Howling:Breaking the Fourth Wall

In the show's history the fourth wall has been broken a few times in clever ways.


 * The Dalek's Master Plan - The First Doctor wishes the audience a happy christmas.
 * Rememberance of the Daleks - Ace hears someone talking about a new sci-fi program on the TV in England, 1963.
 * Blink - The Angels never move even if the audience are the only people who can see them.
 * The Wedding of River Song - DOCTOR WHO? DOCTOR WHO? DOCTOR WHO?

I'm just wondering are there other episodes of DW, TSJA or TW notable for breaking the fourth wall? 87.102.117.106talk to me 18:36, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

The Daleks' Master Plan is a definite breach of the 4th wall, since the Doctor addresses the audience directly. The others are arguable.

In Remembrance of the Daleks, we don't (quite) get to hear the name of the programme. It's self-referential but doesn't really breach the 4th wall.

In Blink, not seeing the Angels move is really just giving the audience the same point of view as the characters and that's not breaking the 4th wall.

The Wedding of River Song is again self-referential but no more.

As far as I can recall, The Daleks' Master Plan is the only unambiguous breach in the show's history. --78.146.183.1talk to me 22:53, January 6, 2012 (UTC)

I'll accept your argument for ROTD and TWORS but "Blink" I like to think breaks the fourth wall. In one scene a woman is looking through a crack in a door. An Angel from the garden comes up behind her and... stops. Why? Why not get on with it and zap her into the past? Nobody was watching it. Or were they? 87.102.117.106talk to me 00:07, January 7, 2012 (UTC)

That's a reasonable question. The trouble with trying to answer it is that we don't know enough about who or what needs to be observing an Angel to stop it. If it was limited to intelligent beings, that would raise the question: How intelligent? As a defense mechanism, which is what the quantum lock is, it wouldn't be much use if any old predator could gobble up an Angel, as long as the predator was dim-witted enough. Conversely, if being observed by any organism capable of observing was enough to stop an Angel, they'd hardly ever get the chance to move. In the case you cite, I could speculate that maybe a stray cat happened to glance at the Angel. For all we know, that might do it -- but it's not a very satisfactory explanation. I don't think it qualifies as "breaking the 4th wall" but it is a hole in the plot. --78.146.183.1talk to me 00:46, January 7, 2012 (UTC)

i also saw a 4th doctor episode not so long ago where the 4th doctor seems to be breaking the 4th wall right after stepping out of the tardis, although it could have just been a soliloque (sp?). i can't remember which episode it was, but i know for certain it was in season 15 or earlier as i have not seen later episodes yet. Imamadmad talk to me 02:16, January 7, 2012 (UTC)

Info: "soliloquy". Episode description rings no immediate bells. Can you remember which companion(s) and/or monster(s)? A soliloquy is quite likely -- the 4th Doctor especially had a habit of talking to himself, even if there were others present. Other incarnations have done the same but not usually as much. --89.241.73.88talk to me 05:11, January 7, 2012 (UTC)