History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink

** Another arguable example would be Kathy's grandson delivering a letter to Sally to tell her about her life and death in the past, which possibly foreshadows [[spoiler: the much later subepisode [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS33E06PS}} P.S.]] in which Rory's father is given a similar letter by Rory's son from the past, who is his own grandson.]].

[[hottip:*:No! Keep looking at the- http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Weeping_Angel_291.jpg]]

[-- --nk. Good luck.--]

[--Don't blink. Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blirtbgnmjkl-- --]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[OhCrap Oh]], [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou son of a]] [[SoundEffectsBleep {BEEP}]]!]]

They've also evolved the ultimate defence mechanism:

It is at this moment, [[ForegoneConclusion of course]], that Sally and Larry realise that neither of them has been looking at the Angel in the garden. After a moment's pause, they look up to see it standing only a few metres away, poised to attack. Sally goes to look for an exit, leaving Larry to stare at the Angel. He looks away for a split second, and when he looks back the Angel's hands are inches away from his neck.

Then the Doctor and Martha walk by, with [[NoodleImplements Martha carrying a quiver of arrows, and the Doctor carrying a bow]]. They are in a hurry to deal with -- [[NoodleIncident well, four things and a lizard]]. Neither the Doctor nor Martha recognises Sally, which leads her to realise that for them, the events of the episode haven't taken place yet. She also realises that the very convenient folder containing Larry's complete transcript of the 38-year conversation and various other details regarding the "Weeping Angels" affair is [[StableTimeLoop the source of the Doctor's knowledge about the incident]]. She gives the Doctor the folder, and tells him to use it the next time he gets trapped in 1969.

What follows is 29 seconds of pure [[ParanoiaFuel paranoia-fuelled]] MindScrew, as we return to the last few seconds of the Doctor's video:

* Foreshadowing: The Doctor mentions that if the Angels were able to take control of the Tardis, the damage they could cause would switch off the Sun [[spoiler: This is pretty much what happens much later in [[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens}} The Pandorica Opens]] when an Unknown force takes control of the Tardis and detonates it, only on a far larger scale as it wipes out every single star at every moment in history]].

Then the Doctor and Martha walk by, in a hurry to deal with -- [[NoodleIncident well, a couple of things and a lizard]]. Neither the Doctor nor Martha recognises Sally, which leads her to realise that for them, the events of the episode haven't taken place yet. She also realises that the very convenient folder containing Larry's complete transcript of the 38-year conversation and various other details regarding the "Weeping Angels" affair is [[StableTimeLoop the source of the Doctor's knowledge about the incident]]. She gives the Doctor the folder, and tells him to use it the next time he gets trapped in 1969.

It is a [[LowerDeckEpisode Doctor-lite episode]], based on a short story written by Moffat for the 2006 ''Doctor Who Annual'', titled "'What I Did On My Holidays,' by Sally Sparrow" ([[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/2007/blink_annual.shtml The BBC has kindly put this up on their website.]])

At Wester Drumlins, they set up a portable DVD player and, on noticing an Angel in the garden, Sally tells Larry to keep an eye on it. The following sequence is one of the biggest TimeParadox [[MindScrew Mind Screws]] you will ever encounter, with Sally and the Doctor carrying on an extended conversation even though the Doctor is speaking to a video camera thirty-eight years in the past. The Doctor's attempt to explain the temporal mechanics of the situation gives us the TropeNamer for the TimeyWimeyBall. When asked how he knows what she's going to say, the Doctor responds "Look to your left." Sally does so-- to find Larry scribbling her lines into his copy of the transcript of the Doctor's dialogue from the [=DVD=] Easter Egg (adding a necessary but slightly cool-dampening modicum of plausibility to the sequence). The Doctor reveals he has a copy of that completed transcript as he records his part.

The Doctor also explains the nature of the Weeping Angels: they feed on "potential energy," meaning the energy a person would have expended if they lived into the future, but do not expend if they live out the rest of their lives in the past. As he remarked earlier to Billy, they're the only psychopaths in the universe who kill you nicely: send you back to the past, let you live yourself to death.

They've also evolved the ultimate defense mechanism:

-->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. [[OhCrap 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''. ''[{{beat}}]'' Good luck.

