29.10: Blink

[PTeppic]

Moffatt also cut his teeth on the four-season "Coupling", so certainly knows how to write clever human interaction, humour and so on.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the dance, eh? chance! That's you, that is, naming earlier episodes. Anyway, I'll see what he has to throw at us, though I'm sure we're in for lots of running, sonic screw-drivers, and more one-liners than a Sun headline writer's convention.

And the Doctor is so, so sorry.

[PTeppic]

Originally Posted by Briareus Delta

Seems like I'm out of step with everyone on this one. I thought it was one of the worst episodes since RTD took over the franchise. I just found the whole thing boring and the statues not at all scary. I can imagine that 5 year olds would be hiding behind the sofa, though.

No problems with having different views here. I agree about the kids though: is there anything worse than a monster which moves whilst you're not looking, but stands still when you do? Because you know you have to look away eventually. Very clever idea I thought. I even used to play that game, I'm sure we all did. Odeon are even using it in their in-house advertising...

[the_faery_queen]

i just don't remember the empty child one! what happened there?
i love the idea of things moving when you don't look. it's very faerie mythology, the idea of things being there, being different, when you see them and when you don't

[the_faery_queen]

tho im not sure why doc who and martha didn't age like the policeman. or why they didnt move forward through time. and i wonder how long time felt for them. they were stuck in the 60s, did it feel like 40 years until the girl sent the tardis back, or not?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by the_faery_queen

tho im not sure why doc who and martha didn't age like the policeman. or why they didnt move forward through time. and i wonder how long time felt for them. they were stuck in the 60s, did it feel like 40 years until the girl sent the tardis back, or not?

Well, I would begin to answer that, but....

Originally Posted by Dr.Jackson

I liked the whole 'Back to the Future 3' ideas that were used - delivering the letter, leaving clues through time etc. It also explains, in some fashion (wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey), the concept of non-linear time in the Doctors adventures, which seems to have confused some people who write in to Teletext and the like asking questions regarding paradoxes, apparently having fried their brains trying to figure out why cause can sometimes come after effect.

I'm loath to answer this as I'm not sure that I want to get into another debate like the thread on the Father's Day paradox. It fries my brain too!

I think it safe to conclude that the Doctor and Martha were stuck in the Sixties experiencing Linear Time just like everyone else, but that the DVD given to Sally to put in the TARDIS would have intructions to send it back to whatever precise moment in time that the Doctor required to escape.

Kathy Nightingale and Billy Shipton, and whoever else the Weeping Angels took (they feeded on this energy, so chances are it explains all missing persons) did not have a TARDIS to rescue them, and were forever stuck in the past.

[the_faery_queen]

but they couldn't make dvds in the 60s. the policeman guy said he got into video, then into dvd, right? so how could martha and the doc be on a dvd, made later, if they hadn't gone through time normally? and if they had, why hadn't they aged?

[HoopyFrood]

The Doctor said he was filming his message in the 60s, I think...so perhaps Billy kept the recording until DVDs were invented and he could put into on them...just like her kept Sally's number all those years to 'phone her at the right time...

[the_faery_queen]

ah. that would make some sense i guess

[lukic]

If the policeman was sent back to 1969, why didnt he just find himself and tell himself not to go near those angels in the car park to avoid be zapped back to the 60's???

[HoopyFrood]

But then he wouldn't be sent back in time and wouldn't be able to warn himself warn himself, thus he would get grabbed by the angel in the future and get sent back, in which case he could warn himself and not get grabbed, but then he wouldn't be there to warn himself and then...

Man, time travelling is awkward!

[Ice fyre]

Ah the joys of causality!

Freaky episode never liked statues now llike em even less.

I liked this episode it was well played and set up. Its going to keep the chrolnicles buzzing for a while.

[PTeppic]

Originally Posted by lukic

If the policeman was sent back to 1969, why didnt he just find himself and tell himself not to go near those angels in the car park to avoid be zapped back to the 60's???

He explained to Sally that he'd been told two thirds of the universe would be destroyed if he did. That's how she got onto the Doctor... the figure 2/3 was too precise.

[lukic]

I would probably still take a risk that I would be living in the third that didnt get destroyed..lol

Anyway, I wont think about it too long. Anything you watch involving time travel, you just have to watch and accept it without analysing it too much - it makes your head hurt if you do :-)

[Dave]

Originally Posted by PTeppic

He explained to Sally that he'd been told two thirds of the universe would be destroyed if he did.

So, who "told" him that?

Do you think it was the Doctor? It would have to be, wouldn't it?

So, they didn't bother to rescue him when they got the TARDIS back, because to do so would mean he couldn't give pass on the recordings or see Sally at the hospital. They let him get stuck there so that they could escape! Doesn't sound like the Doctor to me.

Why did they all go back to 1969, but Kathy Nightingale went back to 1920?

[PTeppic]

Originally Posted by Dave

So, they didn't bother to rescue him when they got the TARDIS back, because to do so would mean he couldn't give pass on the recordings or see Sally at the hospital. They let him get stuck there so that they could escape! Doesn't sound like the Doctor to me.

Why did they all go back to 1969, but Kathy Nightingale went back to 1920?

If they'd rescued him from 1969 he wouldn't have made the recordings and spoken to Sally, so the TARDIS wouldn't have been rescued... paradox time.

1920/1969 - that's probably the biggest discontinuity of the episode. No real explanation. Maybe because she was going to live longer in the first place... they had to send her further back to enjoy that long life. But if so, how long should the Doctor have been sent back! Valid point.