You blinked between 375 and 500 times whilst watching this video. For more blinking facts, check out my Patreon!* www.patreon.com/harbowholmes *blinking facts not guaranteed
I feel blink is a decent introduction to a villain that shouldn't of return in doctor who the angels stand on their own as a great monster but let's face it, the 2 parter added too much on a simple premise, things that shouldn't of been added angels in Manhatten spits in their face especially when you consider the angel of liberty, a statue that size couldn't move an inch in this city, especially when you consider people would be in it, and then if it didn't have people in it, their is no way the moment it move people would see it but I digress when you consider another point IT NOT STONE ITS METAL but if these 2 hadn't been follow ups believe it or not the episode blink would of been the best introduction but then there's something else you may miss here, class the spinoff would of had a reason to draw more people to it spoilers for those wh haven't seen it class finale reintroduces them, and because angel fatigue hadn't enter people thoughts and the angels didn't become a joke the final moments of the episode would of had fans flocking to it just so they could get more angels, then there's the fact that the planned second season ideas could of been changed sorry im going off here
@@persononinternet7868 it puts emphasis on the fact that Billy has lived an entire lifetime since him and Sally met less than an hour ago. The fact that so much time has passed that he's on death's door because of the angels while the clouds above have barely even shifted is what brought many viewer's(myself included) attention to the true terror of the angels by forcing you to acknowledge what they've done.
@@persononinternet7868 it’s not really chilling it’s just more emotionally poetic. The way the music frames the scene it’s definitely not supposed to be seen as this terrifying line of dialogue
@@richardfitzmaurice1282 Hmm I'd argue Silence I'm the Library two partner - Midnight - Turn Left - Two part series 4 finale is better. But both are amazing.
The scariest part of the Angels, to me, is the fact that they treat the camera as an "observer", never moving when the camera is fixed on them, giving it a kind of 4th wall breaking feel, as if they are reacting to the audience watching them, the same way they react to the characters, by turning to stone when seen.
@@adamlouis3725 You mean the scene where Amy can't open her eyes, and has to walk through the wood, right? That's not in Blink, that's a later episode - and honestly kind of ruined the Angel's whole gimmick, for exactly the reason I mentioned.
That is one of my very favorite things about the episode: that chilling moment when you realize why Sally's back is still protected; because we can see them. It's so elegant, clever, and creepy.
@@LadyDoomsingerSomebody has a theory(pretty sure it gets discredited in later episodes, but whatever) that it’s not that they don’t know how human eyesight works, it’s that their trying to figure out why their stone, aka us looking at them. Their such a brief blink between the film reels, but it’s enough to allow them their quick movement. Causing them to look like their moving to our eyes, but it’s more like stop motion. That’s why it takes so long to attack Amy, because they eventually just give up/think it’s Amy and go in for the kill.
@@djb1317 Yeah, me too. Like the first Alien movie! Still haven't seen the whole damn thing because it was too creepy the second time I watched it. The first time was when I was about 11. I saw the title and thought: "Great, an episode with aliens!" Little did I know...after the Chestburster scene (now THAT'S scary blood horror!) I turned it off.
@@Lia-uf1ir haha, I was gonna say the 2 things I find scariest are aliens and ghosts in a less is more creepy way (there's a 90s movie called Haunted, Kate Beckinsale is on it, it's dated a bit now, but that terrified me as a kid, it's still plenty creepy) I am embarrassed to admit the only alien I have watched all the way through is alien 3 for the exact same reason as you haha
@@djb1317 Nice! Haven't even seen the other Alien films save the Prometheus films. If only the second half of the first Prometheus film was as good as its first. The first started so well with a new take on the ancient alien theory. As far as I know, no one tried to search for ancient aliens yet.
Blink is the only thing I've seen that truly horrified me, sure I've seen scary jumpscares and things that kept me up, but nothing has ever truly horrified me like the angels
'people assume that time is a straight in but actually from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it's more a big ball of Wibbey wobbly, times wimey stuff' I've legit memorised that quote.Girl in the fireplace has some great quotes too
One thing you forgot to mention: There are several scenes where we see the Angels not moving, even though none of the characters are looking at them. What gives? It's because *we* see the Angels not moving. *We* are looking at them, so they can't move!
@@xenon8117 If this theory is true they should not be moving on-sreen at all. Personally I hate this scene. And I think it had some potential to be Big Fourth Wall breaking, somethink along the lines "Amy, just come to us" and then turning to us "Watch her". I don;t really know if this would work and be liked, but I think it would be still better than what we have got.
I believe in those scenes one of the angels was looking at the others, that’s why it turned the light out in the basement, so they couldn’t see each other either
@@mathuraphael9196 video cameras don't view the world like our eyes as a continuous stream of light, they take multiple pictures a second, the angels could be moving in between frames
I don’t see Billy’s flirting with Sally as even potentially problematic. He’s just persistent. He never crossed a line, he’s just talking. Plus, Sally isn’t telling him to get lost, she’s participating in the back and forth. You’ve got to be really thin skinned to get upset by Billy’s behaviour. The Dad in The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe is actually problematic. He’s a literal stalker.
He's a detective inspector on duty, with a scared member of the public who's reporting a missing friend. It's definitely inappropriate and problematic.
@@robinbull6348 Not on duty, he clocked out if you remember. Also, it wasn’t aggressive, it was playful. And ultimately, it didn’t create a problem, it cheered Sally up. Problematic is only problematic if it creates a problem. It’s not like he was doing something morally corrupt here, he was just flirting with her. If Sally had been upset and walked off telling him to never talk to her again then I’d understand. The most you can say is that is inappropriate but Sally wasn’t complaining. Unless Billy does this to every woman who comes to the police station than what exactly is the problem?
@@putridmoldyman306 So I read your comment thinking you were talking to me and did some research only to come back and realise it wasn’t me you were talking to. That said I’ll still present what I found. Even though I knew what problematic meant, I’d never actually looked up it’s definition before. Here it is. Problematic 1. adjective constituting or presenting a problem. 2. noun a thing that constitutes a problem.
I mean this episode was broadcast before Carey Mulligan really hit her stride as a Hollywood actress but she really flexes her acting chops in this episode and for me i truly feel that this was what landed her most of her film roles because she is so great. This episode is a full masterpiece. Like it is perfection. There is a reason it is so beloved. pacing, writing, acting, tension, atmosphere, aesthetics, everything all on point.
I know she's too famous now, but I wish we got her as The Doctor instead, she's a fantastic actress and has charisma. In my opinion though, The Doctor should always be male, but if they want a woman in the role so badly, at least hire someone likeable.
"Look to your left" "I think it's a political statement" I always laugh at that bc obv someone who's interested in a conspiracy would interpret the line that way
Nah, that was when Doctor Who had good writers and could write about injustices and yes, liberal agenda but it wasn't shoved down someone's throat. Doctor Who has always leaned to the left, that cannot be denied. The difference between then and now is that the writers before could take their agenda and put it in a good scifi story. Whereas today Chinball and group just say, if you disagree with me and my message, you are EVIL!!!!
@@jagswinjagswin dude, chibnalls era is by far the most politically Conservative the modern show has ever been. Literally the season before chibnall came on they had oxygen, which had an extremely blatant anti-capitalism message. Compare that to chibnalls first season where you've got the 13th doctor simping for space amazon. Actually watch the show.
Here's the thing about Blink for me: My sister and I were raised on Doctor Who. We were watching our Dad's DVDs of the classics when we were four years old before the reboot even happened. I considered myself pretty tough for not being afraid of Daleks, Cybermen or any other threats faced in the episodes. Even my older sister went through a Dalek fear phase whereas I didn't. I was eight when Blink premiered. My Dad was very active on the Doctor Who forums and up to date on the news, so he warned my sister and I that Blink was rated off the scale in terms of fear factor. As a stupid kid I thought this just meant another Dalek level threat. I was so wrong. By the end of Blink I was sobbing into my armchair. My parents kept me up to watch Doctor Who confidential to show me how the angels were made and to prove they weren't real (even though that episode of confidential ended up not being about the angels at all). I had reoccuring nightmares and often slept with my parents for the following year because I was that scarred by it. I switched my DVD off after Human Nature, not even wanting to see the preview for Blink; I had to put on Barbie The Princess and the Pauper to keep the haunting music out of my head when I was trying to fall asleep, I couldn't even look at the angel image featured on my Doctor Who Series 3 case, and often woke up in tears from my nightmares about them. So Blink has always stuck with me, whether the episode holds up or not. The only thing that really cured my fear was Steven Moffat butchering them in 2010 and constantly bringing them in for no reason. But I'm sure you'll cover that at some point, if you haven't already 😅 Sorry for the long comment, this episode just has a particular history with me 😂
Blink is beautifully written FOR fans. I have never understood why people believe it is a good introduction to Who. Our love and understanding of 10 is what makes the journey Sally takes so satisfying. If you have no basis to understand how the doctor thinks then you can’t understand why he would make her discover things instead of just telling her. It is one of the best episodes of 10’s reign but I think it is a love letter to the fans to make us into a companion for those 60 minutes.
