Doctor Who (again) [SPOILERS]

[Fuzzie Fuzz]

So! Random plot speculation.

Spoiler

We may not have seen the Doctor fall yet. If this is the case, could it be related to the "Silence will fall" storyline? I refuse to believe that Moffat would just end the Silence's saga as simply as that after all that buildup.

Also, the Doctor basically said he wasn't a good man (as I think someone else pointed out), thus making Rory the "Good Man" by default. I'm therefore supporting the theory that River kills Rory. I'm still not sure who I think is in the spacesuit in TIA.

[SuperPanda]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Spoiler

So the blonde girl's taking photographs of the inside of the abandoned house, is she an urban explorer or something? Because if you're doing something like that in the Whoniverse, you're going to get om nom nomm'd to death.

Maybe she's really an archaeologist? Naw, just kidding.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Spoiler

Anyway. There's a naked dude. Presumably Cathy's brother Larry. He's naked. He doesn't look all that bad actually. Nice that you can still see the Doctor on the tellybox in the background by the by. Larry is understandably a little put off, and Cathy apparently knew of this nude sleeping/walking around at home all along. Could have warned Sparrow eh?

I loved that scene. Pants? Ah... no.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Spoiler

The video ends.
Larry's not looking at the statue.
AAAAHHHH!
ANGRY FACE!
VERY ANGRY, NASTY DEMON FACE!
I'll be seeing that in my dreams. That or some horrific amalgam of that and the Operator. Argh. If the Angel doesn't have a face, it doesn't have to hide from other Angels.
Mummy.

Are you my Mummy?

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Spoiler

Happily ever after. Cue the previe -
Feck. Statues. Everywhere. Intercut with the Doctor's advice. Stautes. Everywhere. Don't. Blink. Good luck. He blinks.
Oh dearie me.

I had the same reaction when I first saw the episode but your retelling of it is priceless in a good way. That was a wonderfully scary moment of silly. In context of later episodes I think its more Moffat saying "Boo" than anything else, but it was still very fun.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Spoiler

Preview thoughts: They're going to the end of the universe. SIR DEREK FREAKING JACOBI! Dudes, Cadfael is all up in my Doctor Who! Captain Jack is here who rabid humans. But who cares?! DEREK JACOBI! IN DOCTOR WHO!
Let me restate that for you: Sir Derek Jacobi is in my Doctor Who. Screw the rest of the plot.
This gets an instant ten out of ten, and easily, by far and away Sir Derek Jacobi is the best actor. I don't even care if he's only a minor famous name to show up for five minutes before dying. He wins. Totality.
I honestly don't care about the rest of the show.

I look forward to reading your review. About the time I left the states to start teaching ESL I had a few friends who I was trying to sell Dr. Who on and they'd all decided that they loved Tennant and Tennant's range as an actor, they just hadn't decided if they really wanted to watch the whole thing. I told them they needed to watch the episode you've got coming up next because not only does it have 10 and Jack in the same episode together (they liked Jack a lot already) but the guest star, Sir Derek Jacobi, steals the show whenever he's on screen.

edit: added spoilers back into your points. Hopefully telling you that I loved Derek Jacobi's performance in the next episode isn't spoiling anything (it doesn't sound like it is).

Spoiler

Basically, All I wanted to say is that in loving Sir Derek Jacobi's acting : You are not alone.

[Stadge]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

The Nu Who Trek continues. And now, to boldly go where many have gone before. [*cue TNG theme (I love that theme song so much)*]

'Blink' (Season Three, Episode Ten)
Same format as before.

