In the fourth episode of the fifth series of Doctor Who, DON’T BLINK. DON’T EVEN BLINK. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Doctor Who.
When you deal with episodic television, especially shows that are not serial based, it’s easy for side characters or themes to become iconic, especially within that show’s fandom. I am reluctant to name anything, in fear of spoiling in order to make a point, so some of us can talk about specific examples in a spoiler-friendly way in the comments below. But with a creature like the Weeping Angels, it is a monumental task to think that you can bring them back. I make no bones about it: I love “Blink.†I’ve since watched it two more times and it’s still a great adventure. It’s got time travel, one giant ontological paradox, and the most terrifying creatures ever. GOD THEY ARE SO SCARY.
I’d just always assumed that “Blink†was the last time we’d ever see the Weeping Angels. I mean…how on earth could you bring them back? Well, THIS IS HOW YOU BRING THEM BACK. Any of the problems I’ve had with the last couple episodes of the fifth series are completely corrected in “The Time of Angels.†Unlike “The Beast Below,†which was full of great ideas, but suffered from an overflowing script, this story has a great deal of space, allowing the numerous lines of plot to pulse and flow much more naturally, giving us a much more meaningful bunch of surprises, too.
And oh boy, this starts off with one doozy of a surprise. As the Doctor travels to a museum with Amy, who is a bit frustrated that the Doctor has a time machine and is going to a museum. But it’s his way of “keeping score,†so to speak. Upon discovering a message to him, from the past, on a box/flight recorder of sorts, the camera constantly cuts to a different scene, on board the Byzantium 12,000 years in the past. I expected the reveal to be not of a familiar face, but something to trigger what the rest of the episode would be about.
NOPE. IT’S FUCKING RIVER SONG. ;aksdjf ;alkjd fa;klsdjf ;askdfjl as;dfkljadsf;lkajsdf;lkasdfja;sdlkfj af;ksljasdfjklasfd
Seriously. SERIOUSLY. RIVER SONG AND THE WEEPING ANGELS IN ONE SINGLE GODDAMN EPISODE. I mean, this episode is basically impossible to ruin. Not that Moffat does, but it’s off to a good start.
By not giving away the Weeping Angels plot point for at least the first fifteen minutes or so, we also get a chance for the story to focus on Amy meeting River Song for the first time. I like that Amy has absolutely no jealousy in her heart as she watches River bounce about the TARDIS and fly it so much better than the Doctor. (She did learn from the best, right?) Instead, if anything, it’s certainly a humorous sense of curiosity. As Amy said, she’s never seen anyone act like that around the Doctor before.
Sppppooooooiiilllllleeeerrrssssss.
So it’s the second time the Doctor meets River Song; she’s got a much different hairstyle and her attitude is a little more arrogant this time around. But she’s very much the River Song I enjoyed back in “Silence in the Libraryâ€/â€Forest of the Dead.†UGH I AM SO EXCITED. Good news is that since we’ve already seen her die, she can’t die here!
Anyway, let’s just get to the really good stuff. (NOT THAT ANY OF THIS WAS BAD. IT WASN’T. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL AND NOTHING HURT.) I almost wish that there was a camera fixed on me while I watched this episode because I imagine that it would have been hilarious to watch my face shine with victory when River Song revealed that they were hunting a Weeping Angel, believed to be the last one left. I seriously threw both my hands in the air as if my favorite team had just scored a touchdown and I yelled at the TV with pure, simple joy.
AND THEN I CURLED UP INTO THE FETAL POSITION FOR TWENTY MINUTES STRAIGHT.
See, the thing is, there seemed to be no element of surprise left for the Weeping Angels. I knew how they functioned. There wasn’t the added element of The Doctor speaking to Sally Sparrow via an ontological paradox. There was the issue of figuring out how to destroy or disable the creature when it was alone, but I felt that I would be able to tolerate just ONE Weeping Angel.
Nope. Never ever prepared.
As Amy gets a slight bit of education on what the Weeping Angels are, I slowly began to realize that Steven Moffat had to be aware of all of the comfort zones when it came to this specific creature. It did not take him long to not only expand the mythology of the Weeping Angels, but to leave me absolutely riveted to the screen. As I said before, this is how you bring them back. The four second clip of the Angel was creepy enough, but when it MOVED as soon as Amy was alone with it? NO. NO FUCKING THANK YOU. How can it do that???? How can it move? It’s a goddamn image. IT’S A CLIP. IT IS NOT A SENTIENT BEING.