Maybe you're right, but if this episode was my introduction to Doctor Who, I would have loved it anyway and get instantly hooked, but that's just me, I'm obsessed with time travel stories.
Yeah. I always said it was a good intro because it doesn’t have a lot of the trippy doctor stuff that makes it unapproachable, but it also doesn’t really teach you anything about how to handle the Doctors weirdness. Only the first episode of any season can do that.
This episode is a fantastic introduction to Doctor Who. The fact that it also works even for longtime fans is only one of the reasons why it's a masterpiece
Then I guess Blink ran so Turn Left could defy gravity and levitate across the room. (Not knocking Blink - I love Blink - I just love Turn Left a lot more)
Love and Monsters is a bad episode but I'd watch it any time before I'd watch Fear Her. That was the worst episode of NuWho before Chinball took over. Now it's ahead of all his episodes.
The idea of her opening the door and solidifying the timeline is perfect, hadn't even considered that but it makes so much sense. Thanks Harbo for making this episode better, years after airing.
The weeping angels should have been a one-off villain. They were scary because we didn't know much about them. They were mysterious. The more they were shown the more lamer they got and gradually they became just another DW villian. This is what infuriates me about Moffat's writing, he introduces something brilliant then keeps bringing them back again and again until they lose their charm. He loves beating the dead horse to the ground
I kinda disagree the ambiguity helped yes, but it was not really what made them scary to me. In fact, blink never scared me all that much. TTOA & F&S did, however, because it added more but still kept questions on your mind and increased the threat with the doctor ACTUALLY facing them and how scared he got that he may lose Amy.
@@SamhainRegen666 I get that but the thing is while trying to add more to them they massively fuck up the lore. It just got more convoluted. Amy and Rory's death hurt me too, but they literally could've used any other monster and it could've worked. Also the statue of liberty being an angel was just bullshit. It just seemed that in order to give Amy and Rory this big send off, the angels paid the prize and they went from these interesting villains to just generic Doctor Who big bad of the week.
@@iusedtowrite6667 (just saying that TTOA & F&S means the time of angels and flesh and stone) but yeah I get that TATM didn't do anything with the angels really they were just there to be there are just like they were in the time of the doctor it's honestly kind of annoying especially considering how well he played off this concept originally. Still, it doesn't really destroy my love for the monsters I do think they can probably come back even scarier at some point I just think that no writer wants to tackle this because they're too afraid to touch something that Steven Moffat spent so much time in building if I write it does every want to tackle the Weeping Angels again I hope it's Neil Gaiman.
@@SamhainRegen666 I think they can be done again, just in a more restrained way. This villains are better for a mystery episode rather than an action packed one.
@@iusedtowrite6667 i feel like i am the only one who liked the statue of liberty being an angel. it definitely adds some more questions to what there abilities are. and it was definitely a big surprise.
At the time this was the only episode that was universally liked on first broadcast and where monster scared everyone, kids and adults alike. That is why it goes down as the best episode of all time. It’s true that the Weeping Angels stop being scary after you’ve seen this, which is why their future appearances are less impactful, and indeed rewatches of this episode are less scary (but how many things that worked so well the first time, also work on a rewatch), but as you say, the mystery and character moments remain strong and really drive the narrative regardless of how many times you may have seen them.
You could question why Sally decides to go to the spooky house in the middle of the night to watch the DVD, after everything that has happened, it would be safer at her own house, or Larry's, surely. But I don’t care. It’s such a good episode that I will allow a few wrinkles in the plot.
I’m guessing Sally didn’t realise the danger they’d be in, since neither Kathy or Billy told her the Angels did it (I’m not sure Kathy even knew), and she wanted to solve the mystery where it started
17:19 First time watching Blink... that Jumpscare literally made me hide in the next room for YEARS. Blink is a very creative episode I agree. Scary as Void though
One thing i really like is the angels tinkering with the lights, cause in the encounter before that with Larry my bf on his first watch already said "why not just hold your eyelit of one eye while blinking the other" and the light flashing really shows that the writer probably also thought of it and trying to up the actions by making even that "tactic" invalid.
One of my all time favourite episodes. No other weeping angels story comes close. It's unbelievably well written and acted. The Doctor's message would make a great short movie alone.
@@mangot589 Yeah, but then you've got to live with "Statue of Liberty is a giant Weeping Angel that managed to move across the city without a *single* person looking at them to make them freeze before they got to the hotel" stupidity, so... I prefer the tears from Blink, before Moffat ruined his own creation.
@@ms_scribbles I do like Angels but it is full of issues that bug the hell out of me. Blink is followed by Time of Angels then Flesh and Stone. F&S is let down by the scene of them moving.
The Weeping Angels are similar to the Autons in that way they make the normal scary. It does remind me a lot of how any shop window dummy could be an Auton.
Weeping Angels are the only monsters to break the forth wall, cos they stop when we see them and the characters do not. Also, I didn't like the mechanical changes in the other two stories, I think it makes them less scary.
Can I just say how much I appreciate these reviews. Doctor Who was a major part of my childhood and getting to watch these reviews with a new perspective is really fun! I look forward to them and you really are very good at these. Thank you :)
My favourite chilling line is "I have till the rain stops"; now there's someone who's going to hope that the rain goes on forever. The thing about the angels is, you don't always know when you're under observation: there's a difference between being seen and knowing you're being seen - which is why I take exception in another episode to a national monument going walkabout wit no one noticing. I wonder if anyone's come up with a [definitive] list of the 17 DVDs that Sally owns
I thought I'd mention something that I thought that I don't see many people talking about (maybe because it's obvious). When I watched the episode for the first time, I noticed that when Kathy is sent back in time, she notes in her letter that she has a daughter named Sally. Later, Billy mentions that he married a woman named Sally. Can it be assumed that it is the same Sally in both cases? It makes sense in the timeline, too, assuming that Kathy had Sally some years after being sent back to 1920. Or maybe there is something obvious that I'm missing
@@emmiannon1266 gotta disagree with you there - other than the statue of liberty thing which didn't make much sense, I liked the angels in it. the angel babies that displace in space but not time were a fun idea, and although the angels aren't really scary anymore I was still pretty creeped out the whole time (some credit for that has to go to the music). I'm quite easily pleased, but I can see why people would disagree
@@atharvadeshpande6907 I like Hell Bent more than Heaven Sent. Heaven Sent is objectively a better episode but it's pretty depressing. Hell Bent manages to balance between being both uplifting and heartbreaking. People complain about Moffat constantly bringing characters back from the dead but I would have been miserable if Clara hadn't survived. My only real complaint about Hell Bent is Rassilon. Donald Sumpter was just a pathetic old man while Timothy Dalton carried a genuine sense of power and menace. Peter Capaldi's "Get off my planet" would have carried a lot more weight if he was squaring off against Dalton and also would have shown how far the Doctor has come since David Tennant's era. Back then, he was so scared of Rassilon that he took Wilfred's gun with him. Now he calmly waits for Rassilon to descend from on high to face him and simply tells him to piss off. Unfortunately, Sumpter lacks the gravitas of Dalton so that potentially awesome moment doesn't work nearly as well as it should have.
@@tomnorton4277 you, sir, are brave to type that! Although I agree with the bit about Rassilon.... the actor who played him in Hell Bent just didn't bring that menacing presence and gravitas to the show. Would have been so epic if The Doctor had said "Get off my planet!" To Dalton himself.
@@atharvadeshpande6907 It's not bravery, it's just honesty. Heaven Sent might technically be a masterpiece but Hell Bent was a once in a lifetime experience for me. I actually had an emotional breakdown after watching the episode because after initially being happy that Clara was alive, I remembered that she wasn't coming back.
