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Apr 20, 2013

TIN DOG PODCAST REVIEWS HIDE 

FROM WIKI

"Hide"[2] is the ninth episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who. It first aired on BBC One on 20 April 2013. It stars Matt Smithas the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswald. This episode is based on ghosts and includes Jessica Raine playing a character called Emma Grayling and Dougray Scott in the role of a scientist named Professor Alec Palmer.[3]

Plot

In 1974, Professor Alec Palmer and his assistant Emma Grayling collect photographic evidence of a ghost, known as the Witch of the Well, in the Caliburn mansion; Alec uses Emma's strong psychic powers to create an emotional connection that appears to summon the ghost. They are surprised by the arrival of the Doctor and Clara, claiming to be from military intelligence. The Doctor shows interest in the investigation after Clara points out that the ghost appears in the same position within each photograph. As they investigate, Clara finds that Emma has feelings for Alec but which are seemingly not reciprocated; at the same time, Emma warns Clara about sensing "a sliver of ice" within the Doctor's heart.

The Doctor and Clara find a location in the mansion which is noticeably colder than the rest of the house, and the group feels as if they are being watched. Suddenly, the house grows cold, and Clara feels something holding her hand; the two race back to where Alec and Emma are waiting to see Alec's equipment activating on its own accord. A thin black disc materializes in front of them, and Emma senses something crying "help me" through her psychic abilities before the disc vanishes and the house returns to normal.

The Doctor takes Clara in the TARDIS to examine the specific spot at several points during the Earth's history, and comes to the conclusion that there is a gateway to a pocket dimension there that is collapsing rapidly, and that someone - the person behind the ghost - is trapped within it. The Doctor asserts he cannot use the TARDIS as its energy would be drained as soon as it materialised, and instead helps to prepare a device to stimulate Emma's psychic abilities to open the gateway. He further constructs a tethered vest and means to pull him back across once he crosses over.

When the Doctor crosses over, he finds himself in a forested area, a small bit of land floating in a void. He meets Hila Tukurian, a time traveller and the woman stuck in the pocket dimension, who warns him that something else is there, following them. They race to the gateway, seeing an echo of the Caliburn house appear in the pocket dimension and try to barricade themselves from the creature to give them time to return. The Doctor insists Hila go first, and though she is successfully saved, the gateway closes due to Emma's exhaustion, leaving the Doctor trapped in the forest with the fast-moving creature. Drawn by the sound of the TARDIS' cloister bell, Clara races to the TARDIS, finding it locked. She pleads with the device to let them save the Doctor, and the TARDIS lets her in. The TARDIS briefly appears in the pocket universe, flying close to the ground to allow the Doctor to jump and hang onto it before the creature can grab him. The Doctor and the TARDIS safely reappear in the normal world.

As the Doctor and Clara prepare to leave, the Doctor tells Emma the real reason he stopped at this point was to ask Emma if she could sense anything unusual about Clara, but Emma reveals that there is nothing strange, but does reveal that Clara is, "more scared than she lets on". The Doctor offers Hila a lift to any other place in history, but as he discusses the matter with her he reveals that she is the future descendant of Emma, and the blood connection is what allowed Emma to open the gateway to rescue her. Further, he states that Hila is also the future descendant of Alec. Contemplating the bonds that love can create, the Doctor then realises that there is another entity within the Caliburn house. He implores Emma's help one last time to rescue the creature from the pocket dimension and reunite it with its mate.

[edit]Continuity

The blue crystal is from Metebelis III; the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) had stolen a blue crystal from the planet in The Green Death and returned it in Planet of the Spiders.[4][5] The Doctor mentions the Eye of Harmony, which was introduced in The Deadly Assassin.[4]The Doctor puts on the orange spacesuit he wore originally in "The Impossible Planet" / "The Satan Pit" and wore on a number of occasions up to "The Waters of Mars".[4] As in earlier episode Let's Kill Hitler, the TARDIS employs an emergency holographic service to communicate, though it did not previously broadcast this outside of its' control room.

[edit]Cultural references

Clara introduces herself and The Doctor as Ghostbusters.[4] The Doctor recites in his dialogue the lyrics "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it" from "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" by Cole Porter.[4]

[edit]Production

Tyntesfield House, which was used as a filming location of the mansion.

Writer Neil Cross was a Doctor Who fan, but had never had the time to write an episode. Executive producer Caroline Skinner, who was new with the seventh series, knew him and offered to work his schedule around writing an episode; he was willing to do it.[6] Executive producer and lead writer Steven Moffat was pleased to have Cross join, as he was a showrunner in his own right with Luther.[6] Cross also wrote the seventh episode of the series, "The Rings of Akhaten", which he was invited to do after the producers enjoyed "Hide".[7]

Cross wanted to write "a really old-fashioned scary episode of Doctor Who" targeted especially at children nine to twelve, which was how he remembered Doctor Who at that age.[8] He aimed to show suspense and tension, as he felt it was more terrifying than "full-on shock horror blood and gore".[9] Cross was inspired by The Quatermass Experiment and its sequels, and originally intended to have the Doctor meet Bernard Quatermass, though this was not possible due to copyright reasons.[8] Cross was also inspired by Quatermass writer Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape.[8] The Crooked Man was something Cross said lurked in his imagination.[9]

