Date: 2007
Enemies: The Weeping Angels
Suggestion is a powerful weapon ...
The Doctor is lost in time and within the walls of an old, abandoned house, a mystery is afoot and the Weeping Angels await...
A young woman called Sally visits a dilapidated house, and is led down a terrifying time-torn path.moreless
 David Tennant |
The Tenth Doctor |
 Freema Agyeman |
Martha Jones |
 Carey Mulligan |
Sally Sparrow |
Guest Star |
 Finlay Robertson |
Larry Nightingale |
Guest Star |
Richard Cant |
Malcolm Wainwright |
Guest Star |
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (7)
ADD TRIVIA-
Calling the episode "terrifying," novelist and comic book writer Neil Gaiman listed the weeping angels among his picks for 10 new classic monsters in a feature for Entertainment Weekly.
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In the box set of the third series produced by the BBC video, the DVD Easter Egg is hidden on the last scene selection menu of Blink. By clicking the title you can watch the five minute video that they used in the episode.
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A rare, and appropriately bizarre instance of breaking the fourth wall. The Weeping Angels don't move when we can see them and no one else can.
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As Sally walks into the shop where Larry works, the shelf in the foreground has a DVD on it called Angel Smile. The monsters in this episode are, of course, angels.
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In addition to the Weeping Angels, the Doctor has encountered a number of other creatures which are nearly as old as the universe itself. These include the Carrionites (The Shakespeare Code), the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride), and Fenric (The Curse of Fenric)
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The make up and costumes for the Weeping Angels included polystyrene wings, latex arms and facial pieces. The whole ensemble took three hours to apply.
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At the end of the episode, the montage of statues feature a lot from various places in Cardiff, such as the installations on Queen Street and several from the civic centre.
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QUOTES (19)
ADD QUOTES-
Kathy: (voice-over; her letter to Sally, as Sally goes to Kathy's grave) To take one breath in 2007 and the next in 1920 is a strange way to start a new life, but a new life is exactly what I've always wanted.
Sally: (looking at Kathy's gravestone) 1902. You told him you were eighteen. You lying cow! (Sally laughs) -
(In the present day, Sally sees the Doctor and Martha)
Sally: Doctor! Doctor!
The Doctor: Hello. Sorry, bit of a rush. There's a sort of… thing happening. Fairly important that we stop it.
Sally: My God, it's you. It really is you. Oh, you don't remember me, do you?
Martha: Doctor, we haven't got time for this. Migration's started.
The Doctor: Look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in quite the right order. It gets a bit confusing at times, especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings. Especially my own.
Sally: Oh, my God of course. You're a time traveller. It hasn't happened to you yet. None of it. It's still in your future.
The Doctor: What hasn't happened?
Martha: Doctor, please. Twenty minutes to red hatching!
Sally: It was me. Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me.
The Doctor: Got what?
Sally: OK, listen. One day you're going to be stuck in 1969. Make sure you've got this with you. (hands him the file) You're going to need it.
Martha: Doctor!
The Doctor: Yeah! Listen, listen, gotta dash. Things happening. Well… four things. Well, four things and a lizard.
Sally: OK, no worries. Off you go. See you around someday. -
Old Billy: I often thought about looking for you before tonight. Apparently, it would have torn a hole in the fabric of space and time and destroyed two-thirds of the universe. Also… I'd lost my hair
Sally: Two-thirds of the universe? Where'd you get that from?
Old Billy: There's a man in 1969. He sent me with a message for you.
Sally: What man?
Old Billy: The Doctor.
Sally: And what was the message?
Old Billy: Just this: 'look at the list'. -
Billy: Drink? You, me? Now?
Sally: Aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?
Billy: No. Knocked off before I left. Told them I had a family crisis.
Sally: Why?
Billy: Because life is short and you are hot. Drink?
Sally: No.
Billy: Ever?
Sally: Maybe.
Billy: Phone number?
Sally: Moving very fast, DI Shipton.
Billy: Billy. I'm off duty.
Sally: Aren't you just?
