A staple of stories discussing the rebirth of this classic science fiction series, Blink was named second best Doctor Who story of all time in 2009 by readers of Doctor Who Magazine (who would probably know), and won writer Steven Moffat the BAFTA Craft and BAFTA Cymru awards for best writer and the Hugo for Best Short Dramatic Presentation. It should not need to be added that its also extremely scary. One of the frequent episodes that crops up with very little input from the Doctor himself, the story sees the feisty Sally Sparrow, assisted by her improbably named friend Larry Nightingale (judging by their names, a failed pilot script for a spin-off series is probably floating around the aether somewhere), contacted by the Doctor via a message recorded as an Easter Egg on several DVDs: all ones in her own collection. Hes been stranded back in 1969 and needs Sallys help. While a lovely conceit, the timey-wimey storyline really takes a backseat to the introduction of the reborn shows most iconic villain to date: the Weeping Angels. The idea is that the statues are in fact aliens an incredibly ancient race of assassins that send their victims back in time to a moment before their own birth, and then feed off the resulting potential temporal energy left over by the years they would have lived. Theyre also quantum-locked, meaning that theyre as still as well, statues, while being observed, and lightning fast when no ones looking at them. All of which leaves us with some lovely horror movie aesthetics as the Doctor exhorts Sally, Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Cue the pair desperately trying to keep their eyes open and keep several Angels in sight at once, while recovering the Doctors TARDIS to rescue him. The moment when a flickering light bulb reveals an advancing Angel coming to attack Larry and Sally is actually genuinely chilling, the more so somehow when you realise that its actually the other way around: the Angel is coming for them in the dark moments between the lights flicker
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