Spoiler

People, it's 'Blink'. One of the most famous episodes of all of Nu Who, and reputedly, one of the most terrifying. Alternatively: it's a Moffat story. Given the Moffat's stories in the previous two series, I am expecting a lot. By the by, as a mention now: generally if it's a Moffat episode, I will have seen it. I love Moffat!
Now, as I admitted last time, I've seen this before, a little over a year ago. However, I can honestly not remember much aside from the usual facts about the Angels, time is more confused than normal, and that this is a Doctor-Lite episode.
Now I've cleared my conscience; let's get terrified!
(If Megavideo ever bothers to load)
Oh, and yes, I'm about halfway through Marble Hornets as well. Watching some now while I wait for the episode to load up as a matter of fact. Stupid? Interesting? Fun? Creepy as all get? I'll let you know.
It's an abandoned house! And trespassing girls! At nght time! Cue Scooby Doo reference, please, choose your own. So the blonde girl's taking photographs of the inside of the abandoned house, is she an urban explorer or something? Because if you're doing something like that in the Whoniverse, you're going to get om nom nomm'd to death.
Blonde Chick notices some writing under the wallpaper, it reads "Beware." She peels more away. The music gets intense and dramatic. "The weeping angels. Oh, and duck. Really. Duck Sally Sparrow. Duck, now." She - presumably Sally Sparrow ducks, and someone lobs a pot at her! How rude. Seriously, who threw the pot at her? And how did the writing on the wall know who, what, when and why?
The orchestral sting ramps up the violins like we're in a shower in a 1950s Hitchcock film, and Sparrow looks out the window.
There's an angel pulling the 'see no evil' pose. The music is quiet, with some dim brass (horns perhaps) trumping away in the background. Surprisingly eerie music actually. Anyway, Sparrow, being a fairly bright chick, looks back to the writing; dude. The angel is weeping. Beware it!
Then she peels away even more wallpaper to reveal the message is "Love from the Doctor (1969?)" The paper covers up much of the final number.
TITLE! While that's running, this episode is multi-BAFTA award winning, it has a Hugo Award under its belt. And it only lost the Nebula Award for Best Script to Pan's Labyrinth - one of my favourite films of all time. Oh, and if you Google "blink", Wikipedia's entry for this episode is the third result. Not bad for such a common word. Oh yes, and in 2009 Doctor Who Magazine's poll listed this as the second-best Who serial ever. High accolades. Oh Moffat, you name in the title screen always does offer good things.
Sparrow goes to Cathy's house and - the Doctor is on TV. In sepia tones. Giving the monologue from the episode trailer. The music is high and discordant, ratcheting up some tension. In that same room are a lot of screen shots of this thing.
Some chick (Cathy) is woken by her mobile, and it's Sparrow ordering her to come have a cuppa. At one in the morning. On the one hand, part of me wants to mock Cathy for being in bed so early, but she might have work; on the other hand, I sympathise with her; and on the other hand: so. Sparrow is British, and her first inclination after getting home after experiencing something freaky and supernatural is to chat about it over a nice hot cuppa. How British. (I'm also saddened by the fact that Firefox according to FIrefox, 'cuppa' isn't a real word)
Anyway. There's a naked dude. Presumably Cathy's brother Larry. He's naked. He doesn't look all that bad actually. Nice that you can still see the Doctor on the tellybox in the background by the by. Larry is understandably a little put off, and Cathy apparently knew of this nude sleeping/walking around at home all along. Could have warned Sparrow eh?
Love this. 04.30 or so, the presence of the tea is like red alert on the Enterprise. Something serious is going down peeps. So the next day the "girl investigators" (what, like Nancy Drew? Cool) sneak back into the unsafe structure to look around. Honestly Sparrow, you survive an encounter with a Spooky Thing at a Spooky Place, you don't go back. Huh. "Sparrow and Nightingale" [...] "A bit ITV." What? Like Rosemary and Thyme? Sparrow has a point.
So Sparrow's a deep person because she's made sad by lurking around tumbledown buildings. She said so herself. The direction is quite crisp here, especially the lingering shot on the chandelier, and the oboe music in the background is very nice.
Cathy's eyeing the Angel in the garden with distaste, "not in my garden" she says with mild distaste; mmmm, it is a bit ostentatious. According to Sparrow "it's moved [...] since yesterday". The pair ponder the message. And then a jump scare bell ring! Cathy thinks it's a burglar, which is patently silly.
There's a guy in a suit asking to deliver a letter "on this date at this exact time" to Sparrow; and please could he have some photo identification to verify your claim please. Sparrow's wigged because yeah, he's a bugged-eyed man giving her a letter obviously older than she is.
Cut back to Cathy who is surprised by a musical sting! No one's in the room, or outside. The camera focuses on the angel as the . . . the Psycho strings (aka the Angel theme) play antagonistically. Cathy turn away, cut back to the Angel (07.16) and it's hands are lowered, mouth partially open. It's freaky. The expression on that face is downright creepy even discounting the fact that it's a moving statue. Cathy re-spies on Sparrow, and the Dude is making smalltalk while he looks at Sparrow's driving license. Cathy move the door back, and we see the Angel is right on the balcony along with its own stinger music.
Dude hands over the envelope, and Sparrow demands a name for the person who wrote it, it was "Catherine Wainright, but [...] prior to marriage she was called Cathy Nightingale". Sparrow looks disbelieving as her friend is clearly upstairs, lurking and spying.
Throughout all this we've had some camera-POV shots of the Angel sneaking up behind Cathy as she loiters half-in, half-out of the room; and where the [...] appears in the transcripted dialogue above, we cut to the Angel standing behind the door, arm outstretched. This is still powerful even on second or third viewing, I think it's the blank, yet somehow yearning face that does it. That and, you know, being a statue that moves.
Oh, these creepy Angels. So much better than those other moving statues that can be found in one of my favourite films, I can't explain how great my hate is for them, or enumerate my reasons - except that's a lie. I can. Just let it be known that, if faced with an Angel on one side, and those things on the other, I'd run straight for the Angel any time. ANY TIME.
But ignoring my hate there, there's a weird noise, Sparrow calls for Cathy, but no one answers. Because she's dead. Sparrow thinks this is all some sort of cruel joke set up by Cathy. The angel is now back in the garden, and now Cathy is in a field. A field in "Hull" apparently.
The Bug-Eyed Dude insists that Cathy was his grandmother, and considering the newspaper the Hull Man gives Cathy says 1920 (convenient dating machines, these newspapers aren't they), I think B-ED's telling the truth. So the Angel sends people back in time. Well, she's not dead at least.
Cathy died twenty years ago (in the present), and Cathy in the past freaks. I think I would too. Sparrow's a bit - a lot confused, saying this is "totally sick" and throwing the mementos of this man's grandmother and her best friend to the ground. Upstairs, there is no Cathy. There is however, an Angel in the room. Two in fact, and one's all suspicious with its forearm covering its eyes. The music here is sombre and - there's another Angel in the window.
Sparrow's breathing gets heavier, and she notices a key grasped in one Angel's hand. She goes to take it.
Hey. Peeps. Peeps. Did you notice that the Angels move when the camera is blocked by a character onscreen? And they don't move when we're watching, aka, not blinking. Don't you just love audience participation that can give people nightmares and statue phobias?!
And that Angel at 11.00 is not nice, it looks like it's frowning slightly, with those dead, empty eyes . . . I hate dolls.
Sparrow, the Angels are moving. When you block the - shadow! Oh thank God B-ED left, that Angel reached out towards you. The music is all electro-synth as she's looking around for B-ED, and as we walk away the Angel theme stings away, showing us the eerie white forms of Angels in the windows. Aaaaargh. Stalking statues.
In the coffee shop Cathy does a voiceover as she narrates her life. I like Ben. Cut to the graveyard, with all angels in! And Sparrow's being stalked by them. Why her above all others?
So Sparrow's left with the tak of telling Larry that his sister is dead-but-not-dead-not-really. So off to the DVD shop. Huh. His name's Lawrence. Lawrence Nightinga - Florence. Punny. Larry's rewatching the Doctor's TV show, it being paused, when it reactivates as Sparrow walks past.
Larry repauses it, and there's a moment of awkwardness as he covers his Area with a bowl. Sparrow can't tell Larry what's happened to his sister just yet, so she says Cathy's gone out of town, oh, and "she loves you". Larry reacts with bemusement. To be honest, I would too. I love my siblings lots, but I don't go around telling them that so baldly on an every day basis. That's weird.
Larry really should get a better tellybox or something if the things keeps unpausing on its own like that. This thing with the Doctor is an Easter egg, he's on seventeen different DVDs, and literally no one knows how he got there. No one.
"It's like we're hearing half a conversation" Larry remarks idly, before adding he'd like to hear the other half. Obvious plot point is obvious. Sort of. Larry is an internet nerd. He admits it. Nerd.
Hey! Technotreknobabble that fails utterly. Timey-wimey TV Tropes trope title go! And a lampshade is waved in front of our faces by Counter Guy "Go to the police you stupid woman! Why does nobody ever go to the police?!"
The music is all stingy, so she goes to the police. She admits to sounding mad, but her friend's gone missing over at "Wester Drumlins". Oh, and the stinger music tells us the angel statues on the church opposite the station are Angels. Cue rising intense music as we close in on Sparrow's rather pretty brown eyes. She blinks.
The Angels are gone. Sally looks over in surprise, decides he's "cracking up now", but she's not! The camera angle widens to show us the window is flanked by two Angels. The stinger's getting a bit repetitive now.
We get introduced to D.I. Billy Shipton. Not only is he handsome, but he has a hot accent. Clearly, he finds Sparrow attractive as he puts his busines on hold to how her a garage which is filled with cars what have been abandoned completely outside Wester Drumlins. The owners are gone.
The TARDIS! The Angels got the Doctor and Martha. Hehe, I like Shipton's lampshading of the TARDIS' fakeness. Shipton immediately asks Sparrow out on a drink.
Sparrow gets suspiscous, saying he's on duty, but the clever D.I. nicked off saying it was a family crisis. "Because life is short and you are hot." Billy is amazing. End of. He's got a great voice, he's witty, handsome, very nice. Hey, he's got a sparrow badge on his jacket! That's cute.
Sparrow says "maybe", and Sparrow gives him her phone number. It's "just a phone number." We then get a cute Freudian slip where Sparrow introduces herself as "Sally Shipton" (hey, sweetheart, in this case, perfectly understandable) and Billy grins. he has a lovely smile. After a bit of flirting he says he's definitely "going to phone you gorgeous girl", and I declare this couple instantly sweet and bucket loads of chemistry. Billy's clearly very happy about getting such a positive reaction from a girl he just met.
His happy face fades away when he sees four Angels gathering around the TARDIS, one of them inserting a key what it doesn't have in the lock. Yes, the stinger's there too.
Billy gets suspiscious and walks over to the Key Angel. Good thing we're here Billy or you'd be dead-back-in-time. The pensive oboe of close ups plays, and Billy blinks!
Sally's outside the station, with some pretty neat rock music, when we get a flashback to Billy's saying "ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits" as she pulls out the lock. I like Sally. She's a smart cookie. Back inside the garage we see the TARDIS is gone and the door is wrenched half open.
And now we're with Billy, Martha and the Doctor in 1969! The Doctor says he's got the moon landing to look forward to, and Martha chimes in they went four times.
Wait . . . so there were five Doctors around in 1969? Maybe six. Where was One?Two in 1969? Huh. Maybe it was a version of Tennant that was in the space suit that killed Older!Eleven. That's one WMG that's certainly false.
So Martha's all snippy about being stuck TARDISless in 1969. They all got in 1969 because of the "touch of an Angel" - the only psychopaths in the universe that kill you nicely. Send you to the past and let you live to death.
Until the next time.
The Doctor has a "timney-wimey dectector. Goes 'ding' when there's stuff." It also boils eggs whether you want it to or not. I giggle at the thought of exploding hens. They're vicious beggars let me tell you.
And the Doctor knows of Sally Sparrow. Somehow.
Funny Face Time: 23.28 - the Doctor can be summed up as "Hey, I luve yousomucsh. 'AveIeva tol' youtha'?" Poor Drunk Doctor.
So Billy has to live the slow path to get the message to Sparrow. Who gets a phone call in the present asking her to meet him. At the hospital.
Billy's an old man now. He wakes and says "It was raining when we met."
Sally: "It's the same rain." Ouch.
Billy did get a Sally Shipton in the end, but not our Sally. Billy couldn't find her before this because if it did it would have torn a hole in space and time, destroying two-thirds of the universe. So, the cracks in the wall then?
Ah! Billy put the Easter egg on the seventeen DVDs. And he put them there because the Doctor asked him to.
Billy'll never know why and how all this came about. See, he's dying tonight. My lip begins to wibble. "Life is long, and you are hot." Only thing that kept him going. Curse that oboe! And Billy's voice when he asks, brokenly, how all this happened. Billy has until the rain stops.
Next shot, the rain's stopped. I'm tearing up, and given the extreme soft focus of the camera, so is it. Damnation Billy, you were only onscreen for what? Six or seven minutes. Don't make me cry for such a short, wonderful character!
These DVDs with the Easter egg on are all the DVDs Sally own, and Larry, like myself, is shocked at such a thing.
Things are going down now peeps. There was angry, determined music as Sally stormed out of the hospital ward. And now the two main characters are gathered at Wester Drumlins (Larry is very right when he remarks this is "Scooby Doo's house").
Time for wibbly wobbly conversations across time. Not gong to bother transcribing it. Larry has one already. Martha sounds all whiny when she buts in, can't say I disagree. But still.
Hey. Logic. The Doctor knows what to say because Larry's writing down what Sally's saying to fill in the gaps in the transcribe.
Hehe. The tape knew you would say all of that. And Larry's such a nerd. Not only does he know shorthand, but he's "written tonnes" about what 'look to your left' could mean. He thinks politics. Larry's actually the reason Sally looks left.
"This will explode the egg forums." Adorkable sad sack.
The next couple lines sum up this plot excellently. The Doctor got the transcript "from the future" (as far as Sally is concerned), to which Sally responds "You're reading aloud from a transcript of a conversation you're still having."
Hee. "The Angels have the phone box." Funny line. I want a t-shirt with that on it, like what Larry has. Cue some exposition about the Angels. They don't exist when they're being observed. Also, stone can't be killed. But sledgehammer? Eh. Indestructible rock, I've seen weirder. Human-Daleks for one thing. Scorpion-things that can shapeshift into a Boris Johnson lookalike. Trampoline Face.
And this is interspersed with shots of an Angel outside. Sally says not to take his [Larry's] eyes off the statue. Good idea Sally. The Doctor begins speaking more urgently as the music gets tenser, the transcript's run out.
We get the full version of the trailer plead about not blinking. The video ends.
Larry's not looking at the statue.
AAAAHHHH!
ANGRY FACE!
VERY ANGRY, NASTY DEMON FACE!
I'll be seeing that in my dreams. That or some horrific amalgam of that and the Operator. Argh. If the Angel doesn't have a face, it doesn't have to hide from other Angels.
Mummy.
And there are three more. Larry's stuck looking at that ANGRY one. Larry's too scared to blink. Good thing. Freakin' clawed hands and demon nails, fangs and face.
They're locked in. They're after the TARDIS key. Sally won't give them the key, Larry starts bricking it because he can only look in one direction at a time, he needs to blink, and there are four of them. He really wants Sally to give them the key.
The music gets all . . . warbly, but in a bad way, as we start doing to zoom in on Larry's eyes. Larry starts mumbling and pleading to God.
[EXPLETIVE] Larry looked away and 34.44 will be seeing me in my nightmares tonight. It moved several yard in about a second! And the face is very angry, and those arms are reaching for his neck. These are not nice psychopaths any more.
I'm guessing it's because they want the key. A lot.
Larry's got brown knickers now, and we have a stare off between a statue and a veyr, very terrified Larry. The music starts trying to intimidate us by imitating the THX VVVVWWWWWWOOOOOMMMMM thing, and my God if it isn't scary and tense as all kinds of things.
The other three are in the cellar, and they're not moving as long as people are looking. Larry's Angel is in the cellar now too. And making the light go out.
It's turning out the light.
And people can't see in the dark.
Don't know why we haven't seen this skill before, but it's fekkin' terrifying because now you get strobe-like imitations of the Angels running and then freezing and their actions and faces and this is very, very scary. Extra props to Murray for the music here, it damn well turns the terror of the scene up to eleven, then fifteen, then twenty, and then breaks the knob off.
I don't like it.
And they only just barely manage to get inside the TARDIS in time! With all the Angels frozen around the TARDIS. Holo-Dcotor (please state the nature of your emergency) basically tells them the DVD is a one-use only time travel key. And then the Angels start rocking the TARDIS backwards and forwards!
If you're thinking this isn't good, I'm thinking you're a master of understatement.
But it gets better! The TARDIS vworp-vworp-vworps away, leaving Sally and Larry stuck in between four extremely unhappy psychopaths who can't be killed and look like unholy demons from Hell.
The screams from the actors here are honestly fantastic, filled to the brim with terror bordering on hysteria. Can't blame them.
Ha! The Angels are frozen looking at each other!
Woo. Go . . . Doctor? Go Doctor! Larry then says "They're never going to move again". Yeah. Right. Until the lights go out, or someone finds them and does something stupid.
A year later Sally and Larry are working in the DVD-***-bookshop, and Sally's reminiscing about the adventure. Larry says it's over, but Sally's asking the right questions: how did he get hold of the information?
Larry wants to date, but "we just run a shop together". harsh. Maybe she's still pining for Billy? So Larry goes to get milk.
Then Martha and the Doctor pull up in a taxi wearing bows and arrows. There's a "thing. Very important that we stop it. [...]Well, four things. Four things and a lizard." He really can't stop talking can he? So Sally's obviously run up to him, recognising the Doctor and Martha, heh, he's right when he says things don't always happen in the right order. Just wait until Moffat gets to write again.
Sally realises that the Angels are in the Doctor's future, so Sally's the one who gives the information to the Doctor. But she only survived because the Doctor left all that behind, setting things up so she can survive; but the Doctor only knows what to do because Sally - and then we all stop thinking before we give ourselves a nosebleed. We'll never figure out exactly who, when or how this loop originally got started.
Love this bit. The Doctor's got to go stop a migration of . . . noodle incidents, but he still pauses to ask her name, and then says "Good to meet you Sally Sparrow." See, this is the Doctor. He bumps into people so fleetingly, but he's always pleased to meet them, and more than likely, will always remember them. Such fleeting moments scattered all across time, and he does his best to remember all of the people he's met like this.
Larry then shows up, stunned, and Sally takes his hand. Triumphant orchestral music soars as we realise they're getting a relationship upgrade, and all is well and good.
Happily ever after. Cue the previe -
Feck. Statues. Everywhere. Intercut with the Doctor's advice. Stautes. Everywhere. Don't. Blink. Good luck. He blinks.
Oh dearie me.
Moffat, you couldn't leave us on an Everybody Lives moment? Or a deeply bittersweet romance in revolutionary France? You had to provide nightmare fuel for several generations.