Truly a great episode but there are a few minor niggles I had with it. 1) What was with the rock she had to duck from in the intro? Why did an angel (presumably) throw a rock at her in that moment? It worked for the episode intro but did not really fit in with anything we learn later. 2) I feel the DVD conversation should have been written so that Sally held more of the conversation. As it is the Doctor gives _too_ thorough an explanation for anyone that has watched the DVD extra already (like Larry). For example when she questions how they could be having this conversation the 'look to your left' response is nicely cryptic but then he explains about the transcript in full including the word transcript itself. This would clue in anyone watching what her half of the conversation should be whereas if she herself had used the word transcript then he could have simply said "I have the finished copy" which is a lot more mysterious. Having her leading the conversation more like this would have helped the 'Easter egg' feel more show than tell. Another example could be her asking what is wrong with letting them in the blue box then joking that the 'end of the world' button is inside, he would respond with a glare or something that implies she is not far off. As it is currently written it sounds like a 'we had to think of something that sounded bad but did not give it much thought' kind of line (just like the rock in the intro) 3) Nice trick doctor until that light goes out and they can move again.
Best thing I can say about the first point is I’m assuming the angel was attempting to knock out sally so it can get to her easier as she would be unconscious therefore wouldn’t be able to lay her eyes on it.
There are so many times when the Omniscient Eye of the viewer watching the Weeping Angel is the ONLY person watching them and keeping them time locked.... Creepy!
Did anyone notice that at 24:45, the angel behind Sally is uncovered/looking at her. Then at 24:28, the angel is covering its face again! Chilling but absolutely loved that touch!
The main issue with the "solution" to this episode that I have with it might also be a small plothole. Before they get "stuck in place" cause the angels are looking at eachother, they're able to make the lights flicker and go off even when they're being looked at... so what stops them from just doing that again and moving away from eachother again so they're no longer stuck?
The monster came about because of that feeling you get that something in the very edge of your vision moved, then you look at it and realise it couldn’t have moved. That’s what makes it scary on a subliminal level.
The weeping angels would actually be an amazing opportunity, they get to feed, you get to influence the future. Also, always bring a towel, to dump over the head of the angel.
If you’ve noticed. I the Steven Moffat episodes one the RTD era basically made the companions irrelevant to the main story. Also Cathy basically made herself go back in time. Also also every time the video ends I get sad.
A timeless classic of course! I do enjoy the 'sequels' so to speak of The Weeping Angel trilogy, however, this is much superior. For me, Moffat is the best writer when it comes to the 'time' aspect of Doctor Who. Brilliant!
I don't think they necessarily should've been a one and done. They should definitely be used sparingly and more importantly, used correctly. Outside of Blink, my favourite appearance of theirs was the brief attack on the Doctor and Clara in Time of the Doctor, when the snow was making it even more difficult not to blink.
@@Shay96 it doesn’t really make sense tho, what do the weeping angels get by stopping the TimeLords from being freed. If anything they’d support it to manifest time food
@@itzimperiumxvi2620 The story involves cracks in time. Maybe they came through a crack in time and just wound up there, since not all of them seem to completely erase something from reality and "what can be remembered can be brought back". I don't necessarily think the Angels were there to prevent the return of the Timelords, so much as it being happenstance. But even so, I feel they were well utilised in that small segment, aside from the whole Mirror gag later on.
Yeah there was no way the doctor would've known the angels would be trapped without Sally's notes, so something tells me he technically wasn't the one who thought of it
While I do think this is a great episode and deserves to be called a modern classic, I personally prefer Time of angles/flesh and stone (please don't kill me yet). That said they are two VERY different stories, this one being a mystery and doctor light with more focus on the one off characters whereas the TOA/FAS is a doctor VS monster, fits in perfectly with my favourite series arc, and has some great character work with all the mains. Still definitely a S tier. Now I am ready for people to kill me
Steven Moffat became showrunner on the strength of this episode... then reused the Weeping Angels until all mystique and fear of them were diluted to nothing. He also made it the River Song show... good writer, terrible showrunner...
I know your not supposed to think too much about this but Cathy was already dead and buried while she went looking through the house and had descendants coming to the house, the cop was dying in hospital while he was helping sally about the house really condemned him to go back in time,maybe it’s just me but wouldn’t it be a paradox or would they have to meet themselves in the same timeline. If it wasn’t for sally these people wouldn’t have been sent by the weeping angels but of course it already happened.
'Grounding' is a good description. Running with the doctor is already such a rote yet fantastical format. The script instead invests relatable ordinary experiences with a natural uncanniness that nevertheless never occurs to us. Imagine if it did? How could we endure it? Perhaps with perpetual sadness?
What happens if a robot, that has no organic parts, looks at a weeping angel? Since the robot’s eye would be a camera and with the flesh and stone 2 parter it’s shown that it’s a different angel in the video thing. Also the angel moves even though the camera is watching it so it not sure
1:41 Was that house later used for Knock, Knock? 8:23 I just skip that question and go straight to Eddie Izzard's joke about how "all the victims in these films have had their common sense glands removed."
two tiny nit picks. First one Who threw the rock at Sally in the cold open? was it an angel was it the Doctor? this never gets explained. Second one why does the angel that was in Sally's eye shot when she was watching the Doctor not move when she goes over to look at Larry's writing? Because when she moves the angel is no longer in her eye shot? The Doctor says that are fast why did it not move then? Why did it go from really far back in the garden to right up by the TV screen?
I know, the logic of the angels is a little dodgy. There is also moments where the angels move way faster than they do in the finale, but other than that I still really enjoy this episode
Blink is definitely in my top five favorites in Modern Doctor Who. While I didn't really hate Moffat's later two-parter with the Angels, it it did take away a good deal of their mystery, much like later with Chris Chibnall thinking that we need to know *everything* about The Doctor. Mystery that doesn't resolve itself is good! GIves you something to think and talk about. And the final Angels story was rubbish. But Blink? I could watch it right now and still enjoy it after watching it nearly a dozen times.
The Empty Child-The Doctor Dances:Cursed Child The Girl in the Fireplace:Girl Who Waited Blink:Amy and Rory Silence in the Library-Forest of the Dead:River Song
I loved Blink on first viewing. It felt really fresh at the time. But it's had really limited rewatch value for me. The sting at the end is a prime example of how badly it's aged, to me. It gets its scare factor from the possibility that any statue you see could be an angel - but this never actually happens. The Angels take the same basic form every time we see them, to the extent that when they finally do take another form - in Angels Take Manhattan - it's an instant jump the shark moment. It just feels ridiculous. Knowing this context robs the epilogue of any real bite. The characters also feel a bit weak. Carey Mulligan is a fantastic actress and a joy to watch, but Larry is a complete nothing of a character. He only seems to exist because Moffat feels the story would be incomplete if it didn't end with the promise of romance. And that's really not necessary. As you point out, Sally and Kathy have a great friendship. Why couldn't Kathy have been the one obsessed with dvd extras? Why couldn't her brother have been the one snatched by the Angels? It's a tiny nitpick, I know, but it would have made the episode a lot stronger. I've seen people call Larry a proto-Rory, but I don't see it at all. Rory was funnier, kinder, and braver, right from The Eleventh Hour. He felt like a fully-fleshed out character, even when pushed to one side - whereas Larry was pushed to the fore, and still felt like a sidekick. Sally only seems to end up with him by default.
I can't believe I wrote this a few days ago and the original script for Blink just leaked, revealing Sally wasn't going to end up with Larry originally and was actually hinted to end up with a woman! Apparently RTD really liked this ending as it was "more lesbian", but Moffat himself "hated it" and sent in a new one just a day later. Hmm.
I disagree. Especially about Kathy, her getting sent back into time caused Sally to do the investigation in the first place. If Larry would’ve gotten sent back I doubt sally would care. Kathy created an emotional impact for sally when her grandson told her what had happened to Kathy.
If 'Blink' does lose some of its impact on re-watches, that's hardly the episode's fault. All it indicates is that any piece of entertainment can only be a novelty once - and that's the very first time you experience it.
The story of the Doctor communicating with a woman from the past was adapted from a Ninth Doctor story in the 2006 Doctor Who Annual called 'What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow.'
I've noticed something of a pattern while watching your videos... the episodes that terrified me as a kid are always the ones you're giving highest praise to, but all the ones that I loved back then are the deeply average ones. It's good fun learning that I had awful taste all along XD
a small thing i noticed was how billy had to wait 30 years to speak to sally, however for the doctor and martha, they didn’t have to wait that long. when i think of it that way, the doctor actually could have sent billy back to his present time, but i guess that would interrupt his timeline?
it's a bit manipulative on the Doctor's part, he lies to Billy saying that if he tries to go back it will destroy two-thirds of the universe, when in reality he just needs Billy to put the message on the DVDs. I guess it's not really the Doctor being callous, as he is just following the instructions Sally gave him, it's a massive bootstrap paradox basically and poor Billy is caught in the middle
Posting this on a bunch of your videos to help metrics: Thank you so much for making this series. Doctor Who was my favourite tv show as a kid, and was literally the only interest that every member of my family had in common, so it was very special to us growing up. Watching all your deep dives into each of the NuWho episodes has been a very nostalgic experience for me, so thank you thank you xx
One main nitpick I find with this episode is the 10th Doctor's famous quote, about time being a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, was kind of done already in the climax of the 9th Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead": "Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape." I always remember this line more for the simplicity and how it tells so much to your imagination with so little words. The other nitpick is I wasn't as scared when I first watched it because I knew going in it wasn't a series finale episode so the level of stakes wasn't as high in my mind.
