I'd like to start this off by thanking my loverly friend Clare for exposing me to things I would never watch when left to my own devices.
You see, we were hanging out at her house, enjoying a spectacular lunch, when she suggested we watch the BBC show 'Doctor Who'. This is a show which she owns several newer seasons of, and action figures of both Rose and The Doctor- and a killer sonic screwdriver.
Clare, out of the goodness of her heart, suggested we watch the episode 'Blink', which features enough genuinely scary things for me to- quite frankly- almost pee myself. She gave me only the knowledge beforehand that this episode is widely regarded as one of the very best episodes of the show in the history of time. I was intrigued. Unbeknownst to me, this seemingly insignificant decision would change my world forever. Dramatic? Absolutely.
There was your introductory paragraph; I hope you found it satisfactory.
"FUN" Facts:
~"Blink" is the tenth episode of the series
~It was broadcast on the ninth of June, 2007 (So this is very very late...)
~It was written by Steven Moffat (who is brilliant)
~It focuses mainly on the character Sally Sparrow (with the help of her mate's brother, Larry (whom I adore))
~The Doctor is shown very little, and when you do in fact see him, he is typically on a television screen
Now, back to that story:
So Clare and I sat down on her couch, I myself clutching onto a bag of 'Pirate's Booty' (which is delicious, in my very right opinion). Three minutes into the episode, she began warning me of the "creepiness" to come. She revealed to me that it was going to be startling, and she was more than right.
Our protagonist, Sally Sparrow, is a photographer with a knack for ignoring signs that say 'Do Not Enter'. She likes frightening old houses too, explaining to her friend (Kathy Nightingale) that she enjoys these things because "Sad is like happy...for deep people". Though the mood went from sad to scary in a split second, when Sally begins to tear loose wallpaper from the wall. This reveals a message, warning her of a certain 'Weeping Angel', from a man called 'The Doctor', and telling her to duck (which she does with hesitation. I personally wouldn't have waited as long as she did to do so). At once after she does finally duck, a giant rock hits the wall where her head was. The camera takes on Sally's perspective, looking out into the garden, and we see a statue of an angel, covering its eyes as if it were crying (or weeping. *cough cough*).
Sally appears as frightened as me at this point. She visits her friend Kathy around midnight, presumably using a key, since Kathy had no clue this would happen. While brewing some tea, Sally looks up only to meet Kathy's brother, Larry. I say 'meet', but really Larry just sleep-walks into the room, completely starkers. Sally is a nice girl, so she doesn't chuck the kettle at his tired skull. He realizes she's there, then points between his hips and asks, in the most hopeful voice he could muster in his tired state, "Okay...Not sure, but really hopin'......pants?" Oh, Larry. No. No pants. When you're conscious, this will be embarrassing to remember.
So Sally brings her friend Kathy with her back to the 'Scooby-Doo' house, for reasons we normal people may never understand. She shows Kathy the message from The Doctor, and Kathy seems unimpressed by its creepiness, and is too focused on that pretty statue in the yard to be phased by such silly things anyway. Yes, there is another shot of the statue, which Sally thinks is closer to the house this day than the day before. Once again, Kathy seems too nonplussed by this news. The door bell rings. The two girls debate whether or not to answer it, with arguments such as: "What if it's a burglar?" "A burglar who rings the door bell?"
Sally goes to answer it, while Kathy (once again for no apparent or sensible reason) stays behind in the room, her back to the creeping statue. At the door is a man claiming to be Kathy's grandson, with a letter from Kathy stating that she was sent back in time. Sally doesn't take this well, much like I didn't take to the shots of the Angel Statue following Kathy, with arm outstretched.
After searching the house madly (and seeing four angel statues in a room upstairs, one holding a Yale key, which Sally quickly snatches), she realizes the man was not lying, and takes the letter with trembling hands. A short scene featuring Kathy and her new husband from the 1920's in Hull ensues, and ends too quickly, sending us back to the present. Sally visits Kathy's grave, making it all much too real to us. And who should be lurking behind her in the distance but the WEEPING ANGEL. It doesn't attack her right then, it just unnerves me to no end. Now, we as the audience are positive this statue is bad news. And we now know it can stalk Sally Sparrow all around town, not just in that freaking freaky house.
