Blink (TV story)

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Revision as of 20:44, 11 December 2009 by 86.8.242.251 (talk) (→‎Synopsis)

Don't blink, don't even blink, blink and you're dead! They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink! Good Luck.The Doctor

Synopsis

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Plot

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Cast

In addition, although they are never shown moving on screen, all of the Weeping Angels were in fact played by live actors.

Crew

to be added

References

  • While trapped in 1969, the Doctor builds a timey-wimey detector. It's unknown how exactly the detector functions, other than 'it goes ding when there's stuff'. The machine can also boil an egg at thirty paces, 'whether you want it to or not'. (The Doctor learned to keep away from hens, as "it's not pretty when they blow".)
  • The Weeping Angels are quantum locked, meaning that they cannot move when within anyone's sight.
  • Larry compares Wester Drumlins to "Scooby Doo's house".
  • When Kathy suggests she and Sally partner up as "Sparrow and Nightingale", Sally jokes that its "too ITV", a playful dig at BBC's chief rival network, which often produced television series with similarly formatted titles.

Story Notes

  • This episode is similar to series 2's Love & Monsters as it is a Doctor and companion 'light' episode.
  • Blink is based on a story that Steven Moffat wrote for the Doctor Who Annual 2006 entitled "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow".
  • The story is ultimately an ontological paradox; the Doctor has all the information (the transcript of the conversation, the contents of the message behind the wallpaper, etc.) because Sally gives him that information at the end of the story - but Sally gets that information from reading the wall the Doctor wrote, watching the DVD the Doctor made, and so on. Thus, the information never really "starts" anywhere - the Doctor knows what to say in the conversation because he's reading Larry's transcript, which Larry made 40 years later by watching the conversation. The information is in an endless loop.
  • Despite appearing in cameos, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman are still credited as the main stars rather than Carey Mulligan in her main role.
  • Banto's DVDs included: Breakfast in the Rain, Dance of Days, Civilization Zero, angel smile, Falling Star, One Oak Country, My Best Friend's Boyfriend, Mean Teens, Shooting the Sun. All of these were fake titles created for the episode, complete with DVD cover and poster designs.
  • This is the first episode to be directed by a woman after 22 years, the last was The Mark of the Rani.
  • When Larry brings Sally the list of DVDs, a vintage White Star Line sticker can be seen affixed to the back of the folder; Titanic, the most famous White Star vessel, would later inspire the setting for Voyage of the Damned.
  • It was originally intended to establish that a year passes between the defeat of the Angels and Sally's encounter with the Doctor (which would account for the change of ownership of the DVD store and some character beats), but this reference was removed before broadcast.

Ratings

  • 6.1 million - Overnight
  • 0.75 million viewers - BBC Three Sunday repeat
  • 6.62 million viewers - Final Rating

Myths

to be added

Filming Locations

  • The abandoned house is on Fields Park Road in Newport, South Wales. It is currently being renovated.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

