Wednesday 30 January 2008

S03E10-Blink

10)Blink
Originally aired: Saturday June 9, 2007 on BBC-1
Writer: Steven Moffat
Director: Hettie Macdonald
Show Stars: Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones (Season 3 - )), David Tennant (The 10th Doctor (Season 2 - ))
Guest Stars: Finlay Robertson (Larry Nightingale) , Lucy Gaskell (Kathy Nightingale) , Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow) , Ray Sawyer (Desk Sergeant) , Ian Boldsworth (Banto) , Thomas Nelstrop (Ben Wainwright) , Louis Mahoney (Old Man) , Michael Obiora (Billy Shipton) , Richard Cant (Malcolm Wainwright)
Production Code: NCFT090L

A woman, Sally Sparrow, approaches an old house at night. Going inside, she takes some photos and finds a loose piece of wallpaper. Pulling it down, she finds a cryptic warning addressed specifically to her about the “Weeping Angel” telling her to duck. She ducks as a rock hits the wall just in front of her. She turns to find an angel statue outside the window where the rock came from, its hands over her eyes. The message is signed “Love, the Doctor” and dated 1969.

Sally goes back to her flat that she shares with her friend Kathy Nightingale. A DVD is playing on the TV with a message of the Doctor, warning the viewer not to blink. The screens are filled with images of the Doctor and Martha. She calls Kathy in the bedroom, who warns her not look at her brother Larry… who isn’t wearing pants. Sally asks Kathy to go to the house, Wester Drumlins, and they go back in. Sally sees the weeping angel statue from the previous night, but thinks it’s moved closer to the house.

They check out the house but the doorbell rings and Sally goes to investigate it while Kathy waits in hiding. Sally opens the door and is face-to-face with a young man who asks for her by name. He explains he was told to bring an old letter at this precise day and time, and asks for identification. Outside, Kathy hears a noise but doesn’t notice the angel statue moving closer each time she looks way. The man claims to be representing his grandmother Katherine Wainwright, who was named Kathy Nightingale before her marriage. Sally hears a noise and calls out to Kathy, who has disappeared.

Kathy finds herself in a field in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cows. She finds a man reading a newspaper who says she’s in Hull. He shows her his newspaper… which says it’s 5th December 1920.

Kathy’s grandson Malcolm says that his grandmother died 20 years ago and has photos showing that she is identical to the Kathy that Sally knows. Reading the letter, Sally sees that Kathy explains it’s been over 60 years for her since she was transported into the past then wrote the letter. Sally runs upstairs to find four of the weeping angel statues. One of them is holding a Yale key on a string. Sally takes the key and turns away from the statute, then walks away as the statue seems frozen behind her just as if reaching for her. Sally hears Malcolm leave downstairs and goes after him, unaware that the statues are now at the windows, seemingly watching her.

Sally goes to a coffee shop and finishes reading the letter, where Kathy explains she had a happy marriage with Ben, the man she met in 1920. Sally goes to Kathy’s grave and Kathy’s letter directs her to her brother Larry, who runs a secondhand DVD store. In the back she finds a DVD player with an image of the Doctor and Martha on it. The Doctor starts speaking sentences seemingly at random. Larry comes in and Sally passes on Kathy’s message that she loves her brother, to a confused Larry. He then explains that the Doctor’s scenes are from DVD easter egg on movies. The Doctor is on 17 unrelated DVDs and no one knows how they got there. Larry steps out for a moment and the Doctor on the DVD apparently starts holding a conversation with Sarah. Startled, she prepares to leave and Larry gives her a list of the DVDs.

Sally goes to the police and while waiting, notices statues outside on the church. However, when she blinks for a second they disappear, and she’s unaware they’re now on the ledge outside the window. DI Billy Shipton comes in and takes her down to an abandoned car ramp filled with the vehicles that have been found near the house after the owners disappears. There’s also a police box, but Shipton claims it’s a fake one and they can’t get in past the Yale lock. He asks her for a drink and a flustered Sally gives him her number but walks off. When Shipton turns back to the police box, four weeping angel statues have appeared around it. He examines one of the statues, then blinks for a moment…

Outside, Sally realizes the key she found at the house might fit in the police box. She goes back to discover that the police box is gone and the doors outside are open.

Billy finds himself in 1969 and Martha and the Doctor greet him. The Doctor explains that the Weeping Angels are psychopaths who zap their victims into the past and feed on all of the temporal potential, all the stolen moments. The Doctor has a temporal detector and asks Billy to give a message to Sally for him.

In the present, Sally gets a call from Billy on her cell phone asking her to visit him at a hospital. There she finds an elderly Billy who explains that the Doctor gave him a message for her to “look at the list,” a list of 17 DVDs. He explains he got into publishing and DVD publishing and put the easter eggs on them. He explains the last time they will meet, on the night Billy dies.

Afterward, Sally realizes the list is of all of her favorite DVDs. She calls Larry and has him bring a DVD player to the house. They play the video of the Doctor and he begins another conversation that now matches with everything the Doctor has seemingly been saying at random. The Doctor “explains” that he knows everything she’s going to say and tells her to look to her left… where Larry is writing down the entire conversation for the benefit of the Internet forums that have been trying to figure out what the DVD easter eggs meant. The Doctor gets the transcript in the future and uses it to know what she’s saying.

The Doctor then explains that the Weeping Angels are creatures from another world and are only statues when anyone can see the. They come from the beginning of time and are quantum-locked so that they don’t exist when they’re observed. As soon as someone looks away from them, they can kill, and they cover their own eyes so they don’t look at each other and freeze themselves. The Doctor warns that the Weeping Angels plan to feast on the time energy of the TARDIS and she has to send it back to him. At this point the Doctor notes the transcript ends and he gives a general warning not to blink or turn away. They quickly look at the statutes to keep it frozen as it is seconds away from them, but there are three more upstairs.

They move slowly backward to the front door, being careful not to blink. Sally goes to open the front door but they’re locked in. Sally realizes they want the key to open the TARDIS. Sally tries to get out while Larry looks away for a second and the statue moves even closer before freezing. Sally finds the cellar door and a panicky Larry runs to her. Sally goes downstairs to find the other three Angels surrounding the TARDIS, their hands covering their eyes. Larry comes down with the fourth Angel close behind him. Keeping their eyes on all four statues, they approach the TARDIS but the lights start to flicker and the statutes get ever closer. Sally manages to get the TARDIS door open and they get inside just in time. A security protocol activates and a hologram of the Doctor appears. It tells them to insert the DVD in a slot on the main console and the ship starts to shake as the Angels attack it. The TARDIS dematerializes from around them, leaving them in the cellar… with the four Angels left looking at each other, frozen for eternity.

One Year Later

Larry and Sally are working together in the DVD store and Larry finds her entire accumulated case file on the Angels. Sally has realized she’ll need to give the information to the Doctor. Billy leaves to get some milk and the Doctor and Martha come in, but from their viewpoint they haven’t met the Angels yet. Realizing what needs to happen, Sally gives him the file with all of the information on the Angels even though he isn’t aware that he’ll need it yet.

Videos of the Doctor play with his warning, while images of statues from across the world are shown.

No comments: