Because of the larger Reality Bomb plot of Series 4, it’s arguable that most of that series didn’t actually take place in the timeline as we now know it (planets being plucked out of time and space, and then suddenly returned, meaning that the impetus for a lot of plots now no longer happened). In Midnight’s case, maybe it was just a matter of the humans on that particular shuttle being replaced by non-humans, kind of like Ruby at the start of Space Babies.
Humans or not, the entity still would’ve taken interest in the people on that shuttle. Even the most outlandish humanoid organism would be… well, alien to it, and the show has been portraying aliens that look identical to humans since the literal beginning.
I mean, if it is an alternate timeline, it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to deal with another Tennant-Doctor roaming around, nor looking at a splintered timeline that came out of his lack of involvement in events. It’s plausible, but the timeline as it exists within the DW universe has a habit of working around such discrepencies of its own accord. A simple find-and-replace wouldn’t be the strangest repair method we’ve encountered (Reapers, anyone?)
So thinking more about this story, two more things I wanted to talk about come to mind
I think when I’d seen the leaks that this was a midnight sequel, my main worry wasn’t for this episode, but that it would retroactively make midnight worse by explaining some things. Wow I didn’t need to worry about that. If anything this story adds to the mystery, the only things we really learn about the entity are that it can survive 400,000 years (which we didn’t know, but it survived where it shouldn’t before, and it’s a big Horror trope), and that it actively enjoys playing with people. Both of which, to me at least, just add to the horror and mystery.
I absolutely adore the “Don’t turn your back on me” line, it just works so well on so many levels
Don’t turn your back on me, I’ve seen people do that to others and those others have died
Don’t turn your back on me, don’t leave me here to die on my own
Don’t turn your back on me, I can’t know what you’re saying if you do
Yes, I thought that was really clever because it is a real world issue for deaf people extrapolated into something even more terrifying. Very clever writing.
Yes this, I think it was so cuttingly real the way that they have there performative speech to text thing that they don’t even notice they’re not turning on until they want something from Aliss
I watched this episode the day after it aired but was too overwhelmed but 600, then 700, then 800+ posts in this thread to actually talk about it. But I finished catching up and finally wrote my review!
I didn’t see any leaks or spoilers about the Midnight connection, and I’m firmly on the side of it didn’t need to be a sequel, and is worse for it. I think I need a rewatch before I fully settle on my rating.
Great review - my take on the episode was pretty similar to yours, but I ended up half a star lower. I’m really looking forward to rewatching this one at some point, because I feel like I might enjoy it a bit more knowing and accepting exactly what the Midnight connection is before starting. It’s a shame it wasn’t that bit stronger, because I think it really could have been a classic.
!
