303: Gridlock

303: Gridlock

Just saw gridlock. I thought it was an all around great ep. It was exciting, fast paced, relationship building, continued timelord "mythos" and had the death of the face of Boe?

How did the American Gothic car get into the fastlane to be eaten by Macra if it only had 2 passengers?

As he woman said, he lied to the computer.

I thought they had failsafes that locked your steering if you tried to cheat?

They did, but obviously that guy hacked it somehow. Just 'cause he's dressed like the farmer in the painting doesn't mean he can't fool a computer.

Fun concept, marvelous execution, and the return of a monster not seen since the Second Doctor's tenure...what's not to love?

Add to that: new cat people (in the form of Brannigan), Hame's redemption (I felt she didn't really know what her Mother Superiors were doing in the earlier story and got a "bum rap"), and kittens who say, "Mamma!" (A "squee" moment if there ever was one!)

Sincerely,

Bill

This episode never fails to make me cry.
~

Redfern wrote:

Add to that: new cat people (in the form of Brannigan), Hame's redemption (I felt she didn't really know what her Mother Superiors were doing in the earlier story and got a "bum rap"), and kittens who say, "Mamma!" (A "squee" moment if there ever was one!)

Sincerely,

Bill

Definitely loved the cat people. Brannigan was great, and the fact that Novice Hame returned and redeemed herself added to that. Though I agree, she was in many respects guilty by association more than anything in New Earth. She didn't really seem to know what was going on behind the scene, and was focused more on tending to the Face of Boe at the time.

But by the end I'm still an emotional wreck.

Having just finished up with "Gridlock" myself (On a Doctor Who kick on my last day of my Vacation), I have to give David Tennant major props for at the end, when he sat down to tell Martha about Gallifrey.

That is some fine acting in that scene, and Tennant makes you feel the grief of a man who can never go home again. Bravo. Simply...bravo.

As for the episode itself: Just a lot of fun. I got a kick out of the other cars (Great Set Reusage, by the way). Though the implementation of "The Old Rugged Cross" surprised me - it worked beautifully, and gave Tennant's recollections even more emotional impact.

Oh man that man can act.

Indeed. I just finished "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood". Dear God in Heaven, why hasn't Hollywood optioned him for more stuff yet?

Rust wrote:

Having just finished up with "Gridlock" myself (On a Doctor Who kick on my last day of my Vacation), I have to give David Tennant major props for at the end, when he sat down to tell Martha about Gallifrey.

That is some fine acting in that scene, and Tennant makes you feel the grief of a man who can never go home again. Bravo. Simply...bravo.

Agreed. This is a tribute to the 10th Doctor that does a great job with that particular bit of dialogue, bringing in visuals from the movie, and the End of Time to heighten the moment. That bit starts at around 0:57.

But yeah. Tennant is one bloody heck of an actor. He did amazing in Doctor Who (Agreed, Rust, that Human Nature / Family of Blood were absolutely incredible examples of that). Of course, the last bits of the End of Time were something else. I've also seen him in Hamlet, which was spectacular, as well.

He's just magic, he is. That man can act.

Now see, End of Time all that did for me was make me ready for the Doctor to regenerate. Not knocking Tennant's abilities at all, but the Doctor just comes across like a petulant child in that bit.

Rust wrote:

Now see, End of Time all that did for me was make me ready for the Doctor to regenerate. Not knocking Tennant's abilities at all, but the Doctor just comes across like a petulant child in that bit.

I didn't see it that way at all...he was going to regenerate, he was resisting it, and of course he raged against it. I thought the Doctor's behaviour was perfectly fitting. Then when he finally thought he might have a chance, the four knocks come and he is broken...until he knows what he must do, and comes as close to acceptance as he's gonna get...even so, knowing what must come, he's terrified...it was a beautiful scene, and acted beautifully -- I know you weren't knocking Tennant's abilities, just that it didn't strike me the same way it did you...I didn't want him to go either, even if what came of it turned out wonderful, we didn't know it at the time, and neither did he...

But see, that was the thing. The Doctor regenerates. That's what he does. The viewers know that happens. And not once, anywhere else in the series (Unless you count the Second-to-Third, which was very much a involuntary Regeneration) has the Doctor ever rallied against regenerating. He didn't even struggle against it in "Journey's End" (Which raises the question of whether or not he wasted a regeneration on that stupid, stupid scene).

And now that I've seen Season 3, there's a new layer to that sequence for me, because it's a rehash of John Smith's refusal to become the Doctor in "Family of Blood". At least John Smith had a reason for not wanting to change into that man, because the Doctor could never love Jo the way he could.

But the Doctor? There was no reason, no reason at all, to fight back his regeneration like that. "The Time Lord Victorious", refusing to simply go quietly into the night. How many other people would he have forced to commit suicide just to preserve the time line?