Preview thoughts: They're going to the end of the universe. SIR DEREK FREAKING JACOBI! Dudes, Cadfael is all up in my Doctor Who! Captain Jack is here who rabid humans. But who cares?! DEREK JACOBI! IN DOCTOR WHO!
Let me restate that for you: Sir Derek Jacobi is in my Doctor Who. Screw the rest of the plot.
This gets an instant ten out of ten, and easily, by far and away Sir Derek Jacobi is the best actor. I don't even care if he's only a minor famous name to show up for five minutes before dying. He wins. Totality.
I honestly don't care about the rest of the show.

Best Moment:
Can I cheat and say the whole thing? So many stand out in my mind. All of Billy's moments, the bit with the Counter Guy lampshading silly plot holes, the entire time travel paradox. The Angels being scary. The end thirty seconds.

Worst Moment:
Uummm. The brief scene of the Doc - no, the lines are funny. Ah! The short scene where Sally and Cathy are sneaking into Wester Drumlin together.

Best Special Effect:
The Angels. Those are real actresses in there. Yeah. Those are people. Instant win.

Worst Special Effect:
There are so few special effects in this episode that actually qualify as special effects. I'd say the glowy DVD key, because it looks cheesier than the timey-wimey detector, which is obviously meant to be cheesy.

Best Actor:
Sally Sparrow. She's the main character. She carries the episode. She's strong, funny, but not stoic, she's very emotional, but in a quiet, gentle way. I really love her.
Apparently the actress went on to become a seriously famous film star after this. I can see why.

Worst Actor:
Um. Martha only has two or three lines, none of them are especially memorable. She doesn't even have one note for her character to play in this episode.

Number of Time MtM Obviously Hits on the Doctor Or Their 'Romance' Is Mentioned:
None!

Number of Lampshades Hung:
Five.

Thoughts overall?
It is a bad idea to intersperse watching 'Blink' with Marble Hornets after having watched the latter on and off over the past two days.
Especially when: there are houses that look oddly similar to Wester Drumlins nearby; when you live in a city that is littered with more statuary (including gargoyles, chimeras, grotesques, ordinary statues (some of which I know move) and busts) than you can shake a stick at; and when said city often has men in black/white tie suits walking around it, especially in the evenings and night times.
Jumpiness and paranoia await. Argh. And there are trees outside the bathroom window.
But honestly?
This episode deserves all the praise it's received. My only real complaints are that the use of the stinger is too obvious, and could have been better if it were more subtly done. And one is left to wonder how the Doctor encountered the Angels in the first place given those four are frozen for whoever knows how long, and aren't likely to find the Doctor again.
What else?
Nothing really. Scripting was tightly done with excellent characters, everyone felt well rounded, and you got the feeling there was more to everyone than just their job/plot convenience etc. By that I mean that, even though Billy was onscreen for about five minutes, it was very well utilised, so he was more than just a D.I and you really felt for him. Even Larry the internet nerd wasn't just your stereotyped nerd, he was pretty um . . . dorky as most nerds are, but sweet.
This was a fantastic Doctor-lite episode in that the Doctor was still central to the episode even though he wasn't actually there; music was very atmospheric, if a little overdone at times. The directing was mostly fantastic, and the monsters are honestly terrifying, ranging from concept to design.
That little montage at the end is pure spite on behalf of Moffat who simply wishes to make people afraid of going outside. Especially in Britain's larger or older cities where you honestly can't go ten minutes in a city centre without seeing a statue.
Long story short, waaaaaaaay too late: it's a Moffat episode. I love Moffat. I love this episode.
Now to go try to not have nightmares of the Weeping Slender Angels or something.

*shakesfist at Curly I'm looking forward to reading this next installment of your NuWho trek, but alas, I have a Scandinavian History exam this morning, so I best not yet.

[Avaris]

Curly, thank you again for doing all these reviews, though you realise its now your mission to keep this thread going until september?

Without wanting to reopen the argument that erupted on this thread a while ago, your reviews are reminding me of why I was so disapointed with the season 3 finale. We had 4 of the best episodes in any of the series in the run up to it (Human Nature/Family of Blood/Blink and then arguably Utopia for one moment near the end) so the last two episodes had a lot to live up to. I look forward to reading your next review, especially given your love of Jacobi... believe me, his appearance is worth it, especially if you're going in completly blind.

[Thufir]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

'Blink' (Season Three, Episode Ten)
Same format as before.

Spoiler

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Sparrow is British, and her first inclination after getting home after experiencing something freaky and supernatural is to chat about it over a nice hot cuppa. How British.

Well, naturally. Have to look at these things calmly and sensibly, in a relaxed setting.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

So Sparrow's a deep person because she's made sad by lurking around tumbledown buildings. She said so herself.

