29.03: Gridlock

[pyan]

Well, what did you think?
More clues and dropped hints - lots of action and humour, a bit of pathos - gods, I'm enjoying this series!

[HoopyFrood]

Me too, me too!

It was more serious than last week's episode, that's for sure (there were some cracking lines last week!). It seemed to revolve less around defeating scary monsters and more about developing The Doctor -- but that's not to say that the actiony bits in this episode weren't very good, because they were great! Especially The Doctor's drop down through all the different cars!
I think it's all in preparation for the ending of the series, because I think it's clear to most of us that it's going to turn out that The Doctor isn't the last Time Lord (I could quite easily guess 'the secret' that the Face of Boe was going to tell The Doctor). But bless The Doctor when he started remembering his home planet...aw.

I loved the idea of the motorway and how everyone had been on it for years. And all the different people living in their cars...brilliant.

And LOOK! DALEKS NEXT WEEK!! (I may have let out a joyous cheer when I saw them in the trailer for next week )

[Dave]

from Wikipedia
The Doctor returns to a much grittier New Earth with Martha, eventually to meet the Face of Boe one final time. But the city has now been turned into a deadly trap, and when they find the streets being ruled by the sinister Pharmacists, they must brave the ordeal of the mysterious Motorway in order to discover the terrible secrets at the heart of the city. But what monsters lurk below the surface hidden in the fog?

I'm giving my seal of approval to David Tennant now. After this episode, I finally like him more than Christopher Ecclestone. I hope he stays a few more years too. What a great episode!

The year five billion and fifty three is, as far as is known, the furthest into the future that the TARDIS has ever travelled!

It references The Macra Terror from 1967, (an episode I don't really remember as I was only 5), and the beautiful description of Gallifrey's 'burnt orange skies and silver leaves' was first heard way back in the 1964 story The Sensorites.

It is a much better story than New Earth when Novice Hame and the 'Cats' last appeared or the 'Crap Cats' as they are called on other boards!

It answers the long awaited 'great secret' from the Face of Boe.

It has Martha Jones standing up for herself and asking him the right questions.

And it sets up at least two more episodes for the rest of this season. Daleks which the trailer shows are in Manhattan next week, and the fact that the Doctor is not the only TimeLord to survive the Time War, which we have already speculated means that Mr Saxon, may not be human.

And there was the best special effects I've seen in any BBC production (which have invariably been extremely naff!)

It also had Ardal O'Hanlon (who I loved in Father Ted but can't abide in My Hero.)

More interesting trivia from wiki:

Some publicity has been given to the fact that Gridlock is the 727th episode of Doctor Who. This will break the record held by the various Star Trek series, which have a total of 726 combined episodes amongst them. Doctor Who has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running science fiction series in the world, based on the original series' 26-year continuous run and the 43+ years since the programme's 1963 debut. However, the Star Trek total includes all the various (live action) spin off shows - by the same logic, taking Torchwood and the two K9 episodes (in 1981 and 2007) into account, the record was broken by Day One, the second episode of Torchwood.

I wonder how that equates in hours though. Star Trek episodes were 45 minutes long with full length 10 films. Doctor Who episodes were usually about 23 minutes long with the overlapping cliffhanger. Of course, if you include the 2 Doctor Who films... does it really matter anyway?

[Dr.Jackson]

I thought that this was a brilliant episode in terms of character exploration. I think that Martha realises that she thought she knew what she was letting herself in for by travelling with The Doctor, and the sudden realisation in the car that she knows practically nothing about him, and yet she trusts him with her life scares her a bit.

I loved that The Doctor reminisced about Gallifrey, making him all watery eyed, showing Martha the emotional side that she knew he was hiding. I think that this episode may have set some of the tone for later, possibly getting darker as the fact that The Doctor is not alone is explored. It'll also be interesting to see if this Mr. Saxon thing pans out to reveal that he is an old foe thought long gone.

Looking forward to the "Sec's in the City" episodes in the next fortnight, as the voice-over says 'the Daleks always survive', but this is one from the Cult of Skaro, so no ordinary Dalek - should make things interesting if they play with that.

[Talysia]

Does anyone know when - or if - this episode is repeated? I didn't see all of it!

[Dr.Jackson]

Originally Posted by Talysia

Does anyone know when - or if - this episode is repeated? I didn't see all of it!

It's repeated Sun on BBC Three at 8:00pm and on Friday on BBC Three at 9:00pm.

