The Time of Angels

The Weeping Angels have been the most popular monsters of the revived series and even in their first appearance, managed to cement their status as one of the most iconic monsters of all time. To show how popular they have become in such a short space of time, here are the top five episodes of Doctor Who as voted by you (The Fans) in 2009:

1. The Caves of Androzani (Fifth Doctor)
2. Blink (Tenth Doctor)
3. Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor)
4. The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Fourth Doctor)
5. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (Ninth Doctor)

Blink, in only two short years, had managed to pass classics such as Genesis of the Daleks to take out the number two spot. This shows how popular the weeping angels are with the younger generation, so what better way to bring them back then in a two part adventure starring the new Doctor. But does it manage to convey an effective and interesting new side to these creatures. Join me as we take a look at The Time of Angels.

The story begins in a wide open field with a guard wandering around aimlessly having been affected by halogenic lipstick. This opening teaser slowly builds up to the reveal of the River Song, a character who has split the fan-base regarding her presence in the Doctor's life but after her opening story, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead she was well received enough to come back. The Doctor finds a black box from the Byzantium, a spacecraft which had crashed 125,000 years before. The message coded on the box is written in Old High Galiferyan and it says "Hello Sweetie". River Song is revealed and she is confronted by the ship's guards who she warns about the passenger in the cargo hold and that the ship won't reach it's destination. She propels herself out of the airlock crashing into the Doctor who is waiting for her. They get up to River saying "Follow that Ship" then the title sequence comes crashing in.

The first part of this episode is an excellent example of Steven Moffat creating an interesting dynamic between the Doctor and River Song, a woman who we don't know much about yet. In this short scene alone, we discover that River can pilot the TARDIS and that it was a shame the Doctor was busy that day. Also, that the Doctor never uses the blue stabilisers which causes the TARDIS to land perfectly without a sound. The Doctor questions her on this saying "they're blue borings" cause they don't make the classic whoosh-whoosh sound. River again tries to one up the Doctor telling him to do the environment checks but with one look outside, the Doctor rattles off information at high speed regarding the planet's surface and atmosphere. The Doctor wants to leave River here and take Amy away to another time but she questions the Doctor on the fact it's an alien planet so the Doctor lets her go.

He introduces Amy to River who immediately assumes that River is the Doctor's wife. More playful banter insures as the trio banter about each others relationship with the others. Amy, over the past few episodes, has seen the Doctor in an increasingly more sexual way which escalates in the next two episodes to be resolved in the next episode. Amy's dialogue throughout this two-part adventure is reminiscent of a jealous girlfriend or potential future partner as Amy goes out of her way to make the Doctor feel uncomfortable around River. Both Karen Gillian and Matt Smith's acting is superb in these episodes considering that this was their first recorded story, it fits into the progression of their characters up to this point. This goes to show how both of our two regulars are up to the task of knowing where their character are in their timeline and to create a seemingly effortless progression for their characters.

They are soon introduced to the clerics, a religious order who also serve as the military in this society, they ask the Doctor about Weeping Angels as they set up camps around the crash site. River shows the Doctor the only footage they have which is a four second loop of the angel looking away. They all leave while Amy continues to look at it. The Doctor and River look through an old book on the weeping angels which contains no images of the angels because the image of an angel itself will become an angel, leading them to try and rescue Amy from the angel slowly advancing towards her. They save her just as she looks into its eyes which is not good at all (as we will see in the next episode) and the clerics have blasted through to the bottom of the Aplan temple.

They enter the temple (AKA Maze of the Dead) which they discover is filled with statue-ifed Aplans. They split up as the Doctor, Amy and River go searching for the angel as the other clerics split up into smaller groups to check out each and every staute for the weeping angel. This is the part of the episode that is slowly moving towards the cliffhanger and it builds up suspense for the next twenty mins while also developing the character of River more in relationship to the Doctor. One by one more clerics get picked off by the weeping angel until it takes on the voice of Bob, a young and frightened cleric who the Doctor had consulted before he went searching. It's during this point that the Doctor discovers a secret that has been staring him right in the face, the statue-ifed Aplans are Angels because the Aplans were two-headed while the statues only have one head. The crash was a means to re-power the angels as over time they had lost their form due to starvation. The Doctor's discovery of this fact is a great piece of tension created by Moffat to lure the audience in and create a deep fear within the viewers.

Throughout the episode, Amy has been hallucinating and seeing stone fall from her eyes. This culminates in Amy seeing her hand as stone and not being able to move. The Doctor manages to convince her that she is imagining things as they join the rest of the clerics near the bottom of the crashed Byzantium.  These facts on Amy will come to a head in the next episode where it will be discussed more in detail. The group manages to escape Angel Bob and the regenerating angels but are trapped just below the ship, but the Doctor has a plan. He asks everyone if they trust him to which they reply yes, then he asks Octavian for his gun. After the angels inform the Doctor that it was Bob's fear that killed him, he informs them "that there is one thing you should never put in a trap. Me." As he shoots out the gravity globe that was keeping the angels at bay.

For the first two-parter of the series, this is a great entry developing the characters and relationships of our new Doctor/Companion team while still injecting some need mystery and allowing the story to take its time and build towards its cliffhanger. While no cracks were seen in this episode, they will play a big part in the next episode. River Song's development in this episode is good clouding the viewers perception of her and while I have always been a fan of Alex Kingston's portrayal, I can see why some fan's dislike her place in the Who Mythos. The Time of Angels gets an 8 out of 10 for being an effective and interesting opening half to the angels story and for furthering the mythos of the angels and the Doctor's relationships.

NEXT TIME: FLESH AND STONE