Rate And Discuss 3.3: Gridlock

[Andrew Curnow]

And as for the chicks, well...

The Tennant Doctor might well say that...

[Dave Tudor]

I can see where Dave is coming from. From an editing/music point of view, if I were to be picky about that last scene, I would have allowed 'Abide With Me' to continue until the end of the verse (rather than breaking off mid-verse), then allow a very brief pause, before the end music sting comes in.

[Pip Madeley]

Final poll results for Gridlock...



Final rating: 7.72 - popular!

[Paul Monk]

Having watched this about a million times now due to Tabby wanting to watch "the cat one", one little nice continuitity thing I noticed is that when the doctor comes out of the Tardis, he pulls out the arrow from the previous episode. I thought it was a nice touch anyway.

[Jonno]

Never got round to commenting properly on this, but for the record I gave it a 9 and loved it - especially the hymn singing - I adore Abide With Me, and loved that at the end, along with the Doctor's description of Gallifrey harkening back 43 years!

[Paul Monk]

When he was describing Gallifrey I did find myself thinking "But it looked like a quarry"

[Jonno]

I forgot to give a big to Gridlock for meaning we now have more episodes of Doctor Who than Star Trek and all its spinoffs combined!

[Rob McCow]

Although... Doctor Who still has 100 or so episodes missing and is way short of Star Trek in terms of overall run time.

I do believe we're winning on audio plays though.

[Dirk Gently]

Do you know what the run time difference is, Steve?

[Jonno]

I'd argue that the fact that 100+ episodes are "missing" is irrelevant, as we can still listen to them!

[Pip Madeley]

Good point Jonno! If you think Marco Polo, The Massacre, The Macra Terror or Fury from the Deep don't count, you can get stuffed.

[Rob McCow]

Gridlock! Oh Abide with Gridlock. Doctor Who, you used to be completely insane and a bit magnificent.

This episode really fires on all cylinders. David Tennant is at the top of his game and Martha is coming across as a really solid and exciting character. The scenes where they're discussing the Doctor's home planet are beautiful. Last week they said there were power in words and this week we get to see that.

The main situation of the episode is one that's entirely relatable - being stuck in traffic - so the story can go to ludicrous extremes in other areas. The population of New New Earth are a colourful bunch. Cat people! Cat/Woman babies! Red people in nappies! White people! Old women! A sort of black furry werewolf thing with two girls dressed in white! Sally Calypso! And the guy in the business suit - I kind of wish he'd turned up in a few more episodes, without explanation.

Ardal O'Hanlon is also a treat. I think he gets a tremendous amount of expression out of his cat make-up and does superb work with his eyes. Just enough to let you know that he's saying one thing but thinking another and that can be hard enough to do without a mask.

The return of the Macra is such a delight, giant gas-eating crabs lurking at the bottom of the Motorway. They're only really there for the one-line reveal and a bit of peril but that's all we need, isn't it?

Novice Hame is a bit Novice Exposition in this one though. I love the Doctor's reaction, giving her a hug and then going "No hang on, you were evil weren't you?" Her teleport acts as a nifty short-cut through the story, taking the Doctor right to the heart of the action.

Judging by the dialogue he gets in this, I don't think The Face of Boe is really Captain Jack, but it hardly matters.

And then that ending, where they're all flying up to escape from the motorway brought a lump to my throat. Just beautiful.

Classic.