Never understood why people thought this episode was scary. It’s a little spooky but that’s all. I have a friend who loves horror movies who says this episode was so scary she stopped watching the show entirely... meanwhile I’m a certified pussy who wasn’t bothered by this episode even when I was a kid. Weird.
Dude, they didn't fell victim to them, they needed to get caught by them cause of the stuff Sally telled him. Cause of all the info she wrote down, he knew after he looked up everything, that he and Martha must go back in time to Wester Drumlins just to get caught by them, the way she told him at the end when meeting him. It HAS to happen !!
@@JoshuaRieth She told him when they met at the end of the episode. He will be stuck in 69 and he will need that. Also, the TARDIS key was placed for her like that. Everything she experienced she wrote everything down, you could see at the end , that it was lots of papers . He placed the key and everything the way she wrote it for him. That the TARDIS was in the basement, she wrote all of this down, he placed everything there, also the writing on the wall. He has all the info from her. Imagine, everything you and she saw during that episode, she wrote it all down, all that she experienced, everything, + photos and shit. The Doctor is curious, so i dont think so that he fell victim, he surely taked a look before going there and if he doesnt take a look before, how can he know that he has to go to Drumlins ?? You dont make any sense, you should watch Sesame Street !! i dont think that Wester Drumlins was coincidently 1 of his things he wanted to solve when they met Sally. BIG COINCIDENCE , never !! They were led to Drumlins by Sally and the infos she gave them.
(I’m only 8 minutes into the video so you may mention this later) One thing I love that is both subtle and “in your face” at the same time in the most Doctor Who way is that by Sally being the one that gives The Doctor all the information that would allow him to send the videos to her she in herself creates a “good” version of the same sort of Paradox that Weeping Angels create. Like she in essence becomes like an “anti-Weeping Angel”. Truly Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey
It is arguably Moffatt at his best because he had just one episode to set everything up and resolve it. Just. One. Episode. The handling of time travel was absolutely superb which we tend to forget Doctor Who usually does quite well on average. My favourite piece of trivia about this episode is that the script nearly won a Nebula award, but came second to a _movie_ script - that's how good it was.
Did Moffat write a story for an Eccleston era doctor who album? Because that's where Sally sparrow first showed up. In that story she was a black girl, and the doctor had left her messages beneath wallpaper. She found old photos from the past with him holding up a sign saying the same thing. I don't think the story was concluded in that album, as far as I remember, but I know there weren't any weeping angels. Tell me I'm not the only one who knows thid
Yeah I remember that. I don't know if I still have the album or not though to look at it again. Thinking about it brings me back though and I have to say little else does that like Doctor Who.
To me the lack of rewatch value is a big issue witj blink. The horror and cleverness of the story is nowhere near as effective the second time round, and the characters and themes dont have enough depth to suppliment that. Its still very entertaining, i still enjoyed it a lot both times i rewatched it, but episodes like midnight, family of blood, heaven sent, turn left, dalek, and some others offer new experiences the second time round as knowledge of the whole story allows me to appreciate them in new ways that i diddnt before, wheras blink is feels prettey much the same the second time round. As a result its not as interesting in retrospect as other episodes are imo
You blinked between 375 and 500 times whilst watching this video. For more blinking facts, check out my Patreon!*
www.patreon.com/harbowholmes
*blinking facts not guaranteed
I'd wager this isn't true coz I spent half of it seeing how long I could keep my eyes open :)
May I say I hate blink
I feel blink is a decent introduction to a villain that shouldn't of return in doctor who
the angels stand on their own as a great monster but let's face it, the 2 parter added too much on a simple premise, things that shouldn't of been added
angels in Manhatten spits in their face especially when you consider the angel of liberty, a statue that size couldn't move an inch in this city, especially when you consider people would be in it, and then if it didn't have people in it, their is no way the moment it move people would see it but I digress when you consider another point
IT NOT STONE ITS METAL
but if these 2 hadn't been follow ups believe it or not the episode blink would of been the best introduction but then there's something else you may miss here, class the spinoff would of had a reason to draw more people to it
spoilers for those wh haven't seen it
class finale reintroduces them, and because angel fatigue hadn't enter people thoughts and the angels didn't become a joke the final moments of the episode would of had fans flocking to it just so they could get more angels, then there's the fact that the planned second season ideas could of been changed
sorry im going off here
I pulled this video up to go to sleep and only opened my eyes halfway through, are you sure?
You called?
Just remember while 10 and Martha were stuck in London, 11 was running around in America fighting The Silence. Both were set in 1969
It's just wibbly wobbly timeywimey stuff I guess
just remember, 12 was teaching at the university during this time too, since he taught there for 70+ years. very “timey wimey”
@@taladavidson5400 wowee you’re right!
Headconnon: The doctor and companions end up being about 1% of the total world population at all times
Well as they mentioned when talking to Billy the Moon Landing hadn't happened yet in that scene at least
“It’s the same rain” is such a chilling line.
Honestly, I really don't understand this, how is it chilling?
@@persononinternet7868 rain is cold
@@persononinternet7868 it puts emphasis on the fact that Billy has lived an entire lifetime since him and Sally met less than an hour ago. The fact that so much time has passed that he's on death's door because of the angels while the clouds above have barely even shifted is what brought many viewer's(myself included) attention to the true terror of the angels by forcing you to acknowledge what they've done.
@@persononinternet7868 it’s not really chilling it’s just more emotionally poetic. The way the music frames the scene it’s definitely not supposed to be seen as this terrifying line of dialogue
@@obiwankenobi687 It can be however it makes a person feel. It's subjective.
I don't know how they managed to go from Human Nature to Blink to Utopia one after another but they did it the absolute madlads
Best run of episodes in the shows history
@@richardfitzmaurice1282 Hmm I'd argue Silence I'm the Library two partner - Midnight - Turn Left - Two part series 4 finale is better. But both are amazing.
@@kbg12ila Dunno that finale wasn't that great and blink and utopia are two of the best
@@kbg12ila Hmm yeah both S3 and S4 had incredible runs and finished on strong notes. My favourite seasons in terms of overall-season quality.
Absolutely agree.. Three consecutively awesome episodes in a row...
The scariest part of the Angels, to me, is the fact that they treat the camera as an "observer", never moving when the camera is fixed on them, giving it a kind of 4th wall breaking feel, as if they are reacting to the audience watching them, the same way they react to the characters, by turning to stone when seen.
they do move on camera tho?
@@adamlouis3725 You mean the scene where Amy can't open her eyes, and has to walk through the wood, right? That's not in Blink, that's a later episode - and honestly kind of ruined the Angel's whole gimmick, for exactly the reason I mentioned.
The image of an angel becomes an angel!
That is one of my very favorite things about the episode: that chilling moment when you realize why Sally's back is still protected; because we can see them. It's so elegant, clever, and creepy.
@@LadyDoomsingerSomebody has a theory(pretty sure it gets discredited in later episodes, but whatever) that it’s not that they don’t know how human eyesight works, it’s that their trying to figure out why their stone, aka us looking at them. Their such a brief blink between the film reels, but it’s enough to allow them their quick movement. Causing them to look like their moving to our eyes, but it’s more like stop motion. That’s why it takes so long to attack Amy, because they eventually just give up/think it’s Amy and go in for the kill.
Blink is also a great proof that you can do horror without blood or violence! :D
I've honestly never found blood and violence scary, it's always creepy that scares me most
@@djb1317 Yeah, me too. Like the first Alien movie! Still haven't seen the whole damn thing because it was too creepy the second time I watched it. The first time was when I was about 11. I saw the title and thought: "Great, an episode with aliens!" Little did I know...after the Chestburster scene (now THAT'S scary blood horror!) I turned it off.
