I just finished rewatching this episode, as I don't think I'd seen it since it initially aired when I was in middle school. As far as the newer Doctor Who episodes go, it's a pretty iconic one. You have one of the most popular quotes from the entire series ("wibbly wobbly timey wimey... stuff"), what are in my opinion the most terrifying and creepy of any of the Doctor Who villains, and even an "oh shit that's Carey Mulligan" moment there at the beginning.
Some Doctor Who episodes don't focus very much on the time travel aspect of the show. It's used at the beginning to get to a place and time and then the episode plays out linearly. "Blink" is so interesting and captivating because of the time travel. We're strung along the whole episode and given little clues as to what's going on only for everything to wrap up nicely at the end. I also think this episode is interesting because it doesn't feature the Doctor very prominently. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I can't relate to the Doctor very much as a character. And I don't really think we're supposed too anyway. That's why he has a companion. But I did find myself rooting for Sally and wondering what I would do if I was in her place. She didn't really make any stupid decisions, other than maybe deciding to visit the house a second time. And the weeping angels are by far the scariest of the Doctor Who villains for me, although I'd say the Silence is a close second. I can deal with Daleks, Cybermen, reptilian humanoids, vampires, and whatever else Moffat can throw at me but the logistics of the weeping angels are just terrifying. The pressure of having to stay focused on a weeping angel and paranoia because of not being able to look everywhere at once would get to me pretty quickly, especially if I was alone or in a small group.
So what does everyone else think of "Blink?" Looking back on it, it's probably one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes. Where do you think the weeping angels rank in terms of how scary the villains in the show are? Do you think Sally acted logically or would you have done something different? So many times when I'm watching this show I think, "Well, at this point I think I would just give up," but Sally obviously doesn't. If this was your introduction to Doctor Who, did you like it and were you able to follow without some of the back story given in earlier episodes?
I also think that "Blink" is really unique in that, yes, the Doctor travels through time, but it's a lot more instrumental in this episode, where in others, he could just be traveling through space, since those planets would be so far removed from Earth that the time difference feels irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Weeping Angels, I think that they're scary, to be sure, just because of the difficulty in running away from them. The chase is so terrifying that you kind of forget that, at least in most cases, SPOILERS the angels don't actually kill people. SPOILERS
Blink was one of the first episodes I ever saw of Doctor Who, and so for that reason alone I'm really partial to it. I also love that the Doctor is sort of a background character in his own story; it really focuses on Sally Sparrow more than how ~special and clever~ the Doctor is. She's a much more relatable protagonist, especially from an outsider's point of view. She knows just as much as a first time viewer, meaning you learn things at the same rate, which is why I also recommend the episode for newcomers to watch.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the angels are one of the scariest villains, merely based on the fact that you HAVE to look at them. You can run away from most of the other villains, or fight them head on, but there's really no way to fight a weeping angel, other than to try and stare at it for all of eternity. And as Evan pointed out, though their "power" to send one back in time is not nearly as scary as imminent death, their presentation and operation remain the most creepy to me.
This was my first ever Doctor Who episode. I thought it was probably not my best introduction to the series, because of the Doctor's lack of involvement, but the episode itself was fascinating. I think that having Sally Sparrow as the protagonist just made me want her to return in more episodes... and I'm not sure if she does... but I'm DETERMINED to not become obsessed with this show so I'm not going to try to find out!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Sally was very rational, and easy to relate to. Unfortunately Michael, I don't think she ever showed up again. Doctor Who is still a good show, though.
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