Blink turns 16 this week, so we wanted to celebrate the episode with this deep-dive retrospective. Let us know what other episodes you want to see us cover with a list like this!
Not just a classic Doctor Who episode, it's also a sublime piece of science fiction. If you can take something so normal as a statue and make it terrifying, that is Genius.
True story, it took me NINE M O N T H S to finish watching this episode. Like, I watched it in little increments and would get creeped out and stop! This was like 8-9 years ago, when I first started watching the show…I was over 30. 🤣 now I LOVE the weeping angels, I even have a dress that a friend gave me that has the angels, dales, and cybermen in a printed fabric!
This episode was terrifying - made moreso by the fact that my neighbor directly across the street had these little stone cherubs that sat on the brick window sills like tiny angelic gargoyles. I must have looked out the window to check on those little monstrosities at least four or 5 times every day for months. (As a grown adult woman of 42 years of age, might I add)
@@WhoCulture im with you there, i went over to visit my next door neighbor and she had all these angel statues around the bench dedicated to her daughter who had passed away...i felt a little freaked out as i had just been watching all the episodes with weeping angels...i kept losing track of our conversation because i was trying to keep an eye on those angel statues
I always figured the Angel threw the rock because you heard the sound of glass breaking and it was ensuring that it wouldn't see it's own reflection in the glass, as well as trying to make her an easier target.
Wouldn't the reflections (as images of weeping angels) become actual weeping angels as per the lore laid out in A Time of Angels? They could have built a reflection army in about 5 minutes, thinking about it. Probably best to pretend that never happened, I guess.. 😅
One thing about weeping angels is that the storyline needs to specify it its only humans, humanoids, animals, and so forth. Plus, I once posed the theory you could fend off weeping angels with shatter proof mirrors if indeed they freeze as a result of seeing themselves.
Blink was such an amazing episode. I rewatched it along with the entire Tennant era back in January and it's lost none of its impact. One of the absolute best Doctor who episodes of all time.
When I was first introduced to Doctor Who my neighbor insisted on showing me this episode first, then going back to the beginning. I at first thought it was a little weird, but it was a great introductory episode. Whenever I get someone to watch it for the first time, I always do the same.
This was incidentally the first episode i ever watched. I was hooked! And immediately in love with Tennant and Mulligan. Unfortunately few other episodes or one-off characters compare.
Why it is a single episode that tells a complete story that perfectly showcases the timey whimy trope of Moffat. If you like it, you will like the entire series. If you hate it, you will hate the entire series.
now that I've seen this whole thing I wish I hadn't. I started watching Dr Who years ago when I was a teen and BBC would show on our public broadcasting channel. It was hit or miss. When I got britbox I wanted to start watching from episode 1 season 1. I have but it's *SO HARD* to continue watching those cheesy 50s episodes that I can only do a few at a time and then I need a huge break. I'm wondering if maybe I should go back and forth. Like find the 80s or 90s episodes and watch them and between those throw in a few of the older episodes as I can.
Another fun fact: I'm pretty sure Blink was based on a short story Moffat wrote for the 2005 Doctor Who annual. From what I remember, it was called something like 'What I did on my summer holiday, by Sally Sparrow'. Sally was a kid, trying to get the TARDIS back to the Ninth Doctor, who had managed to trap himself in the 60s. The weeping angels weren't yet there, but the Doctor was still communicating with Sally through home videos etc.
All the one off episodes had lower numbers of viewers but the difference between Blink and others , like Love and Monsters, is that Blink is rewatched many times. It’s a great episode and imo brilliantly tells you everything about the Doctor. It is my favorite episode. I went to see David Tennant, Matt Smith and Alex Kingston at an event several years ago during NY ComicCon and David mentioned that he didnt understand why it was people’s favorite. It tells you everything you need to know about the Doctor’s life. Things happen out of order, people know him even if he doesnt know who they are plus it has some of the best lines. “Willby wobbly” was even used in the 50th Anniversay special.
3:05 It was filmed in Wales, not England. 5:20 The _Gangsters_ clip features Maurice Colbourne, who played recurring villain Lytton in _Resurrection of the Daleks_ and _Attack of the Cybermen._ Not only that, but _Gangsters_ was written by Philip Martin, who wrote _Vengeance on Varos_ and _Mindwarp_ in the Colin Baker era. I wouldn't be surprised if this brief "Gangsters" clip in _Blink!_ was a deliberate Easter Egg.
I'd say the badge is a Bluebird - this is the nickname for Cardiff City football club (Bluebirds) and given that the episode was filmed in Cardiff was probably already on the prop jacket they used.
I used to work with a co-worker who was a Whovian. Before I got into Doctor Who, I would still talk with her about the episodes since it was something that interested her. Blink is the only episode that I still remember talking to her about, and, only after watching it myself years later, was I able to understood why it was so impactful to her. It is such a fantastic episode.
Blink was one of the best Doctor Who episodes. "There's only tonight....he told me all those years ago, that we'd only meet again this one time. On the night I die. I'm an old sick man, but I've had something to look forward to. Life is long, and you are hot. I have til the rain stops." 😭
I'm imaging what it would have been like 16 years ago when this episode first aired. No info on the internet, no spoilers, and we get one of the best episodes of the modern era.
It was terrifying. It took me several years to trust statues again 😂 we had an Angel statue in our town that I always got hecka paranoid about.. so glad I no longer live there now lol
I remember that my dad and I watched it at my Grandparents' place. We were fixing some stuff in their home while they were away, and we watched it on their small tv. I was quite glad to - it was bloody scary even then!
Blink is still my favorite story from the "new" Doctor Who series. I have to say, though, that I had no idea the statues were played by real, live actors. Great job.
the shaking of the Tardis is the same exact technique Star Trek has used since 1966 and still uses to this day....the best part of Doctor Who doing it....i am so happy that RTD did NOT toss out rocks
I can't believe you missed off the fact that Sally hands the doctor an image of an angel in the folder, and as we know from Series 5, things that contain the image of an angel, become itself an angel (thank you Moffat)
One fact you didn't mention is that Blink started life as a short story in the Doctor Who story book with Sally Sparrow as a child writing an essay on what she did in the holidays which the Doctor used for reference. The original story didn't include the weeping angels and had Sally sending the TARDIS back in time to the Doctor.
Not kidding. The other night I had a nightmare where I was in a town surrounded by weeping angels. More, the angels in my dream were able to influence regular statues as well... Edit: That "fun fact" about angels attacking those who are sleeping makes me rethink this nightmare
I discovered these terrifying creatures a few days ago when I watched the video about great Doctor Who quotes (which included the warning "Don't blink"). I went to bed after that and I didn't stop imagining Angels haunting my bedroom.
This episode holds a special place in my heart because it's how I introduced Doctor Who to my family. It starts out with me renting the DVDs from Netflxi (remember when Netflix mailed DVDs?) and me watching them on my own. By the time this season came out, my kids were just starting to get old enough into watch TV shows and my wife asked me if Doctor Who was kid appropriate. Up to this point, I couldn't think of any episode that wouldn't be so I said, "Sure, y'all want to watch the next one with me?" and unbeknownst to me, the next one was Blink. Show ends, wife and kids are quiet, and I'm thinking they are never going to watch another one. Wife says, "Uh, yeah, I don't think this is our kind of show," and the there of them left. About five minutes later, I hear a loud scream upstairs and I run up because I think my wife has somehow hurt herself. Instead, I find her clutching her chest and kind of laughing, telling me, "I just finished using the restroom and when I opened the door, (Eldest) and (Youngest) were standing there baring teeth and reaching out at me!" I had a great laugh and from then on, all four of us were big fans of the show. Doctor Who is a great horror show for kids. Little scary but not enough to mentally scar them, plus they can creep out folks with jokes.
A terrific episode , everything was right about it and among the best ever even though the Doctor hardly featured . Super writing casting and acting . Some interesting facts and choices - they certainly got them all right .
The one thing that bugged me about the episode is that the consequence of being caught by a weeping angel is relatively mild, in stark contrast to their scary appearance.
For the first time ever, one of these videos are actually full of things I didn't know. Usually, there's at least one or two things i already knew, but i didn't know any of this.
The first Dr. Who episode I ever saw and still my absolute favorite! An example of just how good a TV show can be. The writing, casting, acting, editing, photography, and music were all done incredibly well. My favorite line is when, after receiving the letter from her friend's grandson, Sally visits her grave and says to herself "You lying cow..." when she realizes that Kathy lied about her age upon arrival in the past. It's little things like that that allow you to feel like you know the characters on a personal level. I think I'll watch it again tonight! (Streaming on HBO MAX)
My daughter called me when Blink aired on BBC America scared excited to tell me about it, she was 10. A few years later at my mother's grave side service she kept staring at an angel statue that was nearby, she was 14 then. At 24 she and her wife was actors at a Halloween haunted house as.... Weeping Angels. Thanks Sean for the videos
Hey Sean! Embarassed to say I'd forgotten the Angels were actors in spectacular makeup. Assumed they were cgi-augmented maquettes (but BBC didn't give even new Who that much money!) Thanks for the reminder. It's my 2nd fave new Who. The Girl in the Fireplace is 1st. Do you recall, that the reveal of "why the Clockwork Men were targetting Mme DePompadour" was a "don't Blink or you'll miss it" moment.
Oh my goodness, if it had been stated in the episode that the Weeping Angels got people who were asleep who then became missing persons I'm pretty sure it would have merged into modern folklore and urban legend. There's a lot of new urban legend now from TV shows/Internet and that would have been absolutely Perfect... Watch out the Weeping Angels don't get you in your sleep 😮 Creepy AF!! 😮😮😮
Regarding #12, I remember thinking a lot about this after I watched the episode for the first time. I eventually came to the verdict that they obviously eventually escaped because either the light would go out, or someone would find them and be unfortunate enough to block the line of sight. I really appreciate you not spoiling the game "The Lonely Assassins". I was originally planning to play it when the announcement trailer was released, but I forgot it existed. Thank you so much for the reminder!
Favorite episode and the one I show people to get them to watch. Thanks for the recap and info. Why did the angel throw a rock instead of crossing the room and touching Sally. 🙂
“Blink” is the first Doctor Who that I ever watched… in 2011. My friend stumbled on the Doctor and why he choose this episode as the first, I’ll never know, but I’m glad he did. He told me that I had to watch it with him even though he finished it only 10 minutes earlier. He said that he couldn’t remember a more fearsome foe and I agreed. I became a fan and couldn’t wait to share with my children. We’re all fans now. :)
Awesome episode. I’ve always had one problem with one angel (or multiple in the same direction). Close one eye. Open it, close the other. Slowly back off as you do.
Blink is one of my favorite episodes! It’s SOOOOO SCARY!!! I loved it so much I hated when they brought the weeping angels back because that episode is perfection.
"Of the..." is definitely something we took notice of back in the daydayday. Evil, death, and doom were favorites to put on either side You can take it from there. I seriously preferred the stillness of the Angels in this episode. Having them move at all in subsequent appearances I felt was a mistake. I'm glad they went with different actors for Billy. Mahoney is a Doctor Who legacy actor. Always pay attention to your history. Is it a testament to the weirdness of the show in general that I watched the final scene and thought, "Yeah, that's what they'd be doing", or no? Nice job, guys.
Letting the angels move on camera was absolutely the wrong move. The fact that they never move on camera in Blink draws the viewer into the fictional world; the weeping angels can't move on camera because they are seen BY THE AUDIENCE. Letting them move on camera means that the angels on screen don't exist in the same world as the audience.
@@gildedbear5355I’ve never interpreted this scene as them moving. What we saw in each frame is thembeing frozen. But because the light was flickering, they moved while we didn’t see them. Hence it kinda looks like we see them moving but we really don’t.
