Warning: Doctor Who intensive material follows. Spoilers for "Blink", too.
So as a reward to myself for finishing up a pile of work, I watched the Doctor Who episode "Blink." This is the second time I have seen it, and it was even better this time. Honestly, even if you are not a Who fan, this one episode stands out. I’d put it up against any other single episode of any show, including "Out of Gas" in Firefly.
Anyway, I think I have found an inconsistency, and it’s making me insane. What follows are spoilers, so if you’ve seen it, help me out. If you haven’t, then get it! Watch it! Love it!
So the detective shows Sally the cars and the TARDIS parked in the police station. He says they’ve had it a while, it’s their crown jewel of the collection. What must have happened is that after the Doctor and Martha are sent back to 1969 by the angels, the police found the box at the house and moved it.
But then later, maybe that evening, Sally and Larry are at the abandoned house, and she finds the TARDIS in the basement!
I can’t see how that’s anything but a mistake. I even tried to think of some way for the Doctor to have taken the TARDIS to that house after all the events we see (he knows she was in the house when he "talks" to her — best conversation scene ever written, ever, by the way), but it’s a stretch, and I don’t think this is how it was meant to have happened…
Sally sends the TARDIS in the house back to 1969, rescuing the Doctor and Martha (but not the detective! That seems cruel). Then he takes it back to the house and leaves it there for her to find — maybe he shows up just an hour before she and Larry come to the house. Then the Doctor and Martha walk to the police station, grab the TARDIS sitting there, and off they go!
That actually works. However, it means the TARDIS is in two places at the same time, and it may be that the TARDIS in the basement is in some sort of causal loop. Also, and I have to stress this, he leaves the detective in 1969. He has to, I know, but yikes.
So, does this make sense?
Still, what a story! This is up there with The Terminator for sheer time travel wonderfulness, and of course, wibbley-wobbley timey-wimeyness.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:28 am
Well, ikn classic Dr Who it was well established that the Tardis could ‘Home in’ on the Doc so he would never have been stranded in a different time to it anyway.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:00 am
Completely agree about this being one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever. I have to say I’ve never been so thoroughly creeped out by a monster in a TV show before (barring some moments in the X-Files).
I went over the timeline with a friend of mine, and he seems to remember them explaining that the angels took the TARDIS from the police department and brought it back to the house. That should have happened shortly after the police officer was sent back in time.
I just can’t seem to remember why that house was so important.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:08 am
This is my favourite Dr Who episode too, along with the Empty Child (same writer) It took me back to my childhood when Dr Who could only be watched from behind the sofa. ( At the time I used to live next door to Nicholas Courtney who played the Brigadier back in the Jon Pertwee days) Blink gave my nine year old nightmares for a week!
March 1st, 2008 at 2:18 am
It’s been a while since I last saw it, but I agree with Jura – I assumed after they sent Shipton back in time, the angels took the Tardis back to the house, no timey-wimey explanation necessary.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:25 am
I wholeheartedly agree. This episode is outstanding. I have not found anything quite as scary – for me it ranks up there with the first time I saw the film Alien (on the big screen). Even then, I think Blink is actually more tense and scary, because it feels more convincing (I could never get over the fact that the alien in Alien could grow so fast without eating anything).
I did not notice the inconsistency, but when I get the series on DVD, I’ll watch out for it.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:39 am
From my recollection, Jura is correct – the angels moved the TARDIS to the house after Sally saw it at the police station, at around the same time that they sent the detective back in time.
March 1st, 2008 at 2:43 am
Ah, I totally missed that. But then that does beg the question, what’s so special about that house?
Hmmm… she did find the key hanging from an angel’s hand, and that was at the house. So it makes sense they’d want to get to two together, but it seems easier to bring the key to the police station.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:22 am
I’m not the biggest fan of Doctor Who ever. I watch it, but I don’t usually mind if I miss it. But this episode was superb – undoubtedly the best one of any of the new series so far.
I dunno whether or not it was just because the Doc and Martha were hardly in it or not… ;o)
March 1st, 2008 at 3:25 am
Absolutely the best episode so far. Brilliant. Steven Moffat’s episodes really stand out. IIRC, each of his 3 episodes has been nominated for a Hugo and The Empty Child/Doctor Dances won one. Not too shabby. It’s funny to think that the writer behind some of the scariest Doctor Who episodes is the same guy responsible for the hilarity of Coupling. Another thing the episode has going for it is Sally Sparrow. A wonderful character played by a lovely actress. I really hope we’ll see her again sometime.
