Doctor Who "Gridlock" Talkback (Spoilers)

[HellCat]

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k22/HellCat86/docTZ.jpg
Doctor Who Season 3
"Gridlock"
Written by Russel T. Davies
BBC 1, 7:40 pm
(May be postponed by one week due to football)

The Doctor returns to New Earth for his third and final meeting with the Face of Boe. But when Martha is kidnapped, both travellers will face the gridlock of the Motorway...

[Lord Dalek]

Interesting trivia: Gridlock is the 727th individual episode of Doctor Who, thus breaking the record held by Star Trek for most episodes in a single series.

[HellCat]

Alot of this episode spoke of Davies- the Ma and Pa victims in the teaser, the lesbian grannies. Not that I hate Davies stuff, he just plays it fairly camp.
I actually started to cry at Boe's death. Great to finally hear his message, too bad 95% of us already knew it because Davies gave it away in an annual.

[Conan-san]

That episode was a f'ton better than the threatened football.

Also, Boe pulling off an Optimus Prime on us...

[Lord Dalek]

I actually started to cry at Boe's death. Great to finally hear his message, too bad 95% of us already knew it because Davies gave it away in an annual.That annual came out like two years ago right? Its therefore both funny and infuriating that this piece of all important information took so long to get when we already knew it about two years ago!

Oh and OMGMacraSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

[MonkeyFunk]

Four stars, but a slightly lower four stars than the last ep (woo, fractions). Intriguing setup and some great "how're they going to get out of this one?" moments. I think season 3 definitely got off to a more solid start than season 2.

The cat in Biggles get-up was a bit Starfox.

[James]

Four stars, but a slightly lower four stars than the last ep (woo, fractions). Intriguing setup and soem great "how're they going to get out of this one?" moments. I think season 3 definitely got off to a more solid start than season 2.

The cat in Biggles get-up was a bit Starfox.

I thought the geography of the city was a little confusing, but overall it was a fun idea. I enjoyed it and because I didn't get the annual, enjoyed a story with no preconceptions whatsoever. Wasn't so lucky with the teaser.. caught the first line and I know what episode is on next week.

[Conan-san]

That annual came out like two years ago right? Its therefore both funny and infuriating that this piece of all important information took so long to get when we already knew it about two years ago!

Oh and OMGMacraSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Cept me cuz I don't pay a damn lick of attntion.

[Temple Fugate]

Now, this may be a stretch, but were most of the car drivers based on paintings? The American Gothic couple in the teaser is obvious, but we had some very visually interesting characters. (Sterile white guy with everything covered in bubble wrap/Wolf woman with two white-robed passengers) The cat driver was named after Thomas Kinkaide The pin-striped bowler-hatted man could have been based on the Magritte painting, but he had no apples.

The story and concept were fascinating. This was a real classic-type sci-fi situation.

Would have been nice if the Doctor actually gave a crap about Boe's final words. Does he really think Boe is wrong, or is he just trying to deny the truth like he was denying the destruction of Galifrey?

The Martha/Doctor relationship is turning out wonderfully. She was given reason to doubt him in this episode, her first real perilous situation. The fact that the Doctor isn't being as up-front with her as he was with Rose seems pretty natural and it creates a nice dynamic for the character tension. I wonder how long it will be before Martha goes back home?

INSTANCES OF THE...ah, just forget it. :p

Doctor Who #727 (3x03): "Gridlock" - ****

[MonkeyFunk]

The pin-striped bowler-hatted man could have been based on the Magritte painting, but he had no apples.

Wikipedia quotes RTD as saying that he was modeled on Max Normal (http://www.2000ad.org/thrillpower/maxnormal.jpg) from the Judge Dredd comics...

[The Guitar Slayer]

Wow. This ep really worked for me. The cars became the lives of their drivers, from lesbian grannies to baby kitties (and yes, I had a very girly reaction to them). I loved Brannigan and Valerie -- if the makeup wasn't such a hassle, he would probably make a good companion (not to mention the baaabies [awwww]).

This show needs David Tennant cuddling more kittens.

Any rate! There were a lot of minor characters in here that were well-differentiated; makes for a good story. The details about these characters, including one of the little old ladies being a car spotter, were just fantastic. It integrates the idea of humans abusing technology (bliss, forget, honesty, etc) as well as what does it take for the human race to survive -- it's not sunlight; Brannigan said it: "As long as we're together, we're not alone."

That takes on so much meaning with the Face of Boe's words. I actually didn't get the Who annual either, but someone said he tells the Doctor something important. Given the kind of hype old Boe has gotten, I guessed it would be "you are not alone" or "there is another of your kind."

The visuals were stunning -- a Senate filled with skeletons, dead from a en masse drug overdose. That's a hell of a visual. The neverending cars. And even the interiors of the cars -- their own little universes. And yay for kitties.

Martha putting her foot down at the end was pretty good. I wouldn't have seen Rose doing that, and it's clear that the Doctor recognizes them as two separate entities. I found what he said touching; "with you, I could pretend." I was irked a little by her rebound comment in the beginning, but with New Who comes new things -- that awkward sort of quasi-romance with no touchies but yet more than friends that you go out to the pub with.

I really liked this episode. Alot. And yay for nonrecycled scripts for Martha. Let's hope next week is awesome.

[MonkeyFunk]

Just a quick warning: the cover of the new Radio Times has a pretty big spoiler on it.

[The Guitar Slayer]

Talking about being a dumbass. Just registered for me that Dougal from Father Ted was Brannigan. And this is despite the poll.....

(slinks off)

[HellCat]

Talking about being a dumbass. Just registered for me that Dougal from Father Ted was Brannigan. And this is despite the poll.....

(slinks off)

Very well dressed for a moderator *continues driving the thread*

[Frozen]

Max Normal? Awesome. Hats off to RTD!

This episide was, to me, a grind. As has been said, it had a cool enough idea, but it suffered from RTD's usual (frustrating) flaw in that he'll present a neat idea... then leave it half baked and concentrate on the human drama and his little soap-opera. A shame.

That, and the pacing was sooo pedestrian (excuse the pun! :o )

[Bones Justice]

I really enjoyed this episode. I'm liking the way The Doctor and Martha have a quite different relationship from his with Rose.

I loved Brannigan! Ardal O'Hanlon will always be My Hero but he was just as funny here. I hope he will become a regular somehow. He had great lines and he's always got great delivery. "I think he's a bit slow." Too funny! Oh yeah, and clearly the kittens were meant to be his off-spring and not his pets. I was beginning to wonder after New Earth if there were any male cats in New New York or if they were just going with the old cliche of cats being female (dogs being male).

I thought it was a bit odd that they tried so hard to explain how these folks survived years in a space the size of a used refrigerator box. Most of them would have gone mad years ago in real life. Clearly, Doctor Who doesn't work too hard at the science / reality stuff and is much more enjoyable if you just enjoy it without trying to have it all make perfect sense.

So is The Face of Boe dead? 'Cuz he seems to die at the end of every appearance only to show up again later. His "final" words didn't make too much sense to me. The Doctor insists he's the last of the Time Lords and would "know" if there were any others. Could Boe have been referring to Martha instead?

Great episode, four stars.