Well, not quite. She's deep because she likes being made sad by looking at old things.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

This is still powerful even on second or third viewing, I think it's the blank, yet somehow yearning face that does it. That and, you know, being a statue that moves.

Yeah, it's really neat with the contrast between their normal expressions, which are blank as you say, and another word I would use would be serene, and then the evil angry demonic faces that we see later on when they're attacking.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Hey. Peeps. Peeps. Did you notice that the Angels move when the camera is blocked by a character onscreen?

I... don't think I did notice that.
Well, there's another episode I have to rewatch... (Though, I was fairly tempted already, just because it's on the same disc as Human Nature/Family of Blood)

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

His name's Lawrence. Lawrence Nightinga - Florence. Punny.

..and somehow I never noticed that either.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Sparrow can't tell Larry what's happened to his sister just yet, so she says Cathy's gone out of town, oh, and "she loves you". Larry reacts with bemusement. To be honest, I would too. I love my siblings lots, but I don't go around telling them that so baldly on an every day basis. That's weird.

John Green of the vlogbrothers made a video about this very subject.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Billy did get a Sally Shipton in the end, but not our Sally.

A commonly made assumption is that the Sally Billy married was in fact Cathy's daughter.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Also, stone can't be killed. But sledgehammer?

Yeah, never really been explained, that.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

heh, he's right when he says things don't always happen in the right order. Just wait until Moffat gets to write again.

Especially weddings, he's rubbish at weddings. Especially his own.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Best Special Effect:
The Angels. Those are real actresses in there. Yeah. Those are people. Instant win.

There was a brilliant Doctor Who Confidential moment at some point of the Angels doing the macarena. SO. WEIRD.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

And one is left to wonder how the Doctor encountered the Angels in the first place given those four are frozen for whoever knows how long, and aren't likely to find the Doctor again.

Well, obviously at some point he landed the TARDIS at Wester Drumlins, he and Martha wandered out and got Angeled. This being in the Angels' past, of course, since they're moving through time linearly, just as Sally Sparrow is. Wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey, etc.

[comicshorse]

Originally Posted by Avaris

Curly, thank you again for doing all these reviews, though you realise its now your mission to keep this thread going until september?

Sounds good to me

[CurlyKitGirl]

Originally Posted by Szilard

Did you say you wanted a The Angels Have The Phonebox t-shirt?

Hello Christmas present and/or splurging on geekiness because I can!

Originally Posted by Dienekes

This was pretty much my reaction as well, except I forgot his name and so kept referring to him as Claudius.

He's amazing isn't he! I've not seen I, Clavdivs though, so I really only know him from Cadfael and a few other places. Chances are I'll be calling Sir Derek Jacobi Cadfael or his own name rather than his character's name.

Originally Posted by SuperPanda

Maybe she's really an archaeologist? Naw, just kidding.

Oh no, definitely not an archaeologist. No fedora or triumphant John Williams' music.

Originally Posted by SuperPanda

Are you my Mummy?

No SuperPanda. I, am your father.

Originally Posted by SuperPanda

I had the same reaction when I first saw the episode but your retelling of it is priceless in a good way. That was a wonderfully scary moment of silly. In context of later episodes I think its more Moffat saying "Boo" than anything else, but it was still very fun.

I try for a little amusement in these things so it's not just a simple rewrite of an episode. Mainly this comprises mostly of keeping the mouse on the pause button, hitting it when something happens that's interesting/something and writing my thoughts down as they go.
Stream of consciousness and all that. So yes, I do think 'oh dearie me'.
Probably Moffat is just doing it for gits and shiggles, but it's still scary. Love him.

Originally Posted by SuperPanda

I look forward to reading your review. About the time I left the states to start teaching ESL I had a few friends who I was trying to sell Dr. Who on and they'd all decided that they loved Tennant and Tennant's range as an actor, they just hadn't decided if they really wanted to watch the whole thing. I told them they needed to watch the episode you've got coming up next because not only does it have 10 and Jack in the same episode together (they liked Jack a lot already) but the guest star, Sir Derek Jacobi, steals the show whenever he's on screen.

edit: added spoilers back into your points. Hopefully telling you that I loved Derek Jacobi's performance in the next episode isn't spoiling anything (it doesn't sound like it is).

Spoiler

Basically, All I wanted to say is that in loving Sir Derek Jacobi's acting : You are not alone.

I'll try to get Utopia up tonight, although I don't know for certain if I can - work and all that jazz - but seeing as I love Sir Cadfael Jacobi . . .
It's tricky. Hmmm, about your friends, did this episode sell them Doctor Who? I certainly think it would. He's a brilliant actor. And such a kindly man too.

Originally Posted by Stadge

*shakesfist at Curly I'm looking forward to reading this next installment of your NuWho trek, but alas, I have a Scandinavian History exam this morning, so I best not yet.

Bahahahahahaha!
I don't have any exams this term, just a portfolio. And hey, at least you can - or have - read this after your exam. I mean, it's practically six o'clock now, so chances are more than likely you've already read this post as I type a response to you regretting you can't read the post, thus making this reply redundant.
Or something.
Time travel is confusing at times. Hope you enjoyed or will enjoy it.
And how'd the exam go?

Originally Posted by Avaris

Curly, thank you again for doing all these reviews, though you realise its now your mission to keep this thread going until september?

Not another one!
I'll do my best gentlefolk of the thread, I'll do my best. There's still season four, five and retrospectives of one and two to go.
And if those are exhausted, there's always Classic Who isn't there?

Originally Posted by Avaris

Without wanting to reopen the argument that erupted on this thread a while ago, your reviews are reminding me of why I was so disappointed with the season 3 finale. We had 4 of the best episodes in any of the series in the run up to it (Human Nature/Family of Blood/Blink and then arguably Utopia for one moment near the end) so the last two episodes had a lot to live up to. I look forward to reading your next review, especially given your love of Jacobi... believe me, his appearance is worth it, especially if you're going in completly blind.

Yup. Completely blind.
Apart from the fact that season three's finale is something of a base breaker with fans. I will say the quality of the past few episodes really has escalated, and with 'Utopia' already given a ten out of ten before it starts, those last few episodes are looking at a biiiiiiiig legacy.

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Thufir

Well, naturally. Have to look at these things calmly and sensibly, in a relaxed setting.

Wartime spirit eg?

Originally Posted by Thufir

Well, not wuite. She's deep because she likes being made sad by looking at old things.

Yeah, on rereading that was a bit garbled. I blame the late night, the headache and writing as I'm watching a tellybox show.

Originally Posted by Thufir

Yeah, it's really neat with the contrast between their normal expressions, which are blank as you say, and another word I would use would be serene, and then the evil angry demonic faces that we see later on when they're attacking.

Nothing like a creepy, creepy contrast between normal Angel and Going To Eat Your Life Angel.

Originally Posted by Thufir

I... don't think I did notice that.
Well, there's another episode I have to rewatch... (Though, I was fairly tempted already, just because it's on the same disc as Human Nature/Family of Blood)

Go on then! You've got a few spare hours to waste, and Doctor Who's never a waste of time.
I tempt you.
Be tempted.

Originally Posted by Thufir

..and somehow I never noticed that either.

You can be scared now.

Originally Posted by Thufir

John Green of the vlogbrothers made a video about this very subject.

That's pretty much my reaction. But without the hair pulling.

Originally Posted by Thufir

A commonly made assumption is that the Sally Billy married was in fact Cathy's daughter.

Aaaah, fanon. Anything to get your favourite characters a happy ending.

Originally Posted by Thufir

There was a brilliant Doctor Who Confidential moment at some point of the Angels doing the macarena. SO. WEIRD.

. . .

TO YOUTUBE!

Originally Posted by Thufir

Well, obviously at some point he landed the TARDIS at Wester Drumlins, he and Martha wandered out and got Angeled. This being in the Angels' past, of course, since they're moving through time linearly, just as Sally Sparrow is. Wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey, etc.

Well, yes yes; but that means it's Sally's fault the Doctor saved her or something, and if you get to thinking you tie yourself in knots.

Okay, 'Utopia' has a more than sixty percent chance of going up tonight. Once I've seen all of season three I'll do a full on season retrospective. Best and worst episodes; actors (and a special category for one-off/guest stars); music and so on. Hell, even Best/Worst Writer, although Best is more a fight for second or third place considering my heavy bias.
Hey, if people want they can even throw in suggestions for things for me to decide.
And there will also be a comparison of how season three compares to one and two; plus revised versions of Nine v. Ten, Rose v. Martha, comparing season finales and, for gits and shiggles: Moffat v. Moffat v. Moffat.

[dehro]

Originally Posted by Fuzzie Fuzz

So! Random plot speculation.

Spoiler

We may not have seen the Doctor fall yet. If this is the case, could it be related to the "Silence will fall" storyline? I refuse to believe that Moffat would just end the Silence's saga as simply as that after all that buildup.

Also, the Doctor basically said he wasn't a good man (as I think someone else pointed out), thus making Rory the "Good Man" by default. I'm therefore supporting the theory that River kills Rory. I'm still not sure who I think is in the spacesuit in TIA.

yes...well... I just read that and wondered what kind of moron suggested such a development..
then I realized I'm the moron..and wrote it in one of my less sober moments.
then I read it over again and it does actually make sense...