Anyway, it’s been a while, but I believe the explanation that the Angels moved the TARDIS is correct. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some time to re-watch the episode in the afternoon and confirm it.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:52 am
I love those weeping angels. I want some for the back garden but my boyfriend won’t let me. Wuss
March 1st, 2008 at 3:55 am
Note to self: post Doctor Who stuff late at night, so UKers can read it first thing in the morning.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:58 am
I was doing this when you started explaining your “inconsistancy”: :O
I was befuddled at how you could watch it twice and not get that the angels took it from the police station. (Although, to be fair, I did wonder how they could carry it all the way back to Wester Drumlins without being seen. I know they’re really fast, but… I forgive them that for how totally awesome this episode was.
Oh, and she took the key from the angel before she went to the police station, so when the angels took the TARDIS, they didn’t have the key. Maybe they figured that Sally was drawn to the house and that she would likely return there, which she does.
And it is sad that they couldn’t rescue Billy, but he had to put the Easter eggs in the DVD’s so that Sally and the Doctor could have their “conversation.” Not to do it would have caused a paradox… instead of the self-causal loop. See, time isn’t what you think it is. It’s complicated… very complicated, y’know.
He had a good life, though, just not the one he might have.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:03 am
Oh, forgot to mention, I showed “Blink” at our Halloween party. It was a huge hit, even among those who weren’t Doctor Who fans. Torchwood’s “Countrycide”, however… not so much.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:56 am
MandyDax: The latest season of Torchwood, currently airing, is better than the first.
—
Hey, BA, how about a thread on movie and TV inconsistencies? I’ve got a few myself!
March 1st, 2008 at 5:07 am
One of my all time favorites too. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that time travel is a central element in the plot. Here time travel is not just a way to move the Doctor to an exotic location; it is integral to the story. The warning behind the wall paper and the conversation across time by using a video player were brilliant.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:29 am
I totally agree about the episode in general (it’s amazing how statues can raise the hairs on the back of your neck). The “time-lapse” sequence where the angel “runs” at Larry was absolutely chilling (nevermind that the angel should have been faster than that!).
I also agree about Sally Sparrow. I had hoped that she would become a companion. Frankly, it bothered me that the Doctor would let the Tardis leave without them. How did he know that the angels would end up looking at themselves? (And what happens when someone moves the statues?)
I have a Torchwood question for US fans: I’d heard that BBC America cuts up the show to fit into a timeframe. The news didn’t disturb me too much at first since I don’t actually get BBC America, but I did just dicover that I get Torchwood on my OnDemand channel. Does anyone know if those episodes are cut as well? I’d really like to start on season 2, but not if it’s cut.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:34 am
Oh, I also totally agree about the Steven Moffat episodes. With all due respect to Russell T. Davies (who seems to hog all the writing duties), he’s not the best writer of the show. His episodes always seem have little element in them that sort of makes me rool my eyes. He really needs to let more writers make a statement.
As excellent as Blink is, I’m also going to give major cudos to Human Nature and The Family of Blood, a very affecting two-parter.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:48 am
madge,
I know where you’re coming from. I happened to be watching Rise of the Cybermen, which peaked my 7-year-old’s interest. It was one of those things where he was both completely terrified yet couldn’t seem to resist it. I knew it was scary, but I didn’t quite see the harm since this it was no scarier than the Pirates of the Carribean movies, which he loved. Still, he wouldn’t sleep alone for WEEKS afterward.
I was so excited that he showed an interest in the show that I ended up showing him around the BBC site and giving him a little background of the show, which he absolutely lapped up (like me, his favorite aspect of the show seemed to be the Tardis). Still, he wouldn’t watch the show again. I tried to get him to watch some of what I called the “non-scary” episodes, but he wouldn’t bite. The spiders in The End of the World creeped him out so he never finished that episode, and I made the mistake of letting him start The Impossible Planet without pre-screening it, and he never made it past the scene where the guy wakes up with the ancient writing tattooed across his face. However, I did get him through the latter half of Gridlock without a problem (but I was watching it in bed on my PC, so maybe he felt safer.) I’m not even going to try Blink.
In any case, I keep trying, but he keeps screaming “no” every time I ask him if he wants to watch, and he absolutely refuses.
