There are only two episodes (stories) that have scared me in nuWho. First one is Blink, second is The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. First time I watched Blink I absolutely **** myself, lol. I could scarcely bare April on my calendar this year either; the most awful image of a Weeping Angel staring over my bed every night. Those things terrify me and it's not just how they make you jump in the episodes; it's everything about how they look. Especially the eyes! Oh,and I'm 23, LOL.
One of my memories, for example, is finding the robot imposter Doctor from 'The Chase' with William Hartnell (this is was on VHS; I wasn't born in the 60s) horribly creepy.
I think dopplegangers, especially of trusted figures, is always a frightening thing. The scariest book I read as a child was 'Grinny'. Anyone remember that? I guess 'Coraline' would be a more recent equivalent.
I know you have memories... But memory isn't absolute for stuff like emotion, but it's the comparison that confuses me... also you're not likely to be as scared now so some people use that that to say children won't be scared...
and yes Grinny is an f-ing scary book... Nicholas Fisk is bonkers...
Empty Child, Blink, Midnight and the scarecrows in Family of Blood. Brrrrrrr.....
From the classic series the things that scared me weer the Cybermen (it's the stomping walk, I think) and a robot version of Sarah Jane; she fell over, and her face dropped off to reveal machinery inside her head and just eyeballs loking out of it. I *hated* that! :eek:
I was probably about eight or so at the time. Oh - and the Wirrn transformation scene in The Ark in Space. And the ventriloquist's dummy in The Talons of Weng Chiang, though I was a bit older then. Proper creepy!!!
I enjoyed The Crimson Horror, but scary? No. Maybe to a child, in the same sense Hammer Horror scared me as a child. But I think TCH was more influenced by the psuedo horror of Carry on Screaming than anything else.:D
I've never seen the show as properly scary, which makes sense for a family-oriented series, but there's a few things that have been a little chilling;
The Empty Child story is, to me, the scariest the seven series have been. Moffat's offered some great episodes, but for scares this one leads the way by a mile
For me, the only scene that "shocked" me in a chilling way was in Silence in the Library. Donna's scream as she's taken from the TARDIS suddenly made me wonder if the TARDIS was the safe place it had always been, and given how ambitious Series 4 had been at that stage, I genuinely didn't know where they were going with that.
One of my memories, for example, is finding the robot imposter Doctor from 'The Chase' with William Hartnell (this is was on VHS; I wasn't born in the 60s) horribly creepy.
I think dopplegangers, especially of trusted figures, is always a frightening thing.
You are exactly right about this. In a direct analogy, my 5-year-old son found The Bells of St John very scary because it was impossible to tell whether it was the real Doctor or the Spoonhead.
Midnight was certainly the scariest thing RTD did.
As someone who wasn't a big fan of some of the choices he made, I thought he got Midnight spot on.
it's one of the few episodes where The Doctor seemed to be in serious danger. I was surprised they never did a follow up as the insidious nature of those creatures would have made for an interesting invasion/planetary takeover story.
I never get truly "scared" by it...same with Horror films....sure i feel the unease/eerie atmosphere and love it but several DW eps have left me in a sense of enease and sent chills and these are
The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon/The Wedding Of River Song - the sheer concept of the Silence creatures awe me....but i think for me they are the scariest creatures Doctor Who has created IMO....although saying that the Whispermen look set to challenge that....but the scenes in the orphanage, in the tanks, in the lavatory.....they were really genuinely eerie and unnerving!
Broken down lone Cyberman and Stone Dalek in Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang really gave a sense of unease!
ARE YOU MY MUMMY? iconic and very very errie and macabre in The EMpty Child/Doctor Dances.....loved it!
the TARDIS sequences in The Doctors Wife i found very eerie also and the image of ROry decaying over time really sent chills!
and Crimson Horror recently for that scene of 11 chained up and the image of the man dying in front of him AH! and Mister Sweet AH! brilliantly macabre
Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead was such a tense atmosphere mainly also for the idea of a netherworld too with distorted psycho analysis!
Yeah i think they would be my near top episodes there in terms of unnerving/scaring me.
Another vote for Silence in the Library. Miss Evangelista's data ghost was both chilling and sad.