[Triscuitable]

I have an interesting fan-made item I found on Game Banana for Team Fortress 2. And Engineer's very own Sonic-(Wrench?)Driver.

A link for you TF2 nuts.

And the image.

Spoiler

[Thufir]

Originally Posted by Triscuitable

I have an interesting fan-made item I found on Game Banana for Team Fortress 2. And Engineer's very own Sonic-(Wrench?)Driver.

A link for you TF2 nuts.

And the image.

Spoiler

I want one.

[Aidan305]

As do I. Dear Valve, please make one. It has to make the noise as well.

[Szilard]

I like this guy.

[Thufir]

Originally Posted by Szilard

I like this guy.

D'aww. Sweet kid.
Now tempted to do some sort of Doctor Who reading of my own. Though the Pandorica speech wouldn't be my choice.
Hmm...

[Triscuitable]

The moment BBC has a developer make a game, and promote it through Steam, we'll get a Sonic Screwdriver. In the meantime, I'll just have my Spy run around with his "Familiar Fez" renamed to "The Cool Fez".

[Eldan]

Originally Posted by Triscuitable

The moment BBC has a developer make a game, and promote it through Steam, we'll get a Sonic Screwdriver. In the meantime, I'll just have my Spy run around with his "Familiar Fez" renamed to "The Cool Fez".

The Doctor Who adventure games, maybe? No idea if they are on steam.

[Thufir]

Oh, just found this on youtube:
You remember in Human Nature, the message the Doctor left for Martha? A significant portion of which she fast-forwards through?
Apparently, this is what he's actually saying.

[Mauve Shirt]

That, Thufir, is what you should do for your Doctor Who reading.

[TheArsenal]

Hey wait a minute: What happened to the Slitheens space ship? Did London forget about it? Is it xurrently in a lab with all its inner text slowly leeking into the world?

[Androgeus]

Originally Posted by TheArsenal

Hey wait a minute: What happened to the Slitheens space ship? Did London forget about it? Is it xurrently in a lab with all its inner text slowly leeking into the world?

I haven't seen that episode in forever, are we talking about the the ship that crashed in to Big Ben? if so that was a fake I think. Torchwood probably dealt with it.

[The Big Dice]

Originally Posted by Androgeus

I haven't seen that episode in forever, are we talking about the the ship that crashed in to Big Ben? if so that was a fake I think. Torchwood probably dealt with it.

It was a real ship. The Slitheen were going to use it to make a getaway once the nukes started flying. And I would think that it was seized by Torchwood. Especially considering that Toshiko Sato was the doctor examining the alien pilot.

[TheArsenal]

Originally Posted by Androgeus

I haven't seen that episode in forever, are we talking about the the ship that crashed in to Big Ben? if so that was a fake I think. Torchwood probably dealt with it.

It was REAL as they mentioned it wasn't even crashed. And Torchwood cannot black out an entire country.

"Hey phil, wasn't there a UFO under big ben?"

"Oh yeah. What made you remember?"

"The hole in big ben"

[The Big Dice]

Originally Posted by TheArsenal

It was REAL as they mentioned it wasn't even crashed. And Torchwood cannot black out an entire country.

"Hey phil, wasn't there a UFO under big ben?"

"Oh yeah. What made you remember?"

"The hole in big ben"

I watched the episode a couple of nights back, coincidentally. At the ned of the episode, the Doctor was reading a paper that had a headline about the alien hoaxers. Don't need to black out the entire country if you can get the media to tell the story you want them to.

[TheArsenal]

Originally Posted by The Big Dice

Don't need to black out the entire country if you can get the media to tell the story you want them to.

Except for the witnesses, and the hole in big ben, and getting the actual UFO out without anybody noticing (think of all the tourists in the area), and the "coincidental" destruction of all the UFO experts in the world at the time, along with a missile strike.

Yeah. Easy.

Edit:

Not everything can be attributed to media. Though you can kill them.


I just imagin it:

"UFO Fakers make fake giant flying UFO, Fake hole in big ben, fake missile strike, UFO experts not dead. Coincidentaly 1,000,000 people vanish off the streats, UFO fakers are to blame.

[Stadge]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Bahahahahahaha!
I don't have any exams this term, just a portfolio. And hey, at least you can - or have - read this after your exam. I mean, it's practically six o'clock now, so chances are more than likely you've already read this post as I type a response to you regretting you can't read the post, thus making this reply redundant.
Or something.
Time travel is confusing at times. Hope you enjoyed or will enjoy it.
And how'd the exam go?

Curses once again Curly! I've still got another three to do before I'm done for the term. Well apart from organising my next dissertation anyway...
Ionly got round to reading it now as I thought I best leave it until after this mornings Anglo-Saxon History exam as well, but it was definitely worth it. Cracking read that made me really want to watch the episode again. So thanks
And the exams've gone OK I think, not entirely sure, but for the most part I could answer pretty well. Mondays Gaelic History could be a different story though, but we'll see

[CurlyKitGirl]

Originally Posted by Stadge

Curses once again Curly! I've still got another three to do before I'm done for the term. Well apart from organising my next dissertation anyway...
I only got round to reading it now as I thought I best leave it until after this morning's Anglo-Saxon History exam as well, but it was definitely worth it. Cracking read that made me really want to watch the episode again. So thanks
And the exams've gone OK I think, not entirely sure, but for the most part I could answer pretty well. Mondays Gaelic History could be a different story though, but we'll see

If it helps: for the next two weeks I'll be stressing out over writing my portfolio papers. How d'you think you did on those two exams then?
What's your dissertation on Stadge? History Friend's sorting out hers too; me? Don't really have one per se.
Glad you enjoyed the recap, if it made you want to rewatch the episode, my work is done.
Good luck on your Gaelic History exam! Just especially for you I won't post the third and final part of this serial until Monday. How's that for a treat? (appalling)

Nu Who Trek update:
Three minutes into watching 'Utopia', about ten into writing stuff. Have spent an inordinate amount of time squeeing over Derek Jacobi in the role of sweet and kindly scientist.
He's so lovable!

[Avaris]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Nu Who Trek update:
Three minutes into watching 'Utopia', about ten into writing stuff. Have spent an inordinate amount of time squeeing over Derek Jacobi in the role of sweet and kindly scientist.
He's so lovable!

Your reaction to the end of this episode should be amusing...

[Thufir]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Nu Who Trek update:
Three minutes into watching 'Utopia', about ten into writing stuff. Have spent an inordinate amount of time squeeing over Derek Jacobi in the role of sweet and kindly scientist.
He's so lovable!

Huzzah!

I considered pre-empting you and rewatching this one before your review, but I thought if there was some little detail you noticed I might miss it, so then I'd have to rewatch it again.

[CurlyKitGirl]

CONFOUND THESE PONIES THEY MADE ME LOSE MY WRITEUP! Luckily I'd only done twelve minutes (hey, ponies distracted me).
Back to the writing desk.

[CurlyKitGirl]

The Nu Who Trek continues. And now, to boldly go where many have gone before. [*cue TNG theme (I love that theme song so much)*]

'Utopia' Part 1/3 (Season Three, Episode Eleven)
Same format as before.

Spoiler

People, I started writing this about what? Six o'clock. Why Koorly, did it take so long for you to finish writing this? Simply? Ponies.
I wanted to listen to a song, so I clicked my on my other internet screen (I can split screen) and searched for it. Or I thought I did.
Turned out that, for whatever reason, it didn't register that I was on an entirely different internet and instead I ended up accidentally destroying my post. And it wasn't recovered because I don't know.
So let's reconstruct. Luckily I only got about ten minutes in. Ponies. I got carried away.

So. To explain why I'm fangirling so massively over Sir Derek Jacobi, let me explain. He is a proper Shakespearian actor having acted alongside on the cinema's all-time greats: Lawrence Olivier, as well as having pulled off a stunning performance as Claudius in I, Clavdivs. But personally, I know him from Cadfael which is set on the Welsh border in the twelfth-century. In this show he plays the titular Anglo-Welsh ex-Crusader turned Benedictine monk, doctor and part-time mystery (typically murder) solver. I love this show. Amazing costumes, setting, direction, production, scripting, acting. Everything feels real.
Thus seeing Sir Cadfael transition from a mild, gentle monk with a core of steel to mainstream sci-fi is going to be quite a shock for me. But a local Whovian friend of mine told me, upon finding out I was watching this episode blind, that Sir Derek Jacobi once acted in a Doctor Who webisode where he played The Master. Now that is weird. Seriously. The Ainley/Delgado-Masters are reputed to be deliciously evil, megalomaniacal, psychopathic manipulators of a genius level.
This really doesn't compute, but apparently he was once The Master. But, hey, at least he's got some Doctor Who under his belt. Not that he wouldn't pull off an amazing performance anyway, but this gives him a little extra polish, having been in it before.
Let's see how he does. After all, I've fangirled enough.