It would probably devistate me if I didn’t know that despite his protests, I know he really wants to.
I’ll give him a few years. He’ll come around.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:50 am
As I remember, and it’s been a while since I saw this episode, the Weeping Angels followed Sally specifically to find the Tardis. When they zapped Billy the detective it wasn’t out of sheer spite, they were there to (somehow) steal the Tardis, which they then took back to the cellar of the house.
So: Tardis lands in present day, Doctor and Martha explore, meet Angels and get sent back in time. Somehow the Angels get the Tardis key, but are unable to get in (how do you put a key in a lock, when a glimpse of your own hand freezes you solid?).
The police, investigating all the missing person cases around the house, find and confiscate the ‘fake police box’ (that line about the windows being too small was put in by Moffet after some fans had complained about the prop online). Desperate to find the Tardis, the Angels ‘give’ Sally the key, letting her survive her visit too the house, and use her to find the time machine, which they then take back to the house. Fortunately the Doctor’s plan works, the Angels are trapped, and the Tardis travels back to 1969.
One thing that did strike me though. The Angels are locked together as long as they can see one another. How long do you think that light bulb’s going to last…?
March 1st, 2008 at 6:11 am
Blink is truly magnificent.
And the thing that is special about the hous? “Wester Drumlins” is the name of the house that the writer Steven Moffat used to live in. I think he is just painting a bit of a “Kilroy was here” image in his scripting.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:17 am
Sorry to nitpick, BA, but you used the term ‘begs the question’ incorrectly. I apologize. It just really bothers me.
Great episode!
March 1st, 2008 at 7:19 am
Two things- first, I think the house was important to the angels because it was abandoned, which means that they had freedom to roam, since no one was there to see them. They probably brought the TARDIS back there so they would have the chance to bash it with hammers or something, which they could not do in the (relatively) more crowded police garage.
Second, maybe you can explain a problem that I have with the new Terminator series that involves a HUGE plot hole. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else, so you might be providing the first answer to this critique if you can. In the first episode, the Conners and “Cameron” travel from the nineties to the present using a time bubble machine that was built into the bank vault, and as they do so, the attacking terminator’s head bounces through with them, after being blown off by the weapon Sarah Conner uses. When they arrive in the present, everyone is naked because (as we know) no clothing, guns, or inorganic material can survive a trip through time. BUT THE HEAD JUST GOES BOUNCING AWAY DOWN THE STREET. The head is pure metal, and should not have survived the trip. Anyone else catch that? Great series, otherwise.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:50 am
I love Blink as well. I did notice that the angels took the TARDIS back to the house, but the nit I pick with it is about the ending. I mean, what happens when that light bulb in the basement BURNS OUT?
March 1st, 2008 at 7:54 am
One more thing- Phil, did you know that the angels were really actors in costume/make up and not mannequins? If you don’t watch the Confidentials (behind-the-scenes clips that air after the episode on the BBC), you should get them somehow- I bet you’d love ‘em. The confidential for Blink is great especially.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:13 am
The angels let Sally have the key so that she would lead them to the TARDIS. They didn’t know where it was, and they needed someone to track it down. Since they could sense the “potential life timeline” of a person (and consume that potential energy (silly I know)), I assume that they were able to sense that in the future she’d have contact with The Doctor, and that made her special to them.
Anyway, after she’d led them to the TARDIS they picked it up and took it back to the house, cause that’s where their base of operations was. They then needed the key, which is why they didn’t just send Sally back in time the instant she got back to the house. They needed to grab the key before they zapped her, else they wouldn’t be able to get into the TARDIS.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:20 am
Of course the Weeping Angels will escape their embrace when the lightbulb blows! How else can they return in a future episode?
And BA, thanks for posting this late at night; it was a great post to read at breakfast.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:30 am
That’s has to be my favorite episode of that season. Everyone else already pointed it out, but the simple solution is that the angels stole the TARDIS from the police garage and moved it to the house.
March 1st, 2008 at 8:52 am
@defective Robet: his interest, please!
March 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am
Why is everybody assuming that once the angels look upon each other, the effect isn’t permanent?
It’s one of my favourite episodes. Here is the short story by Moffat it was based on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/blink_annual.shtml
March 1st, 2008 at 9:06 am
I’ve just checked the UK DVD edition, and the Angels attack Billy in the police station garage just after Sally leaves. She then remembers the key in her pocket and goes back to the garage to find both Billy and the TARDIS missing – she even examines the garage door, which looks like its been ripped upwards.