@@gildedbear5355 That's just wrong. The audience isn't and honestly shouldn't ever be part of the universe. First of we have companions, they serve as the eyes of the audience, as the reasoning to the Doctor, someone, the audience can easily relate to. Why having those, if the audience was a part of the world? And secondly, are we, the audience, also supposed to forget the Silence each time they go offscreen? Because honestly it doesn't work for me, I still remember them. So if those don't affect us, then why should we affect the Angels? But I still agree that they shouldn't move on screen. They are supposed to be mysterious creatures, not moving statues. They aren't made of stone, they only turn into stone, if they are watched. That's their defense mechanism. Okay it's weird, that I've said the audience shouldn't affect them and now I'm saying they shouldn't move on camera, but not because of the audience watching them, but because of their mystery. They are supposed to be very fast lonely unseen assassins definitely not made of stone. So seeing slowly moving stony statues simply breaks the mystery around them. Someone argued, that they actually move fast, but we see the slow motion because of the shutter. That's honestly the greatest nonsense I've ever heard about them. A camera works with 24 frames in a second and then there's the shutter for just a split second. But the Angels are supposed to be very fast, they could easily kill you in a blink of an eye. So 24 frames and a split second isn't enough to slow them down to a crawl damn it! They would still move very fast, almost teleporting, if that "explanation" was actually the case.
@@Croftice1 it's not that having the angels never move on screen makes the audience part of the universe. It's that it makes the audience /feel/ like they are part of it. The angels in Blink were terrifying in a way that the Silence never managed /because/ the way they were presented to the audience matched with their behavior in universe. The characters never saw them move and neither did we, even though we exist outside the universe of the show so WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUT WE STILL CAN'T. Why not? Because it's real? They're real? Questions like that in your head draw you into the story. Seeing the Angels move in later episodes make them the same as the Silence. Scary in concept, but just a story that is obviously (at a visceral level) not true. The Angels aren't real because I can see them move. The Silence aren't real because I can remember them when I'm not looking at them. The Angels aren't real because I have looked at lots of them on tv but the angel in my mind hasn't turned me into one yet. The choice to never have the Angels move on screen in Blink was a brilliant idea that enhanced to terror in a way that can rarely be done. It should have stayed that way. The unseen monster is more terrifying than anything that can be put on screen.
Great video Who Culture! Wibbly wobbly timey wimey, stuff... 😂😊 Blink is a brilliant and terrifying episode and I've never looked at statues in the same way since this episode aired! 😂 Take care Sean and Who Culture! 😊
#21 - The Doctor and Martha had another option: Since the Angels stranded them in 1969 with no TARDIS all they had to do was locate the Doctor's second persona (with Jaimie and Zoe)!
3:01 - I am following a scriptwring course and they did tell me that night scenes are more expensive to shoot instead of daytime scenes because you need bigger lights to make sure you can see what's going on. So yeah, they ARE a pain in the ass.
This was my introduction to the Doctor Who universe and the episodes featuring the weeping angels are still my favorite. Helps that my nickname is Angel too 😂
I have watched Doctor Who since 1965 and absolutely without a doubt, Blink is the scariest and utter best episode ever!! I feel priviged to have watched that on the night it was broadcast. Truly the special TV moment in all of TV history!
Blink is absolutely my favorite episode! I have watched it countless times. Thanks for doing a video about it. BTW, the much-maligned "Love and Monsters" is also a favorite of mine, possibly because I love ELO! Please do a video about that episode.
The introduction of Weeping Angels were used at their best in their premiere episode. Problem is you can't do much more with them. I mean it's "blink and they'll kill you" or send you back in time no matter what the episode. Kind of same with Daleks or Cyberman - their main MO doesn't change - just the daleks hair-brained schemes to rule the galaxy do. Not saying I don't love Daleks and Cybermen - bring 'em on, I say.
Blink is the second of only two Dr. Who stories where the antagonist(s) genuinely scared me.
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#19: A.k.a. the "Star Trek shake". Trek bridge crews by the later seasons (especially TNG, DS9 and VOY) got so used to it that they could do this in sync at the drop of a hat.
I was introduced to Doctor Who, by some good friends, through this episode. I had heard of Doctor Who, prior to seeing Blink!, but was not really into it... at first. Now, I have just finished watching all of NuWho and seen all of the classic seasons up to the end of Peter Davison's run. Plus, I keep my TARDIS Christmas ornament on my mantle until it is time to bring out the tree again.
Blink is still one of my all time FAVORITE episodes of all time! Taking something as common, and everywhere you turn in graveyards and make them move when you blink is terrifying! I also LOVE that the weeping Angel's turn out to zap Amy Pond and Rory (two of my favorite companions) back in time rather than kill them off was the BEST ending to Rory & Amy's storyline ever.
