A review of the whole of the Nightmare Man. The first time I saw it, I wrote my bit by bit review, writing as I watched the episode. Today and yesterday I watched Parts 1 and 2 again, just watched for pleasure, so I paid more attention and could write this overview review.
The episode is, on the whole, is a very good one. It combines creepyness with humour, and let’s us explore the character of Luke Smith fully. Very much ‘Sarah Jane’s son’ or ‘the geek who talks weird’, Luke Smith is himself in this episode. We see the progression of character, from the very start of Part 1, one year earlier, and the departure and nightmares of Luke Smith one year later. We see the character has grown up, changed. For the better.
But more of that later. First of all, we must focus on the story. The idea of The Nightmare Man is a good one. He’s played well by Julian Bleach (Davros) but doesn’t quite fulfil the potential of the Nightmare Man. He is too insane, too big headed and way too over the top. His big entrance in Part 2 to Clyde and Rani is too over the top. I AM THE NIGHTMARE MAN! He says as he dances into shot. Way too much acting. The Nightmare Man is played well in part 1. A serious character, who wouldn’t look out of place in Doctor Who. But the thing is, part 2 lets him down. His sinister like attitude is replaced and changed with the maniac attitude. He’s too fun, too over the top, and reduces this fantastic, sinister, grown up episode, with the childish like nature.
Back to the idea of this being a sinister episode. The episode is dark, it is clever. Tommy Knight plays Luke Smith brilliantly, as we see who nightmares can be manipulated. The Nightmare Man is sinister, and the dreams it creates are all the fears a character like Luke Smith would have. The episode is therefore accurate and scary. It’s grown up in the sense that it’s taken more seriously The actors play the characters well, and even Sarah Jane’s character is accurate and in some cases, a joy to watch. We now have an accurate, scary and more grown up Sarah Jane series on our hands.
However. Luke Smith has left Bannerman Road for the time being (though he is back this series) and we’re back to the comedy ways of Clyde and Rani. The idea of a big change on Bannerman Road made everyone more serious, and made the programme more serious. They took the situation seriously, they were real people that you could relate to. However, with nothing serious to worry about, we could be back to the normal ‘let’s count with SJ’. We could be back to comedy, silly aliens and silly acting. A shame after the serious, grown up and almost realistic nature of the Nightmare Man. With nothing serious to think about, the silly side could be back in the Sarah Jane Adventures.
Doctor Who is a show about aliens. Sarah Jane should be a show about the people and the aliens. The side of people worked brilliantly in the Nightmare Man. Real emotions, real people, and a more realistic side to everything. But with nothing to do with the people (apart from a continuing ‘will they, won’t they go out with each other’ with Clyde and Rani) we could be back to the silly aliens. Silly aliens would be a let down.
Still. Let’s hope for more episodes like The Nightmare Man! Let’s hope for less of the silly side. We got brilliant acting and a brilliant storyline in the Nightmare Man. This needs to continue. Roll on next week!
See you then,
James
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