Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The Weeping Angels turned a childhood game, statues that only move when no one is looking, into a rule you can hear in your own head. The line works because it is an instruction and a threat at once: the Doctor is giving a human the only defence there is, and it cannot be kept for long, since everyone blinks. It became Doctor Who's best-known modern warning.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Doctor WhoShow the scene
The warning comes from Blink (series 3, episode 10, 9 June 2007), the Steven Moffat episode that introduced the Weeping Angels. It is a Doctor-lite story: the Tenth Doctor and Martha appear only briefly, and the Doctor mostly speaks through a hidden Easter egg on seventeen DVDs. In the recording he talks in half a conversation, as if answering questions Sally Sparrow has not yet asked. His instruction to her is to keep her eyes on the Angels, the statues that move only when unobserved, and not to blink. The message turns out to be meant for Sally, who owns exactly those seventeen DVDs.
Sources (2)
- TARDIS Data Core: Blink (TV story)Plot and production sectionsReference checked
- TARDIS Data Core: Weeping AngelAppearancesReference checked
Context reviewed
