Day 156: The Monsters of Doctor Who (Part 6)

Okay. Final post about this whole Doctor Who ranking system thingy (that sentence got away from me a bit).

Midnight

Quick Summary: "Midnight" refers to the planet on which this monster is found. The planet Midnight is in orbit around an extonic star (long story short, no life survives being exposed to extonic light). Humanity has only recently been able to visit Midnight when a Leisure Palace was constructed off-planet and then dropped into place from orbit. The entire complex is encased in several metres of a special glass to protect inhabitants from the extonic rays. While on a train to the Sapphire Falls, the Doctor encounters the impossible: a potential life form. The train stops midway to the Falls, and the mechanic thinks he could see a form running on the diamond cliffs during a brief look out the driving compartment. While the members in the travel compartment start to panic, they hear a knocking sound around the hull. Knock Knock. The knocking then mimics patterns that the passengers knock inside the compartment. Finally, the knocking seems to isolate one especially panicked woman. There is a loud noise, the lights go out, and the driving compartment is ripped away. While originally immobile, the woman that was selected by the knocking first begins to parrot what the other passengers say, then speak in tandem before finally focusing on the Doctor and stealing his voice by speaking ahead of him. The  passengers in a fit of mass hysteria consider throwing out the Doctor before the stewardess realizes the truth and sacrifices herself by pulling the woman/thing out onto the surface of Midnight.

The mystery and the unknown surrounding Midnight (the creature) is one element of terror. We never know what the being's purpose was or how it came to live on the extonic surface. The process of voice-stealing is also never explained. However, for me Midnight wasn't a scary monster like others on the list.

Here's my rationale: Midnight was terrifying for the passengers, as viewers could see from their hysteria. However, Midnight holds little to no influence over the viewer. Personally, I don't think I would devolve into the hysterical state, especially if the Doctor was in the compartment with me. What's more, Midnight (the creature) is exclusively confined to the fictional surface of Midnight (the planet). With the Weeping Angels, Silence, and Vashta Nerada, there is either explicit plot scenarios or implicit suggestions which hint that those monsters could be found on Earth. Midnight has no such presence.

The majority of the terror factor for Midnight is in the mass hysteria of the passengers, but if you don't fall into that hysteria (which is probable if you knew the Doctor at all), then Midnight is less of a threat. Although the episode is an interesting study of group dynamics and hysteria, the faults lie with the humans on the train, not the influence of the monster.

Videos:
Midnight (the planet) can't hold life (Go to 7:20 and watch the presentation given by one of the passengers)

Midnight Mimicry (ooh, alliteration)