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Having seen handmade costumes and
effects from older episodes of Doctor Who,
it is hard to understand how they were experienced as scary. With the reboot of
Doctor Who in 2005, ‘The Empty Child’
was the first episode that recreated that classic feeling of wanting to watch
the show from ‘behind the sofa’ for the newer, younger audience. The entire
episode makes the viewer feel uncomfortable with the use of its dark setting
during the London Blitz, weird camera angles and, above all, the gas-mask-wearing
child asking ‘Are you my mummy?’ in a monotonous, emotionless voice. The episode makes the viewer feel uncomfortable
and confused because the child appears to be human and is asking such a simple
question, appearing so sweet and innocent but at the same time terrifying because
of the mask. You cannot see his face or even tell whether the question is
actually coming from the child’s mouth. There’s confusion as to whether to call
it a him or call him an it. It is this unsettling feeling about
someone you would naturally want to help that ushers the viewer into the space
of previous generations, back ‘behind the sofa’. |
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