It is at this moment, [[ForegoneConclusion of course]], that Sally and Larry realise that neither of them have been looking at the Angel in the garden. After a moment's pause, they look up to see it standing only a few metres away, poised to attack. Sally goes to look for an exit, leaving Larry to stare at the Angel. He looks away for a split second, and when he looks back, the Angel's hands are inches away from his neck.

Sally finds the TARDIS in the mansion's basement, and she and Larry make their way down the stairs. However, the Angels follow them, and one ([[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands suddenly displaying a proficiency]] for [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]]) causes the only lightbulb in the room to flicker on and off. Sally and Larry make it inside the TARDIS just as the Angels reach them.

They then discover that Larry's DVD functions as a TARDIS-activation key, slot it into the TARDIS' handy PlotCoupon drive and then watch as the TARDIS dematerializes without them. The Angels have surrounded the TARDIS by this point, and when it disappears, they're stuck looking at each other -- forever. Whoops.

Then the Doctor and Martha walk by, in a hurry to deal with -- [[NoodleIncident well, a couple of things and a lizard]]. Neither the Doctor nor Martha recognizes Sally, which leads her to realise that for them, the events of the episode haven't taken place yet. She also realises that the very convenient folder containing Larry's complete transcript of the 38-year conversation and various other details regarding the "Weeping Angels" affair is [[StableTimeLoop the source of the Doctor's knowledge about the incident]]. She gives the Doctor the folder, and tells him to use it the next time he gets trapped in 1969.

Larry walks up just in time to see Martha and the Doctor off. Then he and Sally walk back into the store, their clasped hands indicating that they are about to have a RelationshipUpgrade. Then the camera lazily travels upward ... and halts on a gargoyle on the roof above.

** A later episode reveals that "Whatever contains the image of an angel, shall become an angel." With it now on DVD, how many times do they show the angels in the episode?

* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Althougth not a high school students, Sally Sparrow, Kathy Nightingale, Lawrence Nightingale, and Billy Shipton all fit this trope very well. They're just normal people who get swept up into very weird events through no fault whatsoever of their own.

** Also [[Film/BackToTheFuture someone getting stuck in the past and arranging for a message to be delivered to a friend at the location and time when they disapeared]]

* TakeThat: When entering Wester Drumlins for the first time, Sally and Kathy suggest names for their little "investigation team". When Sally comes up wih 'Nightingale and Sparrow', Kathy dismisses it as a bit too ITV. [[spoiler:Doesn't stop Sally and Lawrence from using it as the name of their shop.]]

* TimeyWimeyBall: Averted, despite being the TropeNamer. The timeline for this episode, despite being circular, is relatively organized...on a relative scale for [[SciFi sci-fi]] fiction time-liney weirdness, anyway.

-->'''Sally:''' How can you what I'm gonna say?

** The whole StableTimeLoop in general. That writing under the wallpaper in the beginning of the episode was only put there because [[spoiler: Sally mentioned it in the notes she gave the Doctor]]. The extreme amount of luck required for that strategy to work is only apparent in retrospect.
*** On the contrary, it was ''certain'' to work. If she hadn't found it (and just in time to duck), she [[StableTimeLoop wouldn't have been able to tell the Doctor to put it there]] to begin with.

** Also [[BackToTheFuture someone getting stuck in the past and arranging for a message to be delivered to a friend at the location and time when they disapeared]]

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The EasterEgg, for Sally ''and'' Billy.

* NakedFirstImpression: Billy Nightengale, for Sally Sparrow.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Billy, again.

** "The Angels Have the Blue Box." It ''is'' on t-shirts now.

* NakedFirstImpression
* NakedPeopleAreFunny

* PublicSecretMessage: The DVD easter egg.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou / FridgeBrilliance: The Angels never move on screen, despite the fact that the characters are definitely not looking at them. So why don't they move? [[spoiler: You're looking at them.]]

Then the Doctor and Martha walk by, in a hurry to deal with -- something, part of the joke is that [[NoodleIncident we never learn exactly what]]. Neither the Doctor nor Martha recognizes Sally, which leads her to realise that for them, the events of the episode haven't taken place yet. She also realises that the very convenient folder containing Larry's complete transcript of the 38-year conversation and various other details regarding the "Weeping Angels" affair is [[StableTimeLoop the source of the Doctor's knowledge about the incident]]. She gives the Doctor the folder, and tells him to use it the next time he gets trapped in 1969.