(Sally writes her phone number on a piece of paper)
Billy: Is that your phone number?
Sally: Just my phone number. Not a promise. Not a guarantee. Not an IOU. Just a phone number.
Billy: And that's Sally…?
Sally: Sally Shipton. (realises what she's said; embarrassed) Sparrow! Sally Sparrow! -
Sally: (seeing The Doctor on-screen) Who is he?
Larry: An easter egg.
Sally: Excuse me?
Larry: Like a DVD extra, yeah? You know how on DVDs, they put extras, documentaries and stuff? Well, sometimes they put on hidden ones and they call them easter eggs. You have to go looking for them, follow a bunch of clues in the menu screen.
The Doctor: (on-screen) Complicated.
Larry: (pausing the DVD) Sorry. It's interesting, actually. He is on seventeen different DVDs. There are seventeen totally unrelated DVDs all with him on. Always hidden away, always a secret. Not even the publishers know how he got there. I've talked to the manufacturers, right, they don't even know. It's like he's a ghost DVD extra, just shows up where he's not supposed to be, but only on those. Those seventeen.
Sally: Well, what does he do?
Larry: Just sits there, making random remarks. It's like we're hearing half a conversation. -
Sally: Message from your sister.
Larry: Oh, OK. What? What is it? What's her message?
Sally: She's had to go away for a bit.
Larry: Where?
Sally: Just a work thing. Nothing to worry about.
Larry: OK
Sally: And…
Larry: And what?
Sally: She loves you.
Larry: She what?
Sally: She said to say… she just sort of mentioned it. She loves you. So that's nice, isn't it?
Larry: Is she ill?
Sally: No! No!
Larry: Am I ill? -
Sally: (looking at the statue in the garden) A Weeping Angel.
Kathy: Wouldn't have that in my garden.
Sally: It's moved.
Kathy: It's what?
Sally: Since yesterday. I'm sure of it. It's closer, a lot closer to the house. -
Sally: I love old things. They make me feel sad.
Kathy: What's good about sad?
Sally: It's happy for deep people. -
(At one in the morning, Larry meets Sally for the first time)
Larry: OK. Not sure, but really, really hoping. Pants?
Sally: No. -
Billy: How did I get here?
The Doctor: Same way we did. Touch of an Angel. Same one probably, since you ended up in the same year. No, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule - nasty. Catch your breath, don't go swimming for half an hour.
Billy: I don't... I can't...
The Doctor: Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. Rest of your life, used up, blown away in a blink of an eye. You die in the past and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract, they live off potential energy.
Billy: What in God's name are you talking about?
Martha: Trust me, just nod when he stops for breath. -
Kathy: (via the letter) I suppose, unless I live to a really exceptional old age I will be long gone as you read this. Don't feel sorry for me. I have led a good and full life. I've loved a good man and have been well loved in return. You would've liked Ben. He was the very first person I met in 1920.
(flashback to Kathy's first appearance in 1920)
Kathy: Are you following me?
Ben: Yeah.
Kathy: You're going to stop following me?
Ben: No, I don't think so. -
The Doctor: I'm a time-traveller. Or I was, I'm stuck in 1969.
Martha: We're stuck. All the time and space you promised me; now I've got a job in a shop, I've gotta support him! -
Sally: (spotting the TARDIS in a corner) What's that?
Billy: Ah, the pride of the Wester Drumlin's collection. We found that there too. Somebody's idea of a joke, I suppose.
Sally: But what is it? What's a police box?
Billy: Well, it's a special kind of phone box for policemen. They used to have them all over, but this isn't a real one. The phone is just a dummy and the windows are the wrong size. Can't even get in here. Ordinary yale lock, but nothing fits. But, that's not the big question. See, you're missing the Big Question.
Sally: Okay, what's the big question?
Billy: Will you have a drink with me? -
The Doctor: What was your name?
Sally: Sally Sparrow
The Doctor: Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow. -
Larry: We've met, haven't we?
Sally: It'll come to you.