Phil, I’ve heard that in the U.S, Doctor Who episodes are sometimes edited for running time – perhaps that scene was cut in the version you saw?
Incidentally, Phil, you might want to give Torchwood a try again – although still a bit up and down, theres been a couple of cracking episodes in the second season (definitely try “Adam” – Torchwoods “Blink”, its *that* good).
March 1st, 2008 at 9:21 am
That episode was my favorite too! That one and “The Doctor Dances”. I liked “The Doctor Dances” so much because he was so happy that no one died in the episode.
Plus I really loved Eccleston’s performance in that one. He really seemed to get into playing the Doctor. So does Tennant, but in that specific episode, Eccleston really did a great job.
I have to put my vote in for checking out Torchwood too. It’s really a cutting edge show and this current series has been just wonderful. It’s certainly not for the kiddies though. Especially if you manage to watch the episodes from BT Airlines [;)].
“Adam” was really freaky, but definitely a great episode. However, the current story arc is really great. I don’t want to say in case I give away any spoilers, but it’s pretty cool!
March 1st, 2008 at 9:24 am
You don’t even have to wait till the lightbulb blows. Sooner or later the utility company will send someone along to shut off the power. I figure that the only reason the house still had electricity was because the angels zapped anyone who came by to shut it off.
March 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Roy Batty wrote “Why is everybody assuming that once the angels look upon each other, the effect isn’t permanent?
”
As I recall, the Angels are only frozen into place as a direct result of being observed. Once they are unobserved, they are free to move.
March 1st, 2008 at 9:54 am
Blink is far and away my favorite of all the Doctor Who episodes.
“I’ll rewind it!”
“What good will that do?”
She’s smart. The guy she’s with, not so much.
DO THIS: Rewatch the scene where Sally discovers the key, but don’t watch Sally. Keep your eyes on the angels in the background. It’s scary-creepy.
NEVER take your eyes off the angels…
March 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am
The thing I’ve always wondered are the times when the angels seem to stop even though no one (except the viewer) is looking at them.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:38 am
I’m not convinced they were using Sally.
The key (haha) question is, where did the key come from? If they snagged it off the Doctor, why not send him and Martha back in time and then just get in the TARDIS which would have been sitting right there?
About the angels needing Sally to find the TARDIS… the police found the TARDIS at the house and took it away, and so I suppose the angels must have had both the TARDIS and the key at the same time, but were frozen and couldn’t use them. If that’s true, then Sally finding the key in the angel’s hand was a coincidence; it happened to be standing there frozen when she saw it. If that’s true, then The Doctor and Martha must have just been there only minutes before she found the key. But then when did the police come to take the TARDIS away?
AIIIIEEEE.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:46 am
First time Blink was shown, my wife was watching it w/ me out of town. It was dark, rainy, down right miserable weather outside. The house was dark, and being older all the associative creaks.
Needless to say I got a phone call.
And on top of that, I think she truely dislikes statues now.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:58 am
Ok, my final attempt at explaining the bulb thang – Big masonry hammers
March 1st, 2008 at 11:00 am
Re: AIIIIEEEE by the BA.
The trouble is, you’re not thinking of time as being a wibbly wobbley thing.
Stop trying to understand.
Just be afraid
March 1st, 2008 at 11:21 am
My husband and I watched Blink for the first time last night (quelle coincidence!)
Wow… that was extremely creepy! (and yes, just amazing writing and filming)
As others have mentioned, yes, the angels took the Tardis (the garage door was forced open). I imagine they needed to take the policeman to get the energy to do that.
And doesn’t the doctor say that the reasons they cover their faces is to avoid looking at each other since if they do, they die?
Of course, it *is* creepier if they come back alive after the bulb burns out. *shiver*
March 1st, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I believe the rule with any science fiction (especially with TV shows where budget and time constraints usually get in the way of the storytelling) is to not over think things!
The only thing that really bothered me was the light bulb at the end, only because the implication was that the statues were somehow stuck there forever.
No, it’s not *that* good. It is a good episode by Torchwood standards, but it doesn’t really hold up to Blink which is already considered an all-time classic Doctor Who story.
