Martha’s joy ride continues…
Synopsis
The Doctor decides to extend the definition of “one trip†to “one trip into the past, one trip into the future†for Martha.
She wants to go to his planet, which he describes as wondrous, but instead takes her to New Earth and New New York.
They arrive in a ramshackle part of town and Martha is promptly kidnapped, loaded into a car and taken onto the motorway. The motorway is a vast 3 dimensional freeway for flying cars, locked in perpetual gridlock. People live the entire lives on the motorway, driving only a few miles in years. The only hope to get somewhere quickly is get into the fast lane and to do that, you have to have a three or more person carpool.
The kidnappers, a young couple, have taken Martha to round out their carpool.
The Doctor chases them to the motorway and is nearly choked on the exhaust fumes. A couple rescue him, but refuse to take him into the fast lane. There are legends of something terrible living down there. The Doctor leaps down the column of cars, one by one until her reaches the lane immediately above the fast lane.
Down in the fast lane, Martha’s vehicle is being attacked by something monstrous.
The Doctor jumps starts the exhaust systems enough to see what’s down there. It’s the Macra, making a surprise return to the series after 40 years. They thrive on the noxious gas but seem to have devolved into nothing more than animals.
Just then, Novice Hame (the cat woman last seen in the episode New Earth) arrives and teleports the Doctor back to the Senate of New New York.
She explains that the upper city is dead, killed by a drug that everyone as using. Their last act was to quarantine the planet for a hundred years. The Face of Boe saved everyone on the Motorway by tapping into the computers and infusing it with his life force. That was 24 years ago.
The Doctor sets about repairing the computers and attempts to open the roof over the motorway. His attempt fails because of insufficient power. The Face of Boe channels the last of his life into the computers and the roof opens. The Doctor orders everyone out into the light, including Martha’s car which has so far avoided the Macra.
The Face of Boe dies, passing on the message to the Doctor that he alluded to back in New Earth.
The Doctor and Martha start to return to the TARDIS, but Martha refuses to go until the Doctor gives her some straight answers. The Doctor admits that Gallifrey and all the Time Lords were destroyed in the Last Great Time War. The episode ends with the Doctor describing the beauty of Gallifry to Martha.
Commentary
I need to watch this episode again, the kids were just being a bit of a nuisance during it. Perhaps it is because I wasn’t able to give it my undivided attention, but I rather enjoyed it.
This was properly paced, self-contained episode without many gross plot holes. It’s not at all what I expect from a Russell T. Davies episode.
I’m not too happy about the use of the Macra. It seems rather unnecessary. While I’ve not ever seen the Macra Terror, I do know that they were intelligent beings. “Devolving†them into unthinking beasts only diminishes them in the pantheon of Doctor Who monsters. They could have used any CGI creature they wanted. Why pick the Macra and lobotomize them?
I thought extreme close-ups were overused in the episode. Yes, it would be claustrophobic in those cars and I’m sure that’s what the director was going for. Still, there’s a reason they don’t use close-ups of adults in most advertising campaigns – it’s been shown to cause the viewer to recoil from the ad. I can’t help feeling that’s what was happening here. I just reached a point where there was one close-up too many and after that point I wanted the director to stop.
The CGI were extensive and the motorway and cars were just so-so, but the senate the the shots of the upper city looked good.
If the undercity and the motorway were completely sealed off, why was it raining when the Doctor and Martha arrived? What about the people who lived in those buildings? Didn’t any of them notice they were sealed off? That they were getting nothing but automated traffic reports from above? Russell still has a ways to go about establishing credible setups.
Those minor nitpicks aside, it was a decent episode.
What I enjoyed most was that I finally guessed what the Face of Boe was going to say. As you may recall, last year I predicted that the Face of Boe was going to reveal it was really Rose Tyler. Alright, I admit it, I was completely wrong there. Well, be fair! At the time I thought the Face of Boe was going to return at the end of last season. If it had, then certainly the message would have to pertain somehow to Rose’s departure.
The Face of Boe didn’t return last year, and, obviously, didn’t turn out to be Rose. Strike one for my abilities as a prognosticator and make me gun shy for the next time.
I’d formulated a new guess a couple weeks ago as to the gist of Boe’s message based on this year’s information and I only wish I’d blogged it, because I nailed word for word, “You are not alone.â€
What’s it mean? The Doctor doesn’t know, but I think I do. It all goes back to my comments on Smith & Jones. They are once again laying pieces out towards the big “surprise†for the end of the year. The Doctor mentioned his brother. His brother would be a Time Lord. The Master was a Time Lord. Certainly the Master, who is clearly as indestructible a the Doctor, wouldn’t have been fighting in the Time War and is unlikely to have died in it. It’s been speculated that the Master is the Doctor’s brother. “Mr. Saxon†(apparently played by John Simm, late of Life on Mars) is the “recurring themeâ€. Ergo, Mr. Saxon is the Master, and therefore the Doctor is not alone.
If that’s really true, perhaps he’ll wish he was alone. Can you imagine the Master’s taunts to the Doctor? “Really, Doctor, I must congratulate you. You were able to do what I tried so hard and failed to do. To destroy the Time Lords in one fell swoop. I didn’t know you had it in you. heh heh heh heh heh heh.â€
Still, why would the Face give him bad news? Perhaps the Master has something that could somehow save the Time Lords? I have to admit, I think they’ve overdone the whole, “oh sad, sad me, I’m the last of the Time Lords. There are no more. It’s just me.†It’s getting old and it is time to put it behind, or get rid of the notion all together.
Gridlock
by Russel T. Davies
starring David Tennant as the Doctor
and Freema Agyeman as Martha
Next episode: The Daleks return, and even in the preview, in addition to some incredibly awful American accents, the Doctor says, “They always survive while I loose everything.†There’s just going to beat us over the head this year with the Doctor being the last of his kind. That’s just more fuel for my speculation about the return of at least one Time Lord before it is all over.
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