History Recap / DoctorWhoS29E10Blink

** Also [[Film/BackToTheFuture someone getting stuck in the past and arranging for a message to be delivered to a friend at the location and time when they disappeared]]. Which ''Gary'' Sparrow ended up doing in ''Series/GoodnightSweetheart''.

* EasterEgg: An in-universe example. The Doctor's half-a-conversation is a "phantom easter egg" on 17 DVDs. It's also {{Defictionalization}} -- the Doctor's half of the conversation really ''is'' an Easter egg on the Series 3 DVD.

* TemporalParadox: Of the ontological variety: Sally gets the DVDs with The Doctor on them, which prompts her to go to the police, causing her to meet Billy Shipton, who ends up getting taken back in time by the Weeping Angels as a direct result of meeting Sally, causing him to meet The Doctor and record the DVDs that Sally finds in the future; from a linear, subjective viewpoint, there's no way that the first set of DVDs that Sally acquired could ever have come into existence. Similarly, the transcript that Larry makes of Sally answering The Doctor on the DVDs is later given to The Doctor by Sally when they meet in person for the first time, which is how [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat he knew what her half of the conversation would be]] when recording the DVDs in the first place, meaning that the transcript is also part of the paradox. However, if looked at from a non-linear, objective viewpoint (like that of The Doctor), everything makes perfect sense.

** Accidentally at first.

** The Doctor only knows what to do because Sally gave him a folder with instructions, but Sally only knows what to do because The Doctor set everything up. Try not to go cross-eyed.

-->'''Sally:''' He means ''you'' stupid.

* TimeyWimeyBall: Averted, despite being the TropeNamer. The time-line for this episode, despite being circular, is relatively organised. The only real issue is that there's no way -- from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint -- to enter the circle in the first place.

Sally stays with Billy until he dies. Then she calls Larry to tell him what the [=DVDs=] have in common: they're all the [=DVDs=] she owns. Larry is incredulous to learn that Sally [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking only owns 17 DVDs]], but quickly agrees to meet Sally at Wester Drumlins, along with a DVD which has the Easter Egg.

* ActionSurvivor: Sally, and, to a lesser extent, Larry.
* AndIMustScream: The ultimate fate of the Angels.

* ChekhovsGun: The DVD list Larry gives to Sally

* CreepyChangingPainting: The Angels. Played for ParanoiaFuel initially, then for several JumpScare moments.

* EasterEgg: An in-universe example. Also {{Defictionalization}} -- the Doctor's half of the conversation really ''is'' an Easter egg on the Series 3 DVD.
* {{Expy}}: Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale seem very similar to Amy Pond and Rory Williams in personality as well as physical appearance.

* GambitRoulette: Subverted. From Sally's perspective the Doctor's plan relies on insane guesswork, but by the time it's over you can clearly see how he pulled it all off.

* GetBackToTheFuture: From the Doctor's and Martha's perspective, this is the plot of the episode.

* JustFriends: Sally states that this is all there is between her and Larry.
* JustIgnoreIt: Inverted.

* LightFlickerTeleportation: In the cellar with the flickering lightbulb.

** The ending.
** The whole StableTimeLoop in general.

* MoodWhiplash:
** Weeping Angels and "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey]]" in the same episode. Ow, my neck!
* NakedFirstImpression: Larry Nightingale, for Sally Sparrow.
* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Larry, again.
** When Sally and Larry meet again the next day, he barely remembers the incident. But as soon as he recognizes her, his first instinct is to cover his crotch...despite being fully clothed this time.

** We never learn what the four things and the lizard are. It isn't a reference to another episode.
** For that matter, we never find out exactly how the Doctor and Martha get stranded in past as part of the angels' plan to get the phonebox.
** Or what the Doctor and Martha were doing in 2007, considering that (from a linear, subjective viewpoint) Martha first met the Doctor in 2008. This means there were two Marthas in London simultaneously, putting her at risk of being affected by the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Blinovitch Limitation Effect]].

* OnceMoreWithClarity: The EasterEgg, for Sally ''and'' Larry.
* OneWordTitle

* PlotCoupon: The DVD.
* PublicSecretMessage: The DVD Easter egg.

* StableTimeLoop: The episode revolves around creating one of these. Which, arguably, makes the ending a ForegoneConclusion. And, yet, it's still terrifying.

* TakeThat: When entering Wester Drumlins for the first time, Sally and Kathy suggest names for their little "investigation team". When Sally comes up with "Nightingale and Sparrow", Kathy dismisses it as a bit too ITV. Doesn't stop Sally and Lawrence from using it as the name of their shop.

-->'''The Doctor:''' People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.
* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: For all the hype about the Angels being so fast, they sure can take their time sneaking up on people when no-one (including the audience) is watching. During Sally's conversation with the Doctor on the DVD, both she and Lawrence spend a good bit of time not watching the Angel in the garden, only to look up and find that it has just come in the room. In an earlier scene, Sally spies two of the Angels on a church across the street and one blink allows them to cross the entire distance.
** Also, the amount of time the two took to run towards and unlock the TARDIS after the lights went out. The angels should have logically got them within seconds. Though if the NoFourthWall is any indication, [[FridgeBrilliance the fact the viewers were able to see the angels in the dark was what saved our heroes]]

** Also, the resolution for Sally and Larry followed immediately by the ParanoiaFuel BreakingTheFourthWall ending.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This came out during the last hurrah of video rental stores. Of course, given that this is a show about time travel that always treats the era the episode is filmed in as the "present", it can afford to be this.

