| BLINK by Steven Moffat |
| Story 30 Synopsis: Sally Sparrow sneaks into an abandoned old house, ostensibly to take photos. She uncovers a hidden message on the wall that intrigues her enough to return the next day with a friend, who disappears. Sally finds some strange connections to the house, including a hidden DVD message from a stranger called the Doctor, who claims to be trapped in 1969, and that the statues she thinks are following her around, are the Weeping Angels, an ancient race of aliens who catapult people into the past but daren't look at each other. With help from her friend's brother, Sally takes a key she has found, and returns to the house, where a strange blue box is kept in the cellar, guarded by the Angels. They manage to get inside and it dematerialises around them, trapping the Angels into looking at each other. Sally meets the Doctor a year later, but before he has recorded the DVD message, and she gives him a dossier of answers, so he can make the right moves when the time comes for him. |
| Review:- Did lightning strike twice, then? The so-called high-concept of presenting episodes with minimal involvement of the Doctor, which is really just a poor excuse for dodgy economics, fell very flat with Love & Monsters. But this time, lessons have perhaps been learnt. The lead this time is a lady, which is perhaps the best difference. Whereas Elton was a likeable, well-adjusted bloke, he did find himself stuck in a comedy that turned to tragedy. Whereas here, Sally is a likeable, well-adjusted lady who is stuck in a mystery that pads along to a gentle conclusion, despite much tragedy along the way. Perhaps it's the different mix that makes the difference. Certainly, whilst Larry is just a silly a parody of sci-fi fans as any of LInDA were, he isn't the most important part of the story, which is probably the best thing for him. There will have been more people in the audience identifying with Sally than Larry, that's for sure. As for the story, well, the use of time is oddly a seldom-seen narrative in Doctor Who, as many writers claim it's not cool. Here, the premise is kept very simple, so the people who don't care too hard will still have been able to keep up with it. The loss of Sally's friend and then a cop who merely looked at her nice are given increasing impact, leading to the assumption, crossed to the mystery of how Larry's diary got to the Doctor, that Larry is pretty much doomed. This, together with the assumption I had that, given the Weeping Angels seemed to be such a rip-off of the story of the Medusa, there would need to be a mirror in the resolution, was cunningly avoided, leading to softer conclusions, though dematerialising the TARDIS as the pivot of a trap was a good wheeze for once. Was it scary? Well, whether this does for statues what Moffat's previous episodes did for clockwork or gas-masks is yet to be seen. But the premise was at least engaging, and that will have to suffice. Considering the Doctor is hardly in it, his presence is certainly felt, which helps a lot. Martha, though, is now just a cipher, having descended a long way from the promise she was allowed to show in her first story. So, whilst not flawless, it was definitely one of the better episodes in this season. |
| Disclaimer: I have watched this story. |