[Talysia]

Thanks, Dr.Jackson! Hopefully I'll get to see all of it this time!

[PTeppic]

Having stayed offline to watch the "Confidential" I'm not first to post, but for those after a precis:

The Doctor, perhaps showing off, takes Martha back to New New York (where he formerly took Rose, twice) though this trip seems to be a couple of decades later. Almost on arrival Martha is kidnapped, to provide the third person to a car whose owners want to make use of a three-passengers-or-more "fast lane" on the (as noticed last week, a very "Fifth Element") motorway. As the Doctor begins to chase after her he finds how bad the motorway situation is: the passengers in his first vehicle have traveled a whole 5 miles... in 12 years! Passengers in other vehicles have been stuck in the gridlock for over twenty years. Obviously things are never quite that simple and a very old enemy of the Doctor is lurking in the fog at the bottom of the motorway. Meanwhile, an old but more recent friend is still resident in the city above, with problems of their own, but also with a legendarily final secret to reveal.

I still think the cat make-up on DW is some of the best I've seen on BBC, and Nurse Hame is curiously attractive as a cat. Further to Dave's comments I thought the Macra were quite reasonable and some of the motorway footage was fair (e.g. the jumping from car to car). Otherwise I'd have to disagree with Dave, about most of the motorway scenes: I thought they were obviously CGI and too clearly cloned. Much better mixing of CGI to live action though, compared to many episodes, e.g. Tooth and Claw.

As for content, another good episode for this season. Some cracking character development of the Doctor, I thought, over these first couple of shows, compared to many episodes last season. Martha is still coming out of her shell but promises great things. A fairly logical plot with only pretty small holes, with some clever digs at modern life. Nice continued story from the Face of Bo, with the final, though perhaps well-guessed secret finally revealed, contrary to the Doctor's belief he is not alone (as a Time Lord).

What I thought was much more revealing was a throw-away one liner in "Confidential":
The secret revealed by the Face of Boe doesn't just lead to the direction of later episodes in the season but part of the revelation will also identify who or what the Face of Boe actually is/was.
Let the discussions begin....

[PTeppic]

Taysia,
If you're watching BBC3 (which you'll need to be), the "Confidential" is shown afterwards in both cases, AFAIR. However, I think it's an edited down version, compared to the master copy shown today. At least, that's the impression I got last week.

[PTeppic]

Originally Posted by Dr.Jackson

Looking forward to the "Sec's in the City" episodes in the next fortnight, as the voice-over says 'the Daleks always survive', but this is one from the Cult of Skaro, so no ordinary Dalek - should make things interesting if they play with that.

I thought I noticed in the spoiler for next week's "Confidential" they had the Dalek's saying "We always come back" or something like that. Anyway, it's got thirties Manhattan, dancing girls, pig-creatures and the Daleks. Does it even need a plot to succeed? And from both the trailer/spoiler and the season so far, it's looking like being a storming couple of shows.

[ps. didn't intend for the triple posting...]

[HoopyFrood]

Hell, any episode with Daleks is going to be good in my opinion.

Especially...Black Dalek Sec! YEAH! (Sorry, but I do love that Dalek )

[Talysia]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

Taysia,
If you're watching BBC3 (which you'll need to be), the "Confidential" is shown afterwards in both cases, AFAIR. However, I think it's an edited down version, compared to the master copy shown today. At least, that's the impression I got last week.

Thanks for the tip, PTeppic. I'll keep it in mind.

[Dr.Jackson]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

Taysia,
If you're watching BBC3 (which you'll need to be), the "Confidential" is shown afterwards in both cases, AFAIR. However, I think it's an edited down version, compared to the master copy shown today. At least, that's the impression I got last week.

Yes, the first broadcast of "Confidential" is 45 min long, whereas the "Confidential Cutdown" (that's what the edited repeats were called last year, anyway) is only 15 min long, which is quite some edit!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

Otherwise I'd have to disagree with Dave, about most of the motorway scenes: I thought they were obviously CGI and too clearly cloned. Much better mixing of CGI to live action though, compared to many episodes.

That's probably fair.

I'm intrigued by that Face of Boe comment. Is that all that was mentioned?

[PTeppic]

Yeah. It was heading for the end of Confidential and I wasn't expecting some deep dark hint/clue to be being made so almost wasn't paying attention. Little tinkers! I'm trying to remember who said it - possibly David Tennant, rather the RTD.