When I initially heard Doctor Who would be having a found-footage episode, I wasn't too thrilled. Not only has that film style become gimmicky over the past few years (it's a lazy excuse to film unprofessionally), but I was mainly afraid that it would end up as a confusing, unsatisfying story that could have easily been replaced by a better one. Those fears did carry over to the end result, but I'd be lying if I said "Sleep No More" was terrible. It's probably among the scariest episodes of the rebooted series and the found footage stuff isn't as all over the place as I thought, but I look back at it and get confused about what was going on in this episode.
The Doctor and Clara wind up on a space station orbiting Neptune which has attracted the attention of a troop of soldiers. The station had recently gone quiet and they're here to investigate and perform a rescue if needed. The group meets Professor Rassmussen and his invention Morpheus, a chamber that gives users a month of sleep in five minutes. Obviously, things go wrong.
Okay, positive stuff first. Like I said, I would consider "Sleep No More" to be one of the creepiest episodes NewWho has given us. The overall quietness adds a ton of tension, and the monsters themselves are actually quite gruesome. The moment where we first see one of them, when Deep-Andro turns around to suddenly be facing one of them, almost made me jump. The ending scene was what really got me, though, with Rassmussen finishing off his account and revealing himself as one of the monsters and telling the audience that they're all hosts to the sleep dust now. Uh, yikes!
I also really enjoyed the concept of the Morpheus machines. It's an invention that solves a relateable human problem, but like other seemingly helpful inventions in the Whoniverse, it has deadly side effects.
The found footage aspect was actually pulled off rather well. The plot isn't hindered by it, but enhanced. There was a point in the episode where I noticed some of the "footage" was taken from Clara and Rassmussen's viewpoints, even though they didn't seem to have the helmet cams the soldiers had. When the reveal comes that all the footage we've been seeing is actually from the dust watching everyone, I thought that was a pretty inventive twist and a good way of using the F.F. gimmick. However, that reveal is also pretty confusing. Did they explain how the dust can record and transmit footage. How can Rassmussen tap into it?
There was also some fun humour to help offset the brooding tone. The Doctor and Clara's argument over using "space" as a prefix was a particular highlight. The scene with Deep-Andro being forced to open a door by singing "Mr. Sandman" stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't amount to anything and took up too much time, so it was probably there for filler.
Bad stuff! The "Sandmen" had a great design and everything, but they're made of the eye grime (or "sleep dust") we get during the night? It seemed a bit too far-fetched. Yes, even for Doctor Who.
Reece Shearsmith's role Rassmussen was ultimately disappointing. His performance was great, but the he doesn't get much screentime and turns out to be both the generic "selfish inventor" and "slave to the monsters." In other words, he wasn't interesting whatsoever. Also, we see him apparently get eaten by a Sandman, and then he pops up again. When it is asked by a character how he survived, the answer is completely skipped.
But the episode's biggest crime is the confusing twist at the end that I can't describe because it's "explained" so poorly. It's something like the whole thing was a story made by Rassmussen? So, what, the whole episode didn't happen? What?
To finish things off (no "Other Thoughts" section this time around), "Sleep No More" might benefit from another viewing from me. It's probably the weakest episode of Series 9 thus far, but it still has plenty of highlights.
Rating: 7.3/10 non-existent helmet cams
Next week sees the return of the regular format, as well as Rigsy and Ashildr. Will this be the curtain call for Clara, though?
Noah
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