And it continues with a meditation on Gridlock (spoilers aplenty). Russell T Davies' far future is very much in an Orwellian vein. It's about ideas. It's satire. It's a fable. But it's not really credible as a possible future. And that's fine. It's not the first time Doctor Who's been down that road (The Sun Makers would be one example only), so it's definitely part of the Whovian vocabulary.In the past, we've seen a variety of 21st-century themes taken to their extremes: Plastic surgery, morbid tourism (The End of the World), continuous news networks (The Long Game), reality tv (Bad Wolf), stem cell research (New Earth) and with Gridlock, I suppose it's highways.
Or is it? I've heard a lot of interesting theories about what Gridlock is actually about, the least of which being that it's a metaphor for the Internet (people content to sit in front of their screens with the illusion of doing something, but not really getting ahead at all - and the Friends Lists helps). One contingent would have the episode be about organized religion, a notion helped along by the cat nun and the hymns. And I must admit it has merit.In this interpretation, there is a paradise up above and a crab-infested hell below. Humanity is trying to reach that paradise, but is merely running around in circles, and those that want shortcuts (the "fast lane") end up going to hell. More cynical is that heaven is a wasteland and all the gods are dead, with "God" (played by the Face of Boe) broadcasting lies to pacify the faithful. Is Martha's kidnapping really an attempted conversion (they have to carry three to get to the fast lane)? At the end, the Doctor acts as Saviour and gives them their heaven. Since he kinda plays the junior immortal to the Face of Bow, is it supposed to be a Father/Son relationship? I'm wondering how much any of this was done on purpose...
Other thoughts on Gridlock:
-The couple in the teaser is clearly the one from Grant Wood's famous painting American Gothic, which leads me to wonder who all those other passengers were. The white guy. The red guy. The wolfboy with the two girls. The sophisticated chap. The Japanese girls. Anyone know if they referred to anything?
-There are tons of neat moments if you'll let yourself be charmed by them, from the woman who had kittens to the return of the Macra 40 years after their first (and only other) appearance. The sequence where the Doctor goes down from car to car is great too.-Martha keeps taking a back seat to the Doctor, when compared to Rose, but a lot is said about her character anyway. She actually sits the Doctor down and forces him to pony up. That's a great moment.
-Did you notice the Doctor pulling the arrow from the last episode out of the TARDIS?
-The Ghost of Rose: The Doctor brings all his girlfriends to the same places, BWAH-HA-HA-HA! More seriously though, the Doctor's scream as Martha was taken away echoed Doomsday. He definitely can't bear to lose someone else. And how about that Bad Wolf reference? Yep, there it is in Japanese on a poster in one of those cars:
-Scene I could have done without: I love the scene where Martha sits his ass down, but the story of the Time War is getting tedious, especially if told the same way. In a way, it's realistic. We all tend to tell our stories the same way each time we tell them, but does the camera have to be rolling at that moment?-Favorite line: "You're taking me to all the planets you took her. Ever heard the word 'rebound'?"
-So who IS the other surviving Time Lord? There can only be one. And if you browse the Internet at all, you'll know which one. Or if you're aware of the classic series and have any kind of sense. Let's just say it's not Drax, and leave it at that. I hate spoilers, don't you?
Doctor Who Week Celebration Extra! This space reserved for other Doctor Who posts today.
-Televisionary tells us when the Sci-Fi Ntework will air Series 3 in the States.
-Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator knows how to Doctor a meme as much as I do.
-As does Cullen Walters over at Every Girl's Crazy About a Sharp-Dressed Man.
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