Doctor Who 3.10: Blink

[selenay]

First comment has to be: Weeping Angels might possibly be the best Doctor Who villains ever! They certainly managed to thoroughly unnerve me far more than anything has since Sil in the Sixth Doctor adventures.

The elements that made them so effective, I think, were also the elements that made them unlikely villains. I mean, what's so terrifying about a bunch of statues? For half the episode, they looked like fairly typical weeping angel statues that you see in the gardens of stately homes. Nothing frightening about them. They got a little more worrying when you started noticing them moving from place to place, but still only mildly unnerving.

It was that moment when Larry turned around and the Angel was right there with sharp teeth and looking murderous. That, I'm not ashamed to admit, made me jump and sent shivers down my skin. After that, the Angels became menacing and frightening, giving the episode a sense of tension and real danger.

The idea of assassins who "killed you through living" was also brilliant. I'm amazed no one has thought up something like them before in Doctor Who. Of course, this episode was Steven Moffat's so it was always guaranteed to be good. He lived up to his reputation from previous episodes with flair.

As a largely Doctor-free episode, I thought this one worked a little better than last year's. I did enjoy Love and Monsters and loved Elton, but this episode felt both more scary because the Doctor wasn't there to save the day and at the same time had the Doctor running throughout it.

Sally Sparrow was a fabulous character. They didn't really establish what she does when she's not fighting assassins, but that wasn't really necessary. She was bright, funny and enjoyed a good mystery. We quite quickly came to care about her and I loved that she was able to accept what was happening so quickly. Perhaps she's always wanted something unusual to happen, day-dreamed about adventures when she was a child, and now that it's all happening to her she's ready to go with it. She didn't panic, except for that moment when the TARDIS disappeared around her and I think anyone would at that point :-)

Part of me was half-expecting the Doctor to turn up immediately after the TARDIS de-materialised, but I thought it was a stronger ending to show that the Doctor really only passed through Sally's life very briefly. It showed how the Doctor seems to those on the outside, affecting their entire lives yet only being a small blip in his.

I have a feeling that the Weeping Angels are, in some ways, going to be rather like the Autons for some. They are something we see all day, every day and never think twice about. Statues are everywhere in our lives and we never see them move. Sometimes you think you see out of the corner of your eye, but when you really look their as motionless and dead as you'd expect.

That, I think, is a large part of what made the Weeping Angels so brilliant as a concept. You can never see them moving, there's no way to protect yourself from them. The Doctor's way of defeating them at the end didn't involve killing them: it used their own protection mechanism against them. A day later and I'm still getting shivers from remembering those final moments when the light was flickering and the Angels were getting closer, and closer, and closer...

I'm starting to develop a bit of a theory about this year's Doctor Who. I'm keeping myself well away from all spoilers, so if you know something please don't spoil me in comments. However, there seems to be a theme developing beyond the odd appearances of Mr. Saxon. The Weeping Angels are the third race we've seen this year that date back to the dawn of time. The Raknosss in The Runaway Bride and the witches from The Shakespeare Code also date from the dawn of time and seem to be infinitely worse - more powerful and more malevolent - than any of the current races. Are we seeing a pattern here that might get some pay-off later? Is there something out there that's releasing those creatures for imprisonment? Is something directing them to a place where the Doctor is? The Weeping Angels are assassins. They send the Doctor and Martha back to 1969 so were they sent to kill him as well as being after the energy from the TARDIS?

Part of me is excited to see how all this pans out. Another part of me is starting to get a little sad that we've only got three episodes left of this season :-( It's a tough life being a Doctor Who fan ;-)

All together, this was a fabulous episode that deserves to be up there with Steven Moffat's other episodes as true classics of new series. It had pacing, plot, terrifying villains, great characters and excellent writing. Getting an episode this good immediately after Human Nature/Family of Blood makes me feel that we're incredibly lucky this season. Hopefully the remaining episodes will stand up jut as well!


