica Opens and A Good Man Goes to War, why one of Webley's models have the Cybus logo, and why the Cyber-Wars lasted longer than has been previously stated. [An interview with Neil Gaiman] shows this was the idea behind it.
• The Doctor can play chess. (TV: The Androids of Tara, The Curse of Fenric, The Wedding of River Song). Also, the Time Lords inventing chess was a query first considered by the Second Doctor. (PROSE: Dreams of Empire)
• This is not the Doctor's first encounter with a Cyberman purported to be an automated game-playing machine. When the Eighth Doctor encountered the Silver Turk, a Cyberman, it too attacked its 'controllers'. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)
• The Doctor mentions the Cybermen's weakness to gold (TV: Silver Nemesis) and cleaning fluid. (TV: The Moonbase)
• Two Impact suits can be seen. (TV: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)
• The Doctor says the children are under his protection. (TV: The Bells of Saint John).
• The Doctor says says multiple times "I'll explain later." This was said multiple times by the non-canon Doctor and Daleks in (TV: Curse of the Fatal Death).
• Angie and Artie Maitland travel in the TARDIS, as they had previously blackmailed Clara into taking them along. (TV: The Crimson Horror)
• The Tenth Doctor's regeneration is seen. (TV: The End of Time).
• Several creatures from previous episodes are seen in Webley's room. This includes an Uvodni head, (TV: Warriors of Kudlak) a Blowfish head, (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) a Shansheeth head, (TV: Death of the Doctor) a Chameleon, (TV: The Faceless Ones) a dummy, (TV: The God Complex) and several alien from Sun-singers of Akhet, including an Ultramancer, a Pan-Babylonian and a Lugal-Irra-Kush (TV: The Rings of Akhaten).
• The Doctor previously visited an amusement park "controlled" by aliens. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
• Clara's mobile phone has no service, indicating that the Doctor didn't give her a superphone, as he had with every one of his regular companions since his ninth incarnation. (TV: The End of the World, 42, The Doctor's Daughter, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)
• The Doctor says to the Cybermite, 'Hardly a cybermat'. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
• The Doctor echoes a quote from his former companion Rory Williams when confronted by the troops aiming guns at him: "Don't shoot, I'm nice!"(TV: The God Complex)
• The Doctor's defeat of the Cyber-Planner, distracting him with a bluff about an alleged checkmate to drain his power, is the same stratagem he used against Fenric in his seventh incarnation. (TV: The Curse of Fenric)
• The Doctor refers to an enemy as "beautiful." (TV: Tooth and Claw, The God Complex)
• Webley claims that the Chess playing Cyberman is the 699th Wonder of the Universe. (TV: Death to the Daleks)
• UNIT also designed a device that would blow up a planet to be used if left with no other options, the Osterhagen Project. (TV: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)

Home video releases

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External links

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References