@@Lia-uf1ir haha, I was gonna say the 2 things I find scariest are aliens and ghosts in a less is more creepy way (there's a 90s movie called Haunted, Kate Beckinsale is on it, it's dated a bit now, but that terrified me as a kid, it's still plenty creepy)
I am embarrassed to admit the only alien I have watched all the way through is alien 3 for the exact same reason as you haha
@@djb1317 Nice! Haven't even seen the other Alien films save the Prometheus films. If only the second half of the first Prometheus film was as good as its first. The first started so well with a new take on the ancient alien theory. As far as I know, no one tried to search for ancient aliens yet.
Blink is the only thing I've seen that truly horrified me, sure I've seen scary jumpscares and things that kept me up, but nothing has ever truly horrified me like the angels
Harbo: *mentions manually breathing*
My Brain: "Breathing? Oh yeah, that's your problem now."
Me: "Now I'm mad."
😂😂😂
This comment didn't particularly help. I haven't got to that bit yet, but now I'm doing it anyway.
@@TheSmart-CasualGamersame 😂
"It goes ding" is such an iconic line. So is "life is short and you're hot". This episode had such quotable one liners.
"The angels have the phone box." That's one of my favorites.
@@karenhall4645 "I've got that on a tshirt"
@@matthewlacey4198 I'm still trying to find that t-shirt. 😃
'people assume that time is a straight in but actually from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it's more a big ball of Wibbey wobbly, times wimey stuff' I've legit memorised that quote.Girl in the fireplace has some great quotes too
The "life is long and you're hot" line always chokes me up no matter how many times i watch it
One thing you forgot to mention:
There are several scenes where we see the Angels not moving, even though none of the characters are looking at them. What gives?
It's because *we* see the Angels not moving. *We* are looking at them, so they can't move!
I have seen that theory used as to why the angels are slow and jittery around Amy in Flesh and Stone.
@@xenon8117 If this theory is true they should not be moving on-sreen at all. Personally I hate this scene. And I think it had some potential to be Big Fourth Wall breaking, somethink along the lines "Amy, just come to us" and then turning to us "Watch her". I don;t really know if this would work and be liked, but I think it would be still better than what we have got.
Yes. Personally I think showing the Angels moving onscreen (even if none of the characters are looking) kinda ruins their appeal
I believe in those scenes one of the angels was looking at the others, that’s why it turned the light out in the basement, so they couldn’t see each other either
@@mathuraphael9196 video cameras don't view the world like our eyes as a continuous stream of light, they take multiple pictures a second, the angels could be moving in between frames
The constant gusting rain throughout the episode is quite atmospheric. And I really loved Sally and Larry and wished they had more adventures.
Well it is set in England
I think you mean Sparrow and Nightingale
Well Lawrence is back in a new game by the people who made simulacra and Sara is Missing.
ye, they could have had a big finish audio or their own spin-off even if it was just one episode or like a mini series
Fun Fact: Carey Mulligan was at some point offered the role of companion but rejected it.
I think that's good that she just got that one episode- it makes it more special
Oh, okay then; I'll just be here weeping over what could've been. :P
I don’t see Billy’s flirting with Sally as even potentially problematic.
He’s just persistent. He never crossed a line, he’s just talking.
Plus, Sally isn’t telling him to get lost, she’s participating in the back and forth.
You’ve got to be really thin skinned to get upset by Billy’s behaviour.
The Dad in The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe is actually problematic. He’s a literal stalker.
He's a detective inspector on duty, with a scared member of the public who's reporting a missing friend. It's definitely inappropriate and problematic.
@@robinbull6348
Not on duty, he clocked out if you remember. Also, it wasn’t aggressive, it was playful.
And ultimately, it didn’t create a problem, it cheered Sally up. Problematic is only problematic if it creates a problem. It’s not like he was doing something morally corrupt here, he was just flirting with her. If Sally had been upset and walked off telling him to never talk to her again then I’d understand.
The most you can say is that is inappropriate but Sally wasn’t complaining. Unless Billy does this to every woman who comes to the police station than what exactly is the problem?
@@robinbull6348
I dont think you know what problematic means
Sadly, it's called 2020.....
@@putridmoldyman306
So I read your comment thinking you were talking to me and did some research only to come back and realise it wasn’t me you were talking to.
That said I’ll still present what I found. Even though I knew what problematic meant, I’d never actually looked up it’s definition before. Here it is.
Problematic
1. adjective
constituting or presenting a problem.
2. noun
a thing that constitutes a problem.
I mean this episode was broadcast before Carey Mulligan really hit her stride as a Hollywood actress but she really flexes her acting chops in this episode and for me i truly feel that this was what landed her most of her film roles because she is so great. This episode is a full masterpiece. Like it is perfection. There is a reason it is so beloved. pacing, writing, acting, tension, atmosphere, aesthetics, everything all on point.
I know she's too famous now, but I wish we got her as The Doctor instead, she's a fantastic actress and has charisma. In my opinion though, The Doctor should always be male, but if they want a woman in the role so badly, at least hire someone likeable.
"Look to your left"
"I think it's a political statement"
I always laugh at that bc obv someone who's interested in a conspiracy would interpret the line that way
Nah, that was when Doctor Who had good writers and could write about injustices and yes, liberal agenda but it wasn't shoved down someone's throat. Doctor Who has always leaned to the left, that cannot be denied. The difference between then and now is that the writers before could take their agenda and put it in a good scifi story. Whereas today Chinball and group just say, if you disagree with me and my message, you are EVIL!!!!
@@jagswinjagswin Fucking tinfoil hat over here
@@littlemoth4956 enjoy your hat!
@@jagswinjagswin dude, chibnalls era is by far the most politically Conservative the modern show has ever been. Literally the season before chibnall came on they had oxygen, which had an extremely blatant anti-capitalism message. Compare that to chibnalls first season where you've got the 13th doctor simping for space amazon. Actually watch the show.
But a one second look at the scene shows what it actually means, it's just boringly literal.
Here's the thing about Blink for me: My sister and I were raised on Doctor Who. We were watching our Dad's DVDs of the classics when we were four years old before the reboot even happened. I considered myself pretty tough for not being afraid of Daleks, Cybermen or any other threats faced in the episodes. Even my older sister went through a Dalek fear phase whereas I didn't.
I was eight when Blink premiered. My Dad was very active on the Doctor Who forums and up to date on the news, so he warned my sister and I that Blink was rated off the scale in terms of fear factor. As a stupid kid I thought this just meant another Dalek level threat. I was so wrong.
By the end of Blink I was sobbing into my armchair. My parents kept me up to watch Doctor Who confidential to show me how the angels were made and to prove they weren't real (even though that episode of confidential ended up not being about the angels at all). I had reoccuring nightmares and often slept with my parents for the following year because I was that scarred by it. I switched my DVD off after Human Nature, not even wanting to see the preview for Blink; I had to put on Barbie The Princess and the Pauper to keep the haunting music out of my head when I was trying to fall asleep, I couldn't even look at the angel image featured on my Doctor Who Series 3 case, and often woke up in tears from my nightmares about them.
So Blink has always stuck with me, whether the episode holds up or not. The only thing that really cured my fear was Steven Moffat butchering them in 2010 and constantly bringing them in for no reason. But I'm sure you'll cover that at some point, if you haven't already 😅
Sorry for the long comment, this episode just has a particular history with me 😂
Haha, goddamn that sounds like quite a nightmarish bunch of events
Blink is beautifully written FOR fans. I have never understood why people believe it is a good introduction to Who. Our love and understanding of 10 is what makes the journey Sally takes so satisfying. If you have no basis to understand how the doctor thinks then you can’t understand why he would make her discover things instead of just telling her.
It is one of the best episodes of 10’s reign but I think it is a love letter to the fans to make us into a companion for those 60 minutes.
Maybe you're right, but if this episode was my introduction to Doctor Who, I would have loved it anyway and get instantly hooked, but that's just me, I'm obsessed with time travel stories.
Yeah. I always said it was a good intro because it doesn’t have a lot of the trippy doctor stuff that makes it unapproachable, but it also doesn’t really teach you anything about how to handle the Doctors weirdness. Only the first episode of any season can do that.
Perhaps, but this is the first episode I watched of Doctor Who, and I thought it was amazing. Intrigued me to watch more.
This episode is a fantastic introduction to Doctor Who. The fact that it also works even for longtime fans is only one of the reasons why it's a masterpiece
Love and monsters walked so blink could run
Love and monsters slowly suffocated in mud.....
Love and Monsters shattered its shins so Blink could run
Love and monsters flew so Blink could fall
Then I guess Blink ran so Turn Left could defy gravity and levitate across the room.
(Not knocking Blink - I love Blink - I just love Turn Left a lot more)
Love and Monsters is a bad episode but I'd watch it any time before I'd watch Fear Her. That was the worst episode of NuWho before Chinball took over. Now it's ahead of all his episodes.