And while we’re talking time travel in other genre shows, I must put in plug a for “Life on Mars”, another BBC show where a modern-day British detective suddenly finds himself back in 1973. It is mostly a cop show, and a brilliant one at that, but there is the added scifi-ish layer of being a man out of time and trying to figure out how and why he got there (is it real or just a hallucination?). It ran for 20 episodes and I believe at least the first series (10 eps) are out on DVD and it is well worth time and money. It is being hailed as a modern-day classic series.
The sequel “Ashes to Ashes” is running on the Beeb at the moment, with a different (female) lead and set in 1981. It hasn’t started off terribly well, but this week’s episode showed definite signs of improvement.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Phil, do the police actually say WHERE they found the TARDIS? I can’t remember that.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Add another vote for “Life on Mars” – the second series is out on DVD in the UK, and I believe that there was interest in a US re-imagining – if they can avoid the temptation to remake “Starsky & Hutch” that could be interesting.
“I’m Gene Hunt. Your DCI. And it’s 1973. Nearly dinner time. I’m ‘aving hoops.”
March 1st, 2008 at 1:22 pm
PerryGon: Phil, do the police actually say WHERE they found the TARDIS? I can’t remember that.
It was only interesting to the police in that it was unusual and appeared near where they kept finding missing cars. The Tardis would necessarily have been stranded somewhere near the old house.
As for the key, it’s possible the key somehow went missing and that the angels only then managed to recover it, just in time for Sally to take it.
Either that (and I think this is more likely) or the angels hadn’t known where the Tardis had been taken and only found out when they followed Sally to Detective Shipton’s evidence collection.
That look Sally gave Nightingale’s brother when she was taking a poke at him knowing shorthand was simply priceless.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Kimpatsu,
Sorry, I don’t quite understand your comment. Could you clarify please? Thanks.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Want to give kudos to 42 as well. What a rip-roarin’ action piece!
Wow, now that I go through these, I realize how damned good season 3 was.
And Phil, I agree that Torchwood is no Doctor Who, but it’s still pretty good. (Though really, the characters are…well…Bad Word Deleted.)
March 1st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I want an “The Angels Have My Phone Box” T-Shirt.
“In the sight of any living thing, they literally turn to stone… and you can’t kill a stone.”
But you can smash a stone into tiny little bits.
“Of course, a stone can’t kill you, either.”
You’ve obviously never been hit by a carbonaceous chondrite. (DEATH FROM THE SKIES!!)
Sorry, I’m being a bit goofy this afternoon. Needs some coffeeeeee…
PS: I hadn’t realized that Torchwood had started! Oh, it’s at episode 8, I should get to watching those. XD
March 1st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
VesperDEM, one of the moments I really liked in The Doctor Dances was just before the nanogenese starting fixing everyone and The Doctor was practically begging for it to work. You could just see all of the death he’s faced and everyone he’s lost — throughout all of his incarnations — and the raw, naked hope that this time would be different. Both episodes were just…well…fantastic.
And I agree with eveyone that Torchwood is not as good as Doctor Who, but I do find myself looking forward to each new episode and I’m glad there’s a new one tonight.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I agree that this was one of, if not the creepiest New-Doctor episodes.
This reminds me of a huge gripe of mine when the Steven King book, “The Shining”, was made into a movie. The screenwriters foolishly threw away one of the scariest plot elements of all time.
In the book, the little boy is playing in a topiary garden next to the possessed hotel. There are shrubs and hedges carved into the shapes of bunnies, birds, etc…and lions…all around him. The little boy looks up and sees the topiary figures “looking” in all directions. He goes back to his play and then looks up a while later. His breath stops when he sees that all of the topiary figures have their “heads” pointing at him. He freaks out and starts running to the hotel. Each time he looks back he sees that the topiary figures are still frozen, but closer and uglier, even the bunnies. He’s almost at the door to the hotel when he looks back and sees the lion topiaries carved into an excellent still-portrayal of predators leaping upon their prey. He clutches at the door and screams as hot claws rip through his legs. His mother opens the hotel door. He looks back and sees all of the topiaries back where they started, innocent and harmless. The only evidence of his ordeal is bloody rips along his legs with bits of bark in them. Woooo, it’s scary, kids!
March 1st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
IIRC, In the DVD commentary Moffat says that the angels can still see each other in the dark, so it doesn’t matter if the light bulb burns out. I doubt that applies if the roof caves in, though.