-->-- '''The Doctor''

"Blink" centers on Sally Sparrow (played by Creator/CareyMulligan), a clever, spunky young woman who visits an old mansion called Wester Drumlins in 2007 and finds a spookily-detailed message from the Doctor written in 1969. The message tells her to "beware the weeping angels" and "by the way, duck!" She ducks, and a ceramic pot of some sort smashes into the wall just behind her head. Seeking the attacker, she sights an angel statue in the garden.

Sally leaves Wester Drumlins and, the next day, goes to visit her friend, Kathy Nightingale. At Kathy's house, Sally notices a [=TV=] set playing a [=DVD=] of the Doctor, apparently talking to thin air. She also meets Kathy's brother Lawrence ([[StealthPun Lawrence Nightingale, get it?]]), who has apparently discovered that sleeping in the nude helps with those tricky midnight leaks. Sufficiently GenreSavvy viewers [[HowToBecomeALoveInterest know what's coming next]], despite Moffat [[PlayingWithATrope trying to throw a curveball]] by reversing the genders of the protagonists.

Meanwhile at the door, a strange man approaches Sally with a letter, written by his grandmother: Katherine Costello Wainwright, formerly known as Katherine Nightingale. Sally opens the letter to find that it is indeed from Kathy, who had mysteriously teleported to 5 December 1920.

After visiting Kathy's grave ("[[ReallySeventeenYearsOld You told her you were eighteen? You lying cow!]]"), Sally heads out to fulfil Kathy's last request and convey her love to Lawrence (a.k.a. Larry). At the DVD shop where he works, Sally gets into an argument with the same recording of the Doctor. Since he [[TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat appears to be talking directly to her]], she soon gets creeped out and yells at the Doctor to stop being so weird... at which point, Larry shows up. He tells her that the video of the Doctor is an EasterEgg on 17 apparently unconnected [=DVDs=], and that nobody seems to know what it's about, though he and his online friends have thoroughly dissected every line in search of answers.

Sally gives him an edited version of Kathy's message, collects [[ChekhovsGun a list of the DVDs]] with the Doctor Easter Egg, and then steps out of the back room, her head still spinning. The man behind the counter shouts “[[PoliceAreUseless Go to the police]], you stupid woman! [[GenreBlindness Why does nobody ever just go to the police?]]” Sally is startled, but relaxes when she sees that he's watching a B-Movie. (You can practically see Moffat [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall winking at the audience]]).

Larry walks up just in time to see Martha and the Doctor off. Then he and Sally walk back into the store, their clasped hands hinting that they are about to have a RelationshipUpgrade. Then the camera lazily travels upwards... and halts on a Weeping Angel on the roof above.

-->'''Sally Sparrow:''' (''on realizing the Doctor was speaking to her through the [=DVDs=]'') The 17 [=DVDs=], they're all the [=DVDs=] I own. The Easter egg was for me.\\

* MemeticMutation: InUniverse example with "The Angels have the phone box." This later [[{{Defictionalisation}} caught on]] in RealLife, JustAsPlanned.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke Yes, that last trope being dropped in is intended to imply that]] Creator/StevenMoffat is an EvilOverlord.[[/note]]

* ReallySeventeenYearsOld: Once she ends up in 1920, Kathy claims to have been born in 1902. Sally makes it clear to the audience that Kathy wasn't really that old.

** Also, the amount of time the two took to run towards and unlock the TARDIS after the lights went out. The angels should have logically gotten them within seconds. Though if the NoFourthWall is any indication, [[FridgeBrilliance the fact the viewers were able to see the angels in the dark was what saved our heroes]]
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This came out during the last hurrah of video rental stores. Of course, given that this is a show about time travel that always treats the era the episode is filmed in as the "present," it can afford to be this.

** Also, the resolution for Sally and Larry followed immediately by the ParanoiaFuel NoFourthWall ending.

"Blink" was written by Creator/StevenMoffat and netted several awards for both writing and acting. It's one of the most popular ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories ever made (despite the fact that the Doctor appeared on screen for only a couple of minutes) and introduced the Weeping Angels. It lost a NebulaAward for Best Script to ''Film/PansLabyrinth''.

Because of its [[LowerDeckEpisode Doctor-lite]] plot, engaging story and great monster, this is considered by many to be a good introduction to the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}.

** Also, the amount of time the two took to run towards and unlock the TARDIS the angels should have logically gotten them immediately after the lights went off.

No! Keep looking at the-- [[note]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Weeping_Angel_291.jpg[[/note]]

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

** Also, the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming incredibly cute resolution for Sally and Larry]] followed immediately by the ParanoiaFuel NoFourthWall ending.

Larry walks up just in time to see Martha and the Doctor off. Then he and Sally walk back into the store, their clasped hands indicating that they are about to have a RelationshipUpgrade. Then the camera lazily travels upwards... and halts on a Weeping Angel on the roof above.

This explicit LampshadeHanging leads her to take the counter-jockey's inadvertent advice, and Sally heads over to the Police Station -- followed by the Weeping Angels. At the station, she meets a police inspector called Billy Shipton, who flirts with her shamelessly, [[GenreBlind blissfully unaware]] that [[FirstGirlWins The First Guy Wins]] (though he is encouraged by a FreudianSlip on her part). He also shows her a garage full of cars whose owners have disappeared in or around Wester Drumlins in the past few years. The prize of the collection is an imitation police box built entirely to scale which nobody can manage to open (they know it's fake because the phone's just a dummy and [[FandomNod the windows are the wrong size]]).

* FirstGirlWins: Gender-flipped example.