Honestly "its the same rain" is so emotional for such a mundane sentence
The idea of her opening the door and solidifying the timeline is perfect, hadn't even considered that but it makes so much sense.
Thanks Harbo for making this episode better, years after airing.
I personally find the intro to be a lie. People are much more likely to say the Vervoids. What kind of lies are you spreading here?
Nah man, they’ll obviously say The Krotons
I don't know, I like to think they'll say Kandyman, who obviously are one of the best Who villains to date.
This is the best Dr. Who conversation I have EVER seen lmao.
come on let’s be realistic, they would say the chumblies
@@SamhainRegen666 It really is
weird that it took them til s4 to realise they could just pair a doctorlite and a companionlite so you don't have an ep led by randomers
Which one was that?
@@stevenhale2935 midnight paired with turn left :)
@@jdg9825 ahhh good point, gotcha
Why do you implie that they didn't realise it before ?
@@hothemeep1219 because the absorbalof exists
The weeping angels should have been a one-off villain. They were scary because we didn't know much about them. They were mysterious. The more they were shown the more lamer they got and gradually they became just another DW villian. This is what infuriates me about Moffat's writing, he introduces something brilliant then keeps bringing them back again and again until they lose their charm. He loves beating the dead horse to the ground
I kinda disagree the ambiguity helped yes, but it was not really what made them scary to me. In fact, blink never scared me all that much. TTOA & F&S did, however, because it added more but still kept questions on your mind and increased the threat with the doctor ACTUALLY facing them and how scared he got that he may lose Amy.
@@SamhainRegen666 I get that but the thing is while trying to add more to them they massively fuck up the lore. It just got more convoluted. Amy and Rory's death hurt me too, but they literally could've used any other monster and it could've worked. Also the statue of liberty being an angel was just bullshit. It just seemed that in order to give Amy and Rory this big send off, the angels paid the prize and they went from these interesting villains to just generic Doctor Who big bad of the week.
@@iusedtowrite6667 (just saying that TTOA & F&S means the time of angels and flesh and stone) but yeah I get that TATM didn't do anything with the angels really they were just there to be there are just like they were in the time of the doctor it's honestly kind of annoying especially considering how well he played off this concept originally. Still, it doesn't really destroy my love for the monsters I do think they can probably come back even scarier at some point I just think that no writer wants to tackle this because they're too afraid to touch something that Steven Moffat spent so much time in building if I write it does every want to tackle the Weeping Angels again I hope it's Neil Gaiman.
@@SamhainRegen666 I think they can be done again, just in a more restrained way. This villains are better for a mystery episode rather than an action packed one.
@@iusedtowrite6667 i feel like i am the only one who liked the statue of liberty being an angel. it definitely adds some more questions to what there abilities are. and it was definitely a big surprise.
Just realised you see the shadow of the angels hand move as Sally grabs the key. We saw them move (kind of) before Flesh and Stone!!
I just noticed that too! That's honestly a really creepy visual.
At the time this was the only episode that was universally liked on first broadcast and where monster scared everyone, kids and adults alike. That is why it goes down as the best episode of all time.
It’s true that the Weeping Angels stop being scary after you’ve seen this, which is why their future appearances are less impactful, and indeed rewatches of this episode are less scary (but how many things that worked so well the first time, also work on a rewatch), but as you say, the mystery and character moments remain strong and really drive the narrative regardless of how many times you may have seen them.
I personally find Mark Gatiss much more terrifying than the Angels
Why everybody is trolling 🤣
You could question why Sally decides to go to the spooky house in the middle of the night to watch the DVD, after everything that has happened, it would be safer at her own house, or Larry's, surely. But I don’t care. It’s such a good episode that I will allow a few wrinkles in the plot.
I've always wondered that as well.
Good point i have never even thought about that before it makes no sense
She likes old and creepy.
I’m guessing Sally didn’t realise the danger they’d be in, since neither Kathy or Billy told her the Angels did it (I’m not sure Kathy even knew), and she wanted to solve the mystery where it started
the strengths of this episode end up being the weaknesses of future moffat episodes.
Moffat will always be better at writing singular episodes than drawn out convoluted and unimaginative entire seasons
@@frankegordon326 S9 was quality though
@@richardfitzmaurice1282 yeah that's fair tbh. Therea still a lot to enjoy in Moffats run
@@frankegordon326 Idk I thought series 5 was pretty great
17:19 First time watching Blink... that Jumpscare literally made me hide in the next room for YEARS. Blink is a very creative episode I agree. Scary as Void though
One thing i really like is the angels tinkering with the lights, cause in the encounter before that with Larry my bf on his first watch already said "why not just hold your eyelit of one eye while blinking the other" and the light flashing really shows that the writer probably also thought of it and trying to up the actions by making even that "tactic" invalid.
That would be unsatisfied as hell
If you watch this episode , you can see the seeds of Moffat era , Sally and The vidoe store guy are a proto Amy and Rory
my communications technology teacher uses this episode as a case study for a nearly perfect written and directed episode.
They should also use Heaven Sent... which imo is utter Storytelling Perfection
One of my all time favourite episodes. No other weeping angels story comes close. It's unbelievably well written and acted. The Doctor's message would make a great short movie alone.
The one where Rory and Amy get taken made me tear up a little. And I’m not much of a cryer.
@@mangot589 Yeah, but then you've got to live with "Statue of Liberty is a giant Weeping Angel that managed to move across the city without a *single* person looking at them to make them freeze before they got to the hotel" stupidity, so... I prefer the tears from Blink, before Moffat ruined his own creation.
@@ms_scribbles I agree with the giant weeping angel, for sure. It’s like🙄. But it was sad at the end.
@@ms_scribbles I do like Angels but it is full of issues that bug the hell out of me. Blink is followed by Time of Angels then Flesh and Stone. F&S is let down by the scene of them moving.
The Weeping Angels are similar to the Autons in that way they make the normal scary. It does remind me a lot of how any shop window dummy could be an Auton.
4:35 Murray used the turning of a rusty wheel.
It reminds me of The Flood theme in Halo: Combat Evolved. I love it.
The fact this video's thumbnail preview vid shows shots from Love And Monsters does make you think it's a parody
Weeping Angels are the only monsters to break the forth wall, cos they stop when we see them and the characters do not. Also, I didn't like the mechanical changes in the other two stories, I think it makes them less scary.
Can I just say how much I appreciate these reviews. Doctor Who was a major part of my childhood and getting to watch these reviews with a new perspective is really fun! I look forward to them and you really are very good at these. Thank you :)
"They can't talk so we can't get the usual grand villain monologue" WELL NOT YET AT LEAST 😭
My favourite chilling line is "I have till the rain stops"; now there's someone who's going to hope that the rain goes on forever.
The thing about the angels is, you don't always know when you're under observation: there's a difference between being seen and knowing you're being seen - which is why I take exception in another episode to a national monument going walkabout wit no one noticing.
I wonder if anyone's come up with a [definitive] list of the 17 DVDs that Sally owns
I thought I'd mention something that I thought that I don't see many people talking about (maybe because it's obvious). When I watched the episode for the first time, I noticed that when Kathy is sent back in time, she notes in her letter that she has a daughter named Sally. Later, Billy mentions that he married a woman named Sally. Can it be assumed that it is the same Sally in both cases? It makes sense in the timeline, too, assuming that Kathy had Sally some years after being sent back to 1920. Or maybe there is something obvious that I'm missing
This is a bit off topic but I think that the angels take manhattan is very underrated. Its definitley not as bad as people say.
yes! I thought the 'time farm' idea was so clever, and it made sense for Rory to jump
Its such a good episode for the characters but a terrible episode for the angels
@@emmiannon1266 gotta disagree with you there - other than the statue of liberty thing which didn't make much sense, I liked the angels in it. the angel babies that displace in space but not time were a fun idea, and although the angels aren't really scary anymore I was still pretty creeped out the whole time (some credit for that has to go to the music). I'm quite easily pleased, but I can see why people would disagree
Yes
@@fran_03 agree
"Blink is the best episode by Moffat."
Heaven sent: Hold my confession dial.
Wholeheartedly agreed. I'm also one of the few people who likes Hell Bent, even if not as much as heaven sent
@@atharvadeshpande6907 It grew on me yeah..once I rewatched it, it felt only natural progression of this incarnation of the character and clara
@@atharvadeshpande6907 I like Hell Bent more than Heaven Sent. Heaven Sent is objectively a better episode but it's pretty depressing. Hell Bent manages to balance between being both uplifting and heartbreaking. People complain about Moffat constantly bringing characters back from the dead but I would have been miserable if Clara hadn't survived.