Kathy also requests in the letter that her brother be told she loves him. This means we get to see that Larry fellow again (maybe he'll have pants this time!). Upon visiting the DVD rental store where Larry Nightingale works, we find that he is obsessed with DVD extras, called 'Easter Eggs' (and that he is, in fact, wearing pants). But not just any 'easter eggs', my friends. He has documented these, which are found on seventeen unrelated DVDs, each featuring one man calling himself 'The Doctor'. This man, according to our estudeous Larry, seems to be having half of a conversation with the viewer. The second Larry leaves the room, the easter egg suddenly un-pauses itself, beginning an explanation involving "wibbly-wobbly...timey-wimey...stuff." "Started well, that sentence," Sally says to the television with a smirk. "It got away from me...yeah." The Doctor seemingly replies. This makes Sally freak her freak. "Okay, that was weird. You're talking like you can hear me." "Well I can hear you." "Okay that's enough of that!" Sally exclaims followed by a long rant about her long day, boo-hoo.
Larry walks in on her wigging out at his TV. He gives her a list of the seventeen DVDs with the easter eggs, since he mistakes her fear for interest. Sally tells the disbelieving Larry his sister loves him, then begins to leave. As she exits, she hears an employee shouting at the screen hysterically, "Go to the police, you stupid woman! Why does nobody ever go to the police?!"
Sally's a smart girl. She can take a hint.
Now she's on the move, destination: The Police Station. As to be expected, the weeping angels (because now there are four of them) are located right across the street from there. This does not go unnoticed by Sally, and in the blink of an eye, they are gone. Sally is just about to freak her freak again when a young attractive detective approaches her. His name is Billy Shipton, and he is intent on getting a drink with her. She, the polite girl that she is, tries with difficulty to keep this investigation on track without talk of dinner dates. Billy takes her to an impound lot, where there are many many cars that once belonged to visitors of the Wester Drumlins (AKA Scooby-Doo) house. In this lot, there is also a locked fake police box, which Billy seems to think was left there as a joke. Once again, Billy Shipton asks for a drink, because "life is short, and [she is] hot." Sally gives him her number, than leaves- but not before telling him her name is "Sally Shipton- SPARROW! Sally Sparrow!" and running away embarassedly. Now Billy is all alone, smiling to himself. He turns around to find Weeping Angels surrounding him, approaches one of them, and blinks. The scary violins screech at me, and I stare unblinkingly at Clare's television.
Camera cuts to Sally Sparrow, who is crossing a street in the rain. She suddenly remembers what Billy said about the police box being locked, and makes the connection that the key she snatched could go with it. She runs back, only to find the absence of Billy, and a sense of loss. Then, her cell rings. It's Billy. Sally meets with him at a hospital, to find him much changed. He has grown into an old man. Billy explains to Sally that he was sent back to 1969, where he met The Doctor, who asked him to relay a message to her. The message was to "look at the list", which Sally thinks is total rubbish at first. What list? The list of seventeen DVDs, of course. All with the same man: The Doctor. Billy had apparently got a job in DVD publishing, and placed the easter eggs on those disks. Sally is genuinely thrilled that something makes sense, but wonders what will become of Billy. He tells her that they would only see each other that night- the night he dies. "It's kept me going; I am an old sick man, but I've had something to look forward to. *Sigh* Life is long...and you are hot."
This is so emotionally touching for reasons I can't fully comprehend. They've only just met, mind you. Well, from our and Sally's perspective, that is. Billy has been waiting a very long time, carrying the knowledge that he would die that night when the rain stopped. Sally waits with him, until the sun shines through the blinds in the hospital room. But now her work begins.
She calls Larry, telling him she's figured out the link with the DVDs. They're all hers. The DVDs listed are all the DVDs she owns. This message was meant for her. She invites Larry to the Wester Drumlins house, asking him to bring a portable DVD player. He does this, and upon entering the building, says: "You live in Scooby-Doo's house."
Sh*t.
