Rate And Discuss 3.3: Gridlock

[Pip Madeley]

Rate and discuss the 727th episode of Doctor Who!



Did the story flow easily for you or was it a nightmare traffic jam?

[Pip Madeley]

THERE IS SUCH THING AS MACRA! 40 years after their first appearance in Doctor Who... RTD, you old fanboy you When the Doctor said it, it was a real punch the air moment for all us classic series fanboys.

[Matthew T]

Brilliant! Macra! Kittens! Dougal! Lesbians!

Best episode of season 3 so far... 9/10.

[michael]

like this one and di you hear them all saying i am so sorry?

[Alex]

Hmmm…That was a really mixed one for me. The first 20 minutes or so I found very weak, with a strange premise which didn’t seem to be going anywhere. I like my Who to be exciting, but it just seemed so claustrophobic as they messed around inside the cars on the motorway and I wasn‘t sure where the episode was going.

But as soon as the Doctor was abducted by the cat woman, plot holes were filled in and Martha’s life seemed likely to end in a most unfortunate manner, I really got in to it, and the ending was truly touching. I always thought that Ecclestone managed to capture the anguish of being the last time lord alive, but Tennant’s speech at the end was spellbinding, one of the best moments in the new Who for me so far.

I loved the Boe bits, and whilst the revelation that “you are not alone” didn’t come as a surprise, it was still a scene which was brilliantly handled, and I loved Tennant’s reaction to it. For the first time tonight I began to love his Doctor, rather than just like it, and it was lovely to see him in a non-manic mode.

A 7/10 for me, due to the weak start, but the ending more than made up for that.

[Si Hunt]

I think I was at a disadvantage as a fan knowing what they were (in fact I found out a few weeks ago and have been holding my tongue ever since) - I wish I'd never heard of them, then I'd just have thought "cool, a pit of giant crabs". As it stood they felt a little underused and didn't do much.

I thought the whole traffic jam setup was a good one, New New York looked GREAT and Ardal O'Hanlan was good too. The plot resolution was (as usual) a little confused. Why didn't the Face of Boe open up the roof forty years ago? His last secret was a bit of an anti-climax too. I'd have hoped the Doctor would actually have taken some notice of it - or else, how do they expect us to?

All in all, a mixed bag. We enjoyed it, although it's hard to pretend it's not the weakest of the three episodes so far. And all that hymn singing was silly and went on for too long too.

7/10 from us.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

Macra!
No, no, no, no, no, no, no! (Harken back to the first C.E episode).

The story was simplistic but the visuals were superb. They made me think of Blade Runner & Judge Dredd.
After Martha was taken & the Doctor found out that everyone was in a traffic jam I said to Angela that I thought that the posh upper city had forced half the population in to living in boxes by calling them cars & putting them in a perpetual traffic jam.
The truth was probably worse.
An excellent episode with a social aspect that is very telling.
A very enjoyable story that probably wont stand up to repeated viewings.
7/10.

[Martin Penny]

I really enjoyed that!

I gave it a craaaaazy 10/10 as there was really nothing in it that bothered me. I've really warmed to Tennant recently, after moaning about him a fair bit last year, and he was excellent in this episode. Ardal O'Hanlan was also very good as Brannigan the irish cat-man, and the whole ending with the death of the face was quite sad. Oo, and the Macra, though I haven't a clue what happened in their original story, it was still nice to see them turn up.

[Si Hunt]

10/10? You crazy fool Penny!

Can we get the other stories with the Macra in on DVD?

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Daleks in series one, Cybermen in series two, Macra in series three...

... let's campaign for the Nimon in series four

[Paul Hayes]

I thought that was absolutely superb. A little too close to The End of the World at the end, but worth it for hearing him echo Susan's old description of Gallifrey. The best episode of series three to date for me. Maybe, just maybe, Davies's best episode so far, I think.

[Larry]

. His last secret was a bit of an anti-climax too. I'd have hoped the Doctor would actually have taken some notice of it - or else, how do they expect us to?

I got the feeling from his reaction it was more a case of not wanting to believe it rather than taking no notice of it.

6/10 for me bit of a slow first 20 minutes but started to pick up after that and now we know what Boe's big seceret was./

[Philipnet]

A watchable 6 out of 10 for this one.

Nothing wrong with it per-se; it just felt like it had hardly got going when it had finished.

The Face of Boe with his final line was over the top.
Come on; "you are not alone", one of the most over used Sci-Fi cliches every and RTD laps it up like there's no tomorrow; and so does the doctor.

All the tugs at the heartstrings were overly emotional; the hymn, their "belief", the death of The Face Of Boe (etc., etc.) too OTT.

But, it was nice to see Martha give the doctor the "Tell me about yourself" ultimatum. I am slowly warming to her character, and the comment at the beginning, "rebound", was so right there.

[Captain Tancredi]

Daleks in series one, Cybermen in series two, Macra in series three...

... let's campaign for the Nimon in series four

If we're sticking to 40th birthdays then we can have Yeti, Quarks or Weed Creatures...

[WhiteCrow]

Hmm ...

"You are not alone"

+ This is one of the first episodes not to have a Saxon reference

+ Doctor Who Confidential saying "the secret builds up to the end of series"

= Wow I don't have any idea where this is heading ...

