Silence will Fall

The Silence is another of the most inventive baddies in the Whoniverse. They’re a creepy looking alien race that any sane person would be terrified of, but the second you’re no longer looking at them you don’t remember them. You can’t. But you remember the suggestions they’ve given you.

How weird would that be? You find yourself somewhere, heart nearly bearing out of your chest, tears and streaming down and your face and urine down your leg. You can tell you’re terrified, but not why, and you’ve got a sudden urge to murder Matt Smith. Then you turn your head and… THERE THEY ARE AGAIN! Then more crying and pee.

Their first appearance, The Impossible Astronaut, is also an incredible episode because we’re treated to guest star Mark Sheppard—another ’s’ for those keeping score!

That’s right, Supernatural fans! Crowley! Obviously, his character in Doctor Who is not Crowley, because that would be far too much awesome for one TV screen. Still… pretty awesome!

The Doctor and Crowley—that’s right, I’m using his Supernatural name—defeat the Silence with a clever trick. They get one of them talking. This Silent starts bragging about how dangerous they are and that any human should kill any Silent on sight.

Well, gabby-pants, they recorded your whole speech and spliced it into the Apollo 11 moon landing—I forgot to mention they’re back in 1969 during this episode. Everyone watching that broadcast doesn’t remember seeing a Silent, but the idea of killing them on sight is implanted into each of their heads. Brilliant!

That isn’t the end of the Silence. They show up again to stir up a bunch of stuff, but let’s not get into that. The later episodes don’t have Crowley.