And here I thought I was clever. Looks like Larry has the upper-hand this time, in the battle of 'who coined the phrase "Scooby-Doo House" first?'. If I didn't like you so much, Larry, I'd be really angry. Aaaaannnd let's continue.
So they watch the easter egg, and Sally and The Doctor begin to converse hilariously. This is a scene that needs dialogue to be efficiently described. So, here we go. Bear with me:
Larry: And there he is.
Sally: The Doctor.
Larry: Who's the Doctor?
Sally: He's the Doctor.
The Doctor: Yep that's me.
Sally: OK that was scary.
Larry: No it sounds like he's replying but he always says that.
The Doctor: Yes I do.
Larry: And that.
The Doctor: Yup. And this.
Sally: He can hear us. Oh my god you can really hear us!
Larry: Of course he can't hear us. Look.
(reading off his notes) Yup, that's me. Yes I do. Yup. And this.
Dr & Larry: (together) Are you gonna read out the whole thing?
Larry: Sorry.
Sally: Who are you?
The Doctor: I'm a time traveler. Or I was. I'm stuck. In 1969.
Martha: We're stuck. All of space and time he promised me, now I've got a job in a shop. I've gotta support him!
The Doctor: Martha?
Martha: Sorry. (exits camera view)
Sally: I've seen this bit before.
The Doctor: Quite possibly.
Sally: 1969, what's where you're talking from?
The Doctor: 'fraid so.
Sally: But you're replying to me. You can't know exactly what I'm gonna say 40 years before I say it.
The Doctor: 38.
Larry: I'm getting this down! I'm writing in your bits.
Sally: How? How? How is this possible? Tell me!
Larry: Not so fast!
The Doctor: People don't understand time, it's not what you think it is.
Sally: Then what is it?
The Doctor: Complicated.
Sally: Tell me.
The Doctor: Very complicated.
Sally: I'm clever and I'm listening. And don't patronize me because people have died and I'm not happy. Tell me.
The Doctor: People assume that time is a straight progression of cause to effect but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's actually more like a big ball of wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey stuff.
Sally: Yeah I've seen this bit before. You said that sentence got away from you.
The Doctor: It got away from me, yeah ...
Sally: Next thing you're gonna say is well I can hear you.
The Doctor: Well I can hear you.
Sally: This isn't possible.
Larry: No, it's brilliant!
The Doctor: Well not hear you exactly, but I know everything you're gonna say.
Larry: Always give me the shivers, that bit.
Sally: How can you know what I'm gonna say?
The Doctor: Look to your left.
Larry: What does he mean by 'look to your left?' I've written tons about that on the forums. I think it's a political statement.
Sally: He means you. What you doing?
Larry: I'm writing in your bits, that way I've got a complete transcript of the whole conversation. What until this hits the net, this will explode the egg forums!
The Doctor: I've got a copy of the finished transcript, it's on my auto-cue.
Sally: How can you have a copy of the finished transcript, it's still being written?
The Doctor: I told you I'm a time traveler, I got it in the future.
Sally: OK let me get my head around this. You're reading aloud from the transcript of a conversation you're still having?
The Doctor: Ahhh...wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey...
Sally: Ah, never mind that.
(to Larry)You can do shorthand?
Larry: So...
The Doctor: What matters is we can communicate. We have got big problems now. They have taken the blue box, haven't they? The angels have the phonebox.
Larry: "The angels have the phonebox", that's my favorite, I've got that on a T-shirt.
Sally: What do you mean angels? You mean those statue things?
The Doctor: Creatures from another world.
Sally: But they're just statues.
The Doctor: Only when you see them.
Sally: What does that mean?
The Doctor: Lonely Assassins they used to be called. No one quite knows where they came from but they're as old as the Universe, or very nearly, and they have survived this long because they have the most perfect defense system ever evolved. They're quantum-locked. They don't exist when they're being observed. The moment they are seen by any other living creature they freeze into rock, no choice, it's a fact of their biology, in the sight of any living thing they literally turn to stone. And you can't kill a stone. 'Course a stone can't kill you either but then you turn your head away, then you blink, and oh yes it can.