  • How does the Weeping Angel get hold of the TARDIS key? If from the Doctor, why did they not use the key to get into the TARDIS straight away, having zapped him and Martha to 1969? After all, DI Shipton tells Sally Sparrow that the TARDIS was also found outside Wester Drumlins. It is possible that by the time the Angels had retrieved the key, the TARDIS had already been taken away. Given the number of vehicles that have been found at the house, this implies that the police might check there reasonably frequently. It is also possible that even though the Weeping Angels found the key, they could not find the TARDIS. They only locate the TARDIS after following Sally, who stole the key.
  • In theory, the angels would be able to escape when the light bulb eventually goes out, although the light stops flickering as soon as the TARDIS departs. It's implied that the angels can see perfectly well in the dark.
  • How does the Doctor know exactly when Sally should duck? And who threw the rock? The Angel in the garden threw it, and the Doctor didn't know when Sally Sparrow should duck, he just did as the notes Sally gave him indicated. As mentioned in the audio commentary for the episode, it is advantageous for an Angel to incapacitate its victims by throwing something at them as it could then move freely.
  • When Sally pulls the last scrap of wallpaper off, the words are still slightly covered up. However, when the camera next points at them, they are completely uncovered. The remaining wallpaper could have possibly fallen off during the time we don't see it.
  • They look away from the angels many times but they don't move. Someone or thing is watching them.
  • At the start of the episode when the angel knew she was there, why didn't the angel get Sally while she was looking at the message? It felt incapacitating her before attacking was a better strategy.
  • Sally and Kathy have clearly been close friends for some time - close enough for Sally to have a key to Kathy's flat. Yet Sally's never met Kathy's brother, even though he lives with his sister? The episode never really delves deeply into the Nightingales' back story.
  • The second shot of the Angel in its screaming face is different than the first shot because the angel's arms have clearly taken a different position.
  • When Larry is trying to "hold" the angels while Sally is looking for an exit door and he knows he mustn't blink, he in fact blinks. This appears to be a slip-up in the filming.
  • How did the Doctor know Larry would be to Sally's left? Because of the transcripts that Larry wrote out were sent back in time so the Doctor would read them. Also, this is a piece of information Sally would have certainly provided in any event as it was a key moment in the conversation.
  • The Doctor appears to be familiar with the early parts of Sally and Larry's discussion about the recording, even though Larry doesn't immediately start taking notes. The Doctor's side of the conversation was already written down, so it doesn't matter whether the other side was available or not. Also, Sally or Larry could have put that information in at a later point.
  • The episode does not indicate what becomes of the statues. Despite Larry's statement "they'll never move again", a power failure - or the statues being separated - would result in them reviving. It would be dangerous to leave them behind. It's quite that possible that once back in the present the Doctor contacted one of his large circle of friends (UNIT most probably) and had them remove the Angels to a safe place such as the Black Archive. A power failure would also not affect them; it is mentioned in the audio commentary that they can see in the dark.
  • The recording of the Doctor talking to Sally was scripted word for word, but when Martha interrupts him to tell Sally that she's also stuck the Doctor looked quite surprised at the interruption. The interruption was part of the transcript, so Martha's interruption and the Doctor's surprised look were both part of the act.
  • Why didn't Sally and Larry simply keep one eye open thus allowing them to keep an eye on the Angels whilst at the same time giving them the opportunity to rest the closed eye and switch eyes when needed? One explanation could be that they did not want to run the risk of having both closed at the same time. Blinking is involuntary, winking isn't; therefore, upon switching eyes, it would take massive concentration to keep both eyes from closing. Also - they are clearly scared, and the thought of using one eye at a time probably wouldn't have occurred to them.
  • With DI Billy Shipton zapped back to 1969 and dying in 2007, wouldn't it have been possible for his older and younger versions to run into each other between 1969 and 2007? The chance of them actually meeting each other is really slim, and if they met his younger version wouldn't recognise his older self.
  • As Larry is watching the weeping angel, Sally runs to the front door. She runs to the right, but something is visible moving right next to the wall. That is Sally's reflection in a mirror.
  • A few chronology-related questions remain unanswered, such as exactly when the Doctor and Martha were sent back to 1969 (it was at least several years before Sally gives the Doctor her package). Also left unrevealed is exactly how long the Doctor and Martha spent in 1969. These details aren't relevant to the plot
  • Although there is no direct reference to this, the fact Billy talks about having gotten into video and DVD publishing strongly implies that he was the one who filmed the easter egg message. (This is supported by the fact that the camera is clearly being operated by someone as it pans when Martha appears, which it would not have done had it been a camera on a tripod set to film by itself.)
  • When the transcript is shown there is no indication of how long Sally speaks for, so the Doctor would have no idea how many seconds he should wait before speaking again. He does know what she says, and could thus have figured it out from that.
  • Why does Kathy contact Sally only after her disappearance, rather than sending the message sooner to try to prevent the disappearance? The Doctor warns Billy not to contact Sally at the wrong time, but how does Kathy know? Kathy needed someone to deliver the message: For the messenger to be younger than 75 by the time of Kathy's disappearance but older than 10 when the message was issued, Kathy would have to wait at least until 1942 to send the message. By this time she was happily married with children in her new era, and wouldn't have wanted to undo that.
  • If Sally has several months - possibly a year - to put her notes together, why does the Doctor act like he is missing big parts of the story, such as what happens after Larry stops writing the transcript? The Doctor saying those things were themselves part of the transcript. Even if Sally did include all the possible information she could, the Doctor couldn't change what he 'had' to say.  It is also at this point that the doctor indicates that they are in more immediate danger: the conversation could not continue from this point as Sally had other things to do.

Continuity

  • A similar holographic Doctor appeared to Rose in DW: The Parting of the Ways.
  • Martha once again obtains period employment in the course of her adventures with the Doctor, having previously gotten hired as a maid in DW: Human Nature. This time, she takes a job in a shop in 1969.
  • The Doctor's timey-wimey detector is destroyed in NSA: Ghosts of India.

Timeline

DVD and Other Releases

  • This has been released along with Human Nature and The Family of Blood
  • It is also part of the series 3 box set. In the disc which has the episode in it (disc 4) there is an easter egg on page 2 of scene selection of "Blink". It has the Doctor's Easter egg from the episode, unedited. To access it, you have to highlight "Blink" in the page and select it. Unlike other bonus scenes and deleted footage, the Easter egg remains "filmized" rather than being rendered on video, in keeping with it supposedly having been filmed in 1969.

See Also

to be added

External Links


Template:Series 3

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