The only possible snag I can see in the episode, then, is why the angels let the police take away the TARDIS in the first place. Perhaps they just didn’t realize what it was until after the police had found it and carted it off.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Sargason:
“…why the angels let the police take away the TARDIS in the first place. Perhaps they just didn’t realize what it was until after the police had found it and carted it off.”
Isn’t that the greatest magic of the Tardis? Wherever it appears, it becomes part of the background and is passed by without notice.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:43 pm
defectiverobot
“…I agree that Torchwood is no Doctor Who, but it’s still pretty good. (Though really, the characters are…well…Bad Word Deleted.)”
I agree completely. I live for my Torchwood fix but that’s only because I haven’t seen a new Doctor Who in months. Torchwood is a fun diversion with the occasional interesting element, but a great Torchwood is still worse than a lousy Dr. Who.
The “soap opera” element in Doctor Who is minor and quickly over, but it can consume entire Torchwood episodes. I really do not care with what gender or with what species (or from what planet) the Torchwood folks decide to copulate.
Omnisexualism is healthy and good, I get it. Can we get back to the sci-fi now, please?
March 1st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
F-ZeroOne:
“…Your DCI…”
My DCI? I don’t remember purchasing a DCI. Why are you telling me that I own a DCI?
March 1st, 2008 at 5:50 pm
From what I remember of that episode, didn’t the Doctor say that the Angels didn’t know what the Tardis was? Oh, and about the seeing each other thing, they move on another plane unless observed right, so therefore even if their normal line of sight was blocked, they could still theoretically see each other on that plane wouldn’t they?
March 1st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
“Bad Word Deleted.”
Sorry. I usually don’t do blue. It just got away from me…
March 1st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I’ll have to watch that episode again with the self-proclaimed Greatest Doctor Who fan of Austin, if not Texas, if not the US. Personally, I really liked this episode, but if I recall, she said it was only “OK” because the Doctor wasn’t in it very much. (I’m certain she has a major crush on the 10th Doctor.)
Anywhoo, it was an extremely cool episode. I loved that the Doctor and Martha were running thru the streets at the end carrying a bow and arrow, without any explanation whatsoever, as if that’s totally a routine experience for both of them, which of course it was.
Fantastic!
p.s Phil, if you don’t watch the series on DVD, you are indeed missing some important scenes!
March 1st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I spent the last couple of weekends catching up with Doctor Who. Just watched Blink and agree it was a fantastic episode. Kinda funny the comment above about the DVD being more complete, given the plot of the episode…
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:17 am
Torchwood Characters? What characters?
I ask only because the Torchwood crew are so maddeningly inconsistent, it’s more like each week it’s a different person interpreting the character (which, because of rotating writers, it is, I suppose). But occassionally it’s inconsistent within a single episode, and there I begin to frown. By way of example, “Reset” includes Captain Jack being quite willing to torture a human being by threatening to unleash a maddened Weevil on him, but is aghast at the thought that someone might be using one of the self-same Weevils to produce some things that are actually useful to humanity as a whole.
Meanwhile, Gwen has apparently always concealed a deep love for Jack (she concealed it pretty sodding well through an entire season), Owen can’t decide whether he’s still messed up over losing Diane in Season 1 and so flips between his pre-Diane and post-Diane personalities, and Toshiko is obviously the writers’ favourite chew toy because the moment anything nice appears to be about to happen to her, the universe dumps ten thousand pounds of extra-strength hurt onto her shoulders (lovers lost to tragic circumstances or due to being evil aliens: four so far, by my count). Ianto… is just sort of there, really. Sometimes he’s tormented over his semi-cybered squeeze, sometimes he’s not, but he typically has so little to do in each episode that he’s a bare notch above the Pterodactyl, and then only because an actor’s a lot cheaper than a CGI effect.
That being said, I would nominate “Sleeper” as being a damn fine episode – the best Torchwood so far, easily, and much better than some Who (Aliens of London, Love And Monsters) – and can’t deny that the concept has a lot of promise. But as a whole it’s still inconsistent to the point of being schizophrenic.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:11 am
Matt A,
You absolutely hit the nail on the head.
And it occurs to me that the same thing can be said of the characters on Lost, albiet to a lesser degree.
Funny thing, since I’ve “rediscovered” Doctor Who, I couldn’t care less about Lost anymore, which was the only show on television I used to watch.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Lol. Agree with the comments on Torchwood, especially the Tosh stuff
But still look forward to it each week.
As for Lost, I lost it after series one. Have they even got through that %$%&&^ trapdoor yet?!