Cross wanted to tell the story with "a small cast and as few locations as possible".[8] Jessica Raine was offered the part of Emma Grayling, and later said that she had not realised "what an institution Doctor Who is" until she arrived on set.[10] She said it was produced very differently from her series Call the Midwife.[10] Raine had also worked with Matt Smith before on a play.[10] Cross said that Raine and co-guest star Dougray Scott were good at filling out their characters, as he found it difficult to fully "evoke the history of a quite complex relationship" between their characters with just the script.[8] Subsequent to filming her appearance in this episode, Raine was cast as Doctor Who's original producer, Verity Lambert, in the anniversary special An Adventure in Space and Time.[11]

"Hide" was the first episode Jenna-Louise Coleman filmed as Clara.[7][12] Scenes were filmed in Margam Country Park in June 2012.[12][13] Tyntesfield, a National Trust property near Bristol was used as the mansion.[14] The scenes in the forest were filmed in a forest in Wales, with artificial mist.[9] The Crooked Man's movements were done in reverse and then played forward, to give it an unnatural movement.[9]

[edit]Broadcast and reception

"Hide" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 20 April 2013.[15] Overnight ratings showed that the episode was watched by 5 million viewers live.[16]

[edit]Critical reception

The episode received positive reviews. Neela Debnath of The Independent praised how the episode blended a haunted house story with a science fiction tale, highlighting the twist at the end of "ugly aliens have feelings too".[17] The Guardian reviewer Dan Martin said that it had "the hallmarks of an episode that will be discussed for years to come", including the guest stars and atmosphere. He praised the direction, but criticised some of the dialogue.[18]

Daisy Bowie-Sall of The Daily Telegraph gave "Hide" four out of five stars.[19] Radio Times reviewer Patrick Mulkern gave "Hide" a positive review, highlighting Smith's performance and the spookiness. While he praised Raine and Scott, he felt that Hila was "shortchanged", and also criticised the "love story" ending.[5] The A.V. Club's Alasdair Wilkins gave the episode an A-, praising the way it changed direction and the subtle hints about the Doctor.[20]

Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy gave the story four out of five stars, writing that it flowed better than Cross' last episode, "The Rings of Akhaten", and allowed for the exploration of several themes. While he was positive towards the way the story was tied back to a time traveller, he felt that the ending was "perhaps less interesting than what's come before, simply because it feels more familiar", though it was still "solid".[21] IGN's Mark Snow gave the episode a score of 8.4 out of 10. He praised the smaller scope and focus on character, but wrote "the left-field genre detour didn't completely convince, and felt jarringly underwhelming considering the spooky set-up, but at least it tried something unique".[22] Jordan Farley of SFX gave "Hide" four out of five stars. Farley felt that the science fiction element left too many answers, but said that it excelled as a love story.[23]

[edit]References

  1. ^ "Doctor Who Series 7 - 10. Hide"Radio Times. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Radio Times Doctor Who"BBC Doctor Who. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  3. ^ DW - List of characters with actors "DW - Credits"Doctor Who, Retrieved on 20 April 2013.
  4. a b c d e "The Fourth Dimension: "Hide"". BBC. 20 March, 2013. Retrieved 20 March, 2013.
  5. a b Mulkern, Patrick (20 April 2013). "Doctor Who: Hide review - "Hide is about as creepy as modern Doctor Who can get"".Radio Times. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  6. a b Radish, Christina (27 March 2013). "Steven Moffat Talks DOCTOR WHO, His Favorite Upcoming Episodes, Writing the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes, the 50th Anniversary, and More". Collider. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  7. a b "Doctor Who "The Rings Of Akhaten": Writer Neil Cross Interview"SFX. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  8. a b c d e Jewell, Stephen (16 April 2013). "Doctor Who "Hide" Writer Neil Cross Interviewed"SFX. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  9. a b c d "Behind the Scenes of Doctor Who: Hide" (Video). BBC. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  10. a b c McAlpine, Fraser (16 January 2013). "'Call The Midwife's Jessica Raine: "'Doctor Who' Is Magical""BBC America. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  11. ^ "David Bradley to play William Hartnell in Celebration of Doctor Who"BBC Online. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  12. a b Golder, Dave (1 June 2012). "Doctor Who Series 7: Over 40 Locations Shots Including New Companion"SFX. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  13. ^ Eames, Tom (11 June 2012). "'Doctor Who': Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman in new photo"Digital Spy. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  14. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (14 April 2013). "Doctor Who: Call the Midwife's Jessica Raine previews Hide"Radio Times. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  15. ^ "Doctor Who — Hide". BBC. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  16. ^ "Doctor Who "Hide" Overnight Ratings"SFX. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  17. ^ Debnath, Neela (20 April 2013). "Review of Doctor Who 'Hide' – Series 7, episode 9"The Independent. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  18. ^ Martin, Dan (20 April 2013). "Doctor Who: Hide — series 33, episode 9"The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  19. ^ Bowie-Sall, Daisy (20 April 2013). "Doctor Who: Hide, BBC One, review"The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  20. ^ Wilkins, Alasdair (20 April 2013). "Hide"The A.V. Club. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  21. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (20 April 2013). "'Doctor Who': New episode 'Hide' review"Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  22. ^ Snow, Mark (20 April 2013). "Who Does Horror"IGN. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  23. ^ Farley, Jordan (20 April 2013). "Doctor Who 7.09 "Hide" Review"SFX. Retrieved 21 April 2013.