[Paul Clement]

It's a 6/10 from me. As has already been said a couple of times on this thread so far, the first twenty or so minutes were very weak. Despite the claustrophobic air of having the bulk of the story set within either small vehicles or dingly areas of the undercity, very little in the way of action actually happened, and in the first half of the story, the only real stand out moment was when the Doctor described Gallifrey to Martha, and her reaction, especially the way she asked if they could go there.
The Macra returning wasn't a surprise, with most spoiler threads having mentioned them time and time again in the last few months. The trouble is, they don't actually do much. When the Doctor notes the fact that they have somehow de-evolved, he's not wrong. They hardly seem to be much in the way of a threat, just creeping around in the pollution grabbing the occasional vehicle along the way.
Things got a little bit better when the Doctor arrived in the Senate and finally met the Face of Boe, though again, the secret reveal has lost a lot of it's impact because the information about what was coming was pretty much common knowledge for some time.
There were a couple of things that didn't really make much sense to me. If the only people alive are in the undercity, and most of the people are in the vehicles on the motorway, where are all the rest of the people who are living in the rest oif the undercity. They have to be there, because the majority of the people shown travelling in the vehicles weren't on the motorway for the whole 24 years since the population of the open city had been wiped out.
The story ends well, with the Doctor finally starting to come clean with Martha, and he talks about Gallifrey again with real poignancy.
Overall, it was probably the weakest story of the third season, and so far it's been the weakest series so far after three stories, though moreso when compared to Season 2 than 1.

[Captain Tancredi]

That's interesting- I don't think there's been one of RTD's scrips so far where I've felt that the balance has been more right. A genuine sense of menace, the feeling that Martha is rather more than a by-the-book companion, the old ladies and Ardal O'Hanlon playing a cat. What's not to like?

And I'm sure Leonora Crichlow caught my eye in something else, but I can't place her.

[Alex]

And I'm sure Leonora Crichlow caught my eye in something else, but I can't place her.

She's Sugar in the C4 comedy drama Sugar Rush, that's the role she's best known for. She annoyed me a bit in Sugar Rush, but I did really like her here. I thought the woman who played Ardal O'Hanlon's wife was really good too, in a role which didn't give her much scope. I had a feeling I'd seen her before somewhere, but I've been unable to remember so far.

Edit: Ah, she's Jennifer Hennessy, and she was in three episodes of The Office according to imdb.

[Paul Clement]

When Bliss was mentioned as the thing that destroyed all life in the above city, didn't anyone else think of the Bliss drug in the Red Dwarf novelisations?

[Jim]

I gave it a 9 - adored it again.

The offbeat premise of the traffic jam seemed fresh and the story held together really well I thought. A point deducted for the resolution - I cant see what stalled Boe from opening the roof. That said, the whole idea was ambitious, fantastical and it carried some good characterisation along the way(some welcome returns from New Earth)

I loved DT's Doctor, heroic and he played it with real conviction(particularly his reaction to Boe's message) More of the same hopefully to come. Freema rocked again -Martha appears a real free spirit.

I liked the descriptions of gallifrey, the unifying hymn - the episode had a kind of lovely grimy yet romantic feel to it, the closing scenes superb. It says something when as a viewer you are moved over a big old talking head!

I watched it with my Dad - he said "good one" and I haven't heard that in a long while, so thumbs up!

And I would argue the series has never looked as gorgeous since it came back for the third season.

[Pip Madeley]

When Bliss was mentioned as the thing that destroyed all life in the above city, didn't anyone else think of the Bliss drug in the Red Dwarf novelisations?

I did

[Paul Hayes]

Edit: Ah, she's Jennifer Hennessy, and she was in three episodes of The Office according to imdb.

She was also the "I think it's real..." news reporter in Davies's The Second Coming.

And we had Mae Harkness from Century Falls in it too!

[Si Hunt]

It's a shame the Doctor and Martha were apart for the whole adventure; that just felt a bit odd.

The CGI traffic jams were spectacular, but with hindsight it felt like they ate up all the budget such that we didn't really get much else. I also knew as soon as we saw the Macra were all CGI that they wouldn't do much due to the cost. It's a shame I didn't KNOW they were a 'cameo monster'. I'd been expecting a big monster story so was inevitably dissapointed.

Si.

[Wayne]

As others have said, it was rather slow to get going, & personally, i thought the Macra were wasted. Their use was just tokenistic, IMO. It could've been any monster.
On the plus side, the ep had a great atmosphere, & was visually stunning (again!). It picked up pace for the 2nd half which was a lot better, & Tennant/The Doctor has so far left all the silly/OTT stuff behind in the first episode. I liked him in this one.
Quite a difficult one to rate, but i've gone for 7/10. After the first 20mins, i was thinking, 6 or even 5/10. By the end, i was thinking 8/10, but on weighing it up, i think 7/10 is a fair score.

[Larry]

but once again you got to give 10/10 to the prosthetics department the cat face masks were fantastic but I will have to say the ending where The Doctor is finally honest with Martha was very well done. As for the hymn, "Abide with Me" it is such a beautiful hymn and seemed just the absolout perfect hymn to use.