History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS3E3Gridlock

* AbsurdlySharpClaws: The Macra. They can be found at the bottom of the motorway in [[NewNeoCity New New York]] (on New Earth). In the 'fast lane' you can reach speeds of up to thirty miles per hour! (Usually taking six years to get to Brooklyn from Queens!) However, this comes with a risk: the potential of being sliced and mauled by the Macra. What's even scarier is that you only really get to see these claws above the fumes.

-->'''Brannigan:''' This Martha...she must mean a lot to you.\\

* GiantEnemyCrab: The Macra

* HypocriticalHumor: Brannigan refers to the Cassinis as 'sisters', claiming that he's a traditional type. When he's a catman married to a humanoid.

* ShoutOut:
** According to WordOfGod, the concept of an endless traffic jam in a dystopian city is a shoutout to Mega-City One in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', and the man in the bowler hat is based on Max Normal, a supporting character in the comic.
** The setting, [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth New New York]], may be a reference to ''{{Futurama}}''.

* YouAreNotAlone[=/=]ThereIsAnother: So says the Face of Boe.

** The driver with the bowler hat looks like Max Normal from ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd''. The entire setting carries a whiff of Megacity One.

The Doctor tells Martha that her one trip is over, and she can go home now... unless she wants to travel more. No reason, really, he'd just like to travel more. In fact, he'd like to take her to the future: New New New, etc., York. Where drugs are cheap, legal, and socially acceptable. Where people inexplicably look like cats. Where traffic never moves. [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth Where the Doctor also took Rose once]].

Meanwhile, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E7TheMacraTerror giant evil crabs that feed off pollution]] have snatched Martha's car out of the air and are hell-bent on eating her. The Doctor quickly recognises them from an old MissingEpisode and notes that they've devolved into mindless beasts over time, living in the depths of the expressway. Even if he could get there, there's hardly any way to get back.

The Doctor will not be deterred. He gets into the upper city, where the only remaining "people" are an [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth elderly cat nun]] and the Face of Boe, the oldest being in the galaxy, who is the only thing powering the expressway and keeping the rest of demi-humanity alive. It turns out that the planet's inhabitants all got addicted to the drugs, causing them to waste away in drugged-out bliss... and then the drugs produced an unstoppable plague that killed everyone (including itself). And all the expressways are closed, and have been closed for years. All those cars with all their eternal fuel and food supplies are driving in eternal circles around the deadly city smog.

The quarantine placed on the planet was set to last 100 years, so it has to be released manually. The Face gives his life to open up the expressway exits and save Martha. The Doctor opens the gates of... well, Heaven, and all the cars ascend into the bright upper city, with the people inside praising Jehova for saving them from the crabs of... well, Hell. They sing hymns and everything. This planet really sets off the Doctor's messianic side, after that whole "getting baptised by nuns with a panacea and curing all the lepers with a single touch" thing he did last time.

* AmericanGothicCouple: The old couple in the opening who are attacked by the Macra.

* FlatWhat: Martha's reaction to the length of time the carjacking journey will take.

* NoProductSafetyStandards: "Bliss" is a commercially available drug that kills people by making them too blissed out to eat, drink or sleep.

* PoliceAreUseless: A call to the police gets the Doctor put on hold. A call to the Cassinis reveal that there ''aren't'' police.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The people on the underground highway are disturbingly blasé about the fact that nobody ever gets anywhere.
* VillainDecay: Deliberately invoked. After a few billion years, the Macra evolved (or devolved) into a much less intelligent form, so instead of being invisible puppet masters (like the Silence would be later in New Who) they're just... giant crabs living on car fumes.

* AbsurdlySharpClaws: The Macra. They can be found at the bottom of the motorway in [[NewNeoCity New New York]] (on New Earth). In the 'fast lane' you can reach speeds of up to thirty miles per hour! (Usually taking six years to get to Brooklyn from Queens!) However, this comes with a risk: the potential of being sliced and mauled by the macra. What's even scarier is that you only really get to see these claws above the fumes.

Martha refuses to leave until the Doctor tells her just what he is and what's going on. The Doctor sits down with her and tells his story from the beginning, starting with "there was a war"...

* AbsurdlySharpClaws: The Macra.

* AliensOfLondon: Despite being New New York, every person you see (except Brannigan and the news anchor) is very much British due to the TARDIS' TranslationConvention.

* DrugsAreBad: Both Martha and the Doctor are unamused by a street populated by drug-dealing booths that sell everything from "happy" to "forget" to "honesty", and bliss killed all of New Earth's population apart from New New York's undercity.

* NoProductSafetyStandards: "Bliss" is a commercially available drug that kills people by making them too blissed out to eat, drink, or sleep.

* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: When Martha finds out one of her kidnappers is pregnant, she rips off the woman's honesty patch in disgust.

