DVD Extras (box sets only) include:
The Doctor and Martha are introduced fairly well, and have an excellent scene together in the TARDIS interior. However, the TARDIS itself is not having its greatest day, as all materializations of the police box are neglected for the second story in a row. Not a good idea to be ignoring this so often this early for any viewers who started watching the show when Martha joined, and not very satisfying for the long-term fans either. At least there is some wisdom in the smooth juxtaposition of TARDIS interior and exterior scenes, when a nearby cutaway scene could easily have interrupted them if a certain 1980's mentality had entered the editing room. That cutaway scene, featuring characters from a previous story, is gold within the first half of the story - pretty much the only thing sustaining a bit of anticipation that the tale is headed somewhere interesting. The exploration of the setting continues, and is vastly disappointing. It actually turns out to be New Earth again, an "alien" planet that tries too hard to make us feel like we haven't actually left Earth. And instead of exploring the futuristic side of things, we're stuck in the slums, looking at a run down environment filled with various run-down & desperate people. Just as things feel like they might be picking up a bit via some action, we instead get trapped inside some tiny flying cars in a traffic jam. This drags on throughout the second quarter of the story, without anything in it to suggest that we won't continue to be stuck in those tiny cars for the rest of the entire adventure, and it all begins to feel like a cheap "filler" story within the season. The single biggest improvement this script would have needed would have been to put something more into this section, maybe several somethings, to help the audience anticipate the variety of story elements coming up in the second half. One seriously risks losing the casual viewers at that point, who have become well-accustomed to cost-cutting episode structures on TV, and in sci-fi TV in particular. There is a bit of style-over-substance excellence again when the CGI environment of the motorway tunnel comes into view for the Doctor and the audience. I propose that we only find it excellent because it is a difficult special effect. If such a real place existed and they had simply filmed it, who would get excited about a big, filthy old car tunnel? One wouldn't even be able to appreciate the grand scale of the architecture, with all the exhaust fumes blocking our view. And the production has to take a hit for making all the cars in the tunnel exactly the same boring black box, mainly because it was established in "New Earth" (story no. 172), that this particular city is already more believably populated by air cars of several different varieties and colours. The tunnel is also too big and spacious to make the traffic jam feel like a jam. How much are the cars locked by computer control? What would be the logic of preventing them from freely using the upper half of the tunnel?
However, newer viewers will probably just hear a name and not really get enough background to glean anything from it. By the time this revelation occurs, there isn't much time left to do anything with it.
Old Rugged DystopiaA traffic jam makes for a very weird dystopia, yet one that resonates with today's society with surprising ease. Viewers will probably be split on whether or not it makes sense that people would still be accepting enough of the length of time that a motorway journey takes to start out on it in the first place - would they not be more keen to find other ways? At times, their reasoning only seems to make sense on subsequent viewing, and still feels a bit contrived to serve the dystopian idea that the writer wants to set up.But, as Brannigan points out, we viewers shouldn't think that we know the New New Yorkers and their motives so well, just before the city launches into a congregational choir singing of "Old Rugged Cross". While easily appreciable for the beautiful melodic qualities the production manages to give it, the lyrics contain some subtext and deeper meanings. DVD owners, turn on your closed-captions if you need to. This hymn, neatly embedded in the heart of a science-fiction dystopia, successfully paints a picture of Christian beliefs as a dystopia in itself, proclaiming an embrace of and love for ritualistic suffering, while the last line, the final exchange of old ways for something brighter and more appropriate, is phrased as something to be procrastinated indefinitely. How often is this aspect of Christianity not only accepted but celebrated by members of our society? And how often do we repeatedly head into the predictable traffic jams on our main city highways, while neglecting to even seek out and learn alternate routes through lesser known streets? Human nature isn't as far flung from the portrayed habits of New New Yorkers as we detached viewers may wish to think. Driving the point home more clearly, two interesting things happen immediately. The final swell of the music coincides with Martha's car being given access to the fast-lane, and her party rushes off to embrace the dystopia's false promises. Contrasting that as the music abruptly ends with a dischord, the Doctor launches off on his own tangent, not just thinking but acting outside the box, literally. It's as if the hymn has spurred him to realize that the time to exchange the cross for the crown is long overdue, and he wastes no time.
Insane, and a bit magnificent!This is the point at which I realized, on first viewing, that "Gridlock" was going to be an interesting story after all, and Murray Gold steps up with some driving heroic music to help drive that point home. Dystopias everywhere beware: the Doctor is in, and he will be as much of a catalyst for change and the unraveling of dystopian power here as he had been previously in so many other worthy tales. The second half of the story throws a lot of enjoyable twists and turns at the viewer, some literal, some subtle, and at least half of them are accompanied by stunningly beautiful or richly exciting visuals. The Doctor is kept very busy with several heroic story beats, and has a chance to interact with pretty much every other character and setting in the story, even if all too briefly with some of them. Very well done.
5 Billion Year Secret? Really?Well obviously I can't talk about any of that in this no-spoilers environment I've created under the "Buyers' Guide" label. You'll just have to watch the episode, and come back to read the In-depth Analysis version of this review later. Or, if you fear no spoilers, go ahead and brave it now.
The final departure scene departs interestingly from what you normally expect at the end of a Doctor Who story. Visually, the set is nothing you want to be looking at, but it doesn't matter, because the actors and their dynamics are so superb. I may not believe in some of the content of the dialogue, but Tennant nails it and puts so much expression into it, you know that the Doctor believes it, and you feel it with him. A worthy moment, and a worthy visual closing shot, neatly wrapping up an unusual but very worthwhile adventure.
This story has become available on DVD:
Note: The full season sets contain commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and other extras. The smaller volumes only feature the plain episodes. Comments on this article are welcome. You may contact the author from this page:
|