I remember the night I watched Blink EXACTLY. I was Year 10 on high school and had rushed to get all my homework/afterschool stuff etc done in time. I had a clean room, for once, and it was the time of year where it got dark early, so I'd drawn my curtains, and cleared my desk, then carried our little, 2nd TV-that was about the size of an old fashioned, square- & glass-screened computer monitor, which was super heavy for 14 year old me-so heavy, in fact, that I almost dropped it and accidentally knocked a giant chunk into my shiny wooden bedknob (the same bedframe I am currently sitting on, because I am a lonely 30 year old with a single bed because I've never held hands with a guy let alone kissed or married someone 😂)-and I heaved it onto the desk, hurrying to plug it in and running to go get the bunny ears and adjust them correctly (because it was on channel 4, Prime, and was a weaker/harder to get channel that needed them). I grabbed dinner, rushed back my room, plugged in and turned the tv on, sorting out the channel then pulled my maroon corduroy beanbag near the desk and put my plate down where I wouldn't step in it, grabbed my cell phone (a blue nokia brick that only had backlit blue buttons and a grey and grey screen that wasn't super bright but could see in the dark) then turned off the light and settled down with my friday nigh special "junk" dinner of fries and a steak and cheese pie (my fav) with some broccoli or something cos my mum is healthy. I was GLUED to the screen, terrified, and was too scared to even turn on the light but I instead got a blanket to cover myself with and texted my friends who were also simultaneously watching with me. In the ad breaks we were texting (before group chats) and one friend, I remember, was scared cos she collected statues of dragons and elves and that sort of thing (she barely slept that night lol). I was scared but luckily love history so wasn't too scared to sleep. But you best believe that this episode is all we could talk about come Monday!!!
What if you sleep at least a few hours longer than you think and the fact that you usually wake up tired is because a Weeping Angel is draining small amounts of potential energy from you? 🤣
Weeping Angels were how I first learned about the Doctor Who Fandom at all. Safe to say, it did not do my paranoia any favors. I did not think I could be any more terrified of these things, but now you are telling me they go after you in your SLEEP!?!?!?!
I love this episode so much I even wrote a bad 2 line poem. Normally my poems are good or ok. To me the Weeping Angels & The Nashta Nerada, are the only 2 adversaries that really scare me. Now that is not to say that The Silence or many of the others wouldn't have me crawling under the bed IRL. But while watching the show as a viewer only those 2 gave me chills, especially The Vashta Nerada. Blink is my all time favorite episode in the DR. Who universe. I'm also very glad I don't live in that universe as it is far more dangerous. I'm not sure in anyway shape or form how many times I have watched the show but it NEVER gets old. I think if I watched the Vashta Nerada “the shadows that melt the flesh” (Silence in the Library) as many times, I'd have nightmares for years. I like how these 2 adversaries are so mundane & yet so powerful. I could envision a scenario were the defeat any or all of the other nemesis of The Doctor. Thankfully their numbers are small & they are dispersed into smaller cells it seems. I also thought the rock was to break the glass but I like the unconscious victims of a scavenger creature. Once I thought about it it made more sense at 1st I didn't like the explanation. I did feel the accent of the 2 Billy's was not a great match. The cinematography was excellent it's part of what hooked me. Even after I was at 1st disappointed about the lack of The Doctors presence. It was so cool to have less of him but the quality of performance by all of the Actors is great that & the writing make it my favorite episode.
The Weeping Angels were hands down the most terrifying villain in the entire Dr Who Genre, in my opinion. Kudos to the entire Dr Who cast and team members for delivering such a wonderfully frightening episode.
I remember the day that Blink aired because I got invited to a BBQ so missed the live airing. I remember because I ended up sitting on my own and I was thinking that I could be at home watching Doctor Who instead of sitting bored outside. My guess for the low viewing figures would be the good weather. It was way too nice that day to stay inside and watch TV.
Wasn't there a story about old Billy and young Billy having completely different accents which nobody thought about at the time so they had to dub young Billy with another actors voice... or was this another show with old/young versions of the same character?
