History Recap / DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors

'''Original air date:''' September 3, 2011

'''Production code:''' 2.4

Written by Creator/MarkGatiss.

* RealityWarper: George can bring monsters to life with his imagination and trap people in his cupboard by wishing for it.

--->'''Amy:''' I found scary kids. Does that count?

-->'''Amy:''' I take it all back. Panic now.

The one with the [[CreepyDollhouse scary]] [[CreepyDoll dolls]] and nursery rhyme.

* ArbitraryScepticism: Rory is skeptical of the living dolls, to which Amy points out that he's a time-travelling nurse. Who was even ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens once plastic himself]]''.

-->'''Rory:''' I'm from Community Services. Here to check up on... community... based... things...

'''Alex:''' ... you're not from Social Services, are you?
* ChangelingFantasy: As it turns out, George ''himself'' is the source of his troubles -- he's actually a Tenza, a powerfully psychic race who apparently masquerade as the children of other races in order to grow; the process is explicitly compared to cuckoos (though without the parasitic aspect, making them more like serial adoptees).

** The humans turning into dolls felt very "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild Empty Child]]".

* CreepyDollhouse: George is afraid of his dollhouse, so it ends up manifesting in reality and becoming huge, and it's ''very'' scary.
* CreepyTwins:
** Amy thinks so.
--->'''Amy:''' I found ''scary'' kids. Does that count?
** As the initial dolls also look like the twins, George may agree.

%%* EnfantTerrible

* EvilLaugh: The {{Creepy Doll}}s ''never stop laughing''.

** Also Rory and Amy once they realise the dolls can turn people into one of them.

* GenderBender: Possibly: the male landlord is turned into a doll that resembles a little girl and wears a dress; however, it's never revealed whether the dolls actually ''have'' genders.
* GiantEyeOfDoom: Spoofed; Rory and Amy shriek when they open a drawer to reveal a huge eye staring out at them, and are squicked at the thought of touching it... only for it to turn out to be a huge but harmless GlassEye.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: The landlord who threatens Alex with a dog is the first one to get turned into a CreepyDoll. He gets better.
* LawOfInverseFertility: George's parents were desperate for a baby and tried everything, but just couldn't succeed. Fortunately, a spacefaring psychic cuckoo saw that they wanted a baby.

'''The Doctor:''' Understandable.

** Alex when he realizes [[spoiler: his wife, Clair can't have kids. So why do they have a son?]]
** Amy and Rory have a shared expression of this when they see Mr Purcell transform into a Peg Doll. Realizing just how much danger they are in.

* PapaWolf: Alex certainly wants to protect his son, but unfortunately he's going about protecting George in entirely the wrong way, which gave George the idea that Alex wanted to send him away. He later braves the evil dolls in a straight example.
* PetTheDog: At the end, the landlord hugs his dog.

* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: The Doctor says this of George's cabinet after scanning it with the screwdriver. Played so straight it's genuinely scary. The Doctor goes from being cocky to trying to get as far away from the cupboard as he can ''in a second''.

* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: Since George isn't aware of his abilities, and also happens to be a little boy, sort-of adopted and feeling rejected, he unwittingly makes all his nightmares come true by believing in them so much.

* SpitTake: Alex does one when the Doctor suggests opening the cupboard.
* ThisIsNoTimeToPanic: Amy points out that Rory is unnecessarily panicking when they're walking through the doll's house. She takes it back 30 seconds later when they both realize his panicking was justified.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Rory is surprisingly unsympathetic to George's fear, first teasing Amy about letting the monsters gobble him up and secondly thinking it's just junk mail. Amy even gives him a small DeathGlare for the first one.

* AdultFear: Partly in the beginning with Alex, who neatly captures the struggles and frustrations of a parent of a child apparently suffering from some sort of disorder or syndrome he doesn't fully understand and is afraid he never will -- and having to deal with all that as well as a {{Jerkass}} landlord extorting rent you have trouble paying.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Rory is skeptical of the living dolls, to which Amy points out that he's a time-travelling nurse. Who was even ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens once plastic himself]]''.

* SpotOfTea: The Doctor tries to make a cup while pondering the cupboard's true nature.