On with the show!
Cold open in Cardiff? The hey? Since when has the TARDIS needed to refuel before? Except that one time back in season one. Cute callbacks to 'The Unquiet Dead' and 'Boom Town' though. Hey. Running dude.
Hee. Like this bit: (re: the earthquake from 'Boom Town' "It was a long time ago. A lifetime in fact." Hehe. Oh look, more running guy. He looks familiar. Cpt Jack! Wait, wait, wait. Cpt. Jack was left behind on Station Five after 'Bad Wolf'/'Parting of the Ways' which took place in the hundreds of thousands AD. One: How did he get back to C21^st Cardiff? Two: Who or what is he running from? Oh. The Doctor. Okay. New Two: How did he know when the Doctor would show up? Three: Why is he running after the Doctor? Four: Am I missing some sort of - yes, I am. He had that Torchwood spin-off didn't he? Okay. So, how much of Torchwood is applicable to the current scenario? While I could run to Wikipedia to find out, I won't. I'm being as blind as I can here, so no finding things out. Plus I may want to take a peek at the spin-offs over the summer if I get bored enough.
So we have our plot points set, let's resolve some. Cpt. Jack is running at the TARDIS, Ten seems Jack and drives away. Suddenly! Someone/something's taken control of the TARDIS and they're being taken further into the future than they've ever been before: the end of the universe. Okay, now I now Sexy takes the Doctor where he's needed, possibly explaining why she's taking them the end of the universe; but I don't like applying 'future' canon knowledge to 'past' events, so we have no idea who/why the TARDIS is going to the end of life, the universe and everything.
It's the year 100 trillion.
And Cpt. Jack's holding onto the outside of the TARDIS in the Time Vortex! Cut to some punk rocker humans with . . . you know what, I'm going to make the joke. I am. They're Sharpteeth. And the Doctor is so obviously Littlefoot's Mother, don't you deny it. Must say though, I hope these Sharpteeth aren't the enemy for this finale. Punk rocker Sharpteeth aren't exactly formidable opponents for the Doctor now are they? And how do they know the TARDIS is arriving?
Opening theme! You know, they missed a trick here. Should have CG'd Cpt.Jack into the opening holding onto the TARDIS. (Writer: RTD)
There's a Running Dude! And then a Sharptooth leaps out at him! Is it me, or does she look a lot like Edward Scissorhands? Just check her out 02.28 - 02.38. And the Sharpteeth are hammily hunting "HYUUUUUUMAAAAANNNSSSSSS!!!!!" To a rocking guitar solo. Cool.
SIR DEREK JACOBI! Look at him! He's so lovely! He looks like the sweet and kindly gentleman you know would be the perfect grandfather; I mean just look at him. And that period clothing with the poofly sleeves, waistcoat and ribbon tie! He's like the perfect Father Christmas, but thinner and without the beard! Aaaaaawwwwww. He's lovely. As a sidenote: you know, last night I was checking out some Classic Who DVDs on amazon, and I've just realised that Cadfael looks remarkably like One in terms of clothing.
I was a bit busy fangirling over Sir Cadfael, so I didn't really pay attention to the dialogue though, so let's replay this scene. Okay, they're underground somewhere, and the Sharpteeth are hunting humans on the surface. These hunts are common. These humans are looking for Utopia! (Title drop!) And while I'm here, I might as well add that Utopia (coined by Thomas More) is actually punning in Ancient Greek. 'eutopia' means 'good place', 'utopia' means 'no place'. Sir Derek Jacobi hopes there'll be better coffee in Utopia than here, shame really, his accent and clothing are so delightfully British I was expecting him to favour tea. Chanto(toe?) says she's just fine "drinking [her] own internal milk, toe". Ick. Still, different strokes for different people. By the way, those makeup for Chanto is amazing. Those mandible move very realistically. She does have Klingon head ridges though.
So Prof Yana (Cadfael) is a scientist who seems to have run head first into a spot of scientist's block constructed out of an impenetrable wall of technoTreknobabble. I think the gist of it is they're trying to build a . . . warp core. But they can't reverse the polarity of the jelly baby without a flux capacitor, so they need to run a level three diagnostic to make sure the spacio-spatial temporal hyperlink is secure on the intra-trajectorial flow before engaging the swirly energy thingies before initiating the chatter chatter jargon strange words, computer stuff, random words, technical blatheration.
He's even zoning out as Chanto speaks. You can tell because the audio fades away and the music ramps up. Cadfael starts breathing heavily and there are drums? Why? Catchy beat though.
And now the scanner pops up a square blip! It's the TARDIS. Obviously.
Inside the TARDIS we find out that no Time Lord's "ever come this far" and that they "should go. Should really, really . . . go." So they go. Outside.
Huh. The end of the universe is the BBC quarry. I was expecting something a little more dramatic considering it's well, the heat death of the entire universe, but maybe they blew their budget on something else. Like Sir Derek Yana.
This scene is so very Doctor though. Just check out how quickly his expression changes from 04.57 - 04.59. This is the Doctor who runs in where fools fear to tread, because he loves the universe. After all, (at this point in time), he 'borrowed' the TARDIS to see the universe. And why not see the end of it? Especially if he's the first Time Lord to ever do so.
And there's a dead Cpt. Jack! Oh noes! How did he take his backpack off before he died from . . . shock? Then Cpt. Jack comes back to life and it literally takes him five seconds to go from back-from-the-dead (05.53) to flirting with Marth (05.59). And half of that was spent gasping. I like Cpt. Jack when he flirts. So does Martha. So does Cpt. Jack when Martha flirts back. The Doctor does not. Cpt. Jack, your omnisexual powers know no bounds.
Sweet! Cpt. Jack still has his WWII coat. I like longcoats on men. Or women. This exchange is gold:
Doctor: "Have you had work done?"
Cpt. Jack: "You can talk" [He has a point]
Doctor: "Oh! Oh, yes, the face." [Does Martha even know about regeneration at this point in time?] Now we come to a bit of callousness. Despite the Doctor having referring to Cpt. Jack as his friend and former Companion not one minute ago, he claims to have completely forgotten that he'd left Cpt. Jack behind on Station 5. Regeneration trauma maybe? Either way it's callous.
Then we have a - oh no. ROSE! And just when I thought she was gone for good. Time to reinstate my count.
It's still sweet this scene though, with the Doctor telling Cpt. Jack that their mutual friend is alive and happy elsewhere, complete with a manly brohug. (Funny Face Time: Bunny-face Martha at 06.48) Martha looks a little sulky at this celebration. Now, I want to call this selfish and mean, her being depressed and snappy over their mutual happiness about Rose still being alive, but on the other hand, it's Rose. Really, I can see both points of view here, so I rest unhappily on the fence.
Then we get an epic guitar riff on human hunting! Reminds me a little of the opening riff to this song, but I've been listening to Blind Guardian for much of the day.
We recap Cpt. Jack's story. He has a Vortex Manipulator, so he can travel around in time. But it's more like a "spacehopper" than a "sports car" like the TARDIS. Huh. Given that you frequently manage to land in the wrong place and time (twelve months is not twelve hours, and neither is Cardiff, 1869 Naples in 1860) I'd hate to see what a run-down, second-hand TARDIS is like. What is it with this show and 1869?! Jack landed there too? And to be honest, he wasn't that far out if he was aiming for the C21^st and he only had a spacehopper to do so in. What's the bet he landed in Cardiff just a few scant days after 'The Unquiet Dead' happened? And while I'm at it, I know Doctor Who is made by BBC Wales, but what's their love affair with Cardiff? I'm pretty sure Torchwood is set in Cardiff. And there've been four of five episode set in Cardiff or featuring said city in a relevant way in Doctor Who alone.
What? Cpt. Jack has a Doctor-Detector now? Hello plot contrivance. On the other hand, I know what's in the backpack now: the Doctor-Detector. Then Cpt. Jack and Martha get in a bitch fight over Rose. Specifically how the Doctor "doesn't forget" a Companion if they're blonde and they have to leave. Stop. Telling. Us. Rose. Was. Awesome. She wasn't. I don't like her. And thank God, Ten's reacting the same way I am. WiIll you just shut up bitching over Rose and look around! END OF THE UNIVERSE PEOPLE!' He's acting like a dad.
Then there's a city that looks like that horizontal fungus what grows out of trees. Also: it's dark because the stars have gone out. Hehe.
Martha asks where everyone is, if anyone's alive. Jack: "Well he's not doing too bad." A beat later the Sharpteeth run into frame bellowing HYUUUUMAAAAANSSSS!!! And it's the Doctor, the Cpt. and the trainee Doctor to the rescue! To rocking music. And the Doctor and Cpt. Jack's coats flap wonderfully. Cpt. jack draws his old service revolver to shoot the humans, but Ten says "Don't you dare!" and so Cpt. jack shoots his gun in the air. And here we see the Doctor's famous aversion to guns under all but the most serious of circumstances (cf. Nine and the gun in 'Dalek'), apparently one man being hunted by many others isn't serious enough.
And then oh noes! More Sharpteeth, so they have to run to the Silo where they bare their teeth to show they're human. Huh. Guess the Sharpteeth were infected with the T-virus or the rage virus. I think the rage virus, because Ecclestone was in that film. There's a cheesy scene where the rage-infected Sharpteeth intimate they hate human and are "hungry". It's cheesy.
Sir Derek Cadfael! Hey, is it just me, or does Prof. Sir Cadfael's laboratory from certain angles look a little like a TARDIS after the Doctor's been rebuilding it? Heh. Always knew the Doctor was a genius scientist.
And doesn't he just get adorably excited and flustered when he finds out there's a fellow "Scientist!" in the Silo. He has an honest-to-God fanboy moment. And it's precious. Very precious. He even scurries excitedly as he leaves his laboratory.
Inside the Silo the Chief of Security says they can't go outside, because you know rage-infected Sharpteeth. But then after the Scottish kid with a clipboard (and an adorable accent) helps Running Dude find his family, the Chief of Security says he'll take a look-see when they go out scouting. Anyway, the family of the Running Man are reunited and live happily ever after in this refugee camp until they go to Utopia.
Ten has a geekout moment as he admires the "indomitable" human race. He admires us because we're a race a determinators. Cpt. Jack hits on a random guy (kicking off a running gag where the Doctor basically give Cpt. Jack a slap on the wrist any time he starts flirting), and then the Doctor opens a door into a very big hole.
Turns out the Silo, it's not a refugee camp. It's a huge rocket. Really. Huge.
HEE! DEREK JACOBI!
And he geeks out over the Doctor.
This is adorable.
Then we get a shot of a human infected with the rage-virus so she's actually a rage-infected Sharptooth. People are going to get om nom nom'd. But who cares about the plot.
Cadfael is all happy and nerdy and scientific with the Doctor in the laboratory, and the Doctor's pulled out his Clever Specs to look at all this technoTreknnobabble. This is just sweet. No. It's cute. It's just a little boy showing another fan of [insert whatever] his new toy from [insert whatever].
And Cpt. Jack hits on Chanto. She doesn't mind either. This guy must have Jareth the Goblin King levels of sexiness powers. Alternatively, I could make a joke about Captain James T. Kirk and his alien babe of the week. But who're we to pass up a bit of Jareth?
Aaaaw, Prof. Cadfael's so adorable in his eagerness to save people. The Doctor, though, has "never seen a system like" this before. And Cpt. Jack's Doctor-Detector (oh I so called that name!) is the hand from way back in 'The Christmas Invasion'! Wow. Long planning. never thought that would show up again. Three seasons, that's a long time to wait to pull the trigger of Chekov's gun. Cue regeneration explanation. With flashbacks!
Prof. Jacobi looks intrigued by this, and asks what species the Doctor is, Last of the Time Lords. Who Sir Yana has never heard of before. Not much of a legacy is it? Chantho is the last of her kind. This is her native planet. Martha's still Bunny-Facing over the whole hand-growing thing. With some four-way flirting. Not involving Jacobi fortunately.
The rage-Sharpteeth are called Futurekind. Apparently humans are going to devolve into them unless they go to Utopia. Aaaawwwww, Jacobi, look at you in all your sincere sincerity (it's not a tautology).
Hmmm, there's a radio signal calling humanity towards Utopia which is . . . beyond the end of the universe. The Utopia Project was designed to help humankind survive the end of the universe, and this may be it. Uniting the last survivors all together.
The Doctor is all intrigued by this new puzzle, and Cadfael starts to hear the drums again. He looks genuinely pained and anguished by the drums! Then he snaps out of it. He waves away their concern, and is determined to "find a way" to leave the planet.
They can't get away because this Treknobabble isn't working (as I said above), so we get Advanced Treknobabble from the Doctor to help fix the problem. Because apparently the Doctor is more awesome than Sir Derek Jacobi. I honestly don't know if he is. On one hand: Sir Derek Jacobi. On the other: a nine-hundred-year-old Time Lord who can travel all over time and space, defeat entire empires on his own and generally be condensed awesome when he's not terrifying people. Tough choice.
But I get a fangirl moment as Sir Yana nerds out over what the Doctor just did. The Doctor's right, he is "brilliant".
People begin boarding the space ship, and down in the lab busy work happens as the rage-Sharpteeth watch down from the hills in anger. The CG isn't all that stellar on the boarding scenes if I'm entirely honest.
Hey! Clipboard Kid. "My mum used to say, the skys are made of diamonds" in Utopia. And then the rage-Sharptooth growl into scene. Bad things are going down.
Help. I'm drowning in technoTreknobabble! But it's being uttered by the melodiously voiced Prof. Jacobi so it's all good. It's like being wrapped in a warm blanket. The words don't mean anything at all, just listen to the sound of his voice. This is excellent, the Doctor, one of the most brilliant minds of all time just called Cadfael a "genius"! Because he basically did build this thing in a cave with a box of scraps.
These two work so well together! It's wonderful, and sweet, and adorable, and precious. And Yana's pulled a crowning moment of heartwarming combined with a heroic sacrifice! He's staying behind to launch the rocket so everyone can go to Utopia. "I'm getting a little too old for Utopia. It's time to go to sleep." Aaaaawwwww. This man. I want him as my grandfather so bad. He's perfect. And Chantho's staying behind too because they're best friends and she won't dream of leaving without him. Which is also sweet and heartmeltingly warm.
Over the intercom the Redshirt Chief tells them they've found the TARDIS. The Doctor is all happy because now Sir Yana can go to Utopia after all! But there's unsettling music in the background and a dramatic close up indicating that something's rotten in the state of Denmark (aside from well, the end of the universe, the rage-Sharpteeth and the possible imminent death of everyone on the space ship). Jacobi's face is truly perturbed, like he's being remind of something he once knew, a very long time ago. And the drums are back.
The TARDIS is being used as a power boost, and Prof. Derek Yana is looking and feeling a little ill. He confides in the Doctor about a "constant noise", the sound of drums, "I've heard it all my life". In the background, to emphasise this, this drums duh-duh-duh-DUH away, getting louder as Jacobi explains the noise. At times it almost drowns out the quiet piano laid over the top.
Back with Martha and Chanto, she has an unrequited crush on Prof. Cadfael. Insectoid human girl and elderly old man she's known for seventeen years? Why not? I've seen human female/Irish cat-man before. BUT Martha brings up her own relationship.
Chanto's verbal tic is a politeness marker. Going without it is swearing. And then she does swear and giggles like a little school girl saying her first bad word! This is also adorable! I also like that this particular language tic is untranslated by the TARDIS as it is often very difficult to accurately transcribe politeness markers (just look at keigo), so this please my inner-linguistic nerd.
The comm. systems are down, and then Cadfael gives the sweetest exasperated outburst I've seen in many a month (25.23; just you try to listen to it without smiling), but the equipment keeps rebooting itself. Yeah, the faecal matter's hitting the fan.
There's a red room which is red and nuclear. Or something. And there's some button mashing. Huh. Another spacesuit and looking in through windows into an impossibly red room. '42' much? And then the rage-dinosaur starts pulling out wires and things. And then she throws a - is that a sewing machine at 27.21?! at some panelling which explodes in true sci-fi tradition. The chamber's flooding, and the brave Redshirt continues with the button pushing; pulling a heroic sacrifice of his own? And the rage-Sharptooth lady gets arrested. Hissing like a snake.
Cpt. Jack electrocutes himself to death (27.55) to technoTreknobabble a solution. But it's too late and the Redshirt turns to ashes inside the suit - so '42'. And it's all to a narmy NOOOOOOOOOOO!!
Derek Jacobi's all said because people are dead. OH CHRIST! "Professor, you've got a room no one can enter without dying yes? Well, I [the Doctor]'ve got just the man." And then Cpt. Jack wakes up. Apparently he can tell when people are snogging him from beyond the grave. Sex powers: his are omnipotent and omnipresent. But the point is: Cpt. Jack is going to be turned into ashes again and again, in immense pain all the time. And the Doctor just volunteers him for the job, although Cpt. Jack's obviously up for it as we cut to more running with wonderfully epic coat flapping. To epic rock music.
Does this mean Cpt. Jack is the Wolverine of the Whoniverse?
Cpt. Jack: "I'm taking off my clothing [...] I look good." He does.
Yana Jacobi is being reminded of something. Martha's explaining the Doctor, and as he repeats key words and phrases they reverberate and hushingly echo in a wonderful manner. The drums are ceremonially pounding. Slowly.
Okay. Cpt. Jack's immortal now. And that's why the Doctor left him behind. Cpt. Jack is "wrong". He's a "fixed point in time and space; you're a fact", and those aren't meant to happen.
Hey . . . this is all Roses's fault! She's the one who cursed him with immortality.
Ah!

