Now this could be blatantly wrong, but please bear with me. I don’t have much (i.e. any) experience with British television. With the exception of a couple of episodes of Keeping Up Appearances and The Benny Hill Show, I came into the screening of Doctor Who on Monday as a completely blank slate. Needless to say, what I saw shocked me, in a good way.
What little I knew about Doctor Who (the original incarnation) was that it was considered a children’s series and won a few awards, but was mainly a “cult classic.” However, what I didn’t know was the critical acclaim the latest incarnation has received as one of the most successful dramas to run in British television history. After watching “Blink,” I understand why.
When Professor Becker told us a bit of the context for the episode and how it was voted one of the creepiest in the run of the series, I was skeptical to say the least. However, I will be honest with you. I turn 21 this weekend, and there were seriously moments where I was creeped out and I’m not sure if I will ever walk by the numerous statues on campus the same way. That’s only half-joking.
The thing I was most impressed with in “Blink” was the creativity and the writing. While the premise may be a commonality in sci-fi-esque shows, they aren’t high on my viewing list so it was a new concept to me. The layers to the plot impressed me as well. There were moments where I was a little bit confused and then something happened later to bring me back around and solve my confusion.
I can honestly say that in the future, when I have free time, I will watch more episodes of Doctor Who–something I never thought I would say about any British television we were going to watch the entire semester.
Oh, and just so you can’t make fun of ONLY me for this, Ronnie and I left the screening early to go to shoot the women’s basketball game on Monday night. As we walked by the statues of Lou Holtz and Frank Leahy at the stadium, we not only discussed “Blink,” but I would venture to say that, at any given moment, one of our sets of eyes were glued on the statue after the montage at the end of the episode.
“Blink,” was the first episode of Who that I watched. On my way back to Badin from Sorin that night, the Mary/Joseph/Baby Jesus statue was lookin’ quite terrifying. Not going to lie, that closing sequence is what did it for me (it’s not just angels, ahhh!!!). If you liked it, I suggest watching the two parter “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone” from the Matt Smith days…it’s possibly scarier.
The “timey-wimey”ness of the show is one of my favorite things about it – the fact that it’s unapologetic for its time travel plot, forcing its audience to (gasp!) use their noodles sometimes when they’re watching. I feel like American tv shows often just lay things out 3 or 4 times to make sure everyone is on the same page. The best thing about episodes like “Blink” is that it’s still compelling even if you aren’t quite up to speed.
Fun fact: just found out it has over 700 episodes, so you’ve got a lot to choose from (although the BBC wiped a lot of them in the 70s)! Get to watchin’!
I will confirm that Chris and I did indeed discuss “Blink” and have a bit of concern as we walked by the statues. I believe I warned Chris to watch out for the Frank Leahy statue that may throw his bronze football at us at any moment.
Back to the topic at hand, I was pleasantly surprised by Doctor Who, especially given my only previous exposure to it which occurred while my girlfriend and I were in Scotland on a tour of the Highlands and the tour bus stopped in the Northwest Scottish port town Kyle of Lochalsh. The overwhelming population of 739 in Kyle (which is fewer than the number of Doctor Who episodes 784) had just about called it a night at 6pm, meaning we couldn’t find but 2 restaurants of the 4 open in the entire town. When we ate in this small bar, on the telly was Doctor Who. The two of us knew nothing about it and the episode seemed extremely bizarre. When I found out later that it’s one of Britain’s most popular shows of all-time, I was shocked. Because on first impression it seemed like the worst show I had ever seen. (Note: We were watching without sound or subtitles).
But after learning the premise of the show from Professor Becker, I found “Blink” to be a fantastically written and entertaining episode. I couldn’t wait to watch “Vincent and the Doctor” which I also thoroughly enjoyed (thank you for the DVD Professor Becker!).
The idea of The Doctor being able to regenerate reminded me of another prominent British character, James Bond. Making that type of connection in my head allowed me to easily accept the different actors playing The Doctor. Additionally, I love Brenna’s point about having to actually think when you watch the show. As Chris pointed out as well, the writing was exceptionally good, especially on “Blink”. In fact, that was one of the first things I noted after (and even during) watching the episode.
I’m still not sure how Doctor Who is considered a children’s show, especially since it contains such depth in its narrative, but I can see how kids would be entranced by the “Blink” episode, and be scared. The only thing I could think of off the top of my head that even remotely reminded me of something like Doctor Who that I would have watched as a kid which had an educational spin to it was the series Wishbone. But even that can’t compare to the layers of creative writing Doctor Who has.
I’m curious about the differences between the New Who and Old Who, but one thing is for sure I may be hooked on Doctor Who now and may have to find means of watching it whether they be legal or not.
“Blink,” to me had such strong writing, such intricate details woven together to give a great final product, that it felt much more like a movie than an episode of a TV show (although maybe that was Carey Mulligan). To have a show like that with such tight writing in every single episode is quality that we only see in shows like Mad Men–so often it feels like shows are hit and miss, or have episodes that were just thrown in there. Obviously there’s going to be British TV that way too, but to have a children’s show that adults can also appreciate and think about is a really great cultural thing in my opinion.