Larry: (remembering being nude in front of her): Oh my God. -
The Doctor: Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at 30 paces. Whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow.
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The Doctor: They have taken the blue box, haven't they? The angels have the phonebox.
Laurence: "The angels have the phonebox", that's my favourite, 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 Laurence, 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. -
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, now don't patronise me 'cause people have died, and I'm not happy. Tell me.
The Doctor: People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear non-subjective view point, it's more like a big ball of wibley-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... -
Larry: You live in Scooby Doo's house.
Sally: For God sake, I don't live here.
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NOTES (11)
ADD NOTES-
International Airdates:
Turkey: January 2, 2011 on CNBC-e -
When Doctor Who Magazine conducted their 'Mighty 200' poll in 2009, this was found to be readers 2nd most favourite, making this their favourite new series story.
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In the 2008 BAFTA Cymru Awards, Steven Moffat won Best Screenwriter for this episode.
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This episode won 'Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form' in the 2008 Hugo Awards. Steven Moffat has also won this category for the past two years with The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and The Girl in the Fireplace.
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Overnight viewing figures for this episode were 6.1 million, with a final viewing figure of 6.62 million.
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Louis Mahoney plays the older Billy Shipton. He has previously appeared in the Third Doctor episode Frontier in Space as a newsreader, and the Fourth Doctor episode Planet of Evil as Ponti.
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Wester Drumlins, the name of the dilapidated house, is taken from a previous residence of writer Steven Moffat in the late 1990s.
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Billy Shipton mentions that the windows of the TARDIS are too big to be a real police box. In 2004, when the first publicity stills of the new series' TARDIS prop were revealed, there was a heated discussion of the dimensions on the Outpost Gallifrey Doctor Who discussion forum, where some fans complained that the windows were too big. Writer Steven Moffat has stated in a forum post that this line is an in-joke for the Outpost Gallifrey forum members.
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The episode is based on a short story Steven Moffat wrote for the 2006 Doctor Who annual entitled What I Did On My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow.
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This episode has been confirmed as a 'Doctor-lite' story, probably due to David Tennant's heavy filming schedule for the previous two-part story.
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Hettie MacDonald is the first female director of the new series. The last female director was Sarah Hellings, who directed the Colin Baker story The Mark Of The Rani (1985).
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ALLUSIONS (7)
ADD ALLUSIONS-
"Quantum Locking", the defense mechanism used by the angels, refers to behaviour in quantum mechanics which is a branch of physics. In quantum mechanics, a system can simultaneously exist in multiple states, but when the system is observed, or interacts with the outside world, it collapses into just one state.
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Larry: Who's the Doctor?
The Doctor: (on the video) I'm the Doctor.This exchange mimics the lyrics of a novelty song performed by Jon Pertwee (the Third Doctor) during the 1970s.
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Inspector Shipton's surname references the famous Mother Shipton (1488 - 1561) an English soothsayer who was supposed to have made unusually accurate predictions about the future. (It is now generally accepted that most of those prophecies were composed by others in retrospect, after her death.)
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The Doctor speaking to Sally through a laptop screen alludes "The Idiot's Lantern" when the Wire spoke to various characters even though she was just an image on a television screen.
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Kathy: Sparrow and Nightingale – it so works!
Sally: It's a bit 'ITV'.Sally is referring to ITV's 'Rosemary and Thyme', which features the adventures of two lady gardening consultants/amateur sleuths.
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Larry: You live in Scooby-doo's house.
Scooby-Doo is the eponymous cartoon dog from the long-running TV series and spin-off movies, who, along with the members of Mystery Inc., solved crimes and unexplained phenomenon and had a penchant for visiting old haunted houses.
Incidentally the first series of 'Scooby-Doo, Where are you!' aired in 1969, the year The Doctor, Martha & Billy were sent back to by the Weeping Angels.
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The scene where Sally is delivered the letter by Kathy Nightingale's grandson is reminiscent of the final scene of 'Back to the Future II' when Marty receives the letter from Doc Brown trapped in the past.
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