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
@defectiverobot:
> Funny thing, since I’ve “rediscovered” Doctor
> Who, I couldn’t care less about Lost anymore,
> which was the only show on television I used
> to watch.
Did you catch this week’s Lost episode –
“The Constant” ? It very much reminded me
of “Blink” and “Human Nature”. Since the
current season of Lost is only 8 episodes, they
seem to really be moving things along.
You might want to check it out again.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
jimp,
Yeah, I’ll catch up, but more as a matter of cultural literacy (I have nothing to say at the water cooler anymore!) than out of any real interest.
Maybe it’s my inherent anglophilia, or maybe the really crappy essay by Damon Lindelof I just read zapped me with a judge-the-artist-not-the-art ideology (which I try to avoid but am increasingly succumbing to), but American TV just doesn’t do it for me anymore. The Brits just seem to know how to do it.
But really, I think it’s the X-Files effect. Not so much the fact that I’m tired of the story line stringing me along (look, I’m getting older here, my patience is waning!), so much as it is that the mysticism is starting to weigh on me. X-Files lost credibility when the storylines lost the ability to apply scientific rationale to events and went headlong into the conspiracy and the mystical aspects of the stories without sufficient skepticism. OK, I know, the science wasn’t even remotely accurate, but I accepted it because it was at least a rationale, and it presented a healthy skepticism for the supernatural. But it eventually jumped into the deep end and I tuned out.
Lost never really had that skepticism (particularly with respect to Locke, who ironically was and still is my favorite character), but it intrigued me nonetheless. Unfortunately, the mysticism has been weighing on me and it’s just becoming another show that is too drawn up in its own intrigue to really satisfy me anymore. It’s become the Andy Kauffman of sci-fi drama.
But I’ll keep checking it out, hoping that it will end the way I’d like to see it end. (Hint: I wanted the X-Files to end Beautiful Mind-style.)
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Phil:
You are wrong. Here are the heterophenomenological facts (sorry, just like that word):
At some point, the angels have the key, and Sally is in the house. That’s it–all we know. But there’s absolutely no reason to believe they have the TARDIS, were anywhere near it, or even knew at any point before this where it was. The Doctor and Martha travel all of the time, the Doctor usually keeps the key (because Martha isn’t a blond obviously), but they do not always stand 10 feet from the TARDIS. This is entirely consistent with them happening upon the doctor, and taking an opportunity of an extremely long lifetime by ganking his key and sending him and Martha back in time, to look for the TARDIS on their own (not a terrible strategy, and even a better one than waiting for them to get to the TARDIS, since they aren’t always mobile and could even lose whatever opportunity they had to take the key).
As far as the timeline goes, people here have it pretty much correct. Angels have the key, but haven’t yet been able to use it with the TARDIS. TARDIS is in an unknown location at this point (could very well be at the police station, without requiring huge contortion). Sally grabs the key. Angels try to get the key back, so follow Sally. Sally goes to the police station, meets up with detective. Detective macks on Sally in the basement, where by sheer luck the TARDIS is. Sally leaves, with the key. Angels zap detective back in time, and take the TARDIS away from the station to keep guard over it (at the home base) until they can re-acquire the key. Sally goes back to the house to sort things out. Angels try to get the key.
Now, there are inconsistencies in Blink, mind you. The biggest one I see is that the speed of the angels’ movements change drastically as convenient for the plot. But the rest of the story generally plays out so well that suspending belief for this isn’t so difficult (i.e., it’s not a “the planets line up” moment in Pitch Black, which destroys the entire movie).
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
Actually, Moffat has won *two* Hugos for the Empty Chid/The Doctor Dances and the Girl in the Fireplace. I would not be surprised to see him take his third straight for Blink, which was an outstanding episode. It’s the first time ever Doctor Who had me both scared and on the edge of my seat. The best news about season 4 is that Moffat will be writing another two-parter.
I agree that Sally should have become a companion. She’s be dynamite. I hope we’ll see her again.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Growing up in England, I’ve been watching Doctor Who for as long as I can remember, and in all that time only two things made me want to hide behind the couch: the first appearance of the Cybermen when I was six years old… and Blink. That whole series is awesome, and that episode is TEH AWESOME.
@AIEEE: the reason that the angels can’t just take the TARDIS is that it’s been established that the TARDIS won’t go anywhere without certain security checks, such as the presence of the Doctor (or another Time Lord). That’s why the plot of Blink! needs the elaborate scheme to put the security disk in the hands of someone to activate its return to the doctor.
