Gridlock: Fear Factor 2 (Quite Scary)
How scary is Doctor Who? Our brave Fear Forecasters present a minute-by-minute guide to Gridlock.
Amy (6)
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Harry (8)
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Samuel (10)
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Adam (14)
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(0) Two familiar figures. "Who are they?" puzzles Samuel. "It's the couple from the Amrerican Gothic painting!" grins Mum. The TV newscaster says to the vehicle victims: "Missing you already!" Adam ponders: "Do you think she's secretly evil? Like the Wire?"
(1) Samuel tuts at the Doctor's description of his home planet. "He hasn't told her yet." But at least we know what Gallifrey's like, now!"
(3) The family cheer at the sight of the Face of Boe. "Oh my gosh!" yells Harry, leaping off the sofa excitedly "He's going to tell his secret!" And Boe's not the only familiar face. Here's Novice Hame! "It's the nice cat nun!" grins Adam. "Er... with a gun?"
Samuel remembers something from last year: "Who needs guns when we have claws?" he recites. "She's changed her mind, then."
(4) Harry's puzzled. "That isn't New Earth! It looks like Satellite 5!" the Doctor is offered drugs, and wisely refuses. Samuel is tempted: "I might have half a happy and half a moody," he thinks. "No you wouldn't," says Dad.
It doesn't help, though, when the woman who lost her parents uses a Forget and Mum says wistfully, "I'd quite like a dose of that occasionally."
(5) "The sonic screwdriver!" cheers Samuel. "Yeah, glad he fixed it!" Adam's spotted a familiar symbol reappearing: "The green crescent moon. I thought that was for hospitals?"
(6) Samuel's worked out why the American Gothic couple were misbehaving: "Oh, I get it! They need three people for the motorway!" Amy, by now, has no idea what's going on, but suspects that all is not well. Her suspicions are confirmed as Martha is abducted! Harry shares the Doctor's angst.
(8) the Doctor angrily berates the street sellers. Samuel: "So that's a 'no' to Happy Happy, then."
(10) Milo makes a gleeful little movement when they're talking about him being the expectant father of a boy. Mum and Dad grin at his reaction.
(11) Brannigan's somehow familiar. "I recognise his voice..." ponders Samuel. He closes his eyes and listens for a bit. "Hey! It's Robbie the Reindeer!" "Looking a bit more like Felix the Cat," suggests Dad. Harry grins at the nose picking story.
(12) Adam is delighted to see the kittens. "Huh?!" says Amy. "Well, their father is a cat", Harry explains. Samuel is amused by how incredulous Brannigan and Valerie are that the Doctor thinks six months too much time to wait for the next lay-by. "I can't imagine waiting that long for a wee," winces Adam.
(13) Brannigan and Valerie reveal that they have an on-board chemical toilet. "That would help with the wee, then," accepts Adam. "Can I have a cracker please?" asks Amy, inspired by the on-screen food.
(14) The Cressini girls amuse Adam. "And she's got a telephone directory!" he laughs as one of them identifies car 465-diamond-six. "How can two girls be married?" wonders Harry.
(15) "They all have the same make of car," observes Adam as he considers the traffic jam. "Maybe there's just one manufacturer," He starts to speculate on the manufacturing capacity and major industries of New New York.
(16) Something huge and hungry is making a noise in the motorway. Adam and Samuel exchange worried looks. "That doesn't sound like an air vent," Adam states. "Unless there's something stuck in it..." Amy and Harry, sensing trouble, tense in anticipation.
(17) Brannigan won't take his vehicle down to the fast Lane, even though he now can. "Chicken!" Samuel mocks him. "No, cat," says Dad unhelpfully.
Adam's looking puzzled: "You'd never get a traffic jam for this long." "Feels like it on some of those bank holiday trips to your grandparents," Dad replies. Adam's studying the gridlock: "Why don't the cars move into all that space you can see?"
(19) Samuel thinks he understands: "They're all desperate to get to the Promised Land." As if someone on-screen has heard him, a hymn starts. "They know the words," says Samuel. "They've had 23 years of practice," Adam explains. Amy and Harry are completely bemused at the unexpected turn of events.