My only real complaint about Hell Bent is Rassilon. Donald Sumpter was just a pathetic old man while Timothy Dalton carried a genuine sense of power and menace. Peter Capaldi's "Get off my planet" would have carried a lot more weight if he was squaring off against Dalton and also would have shown how far the Doctor has come since David Tennant's era. Back then, he was so scared of Rassilon that he took Wilfred's gun with him. Now he calmly waits for Rassilon to descend from on high to face him and simply tells him to piss off. Unfortunately, Sumpter lacks the gravitas of Dalton so that potentially awesome moment doesn't work nearly as well as it should have.
@@tomnorton4277 you, sir, are brave to type that! Although I agree with the bit about Rassilon.... the actor who played him in Hell Bent just didn't bring that menacing presence and gravitas to the show. Would have been so epic if The Doctor had said "Get off my planet!" To Dalton himself.
@@atharvadeshpande6907 It's not bravery, it's just honesty. Heaven Sent might technically be a masterpiece but Hell Bent was a once in a lifetime experience for me. I actually had an emotional breakdown after watching the episode because after initially being happy that Clara was alive, I remembered that she wasn't coming back.
Dislike is from Angel Bob lmao
Been almost 14 years since this episode and the angels still live rent-free in my mind
(It’s named Sparrow and Nightingale because they run the shop together)
Truly a great episode but there are a few minor niggles I had with it.
1) What was with the rock she had to duck from in the intro? Why did an angel (presumably) throw a rock at her in that moment? It worked for the episode intro but did not really fit in with anything we learn later.
2) I feel the DVD conversation should have been written so that Sally held more of the conversation. As it is the Doctor gives _too_ thorough an explanation for anyone that has watched the DVD extra already (like Larry). For example when she questions how they could be having this conversation the 'look to your left' response is nicely cryptic but then he explains about the transcript in full including the word transcript itself. This would clue in anyone watching what her half of the conversation should be whereas if she herself had used the word transcript then he could have simply said "I have the finished copy" which is a lot more mysterious. Having her leading the conversation more like this would have helped the 'Easter egg' feel more show than tell. Another example could be her asking what is wrong with letting them in the blue box then joking that the 'end of the world' button is inside, he would respond with a glare or something that implies she is not far off. As it is currently written it sounds like a 'we had to think of something that sounded bad but did not give it much thought' kind of line (just like the rock in the intro)
3) Nice trick doctor until that light goes out and they can move again.
Best thing I can say about the first point is I’m assuming the angel was attempting to knock out sally so it can get to her easier as she would be unconscious therefore wouldn’t be able to lay her eyes on it.
There are so many times when the Omniscient Eye of the viewer watching the Weeping Angel is the ONLY person watching them and keeping them time locked.... Creepy!
“They can’t risk looking at each other”
Unless you’re writing Flesh and Stone, ig
Did anyone notice that at 24:45, the angel behind Sally is uncovered/looking at her. Then at 24:28, the angel is covering its face again! Chilling but absolutely loved that touch!
Harbo: that one spooky house we’ve all lived near.
Me: nah I lived in the old creepy house.
The main issue with the "solution" to this episode that I have with it might also be a small plothole. Before they get "stuck in place" cause the angels are looking at eachother, they're able to make the lights flicker and go off even when they're being looked at... so what stops them from just doing that again and moving away from eachother again so they're no longer stuck?
Maybe the angels just have really good eyesight and can see in the dark?
They were pointing to the light when that happened, when they were stuck their hand were extended down. They can’t move to turn off the light now.
I’ll never forget after watching this episode I would stare every statute I see in the eyes
Oh heck yeah - same.
And then flesh and stone made that lethal
The monster came about because of that feeling you get that something in the very edge of your vision moved, then you look at it and realise it couldn’t have moved. That’s what makes it scary on a subliminal level.
Blink is the episode I use to introduce people into Doctor Who.
I like the fact that episode ended with the Doctor, blinking.
The weeping angels would actually be an amazing opportunity, they get to feed, you get to influence the future. Also, always bring a towel, to dump over the head of the angel.
If you’ve noticed. I the Steven Moffat episodes one the RTD era basically made the companions irrelevant to the main story.
Also Cathy basically made herself go back in time.
Also also every time the video ends I get sad.
A timeless classic of course! I do enjoy the 'sequels' so to speak of The Weeping Angel trilogy, however, this is much superior. For me, Moffat is the best writer when it comes to the 'time' aspect of Doctor Who. Brilliant!
Blink finally got one of my friends into Who so it’s worth it. Also love the 10th/13th doctor follow up story
its a crying shame we never had a whole christmas special with angels as villains
“From now on, we’re only going to be using stars to top a Christmas tree. I don’t want to see angels for a long time.”
Time of the doctor
The scary thing is the angels PLANNED to trap them in the basement and turn off the lights to trap them.
Angels should have been a one and done. The later angel episodes diminish them as a character. It doesn’t pack the same punch.
I don't think they necessarily should've been a one and done. They should definitely be used sparingly and more importantly, used correctly. Outside of Blink, my favourite appearance of theirs was the brief attack on the Doctor and Clara in Time of the Doctor, when the snow was making it even more difficult not to blink.
@@Shay96 it doesn’t really make sense tho, what do the weeping angels get by stopping the TimeLords from being freed. If anything they’d support it to manifest time food
@@itzimperiumxvi2620 The story involves cracks in time. Maybe they came through a crack in time and just wound up there, since not all of them seem to completely erase something from reality and "what can be remembered can be brought back". I don't necessarily think the Angels were there to prevent the return of the Timelords, so much as it being happenstance. But even so, I feel they were well utilised in that small segment, aside from the whole Mirror gag later on.
Yeah there was no way the doctor would've known the angels would be trapped without Sally's notes, so something tells me he technically wasn't the one who thought of it
While I do think this is a great episode and deserves to be called a modern classic, I personally prefer Time of angles/flesh and stone (please don't kill me yet). That said they are two VERY different stories, this one being a mystery and doctor light with more focus on the one off characters whereas the TOA/FAS is a doctor VS monster, fits in perfectly with my favourite series arc, and has some great character work with all the mains. Still definitely a S tier. Now I am ready for people to kill me
Steven Moffat became showrunner on the strength of this episode... then reused the Weeping Angels until all mystique and fear of them were diluted to nothing. He also made it the River Song show... good writer, terrible showrunner...
Also the continuing story of River Song never lived up to the first episode in the Library.
I know your not supposed to think too much about this but Cathy was already dead and buried while she went looking through the house and had descendants coming to the house, the cop was dying in hospital while he was helping sally about the house really condemned him to go back in time,maybe it’s just me but wouldn’t it be a paradox or would they have to meet themselves in the same timeline. If it wasn’t for sally these people wouldn’t have been sent by the weeping angels but of course it already happened.
'Grounding' is a good description. Running with the doctor is already such a rote yet fantastical format. The script instead invests relatable ordinary experiences with a natural uncanniness that nevertheless never occurs to us. Imagine if it did? How could we endure it? Perhaps with perpetual sadness?
What happens if a robot, that has no organic parts, looks at a weeping angel? Since the robot’s eye would be a camera and with the flesh and stone 2 parter it’s shown that it’s a different angel in the video thing. Also the angel moves even though the camera is watching it so it not sure
1:41 Was that house later used for Knock, Knock?
8:23 I just skip that question and go straight to Eddie Izzard's joke about how "all the victims in these films have had their common sense glands removed."
I never noticed that before but yeah I think they might be the same house
@@vickyotters9207 so some advice to anyone who finds themselves in the Doctor Who universe: if you see that house, just run.
@dr103 ha that’s either cool or lazy.
two tiny nit picks. First one Who threw the rock at Sally in the cold open? was it an angel was it the Doctor? this never gets explained. Second one why does the angel that was in Sally's eye shot when she was watching the Doctor not move when she goes over to look at Larry's writing? Because when she moves the angel is no longer in her eye shot? The Doctor says that are fast why did it not move then? Why did it go from really far back in the garden to right up by the TV screen?
I know, the logic of the angels is a little dodgy. There is also moments where the angels move way faster than they do in the finale, but other than that I still really enjoy this episode
Blink is definitely in my top five favorites in Modern Doctor Who. While I didn't really hate Moffat's later two-parter with the Angels, it it did take away a good deal of their mystery, much like later with Chris Chibnall thinking that we need to know *everything* about The Doctor. Mystery that doesn't resolve itself is good! GIves you something to think and talk about. And the final Angels story was rubbish. But Blink? I could watch it right now and still enjoy it after watching it nearly a dozen times.