So I suspect that the angels *did* intentionally give Sally the key as part of a plan to get her to open and activate the TARDIS for them.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
@MandyDax, there’s several versions of “The Angels Have the Phone Box” t-shirts at zazzle … I bought this one: http://www.zazzle.com/the_angels_have_the_phone_box_shirt-235648489040302963
But I agree that “Blink” is one of the best Doctor Who episodes evah — and I’ve been watching since Tom Baker was the Doctor!
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
By the way, there’s a fascinating little sub-theme in that the people sent back in time don’t seem to particularly suffer. If anything they seem to have more fulfilled lives than they were leading/could look forward to originally. Not in a superficial “the good old days were better” kind of way, though, but more subtly, almost as if the time that they got sent back to suited them better. For me that added a whole extra layer of complexity to the story.
P.S. If my theory above is correct it would also explain why, given that the angels can apparently dispatch people anywhere in time, they send the doctor back only as far as the 1960s, and then send more people back to the exact same time and place from where/when they can help him.
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I watched this a few months ago with my roommate who HATES all things science and SciFi. She loved this episode, she actually stopped what she was doing and sat on the couch with me to watch. I told her this was the creepiest and scaryist Dr. Who’s ever been. I was really impressed by it. Been watching since about 1979, when I first saw ‘Robot’ when my local PBS in Albany, NY started showing them. That scared the urea out of me too, but I was 8 at the time, lol.
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
When Sally goes back downstairs at the police department, she finds the black police officer gone AND the door of the garage open. The TARDIS is missing. ‘Nuff said.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
So if the Angels feed by absorbing a persons life time potential energy, which is accomplished by sending a person back into the past so they ‘live to death’ before the present. Why was The Doctor sent only back so far as 1960? does this mean he has only 40 years to live?
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
@OtherRob: That’s the scene in “The Doctor Dances” that I was talking about. Just loved that scene.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I think the reason the episode is so great is that it messes with the classic rule of never showing the monster. Every great horror/monster monster movie will only imply that the monster is there by its sound, creepy music, etc. At least until the end.
Here, the only time the angels are dangerous is when you can’t see them. If you can see them, then they are harmless. If not, then they’ll get you.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Sean Bray:
“…everyone is naked because (as we know) no clothing, guns, or inorganic material can survive a trip through time. BUT THE HEAD JUST GOES BOUNCING AWAY DOWN THE STREET. The head is pure metal, and should not have survived the trip. Anyone else catch that? Great series, otherwise.”
Good catch! You’re absolutely right. The metal robot-head without living skin covering it should not have made it through the time-portal.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Sargas:
“…IIRC,…”
What is “IIRC”? Is this thumb-typing code from cell phone users who aren’t willing to spend one second to type out whole words on their computer keyboards? You typed lots of whole words in your message. Why couldn’t you bring yourself to type out whatever “IIRC” is supposed to mean?
Please. We communicate with language. Grunting and slamming rocks together is not the same thing as typing words.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
blizno, there is no call for coming on someone that harshly for using an abbreviation. It’s an accepted norm of internet lingo anyway, and I use it myself.
You are welcome to leave your opinions here, but as I have noted in the past, the commenting rules here are very simple.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:29 am
Phil,
thought you and your readers would be interested in this… A web comic I read, Sluggy Freelance, has a little something breaking from the norm for today, March 3, 2008. It is Who related. Go to http://www.sluggy.com to see.
Todd
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Normally I’d be outraged at the suggestion that any episode could be as good as “Out of Gas”, apart from “Buffy: The Musical”. But in this case, I’ll let it slide. “Blink” is outstanding television.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 am
@Todd
“Germinate!”
Almost as good as “I shoot evil in the face!”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Blizno said:
“What is “IIRC”? ”
If I Recall Correctly.
However, if you wish to get picky about internet idiom, then maybe you should capitalize your commenting name, hmm? It is, after all, a proper noun.
People in glass houses and all that…
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I loved this episode. I saw it twice as well. Sally Sparrow would be an awesome companion for the Doctor. Smart, interesting, and attractive.
I do have one thing to ask but it’s not about “Blink”, though. Why do the Dalek have to go around announcing what they are doing all the time. I love the show but come on. That make the dalek a little annoying to listen to.
“Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”