Silence (Doctor Who)
The Silence (individual: Silent) are a religious order[1] in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, represented by humanoids with alien-like physical characteristics.[2] Executive producer Steven Moffat created the Silence, intending them to be scarier than past villains in Doctor Who. Though the phrase "Silence will fall" recurred throughout the 2010 series of Doctor Who, the Silence were not seen until the 2011 series' opener "The Impossible Astronaut". Their origins are eventually revealed in the 2013 special "The Time of the Doctor".
The Silence
In creating the Silence shown in "The Impossible Astronaut", Moffat drew inspiration from Edvard Munch's 1893 expressionist painting The Scream as well as the Men in Black. The Silence continues Moffat's trend of using simple psychological concepts to make his monsters more frightening. In this case of the Silence, their existence is a secret because anyone who sees them immediately forgets about them after looking away, but retains suggestions made to them by the Silence. This allows them to have a pervasive influence across human history while being difficult to locate or resist.
Reception[edit]
The Guardian's Dan Martin responded favourably to the Silence. Though he described them as "a standard Moffat psychological trick", he commended it as the "most refined to date" and praised an introductory scene that was reminiscent of the unsettling directorial work of David Lynch.[9] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote that though the Silence's central gimmick felt similar to previous ones, Moffat "continues to use those same tricks in such clever combinations, and with such technical flair, that I'm not tired of most of them yet."[10]
The A.V. Club's Keith Phipps wrote favourably of Moffat's handling of the species in "Day of the Moon". In particular, the introduction of a hand audio-recorder concept as particularly clever, as it allowed for developments in Rory's paranoia concerning Amy's feelings for the Doctor, although Phipps reflected that he was confused by the montage that connected the Silence to other mentions of "silence" in previous episodes.[12]
Following concerns being raised about whether the Silence had made Doctor Who too scary for children,[13] Moffat responded by saying, "I emphatically think that's not the case ... children like to be scared—like on a ghost train or a rollercoaster."[14]
Some reviewers noted favourable comparisons with monsters from American fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Gentlemen from its critically acclaimed fourth season episode "Hush" (1999). Mike Moody for AOL TV wrote of the Silence, "They're pretty damn scary, and they remind me of The Gentleman from Buffy. (Anything that recalls Buffy is a plus for me.)"[15] A Television Without Pity reviewer described the Silence as monsters which "look essentially identical to the Gentlemen from Buffy".[16]