Hedgewick’s World of Wonders

Story: Nightmare in Silver
Written By: Neil Gaiman
Length: 45 Minutes
Year: 2013

The Cybermen return and get a new upgrade, this time written by the excellent Neil Gaiman.  The episode is quite entertaining, even if the end is oddly easy and seems sort of like “why not just do that from the get go?”.  Still I liked most of what went on, the new Cybermen look awesome...they are sleeker, move faster (they even run!), and they look less like clunky yet updated versions of the 80s Cybermen (like the 2006 redesign had sort of looked), and more like an update of the “Tomb of the Cybermen” design...I love the less bulky heads.  It is a less bulky design all around, which I really like, and they don’t clomp around as loudly as they had, which is another huge plus.  
Beyond the new design, the Doctor takes Clara, as well as the two children she nannies for (Warning: the girl is annoying), to the biggest amusement park in the universe, Hedgewick’s World of Wonders.  Unfortunately the park is mostly closed down now and the only thing to find is a disused Cybermen and some Cybermites (essentially small bug like Cybermats)....and unfortunately for the Doctor...a whole new Army of Cybermen.  The Doctor is even half taken over by Cyber tech to become a new Cyber Controller...and the two sides of the Doctor’s mind must play chess for the last piece of his Brain.  It makes ore sense when you watch it.  

The end, where it seems a little too easy, is that it turns out Warwick Davis isn’t just a employee of the park, but the Emperor of Humans.  His performance is quite good throughout the episode, and I liked him a lot, but it is his line, in which he just says something simple and everything we needed to wrap up the episodes just happens. It kind of has you think “well...what took you so long”.  But maybe he just needed all the characters in the same room.  There was a nice little moment at the end which showed that the end of the Cybermen is most likely not at hand. 

Overall I liked this one, it had some problems, notably the easy end...but I think Gaiman’s script is mostly entertaining, and Warwick Davis gives an enjoyable performance. 

NEXT TIME: The Whisper Men

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