Billy and sally. The ship you shipped for two seconds before it crushed your heart
The Empty Child-The Doctor Dances:Cursed Child
The Girl in the Fireplace:Girl Who Waited
Blink:Amy and Rory
Silence in the Library-Forest of the Dead:River Song
I loved Blink on first viewing. It felt really fresh at the time. But it's had really limited rewatch value for me.
The sting at the end is a prime example of how badly it's aged, to me. It gets its scare factor from the possibility that any statue you see could be an angel - but this never actually happens. The Angels take the same basic form every time we see them, to the extent that when they finally do take another form - in Angels Take Manhattan - it's an instant jump the shark moment. It just feels ridiculous. Knowing this context robs the epilogue of any real bite.
The characters also feel a bit weak. Carey Mulligan is a fantastic actress and a joy to watch, but Larry is a complete nothing of a character. He only seems to exist because Moffat feels the story would be incomplete if it didn't end with the promise of romance. And that's really not necessary.
As you point out, Sally and Kathy have a great friendship. Why couldn't Kathy have been the one obsessed with dvd extras? Why couldn't her brother have been the one snatched by the Angels? It's a tiny nitpick, I know, but it would have made the episode a lot stronger. I've seen people call Larry a proto-Rory, but I don't see it at all. Rory was funnier, kinder, and braver, right from The Eleventh Hour. He felt like a fully-fleshed out character, even when pushed to one side - whereas Larry was pushed to the fore, and still felt like a sidekick. Sally only seems to end up with him by default.
I can't believe I wrote this a few days ago and the original script for Blink just leaked, revealing Sally wasn't going to end up with Larry originally and was actually hinted to end up with a woman!
Apparently RTD really liked this ending as it was "more lesbian", but Moffat himself "hated it" and sent in a new one just a day later.
Hmm.
I disagree. Especially about Kathy, her getting sent back into time caused Sally to do the investigation in the first place. If Larry would’ve gotten sent back I doubt sally would care. Kathy created an emotional impact for sally when her grandson told her what had happened to Kathy.
If 'Blink' does lose some of its impact on re-watches, that's hardly the episode's fault. All it indicates is that any piece of entertainment can only be a novelty once - and that's the very first time you experience it.
9:32 - This is a said statement that him trying to ask her out and impress her could be a problem.
The story of the Doctor communicating with a woman from the past was adapted from a Ninth Doctor story in the 2006 Doctor Who Annual called 'What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow.'
I'm just saying if anyone tried to use "life is short and you are hot" as a pickup line in me, they're getting that date
I've noticed something of a pattern while watching your videos... the episodes that terrified me as a kid are always the ones you're giving highest praise to, but all the ones that I loved back then are the deeply average ones. It's good fun learning that I had awful taste all along XD
Blink is my most watched episode ever. Brilliant in so many ways. Also, I totally identify with Larry.
Donna turned out to be the best companion, but at the time I really wanted Carey Mulligan to be the next companion
The weeping angels was the monster that scared me as a kid, so much that I was terrified of statues in even comics.
All of these episodes and no one thought to just wink repeatedly
Amy tried that
Blink was the second DW episode i saw
I couldn't watch DW for the next 3-4 years because it spooked me so much
a small thing i noticed was how billy had to wait 30 years to speak to sally, however for the doctor and martha, they didn’t have to wait that long. when i think of it that way, the doctor actually could have sent billy back to his present time, but i guess that would interrupt his timeline?
it's a bit manipulative on the Doctor's part, he lies to Billy saying that if he tries to go back it will destroy two-thirds of the universe, when in reality he just needs Billy to put the message on the DVDs. I guess it's not really the Doctor being callous, as he is just following the instructions Sally gave him, it's a massive bootstrap paradox basically and poor Billy is caught in the middle
Blink is my #1. I rewatched it a couple of months ago and still loved it, even though I knew what was going to happen.
There's something about that actress who plays Sally; she strikes me as a Promising Young Woman.
Thank you, I'll see myself out.
Posting this on a bunch of your videos to help metrics:
Thank you so much for making this series. Doctor Who was my favourite tv show as a kid, and was literally the only interest that every member of my family had in common, so it was very special to us growing up. Watching all your deep dives into each of the NuWho episodes has been a very nostalgic experience for me, so thank you thank you xx
One main nitpick I find with this episode is the 10th Doctor's famous quote, about time being a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, was kind of done already in the climax of the 9th Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead":
"Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape." I always remember this line more for the simplicity and how it tells so much to your imagination with so little words.
The other nitpick is I wasn't as scared when I first watched it because I knew going in it wasn't a series finale episode so the level of stakes wasn't as high in my mind.
I hate "timey wimey", it was used as a cop out too much.
Never understood why people thought this episode was scary. It’s a little spooky but that’s all. I have a friend who loves horror movies who says this episode was so scary she stopped watching the show entirely... meanwhile I’m a certified pussy who wasn’t bothered by this episode even when I was a kid. Weird.
Dude, they didn't fell victim to them, they needed to get caught by them cause of the stuff Sally telled him. Cause of all the info she wrote down, he knew after he looked up everything, that he and Martha must go back in time to Wester Drumlins just to get caught by them, the way she told him at the end when meeting him. It HAS to happen !!
He might have looked at the information AFTER falling victim. From what can tell, they were in a hurry to get somewhere.
@@JoshuaRieth She told him when they met at the end of the episode. He will be stuck in 69 and he will need that. Also, the TARDIS key was placed for her like that. Everything she experienced she wrote everything down, you could see at the end , that it was lots of papers . He placed the key and everything the way she wrote it for him. That the TARDIS was in the basement, she wrote all of this down, he placed everything there, also the writing on the wall. He has all the info from her. Imagine, everything you and she saw during that episode, she wrote it all down, all that she experienced, everything, + photos and shit. The Doctor is curious, so i dont think so that he fell victim, he surely taked a look before going there and if he doesnt take a look before, how can he know that he has to go to Drumlins ?? You dont make any sense, you should watch Sesame Street !!
i dont think that Wester Drumlins was coincidently 1 of his things he wanted to solve when they met Sally. BIG COINCIDENCE , never !! They were led to Drumlins by Sally and the infos she gave them.
(I’m only 8 minutes into the video so you may mention this later)
One thing I love that is both subtle and “in your face” at the same time in the most Doctor Who way is that by Sally being the one that gives The Doctor all the information that would allow him to send the videos to her she in herself creates a “good” version of the same sort of Paradox that Weeping Angels create. Like she in essence becomes like an “anti-Weeping Angel”.
Truly Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey
It is arguably Moffatt at his best because he had just one episode to set everything up and resolve it. Just. One. Episode. The handling of time travel was absolutely superb which we tend to forget Doctor Who usually does quite well on average. My favourite piece of trivia about this episode is that the script nearly won a Nebula award, but came second to a _movie_ script - that's how good it was.
Did Moffat write a story for an Eccleston era doctor who album? Because that's where Sally sparrow first showed up. In that story she was a black girl, and the doctor had left her messages beneath wallpaper. She found old photos from the past with him holding up a sign saying the same thing. I don't think the story was concluded in that album, as far as I remember, but I know there weren't any weeping angels. Tell me I'm not the only one who knows thid
Yeah moffat wrote that as well. Blink is based on his own short story
Yeah I remember that. I don't know if I still have the album or not though to look at it again.
Thinking about it brings me back though and I have to say little else does that like Doctor Who.
I remember my first trip to Tokyo. It was on the 50th anniversary and I decided to photograph every statue I could find in the city. 50 of them.
Blink. Really scared me. Loved this episode.second. Choice. Was when the. Doctor. Was a school. Teacher. David the. Best. Doctor. Ever.
15:05 also, they don’t move when we’re looking at them even if the characters aren’t. This was then completely ruined later on.
To me the lack of rewatch value is a big issue witj blink. The horror and cleverness of the story is nowhere near as effective the second time round, and the characters and themes dont have enough depth to suppliment that. Its still very entertaining, i still enjoyed it a lot both times i rewatched it, but episodes like midnight, family of blood, heaven sent, turn left, dalek, and some others offer new experiences the second time round as knowledge of the whole story allows me to appreciate them in new ways that i diddnt before, wheras blink is feels prettey much the same the second time round. As a result its not as interesting in retrospect as other episodes are imo
Me an epic coward: I’m not scared of this. This is interesting and I’ve seen this episode before anyways.
/blink music plays in video/
Me: T_T
I don’t think it is overrated by the fans and rather an objectively best and universally loved episode.