He's been alive for one and a half centuries And he is immortal! And he's been in a war with the darkest power! *rocks out* Cpt. Jack Harkness is the Highlander! And Wolverine. And a Prince of the Universe. This is so very epic. I mean, they're even fighting for survival. Doe Cpt. Jack have inside him blood of kings? Okay. I'm going to stop now. Okay, one last one: who wants to live forever. I got Cadfael and Queen in my Doctor Who!
And now the stuff with Cpt. Jack is intercut with the voices whispering the Sir Cadfael. (And flashbacks) Sir Yana is crying, he's remembering something to do with the Time War. Creepy moment!: Cpt. Jack watched Rose grow up.
The Doctor asks Cpt. Jack if he wants to die, he doesn't know. He thinks the experience is "fantastic" (Nine!) Regeneration echoes over and over in Cadfael's head.
What are you remembering Cadfael. Oh, stop crying you sweet old man, don't cry. Please. I'm tearing up. He sounds so lost and sad, especially when he's talking about how he could "never keep time, always late, always lost". And I squeak in sympathetic teary-eyed empathy even as I try to keep writing this and watch the show.
That is a wonderful waistcoat. And he takes out his fob watch. He's breaking down as he complains that it "never worked".
OH MY GIDDY AUNT IT'S A CHAMELEON ARCH! PROFESSOR YANA IS A TIME LORD! The Doctor isn't alone! They're going to be so happy when - oh no. John Smith 'died' and he was adorkable. I don't want Cadfael to 'die'. He's just too sweet.
We then get a flashback to 'Human Nature' as Martha realises at the same time as we do (more or less) that the watch isn't a watch.
The drumming's gone all parade style now. And terrifying in its quiet omnipresence. DON'T MARTHA! ZOGMAGOG! It's got the circly swirls on it! AND THE DRUMS!
Don't open the watch Professor Jacobi. Don't open the watch! Marth get your skinny butt to the Doctor now! She's found him. Come on Doctor, frantic music is frantic. And the Doctor is in denial about it. Big denial. Is it "brilliant" the Time Lord's aren't dead? The Doctor's freakin' petrified practically by the possibility they're back (check him out 36.00 - 36.36), so maybe not.
Don't open it Cadfael!
Oh my God it's whispering to him! "The never-ending drumbeat. Open me, be cruel, open the light and summon me up receive my majesty" This Time Lord's a nutter who is ordering his human persona to effectively die to bring his Time Lord self back to life.
Bloody Hellfire this is creepy and terrifying and you're not going to do it Cadfael. You're not. Wait. Yana. Y A N A (I saw it writ like that on the comm. system) Y A Not A. You Are Not Alone.
THIS IS TERRIFYINGLY AWESOME AND AWESOMELY TERRIFYING!
Watch: "Destroy him! And you will give your power to me" Resist Cadfael. Resist. You can do this. You survived the Crusades. This is - God that music.
And then you intercut the creepy music with the rock music of success.
THE DRUMS! HE OPENED THE WATCH!
No!
Flashback to Boe's death where I figured out what happened barely a minute before it happened. And the music is tense and drums and guitar and orchestra and aaaahhh! 38.18. How can Sir Derek Jacobi be so terrifying just by turning around and having that expression on his face?! Which Time Lord is he?
(The humans get a happy ending)
Sir Jacobi's gone all scary. Look at how stern his face is. And how his entire body language is more commanding and stricter. He let the rage-Sharpteeth into the compound.
Oh smeg me. He sounds so scary. Chanto's shaking and waving a gun at him, and he just turns around and oh so calmly says "Oh, now I can say I was provoked." He almost sounds pleased about it. And he's waving that live cable around.
And there's some running in between the awesome Jacobi scenes.
Oh God. He's so scary. So angry. Tranquil fury, and the - "You and your 'chan' and your 'to', you're diving me insane!!" And Chanto is literally quaking in fear, backed up against the wall as he unleashes this tidal wave of invective fury. And then "Chan, who are you, to?"
And in one of the most scary whispers I've ever heard he replies, "I. Am. The Master."
SO MANY CENSORED WORDS! This. WOW! Oh my giggy aunt. Bloody Nora!
I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT! Oh you, you little sod WHovian friend of mine! YOU SPOILED THE EPISODE AND I DIDN'T EVEN REALISE! YOU'RE SO DEAD.
Seriously. Was anybody expecting that?! I thought maybe (after I figured out the YANA etc.) it was Random Time Lord; but The Master. And The Master is the kindliest, gentlest, sweetest old man in the universe?!
So. Much. Awesome.
And then he goes and kills Chanto! AAAAAHHHH! That's a fangirlish squeak of horror and happiness (he does petrifying so very well!) and all sorts of conflicted tangled emotions.
Christ Almighty. What's the Doctor going to think?
Ah. SWEET! A three-parter with a Jacobi!Master. Kick. Butt.
More rage-Sharpteeth. I don't care. The music's gone all electro-synth and urgent, and the Master's reaching for the Doctor-Detector hand. Now he's not. And he's t - what? Utopia isn't Utopia? And he's left everyone else outside the lab.
NO! Chanto shot my Jacobi!Master! And then he stole the TARDIS!
Amazing. But sad. And Jacobi!Master locked it from the inside and stole the TARDIS.
The Master's upset he died via insect girl. And he's regenerating. And the music - and that line. "The Master. Reborn" And the scream?! WHY?! And the music soaring triumphantly over evil.
And the violins!
And things have gone so very wrong.
And the New!Master has the drums (but metallic), the TARDIS, the Doctor-Detector hand, and he's all manic and very Tennish! And genre-savvy! No Bond Villain speeches.
How does Ten know who the new Time Lord is? Also, is it me, or is this exchange slashy?
Master: "Use my name."
Doctor: [quietly, hoarsely] "Master. I'm sorry." And this music is excellent!
The TARDIS is rebelling against the Master, but fails, the rage-Sharpteeth are winning, and the Master vworp-vworp-vworps away in the TARDIS!
Holy bloody Nora.
They lost.