(20) the Doctor's making a break for it. "Oh no, he's giving his coat to the cat man," frets Samuel. "I hope he's taken out the sonic screwdriver and the psychic paper."
(22) the Doctor descends through many vehicles one after the other, to the delight and amusement of the whole family. Samuel: "Hey, isn't the guy in that car the one from last year who had Marconi's disease?"
Adam: "Perhaps he's the same species and they all seem the same. I wonder if we'll see the Duke of Manhattan... Hey, look, nudists!" Harry quickly checks to see if Dad is embarrassed. Samuel: "That must be Adam and Eve." Mum: "A red person!" Adam's not convinced: "That's just the lighting, Mum."
(23) What's behind Martha? The next car along is grabbed by something huge and menacing. The boys look amazed.
(24) The nice cat nun has appeared from nowhere, toting her weapon. "She's turned evil!" wails Samuel. "An evil cat nun!" agrees Adam, aghast. "But where's Boe?" cries Harry.
(25) the Doctor peers through the floor of a car and ponders what lurks in the exhaust fumes. Harry's apprehensive: "It's down there... in the darkness!" Samuel: "Go and see, Doctor! Go and see!"
The mist clears to reveal...? "Crabs!" yells Samuel, who's seen Spongebob Squarepants, and is quite unfazed. "I like crabs" says Amy, also unconcerned. "What can I have to eat?"
Adam recognises the name from somewhere: "Macra? Were they old Doctor Who monsters that changed? He seems to know a lot about them." "They've devolved," says Samuel, as though that explains it. "I think," Adam corrects him, "the Doctor means un-evolved." "They," notes Harry warily, "are BIG".
(26) Macra attack! As car 465-diamond-6 weaves through the angry, snapping claws, Adam fiddles pensively with his jumper. Samuel is sitting up, ramrod straight, in his chair. Harry's engrossed: "It's like a video game!" Amy smiles at Dad and rubs her hungry tummy hopefully.
(27) Martha's brilliant idea sees the car switch off all power. Adam: "How are they still hovering?" Samuel: "They're not, they're on the ground."
(28) the Doctor greets Novice Hame, then breaks the hug when he remembers what she did last time. Everyone laughs.
(29) The Senate is full of dead politicians. Samuel is impressed: "Cool skeletons!"
(30) The whole family chant at once: "The Face of Boe!" But then they're sad to see this old friend looking so ill. "He's got a secret, you know," Samuel informs everyone. "Don't die! You haven't told us your secret!" Harry's out of his seat again, eyes wide: "We need to know!" Amy's mind is on other things and helps herself to a cracker.
(32) It must be serious work going on, Adam realises: "The Doctor's got his glasses on again."
(34) The whole family smile and nod when the Doctor says: "Don't go dying on me, you big old face!"
(35) "Uh-oh!" says Adam. "The Macra's got them! Turn the engine off!" The car weaves and swerves and finally escapes. "Woooaah!" celebrates Samuel. The cars all head towards the brilliant sunlight. "Hang on," wonders Samuel, "if the roof was closed off, then where did all that rain come from earlier?"
(37) The Face of Boe's glass cracks. "Oh no!" yelps Mum, alarmed. Samuel and Harry are more concerned about something else: "Tell him the secret!"
(39) At long last: "So that's his secret! Oh, I thought he was going to say 'I am your father'. Harry: "I thought he was going to say 'I am now dead!'. But," he continues excitedly, "the secret is that there's another Time Lord!"
Adam bites his lip: "I hope it's not one of the nasty ones." Mum is almost inconsolable: "Aw, I love the Face of Boe." Dad gives her an affronted look.
(40) Martha's disappointed when the Doctor says she's not who the face of Boe was referring to. Samuel and Adam laugh at this. "Listen! More hymn singing!" says Adam. "Sounds like a Welsh choir," says Mum.
(42) The kids sit quietly listening as the Doctor explains the Time Lord-Dalek war to his friend Martha.