I loved Tennant's acting, and up till "The Waters of Mars", I loved the 10th Doctor. But after witnessing "The Time Lord Victorious", his wasting of time in going to the Ood, and then his temper tantrum when he realized he had to regenerate...

It was a good thing he regenerated into the man he did. The Universe wouldn't have survived much more of Ten's "Silent Fury".

Rust wrote:

But see, that was the thing. The Doctor regenerates. That's what he does. The viewers know that happens. And not once, anywhere else in the series (Unless you count the Second-to-Third, which was very much a involuntary Regeneration) has the Doctor ever rallied against regenerating. He didn't even struggle against it in "Journey's End" (Which raises the question of whether or not he wasted a regeneration on that stupid, stupid scene).

And now that I've seen Season 3, there's a new layer to that sequence for me, because it's a rehash of John Smith's refusal to become the Doctor in "Family of Blood". At least John Smith had a reason for not wanting to change into that man, because the Doctor could never love Jo the way he could.

But the Doctor? There was no reason, no reason at all, to fight back his regeneration like that. "The Time Lord Victorious", refusing to simply go quietly into the night. How many other people would he have forced to commit suicide just to preserve the time line?

I loved Tennant's acting, and up till "The Waters of Mars", I loved the 10th Doctor. But after witnessing "The Time Lord Victorious", his wasting of time in going to the Ood, and then his temper tantrum when he realized he had to regenerate...

It was a good thing he regenerated into the man he did. The Universe wouldn't have survived much more of Ten's "Silent Fury".

This is why I'm looking forward to seeing more of the older DW's. My only frame of reference right now is really 9, 10 & 11. I loved TENnant's Doctor, but I like Smith's very much. I think it will be interesting to see the others to gain a good perspective who The Doctor truly is.

And, yes, while TENnant did the last few episodes brilliantly, I didn't like the turn he had taken. I'm slowly doing a series 5 re-watch because I'm hoping that there is residual bits of that part of his personality and not just a total wipe. It would make the idea of him being the same man less believable.

Oh yes! and I stumbled on the Children in Need 2005 short the other day. Right after 9's regeneration. How 10 said it went wrong. I think that was the set up for how 10 was so different. At least that's how I'm going to look at it.

officially off-topic now

anywhoo, my two cents. people change. good people can go bad, (and whether people believe it or not) bad people can go good. ten was everything. he was a fun loving child. a romantic adult. a vengefull god. an egotistical timelord(what he used to always hate and run away from, however, being the last one in the universe may have changed his mind), at the end, his "character" had seen every gammat of the spectrum. i almost think he had to go, because as great an actor as smith is, there was nowhere left for ten to go.

Agreed. Nine and especially Ten were "Survivor's Guilt" type characters. Thanks to my (admittedly limited) collection of Classic Who DVDs, it's obvious the Doctor is the same character, but with a dark, bitter, lonely streak about him. From what I hear, the Seventh Doctor really started down this road, and the Sixth Doctor definitely set the stage for the arrogance of the character.

Eleven seems to be not so much a throwback (His intense anger in "Beast Below", "Victory of the Daleks", and "Flesh and Stone" are definitely flare ups of the harsher Doctors we've gotten through the years), but an evolution.

The Doctor's finally come to terms with the Time War and everything that transpired, and is trying to live his life as best he can. Trying to be the better man. A man who's seen and caused too much death to be privy to any more of it if he can help it (Hence why he was so infuriated by the choice he thought he had to make in "The Beast Below"). Unlike Tennant's "No Second Chances" Doctor, Smith's Doctor seems to be all about "Second Chances" - trying to be the man he used to be, rather then the man he had grown accustomed to being.

And really, if I'm going to be honest, the Pandorica really makes sense if you view it from the perspective of dealing with the Tenth Doctor. It was more of the Doctor's past catching up to him, and I liked that a lot.

Everytime I watch this episode, I love it more. From the Doctor's determination to save Martha, by saving everyone. The insane idea of living in a car for years. The religious singing of the desperate commuters. The Face of Boe's sacrifce to save the city. And the Doctor's sad description of his lost Gallifrey. The Macra, well, could of kept them or not. Not that important for the plot. So, a very enoyable episode for me.

The Macara seemed to be there more to give the episode some sort of "Creature of the Week" then anything else. I'm more curious about how the Macara came to be on New Earth in the first place.

Rust wrote:

The Macara seemed to be there more to give the episode some sort of "Creature of the Week" then anything else. I'm more curious about how the Macara came to be on New Earth in the first place.

They may have excited me more, if their episode wasn't among "The Lost"

Stop all that modern talk, I'm an old fashioned cat.

This was one of the first episodes I watched, and for one reason:

Lenora Crichlow.