* PlanetOfHats: All of the cars the Doctor passes through have obvious themes, be they white decor, Harajuku fashion, nudism, or red decor.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The people on the underground highway are disturbingly blase about the fact that nobody ever gets anywhere.

* ShoutOut: The old couple in the opening who are attacked by the Macra? Take a look at the painting ''American Gothic''.
** And the driver with the bowler hat looks like Max Normal from ''Comicbook/JudgeDredd''. The entire setting carries a whiff of Megacity One.

** And the driver with the bowler hat looks like Max Normal from ''JudgeDredd''. The entire setting carries a whiff of Megacity One.

** [[{{Serenity}} An airborne drug causes most of the inhabitants of a planet to lay down and die.]]

* BigWordShout: MAAAAAAAARTHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

* [[AlcoholIsPoison Mood Patches Are Poison]]: When Martha finds out one of her kidnappers is pregnant, she rips off the woman's honesty patch in disgust.

* InterspeciesRomance: The Brannigans. She's demi-human, he's a cat-man; their kids are litter of kittens ([[RuleOfCute who can say "Mama"]]).

* EvolutionaryLevels: The Doctor wonders if the Macra have devolved, considering they used to be intelligent but now they're just huge mindless mosnters.

!Tropes

Martha refuses to leave before the Doctor tells her just what he is and what's going on. The Doctor sits down with her and starts his story from the beginning, starting with "there was a war"...

Meanwhile, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E7TheMacraTerror giant evil crabs that feed off pollution]] have snatched Martha's car out of the air and are hell-bent on eating her.

The Doctor tells Martha that her one trip is over, and she can go home now. ... Unless she wants to travel more. No reason, really, he'd just like to travel more. In fact, he'd like to take her to the future: New New New, etc., York. Where drugs are cheap, legal, and socially acceptable. Where people inexplicably look like cats. Where traffic never moves. [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth Where the Doctor also took Rose once]].

The Doctor tells Martha that her one trip is over, and she can go home now. ... Unless she wants to travel more. No reason, really, he'd just like to travel more. In fact, he'd like to take her to the future: New New New, etc., York. Where drugs are cheap, legal, and socially acceptable. Where people inexplicably look like cats. Where traffic never moves. Where the Doctor also took Rose once. The Doctor even tries to make the same little jokes he made to Rose when he first took her there, but they just don't work as well when Rose isn't around to hear them.

By now, Martha's figured out that she's the Doctor's "rebound", and she doesn't like it one bit. Also, the TARDIS has taken them to the undercity slums, where things aren't quite as happy as they are above the smog.

The quarantine placed on the planet was set to last 100 years, so it has to be released manually. The Face gives his life to open up the expressway exits and save Martha. The Doctor opens the gates of... well, Heaven, and all the cars ascend into the bright upper city, with the people inside praising Jehova for saving them from the crabs of... well, Hell. They sing hymns and everything. This planet really sets off the Doctor's messianic side, after that whole "getting baptised by nuns with a panacaea and curing all the lepers with a single touch" thing he did last time.

The quarantine placed on the planet was set to last 100 years, so it has to be released manually. The Face gives his life to open up the expressway exits and save Martha. The Doctor opens the gates of... well, Heaven, and all the cars ascend into the bright upper city, with the people inside praising Jehova for saving them from the crabs of... well, Hell. They sing hymns and everything. This planet really sets off the Doctor's messianic side, after that whole "getting baptised by nuns with a panacaea, then curing all the lepers with a single touch" thing he did last time.

The quarantine placed on the planet was set to last 100 years, so it has to be released manually. The Face gives his life to open up the expressway exits and save Martha. The Doctor opens the gates of... well, Heaven, and all the cars ascend into the bright upper city, with the people inside praising Jehova for saving them from the crabs of... well, Hell. They sing hymns and everything. This planet really sets off the Doctor's messianic side, after that whole "getting baptised with a panacaea, then curing all the lepers with a single touch" thing he did last time.

* AliensOfLondon: Despite being New New York, every person you see (except Brannigan and the news anchor) is very much British. It makes you wonder what Neo-London might sound like.
** Could be explained as TranslationConvention. Language is likely to have moved on in the intervening five billion years to something completely different which requires translating, and the TARDIS is just translating it to what Martha/the audience is used to hearing.

The quarantine placed on the planet was set to last 100 years, so it has to be released manually. The Face gives his life to open up the expressway exits and save Martha. The Doctor opens the gates of... well, Heaven, and all the cars ascend into the bright upper city, with the people inside praising Jehova for saving them from the crabs of... well, Hell. They sing hymns and everything. This planet really sets off the Doctor's messianic side, after that whole "curing all the lepers with a single touch" thing he did last time.