Villordsutch reviews Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 9 – ‘Sleep No More’…
(Guttural growling from a dark corridor)
Doctor- Hold my hand.
Clara- I’m OK
Doctor- I’m not.
It’s a line of first’s in this week’s Doctor Who – a first ever Who where we see no opening credits, a first for Who where it’s a found footage episode all the way through and a truly first for Who were the episode was so dire I can’t believe it was actually allowed to be given any sort of budget to be filmed! The funny thing is we’re even told that, “We must not watch this!” at the beginning of the episode! Well played, Mr. Gatiss, well played.
My normal run down of Doctor Who reviews is a very detailed programme recap of what was served to us over forty-five minutes to an hour, however due to the extremely poor story delivered to us by the normally brilliant Mark Gatiss – I really do hold this chap in high regard for his services to Doctor Who, however now his past two tales have been a couple of clunkers – I’ve had too break from the norm here to deliver a very much abridged version of the normal Doctor Who review; those that did get to see it however will possibly be over the moon not to relive the episode.
In Sleep No More, Professor Rassmussen (Reece Shearsmith) informs us [the viewers] that, “We must not watch this!” as he speaks to us via a video he’s cobbled together of the events that unfolded aboard the space-station he resides upon in the orbit of Neptune. Witnessing a rescue crew bickering aboard a shuttle, Rassmussen informs us that this crew have been sent from Triton to search for him. In the abandoned lab the rescue crew find both the Doctor and Clara wandering around the deserted station too. We soon discover the station isn’t deserted as they are all surprised by a mob of unknown monsters and with that they rapidly bolt, ending up in a room of pods where the Doctor scans some of the matter left behind by the monsters; he reveals it’s organic and it’s technically the sleep from the corner of your eye.
The pods, we’re told, are the Morpheus devices which compress a full night’s sleep into five minutes, and as Clara investigates further she is pulled into one. After she’s rescued we also discover that in another pod Professor Rassmussen is currently hiding within, and after a bit of coaxing he comes out. The Professor explains how the Morpheus devices works the Doctor and Co. attempt to look for their lost rescue crew member, however he’s rapidly caught by the monsters. It’s here the Doctor explains the sleep monsters have been created by humans as a by-product of using the Morpheus device.
The crew becomes cornered in a room, the gravitational shielding disengages and the Professor is taken by the now dubbed Sandmen. With the gravity restored the crew becomes separated due to the actions of the Sandmen, we see the Doctor, Clara and Chief Nagata hiding in cold storage and 474 along Chopra heading back to the ship; they are all now surrounded by the Sandmen. The Doctor notices the Sandmen have no sight and rely on sound; not only this the camera feeds the Doctor tapped into early – in the Morpheus room – isn’t from the helmet cams, but from the users of Morpheus and the dust in the air.
474 rescues Chopra – from the Sandmen – by carrying him through the flames away from the Sandmen. However this was sacrifice was in vein as seconds later Chopea is ambushed by even more Sandmen. As the Doctor and Co. confront the very much alive Rassmussen, he’s collaborating with the Sandmen to take them to Triton and beyond, however thanks to the subtle justice delivered from Nagata’s rifle Rassmussen is killed, not only this the Doctor then sends the space station hurtling down towards Neptune to destroy and remains of the Sandmen. However as he leaves the Doctor still cannot make sense what is actually happening around him. As the episode closes once again we are met with a very much alive Professor Rassmussen; he reveals his true-self, and also the true plan – the video we were watching actually contained a hidden message to initiate the Morpheus effect across the solar-system and anyone that watched it is now infected.
As said at the start, this week’s standalone episode was truly dire, with the occasional brief glimpse of what a good episode it could have been. It made sure that it reminded us that it was really scrapping the barrel in everything else. From glib explanation on how the beings came about, to explaining the found-footage, this is firmly up there with the The Green Death for me, if you’d asked a non-Whovian to watch Doctor Who and they’d sat down and caught this they’d possibly be laughing at you now; that or hating you!
With the keen eared listeners able to pick out Maisie Williams voice on “Face the Raven” trailer [watch it here] following this episode, here’s hoping this following episode will be far greater.
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Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=orZBAVqQhSc
Originally published November 16, 2015. Updated December 15, 2019.
