Doctor Who - Blink Review

The Weeping Angels made their debut 8 years ago today in Blink.  We take a look back at the story that started the Weeping Angel phenomenon and is considered one of the best stories from NuWho.


Doctor Who:
Blink
By Steven Moffat

“Don’t Blink.  If you blink, you’re dead.”

Sally Sparrow is investigating an old house when she comes across a message on the wall that tells her to duck.  She is so freaked out by this that she gets her friend Cathy Nightingale to come with her to see how crazy this old house is.  Unknown to them there is something inside this old house that is extremely evil.  Cathy decides to go have a look around when Sally is met by someone at the door who claims to be the grandson of Cathy.  Sally finds this odd but without her knowing it Cathy has been transported back to 1920 by a Weeping Angel.

The Doctor and Martha are trapped in 1969 and the TARDIS is in 2007.  By placing Easter Eggs in the DVD’s The Doctor is able to get a message to Sally Sparrow to help him get his TARDIS back and free him from 1969.  The problem is The Weeping Angels have the TARDIS and it is up to Sally Sparrow to save the day and rescue The Doctor and Martha. Oh and Don’t Blink.

Blink has been considered to be one of the best stories if not the best Doctor Who story of all time.  Steven Moffat wrote a story that is in a word practically perfect.  Blink is the Doctor Lite story and focuses mostly on the young lady Sally Sparrow.   We see Sally investigating an old house that resembles a modern day haunted house with a very creepy and extremely popular antagonist.  Blink is the first appearance of The Weeping Angels a villain that would gain upmost popularity and cause people to be afraid of common everyday statues.  The Doctor and Martha are trapped in 1969 and the TARDIS is back in 2007 and he needs Sally Sparrow’s help to get the TARDIS back to him and away from the Weeping Angles.

Blink is based on Steven Moffat’s 2005 story that was published in the 2006 Doctor Who annual. In it The Doctor leaves clues for a younger Sally Sparrow.  In that story the Weeping Angels were not what we know now but were in the form of crying angel statues. But they did have the same power except once you blinked at them they hunted you down and then sent you back in time.  Except this short story did not have the 10th Doctor in it but was a 9th Doctor story.

Steven Moffat incorporates his short story “What I Did On My Christmas Holiday’s By Sally Sparrow” as the main emphasize for the plot.  This was a good idea as the original story was pretty good and really clever and a great short story from the 9th Doctor’s era.  The best part and the one that was the best part of the short story was that he used the Angels and made them what we are familiar with now.  The way they were used in the story and the way the director filmed them gave the story a very creepy and scary behind the sofa feel to it.

The story is so strong and the mystery surrounding the Easter eggs on the DVD’s was really clever and when the put it all together it is quite brilliant what is revealed.  A message for Sally Sparrow on the only DVD’s that she owns.  The way The Doctor gets his message to Sally Sparrow is extremely clever and even better when we realize it happens in his future and Sally Sparrows present.

The Weeping Angels are a really scary creature for The Doctor to fight and in this story they are at their creepiest and scariest.  They appear out of nowhere and for the first time when they appear and start moving but you don’t see them moving they just appear.  Really scary when at one moment they are at the end of a hallway and when you take your eyes off them and then look again they are right there in front of you.   The Weeping Angels are indeed the best new adversary for The Doctor to come out of the new series yet and definitely the most popular and it is a good reason why just from watching Blink.

I just really enjoy this story as it is totally different from anything we have seen before and the story and characters are so strong.  You get a feeling for the characters that you want to see what happens to them.  It is such a great story and is one of the greats all time by one of the best writers Steven Moffat.  Blink just scares the hell out of you and is what Doctor Who should be.  A strong story without a cop out ending that keeps you guessing with lots of behind the sofa moments.
Grade A +