Something that came up in the Confidential interests me. How many people on my f-list (or indeed coming to read this from elsewhere) would have become involved with fandom if they hadn't had Doctor Who? DW was my first big TV love, my first fandom. I've had more active involvement with Buffy and Stargate fandoms over the years because they were what was on TV when I started to get involved with the fan communities. But it was Doctor Who that started firing my imagination and making me fall in love with this whole genre. That in turn has hugely influenced what I write and, in some ways, my continuing to write at all. I discovered fanfiction at a time when I wasn't writing much and it gave me an outlet for stories that I hadn't known how to write before. Now I'm moving back into original writing more, but I can attribute that directly to the passion for creating and writing that fanfiction inspired. In turn, that's led me to be more involved with fandom in general and get out there to meet other fans at conventions and events.

If I one day get a book published, it will be largely due to fanfiction re-awakening my love of writing and it's possible that none of this would have happened if I'd not been a little Doctor Who fan watching Peter Davison battling Daleks and Cybermen as a kid.

Comments

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

*skips Blink because I haven't seen it yet* ;)

As an American with limited access to Doctor Who, except when a PBS(don't ask, it's hard to explain without taking a paragraph to do so *g*) channel decided to show it for a short time, I found fandom through other means. For me, it was Star Trek, and if it hadn't been for Star Trek, like you with Doctor Who, I think my life would've been terribly uncreative. :)

[selenay]

*skips Blink because I haven't seen it yet* ;)

Trust me, this is an episode you want to see :-))))

Anyway.

I pretty much know what PBS is :-) Ish.

I think for most of us it's that first show we see as a child that sucks us in and gets us involved in the genre. For many people over here that was Doctor Who. I can totally see Star Trek being the equivelant on your side of the Pond. Without that first show, our imaginations might never have been sparked off and life would be completely different. I think it's much harder for people to get into this stuff later in life - you seem to either have been watching/reading sci-fi/fantasy etc. since you were a kid or have no interest. I've met very few people (er, none in fact) who came to fandom later.

It's scary sometimes to think what life would have been like without all of this stuff. I can't imagine that I would have as much enthusiasm for writing straight literary fiction or even other genre fiction such as romance or mystery. I'm not sure that I would even have begun writing without the influence of the shows I was watching and the books I was reading. And I can point to Doctor Who and say that's what started it all :-)

[riverfox.livejournal.com]

You got me to write a post about your thoughts about first fandoms. :)

And I saw Blink. It was fantastic. :)

[selenay]

*gggggg* Loved Blink to pieces. We're lucky to get such a great show.

[nummymuffin.livejournal.com]

Interesting point about the ancient baddies. I've avoided all spoilers myself but I liked your idea.

A day later and I'm still getting shivers from remembering those final moments when the light was flickering and the Angels were getting closer, and closer, and closer...

I totally share this sentiment. This episode, more than any other this series, really did a number on me. Those faces, argh! I just know they'll appear in my nightmares at some point, if not sooner, then out of nowhere MUCH later. Until then, I won't be blinking. :'(

[selenay]

I've avoided all spoilers myself but I liked your idea.

I'm probably totally wrong, but it's a theory that started to jump out at me as soon as the Doctor mentioned how long they've been around. Guess I'll just have to wait three more episodes to find out!

This episode, more than any other this series, really did a number on me.

Absolutely. I haven't felt like that since The Empty Child. I'm wondering whether it worked so well because it was partially through suggestion. We saw nothing monstrous on-screen, but our imaginations filled it in and terrified us. It was far more effective than any icky, gooey, nasty monster could have been!

They're definitely going to hang around in my mind for a long time to come.

[historyterry.livejournal.com]

I thought this was a cracking good episode. The statues were brilliant - but to my mind, far more scary when they just had their eyes covered. I can just see a whole new generation of kids getting freaked out in shopping centres :-).

Did I spot a plot whole though? The black guy that went into DVD production - how did he know which DVDs Sally had? They'd only met for five minutes.