Preview thoughts: He's the PM! basketball aliens? And people have to "RUN!" And UNIT's back?! "What this country really needs right now, is a Doctor?" *faeces eating grin*
People. This is going to rock my socks off.

Best Moment:
Any time Sir Derek Jacobi was onscreen. And also the new version of the Master; Sims? John Simms? These two owned the episode so hard I've actually got a sore wrist from typing all the frenzy in the last eight or nine minutes or so.

Worst Moment:
The cheesy bit where the leader of the Sharpteeth leered at Martha and intimated that they ate flesh. Creepy, it was intended to be, but it was faintly ridiculous in a clichéd way.

Best Special Effect:
Again, there weren't actually that many special effects. The regeneration scene was the best though. It's not really a proper regeneration scene if it doesn't stick in your mind.

Worst Special Effect:
Punk rocker rage-zombies? Really? They're meant to be scary?

Best Actor:
Sir Derek Jacobi. Oh, don't act like you were surprised.

Worst Actor:
The lady rage-Sharptooth. She just didn't have very good material to work with I'm afraid.

Number of Time MtM Obviously Hits on the Doctor Or Their 'Romance' Is Mentioned:
Two.

Number of Times Rose Is Mentioned:
Four.

Number of Times Sir Derek Jacobi Owned the Screen:
Every single time he was onscreen. Every. Time.

Thoughts overall?
SIR. DEREK. JACOBI. IS. THE. MASTER. AND THEN HE REGENERATED! OHMYGODSOMUCHAWESOMEWORDS! FAIL! ME! Shame we didn't get more Jacobi!Master, but those what, five minutes? were solid. Gold.
This.
This.
Oh wow.
This has topped the previous three episodes.
My thing with this episode, seeing as it had a pre-emptive ten out of ten was to deduct points for repeated plot elements (i.e. the '42' stuff) and for silly things/annoying things/whatever. It was going to be a good nine out of ten anyway. And then the last ten minutes.
Best. Episode. Of the series.
I say this being massively biased in favour of Sir Derek Jacobi. BUT HE WAS THE MASTER! And then this new Simms!Master was pretty damn cool in the two minutes he had onscreen! Not as good as Sir Derek Jacobi, but bloody cool all the same.
Can't get over that ending.
It was a fantastic wham episode. Everything made sense, was laid out as early in advance as season one's Christmas special (or 'The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances' if you include characters) and wait.
Someone said Mr. Saxon was running for PM. The Master is Mr. Saxon.
My socks are going to be rocked off for the rest of this serial aren't they?
I'm flippin' reeling here. This is going to be the best finale so far.
Can't get over this episode. Sir Derek Jacobi was one of the Doctor's most terrifying enemies. And the Doctor called him a "genius". And poor Prof Yana!
Wow.
I mean wow.

EDIT:
And I can totally do this due to awesomeness shock! Sir Derek Jacobi was utterly believable as both of those characters. He was wonderful and sweet and you just wanted him to give you a hug; and then he turns around and enjoys terrifying Chanto before he electrocuted her to slow death! And the transition was seamless. The way he went from sweet, eccentric and extremely smart, to bewildered, pained and saddened; and then to utterly cold, calculating and cruel. I don't really have a feel for Simms!Master yet; but he gave me a very manic Ten feel. Huh. We're gong to see what Ten would be like if he was evil and quite probably insane.
Probably. Yeah right. On a scale of nuttiness the Master probably ranks pretty high up there.
And Derek Jacobi carried this episode! And was so amazingly dignified in all respects! And wow. Heroism, heartwarming sweetness, woobielicious backstory, devoted friend, sane genius, lost and alone and scared and crying and then calculatingly cunning and vicious in his vitriol.
This man can act.
Wow.
I need to.
I need to go fangirl out somewhere.
Take a walk. Calm down.
Thinking is right out the window this was so cool.

[comicshorse]

Spoiler

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Someone said Mr. Saxon was running for PM. The Master is Mr. Saxon.

Spoiler

Indeed and for those who haven't read this on Wikipedia Mister Saxon rearranged is Master No. Six

Do keep these going with these