When she took off her veil and revealed her face that FREAKED me out....:eek:
Also vote for Blink though, the first encounter with the Weeping Angels was definitely the best for me, one of the best episodes for me. Midnight as well, and it sounds silly but that giant beetle thing on Donna's back in Turn Left gave me the creeps too...:o
I'd agree that Midnight is probably the closest that the show has come to being genuinely frightening for an adult (of reasonable disposition; I'm aware there are sensitive types). I'd like to see them push towards that territory a bit more often. Why not?
I grew up watching horror films with my mum; nothing I wanted to read was censored - it fed my imagination and it desensitized me to imaginary violence so that I was no longer afraid of things that weren't real, like a television programme. A good thing, in my opinion.
Comments
I know you have memories... But memory isn't absolute for stuff like emotion, but it's the comparison that confuses me... also you're not likely to be as scared now so some people use that that to say children won't be scared...
and yes Grinny is an f-ing scary book... Nicholas Fisk is bonkers...
From the classic series the things that scared me weer the Cybermen (it's the stomping walk, I think) and a robot version of Sarah Jane; she fell over, and her face dropped off to reveal machinery inside her head and just eyeballs loking out of it. I *hated* that! :eek:
I was probably about eight or so at the time. Oh - and the Wirrn transformation scene in The Ark in Space. And the ventriloquist's dummy in The Talons of Weng Chiang, though I was a bit older then. Proper creepy!!!
Agreed....also The Girl in the Fireplace (monsters under the bed!)
But then I have never found a horror film scary before.
Mignight though was pretty intense.
The Empty Child story is, to me, the scariest the seven series have been. Moffat's offered some great episodes, but for scares this one leads the way by a mile
For me, the only scene that "shocked" me in a chilling way was in Silence in the Library. Donna's scream as she's taken from the TARDIS suddenly made me wonder if the TARDIS was the safe place it had always been, and given how ambitious Series 4 had been at that stage, I genuinely didn't know where they were going with that.
I totaly agree.
Seriously, it's Silence in the Library two-parter, Midnight and Impossible Astronaut two-parter.
You are exactly right about this. In a direct analogy, my 5-year-old son found The Bells of St John very scary because it was impossible to tell whether it was the real Doctor or the Spoonhead.
Midnight was certainly the scariest thing RTD did.
As someone who wasn't a big fan of some of the choices he made, I thought he got Midnight spot on.
it's one of the few episodes where The Doctor seemed to be in serious danger. I was surprised they never did a follow up as the insidious nature of those creatures would have made for an interesting invasion/planetary takeover story.
The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon/The Wedding Of River Song - the sheer concept of the Silence creatures awe me....but i think for me they are the scariest creatures Doctor Who has created IMO....although saying that the Whispermen look set to challenge that....but the scenes in the orphanage, in the tanks, in the lavatory.....they were really genuinely eerie and unnerving!
Broken down lone Cyberman and Stone Dalek in Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang really gave a sense of unease!
ARE YOU MY MUMMY? iconic and very very errie and macabre in The EMpty Child/Doctor Dances.....loved it!
the TARDIS sequences in The Doctors Wife i found very eerie also and the image of ROry decaying over time really sent chills!
and Crimson Horror recently for that scene of 11 chained up and the image of the man dying in front of him AH! and Mister Sweet AH! brilliantly macabre
Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead was such a tense atmosphere mainly also for the idea of a netherworld too with distorted psycho analysis!
Yeah i think they would be my near top episodes there in terms of unnerving/scaring me.
When she took off her veil and revealed her face that FREAKED me out....:eek:
Also vote for Blink though, the first encounter with the Weeping Angels was definitely the best for me, one of the best episodes for me. Midnight as well, and it sounds silly but that giant beetle thing on Donna's back in Turn Left gave me the creeps too...:o
Probably Empty Child though.
I'd agree that Midnight is probably the closest that the show has come to being genuinely frightening for an adult (of reasonable disposition; I'm aware there are sensitive types). I'd like to see them push towards that territory a bit more often. Why not?
I grew up watching horror films with my mum; nothing I wanted to read was censored - it fed my imagination and it desensitized me to imaginary violence so that I was no longer afraid of things that weren't real, like a television programme. A good thing, in my opinion.
Personally I'd go with Midnight and Waters of Mars - that starkness of Adelaide having survived back to earth and then still dying because she had to.