Tx

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Because the folder that Sally handed the doctor had the list in it (along with the stuff the doctor had to say) which he gave to Billy (the black guy) in the past to put on the DVDs for Sally to see in the present so that they could be written down to send to the past (and round and round it goes!) She must have also written down the details about meeting BIlly again just that once on his dying day, so that the Doctor could tell it to Billy back in 1969 (and also the details of what needed to be written under the wallpaper, which was a fantastic start!)

[selenay]

Thank you. Much better remembered than I could have done :-)

[selenay]

I can just see a whole new generation of kids getting freaked out in shopping centres :-).

Is it cruel that this idea makes me grin madly?

For me, I was getting pretty jumpy when their eyes were covered but it was the angel that we first saw with the teeth and mad look. That made me jump out of my skin, I think because it was so unexpected. Thoroughly brilliant idea because so much of it was our in our minds rather than gory stuff on screen.

I think the_magician has already filled in that hole for me :-)

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

My first true fandom actually. Oh, I love Xenogears/Elder Scrolls/Drizzt Do'Urden but they never captured me quite to the extent asto force me to actively pursue ..er..stuff about em. Or really ramble quite so incessantly. Well, Drizzt, that's an obsession (3 heroes total, Drizzt and the Doctor among em) but it still never incited the urge to..read what other people thought, plothole selunking, whathaveyou.
I'm rambling semi-incoherently even now, see? Proof!

[parhelion-spark.livejournal.com]

*spelunking

Oh. And also, because I forgot this bit, mad props to the episode INDEED. While I still found The Empty Child far scarier (creepy child, essentially filled with void, in my brain. and void is possibly the only thing that truly horrifies me) the plot, the Doctors brief but magical appearances, and oh how I love Sally Sparrow.. was brilliant!
For the record, I'm now a bit unnerved by my lawn gnome and I blame Moffat.

[selenay]

Moffat is a total genius. Total.

I think, for me, Blink ranks along side The Empty Child on sheer scariness. They're both episodes where the terror comes from playing without our minds rather than big gory stuff (although those gas masks were very unsettling) and I think that's the strength of them.

I'm just glad I don't have any statues or gnomes anywhere near me :-)

[selenay]

Yup, semi-incoherent rambling there :-) What's more worrying is that I understand it all! You never really forget your first serious fandom. It has a special place in your heart even if you branch out into other fandoms afterwards. It's kind of a fannish home.

[sazandra.livejournal.com]

How many people on my f-list would have become involved with fandom if they hadn't had Doctor Who?

I watched Doctor Who, I just about remember Jon Pertwee then all the way through to Sylvester McCoy, but it was more just something to watch on TV and it wasn't the something that got me interested in sci-fi. My interest in sci-fi was more from Blake's 7 and reading Arthur C Clarke than anything else. Until SG-1 (and getting access to the internet) the only bit of fandom I'd strayed into was for Robin of Sherwood (heaven knows how many years ago).

I was given DVDs of Doctor Who 'season one' (the Christopher Ecclestone season as I think of it) by my sister the Christmas before last but I've not been interested in it enough to watch - I may well send it over to her while she's not well, she might like to watch. I only saw one of two of last year's DW episodes, probably the same this year but then I rarely watch TV.

[selenay]

Give 'em a try before you give them away. Please. The new show really is very good :-)

It's interesting to hear from a Brit who's formative sci-fi was non-Doctor Who. I've just started working my way through Blake's 7 and, although I'm enjoying it, I don't think it has had the same creative, inspirational thing going on for me. I was too young to have watched it in the original run, so maybe I'm now to old to be coming to it for the first time? I'm not sure.

It does seem to be a fixture that everyone comes to the genre when they're young or not at all. It seems that if they haven't been converted by early teens (or younger, preferably) then they won't get there. I wonder what makes sci-fi so hard for people over the age of thirteen to fall in love with? Is it that past that age they've got out of the habit of imagination and escapism, but because we stayed in that habit through our reading and TV choices as children we never left it behind?

[paranoidangel]

Mostly skim-read this because I'm too tired to concentrate any more, but I saw this episode just before the tennis and those statues scared me. I'm quite glad there aren't any around here, I think.