Sally: (to Larry, referring to the statue) Don't take your eyes off that.
The Doctor: That's why they cover their eyes. They're not weeping, they can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. Loneliest creatures in the Universe. And I'm sorry. I am very, very sorry. It's up to you now.
Sally: What am I supposed to do?
The Doctor: The blue box, it's my time machine. There is a world of time energy in there that they could feast on forever, but the damage they would do could switch off the sun. You have got to send it back to me.
Sally: How? ... How?!
The Doctor: And that's it, I'm afraid, there's no more from you on the transcript, that's the last I've got. I don't know what stopped you talking but I can guess. They're coming. The angels are coming for you but listen. Your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. Don't turn your back! Don't look away! And don't blink! Good luck.
____
Sally now thinks, 'Oh crap. We're so dead'. Yes, Sally, it appears that way. Especially since neither of you are LOOKING AT THE STATUE. They look up to find it has a scary face. It's hard for me to relive this, I have to say. I'm all anxious, like I want to scream or laugh or something. Yeah, I just belted out 'the key of awesome''s song, "Jack Bauer Man-Crush". That song could make anyone less afraid. But I digress.
Sally has Larry stare at the statue while she leaves, reminding him stupidly not to blink. (As if anyone could forget after that.) Larry is far too frightened to do a silly little thing like blinking. Larry's not blinking face is an epic win, by the way. His eyes begin to water, though. He's losing it. Don't do it, Larry! NO! DON'T! Stay strong, eyeballs! NOOOOOO!!!!
Larry blinks, and the scary face freezes inches away from his own. He finally has the bright idear to walk backwards.
He finds Sally in the scary basement of Wester Drumlins, having a stare-down with three Weeping Angels, who are all positioned quite innocently around the TARDIS (time-machine. stay with me, people). Sally makes towards the TARDIS, trying with difficulty to look at all of them. "Oh! There's YOUR one," Sally complains, glancing back at Larry. For whatever reason, Larry has been managing pretty well with the other three until this point. Sally looks away and back at "Larry's" angel, and finds that it's pointing at the lone light source in the room... a light bulb. Of course. How much creepier could they have made this?
Due to some magical force, the light bulb begins to flicker while Sally and Larry are looking at the Weeping Angels. In the moments of darkness, the two can't watch the angels. We all know this spells out trouble.
As the light flicks on and off, the angels approach in fluid, graceful, yet intimidating crouches, with their stone arms clawed menacingly. This is the part where small children in the room with you start crying.
Sally and Larry manage to get inside the phonebox, and have that typical moment of, "Whoa! It's BIGGER on the inside!" Then, they get to work, inserting a DVD into a slot, and sending the beauteous TARDIS on her way-without them. Sally and Larry begin to panic, only to look up at the scary Weeping Angels and realize they were all staring at each other, rendering them incapable of ever moving again. Ever. Which is a relief to most everyone, really. Fascinating as they are, they do scare the pants off of people.
The two loverly blonds, now good mates, leave the icky Wester Drumlins for (presumably) ever. They open a DVD shop called 'Sparrow and Nightingale", and Sally spends far too long dwelling on that freakish experience for Larry's liking- but honestly, wouldn't you? Then, David Tennant-I mean, The Doctor- shows up on the sidewalk (wearing an archery bow) outside the shop, and Sally takes notice. She races out to him, gives him a file full of pictures and evidence of the Weeping Angels, and gives him a lot of looks that say, "You're so awesome." Then Larry appears with some milk, and Sally takes his hand and lets the Doctor and Martha go about their business.
Then David Te- I mean, The Doctor- shows up in a montage of our favorite statues across the world, and tells us quite hauntingly that if we blink, we will die.
And that's the end! I did it! I wrote it all out! Now I'm going to go mull over this accomplishment with a cup of coffee, and wait for the fourth episode of the new season to release on BBC America. I'm excited to see the Weeping Angels again, and how our Doctor (with a new face) vanquish them, even if I have to wait another week for the end of the two-parter. I love you all, and thank you for seeing this through to the end. That's an accomplishment in itself. Just remember not to blink, okay?
Good luck.
You cheeky stalker, you.