Oh god, my heart. If I had liveblogged this episode, my review would have looked like this:
Image: New post page with KEYSMASHES in the title and body of the post
Watching Amy Pond stare, with terror, as the Weeping Angel CAME OUT OF THE GODDAMN VIDEO CLIP. WEEPING ANGEL WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THAT. Oh good fucking god, you all. AND THIS WASN’T EVEN THE SCARIEST SCENE YET someone please come hold me
It’s at this point that two things happen, the first of which is the Doctor’s warning to Amy. He mentions something I found interesting, about the eyes not being windows to the soul, but doors. Unfortunately, in a moment of panic, Amy stares directly into the eyes of the Weeping Angel. Even after she disables the image, something is still wrong. As she says, there’s something in her eye. SOMETHING IS IN HER EYE. We’ll get to more about that in a second.
What was so horrifying about the Angels the first time around is that they always seemed to pick people off, generally one at a time. A lot of “Blink” involves tight, claustrophobic spaces, but “The Time of Angels” feels so much more expansive and grand, especially since there are far more people around. Of course it’s ridiculous, but I love that it’s set inside the Maze of the Dead. By placing the lone Angel in with a group of actual statues, it ramps up the tension in an entirely different way. And I think that’s really important in an episode like that. While Moffat certainly relies (only a little bit) on the DON’T BLINK, DON’T EVER BLINK bit from “Blink,” by giving the creature a new setting, he can still keep the story fresh.
And then FUCKING DUST POURS OUT OF AMY’S EYE. I’m sorry, that is one of the most disturbing goddamn images I have ever seen on television. No. Seriously, no. I would not survive five minutes past that point if that happened to me.
But let’s just get to what we all need to talk about right fucking now. (I’m swearing a lot today, THIS EPISODE HAS UNNERVED ME SO.) As the group have separated and the Weeping Angel from the Byzantium is busy killing off the second set of clerics, River and the Doctor spend time exploring the Maze of the Dead, telling the soldiers and Amy about the previous civilization that lived there and created the place. The threat of doom seems to loom around every corner; I liked that one of the clerics, Bob, freaked out a bit and shot a statue that was clearly not an angel, if only because it suggested that this situation was so impossible. How do you find one specific statue in a maze of hundreds, maybe thousands of them?
And that’s when both River and the Doctor get that look on their face. I had not noticed at all that the Doctor had said that the Aplans had two heads.Two heads. And they are currently in a maze of statues all with one head.
THE ENTIRE PLACE IS FULL OF WEEPING ANGELS. Literally one of the most genuinely shocking and fucked up plot twists this show has ever given us. HOLY SHIT!!! I also loved that Moffat explained why these specific statues looked nothing like the creatures we were familiar with: having lost their vitality due to their isolation, they are now gaining energy from the power being leaked by the crashed ship. YEAH. SO. THE SHIP WAS CRASHED ON PURPOSE AND THEY ARE NOW FORCED TO FACE AN ARMY OF WEEPING ANGELS. Steven Moffat, how do you come up with this nonsense. How the fuck does your brain work this way.
I was worried that once Bob was taken and his “voice” started communicating with the Doctor that it was going to resemble the “Data Ghost” from River’s last episodes. It is fairly similar, I can admit that. But the execution here in “The Time of Angels” is just so unsettling, especially because it feels like the Weeping Angels are using Bob’s voice specifically to taunt the survivors, using a very matter-of-fact tone to communicate with the Doctor. And really, just when this episode could not get anymore nerve-wracking, then there’s the scene where Amy’s hand TURNS TO STONE. She is turning into a Weeping Angel, isn’t she? ISN’T SHE? Is the Doctor going to have to bite more of her body? I JEST. LET US HOPE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN, for that would be awkward.
I really have to say, though, that bringing back River Song, the Weeping Angels, and having the Maze of the Dead be a hiding place for the rest of the Weeping Angel species still never prepared me for the final moment of this episode. Completely surrounded, the voice of Bob taunting them with their imminent demise, the remaining survivors are forced to put their trust in the Doctor, who may not even have a good idea to save them. But they have to. Do they have any other choice?
“Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap. If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.”
That’s the Doctor. He then destroys the gravity globe and THE EPISODE ENDS. ARE YOU SERIOUS. THIS IS A TWO-PARTER????
FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
THOUGHTS
- THERE ARE SO MANY TINY MOMENTS OF BRILLIANCE IN THIS EPISODE.
- Ok, so what IS River? Why does Father Octavian keep hinting at something else about her past? (Errr…the Doctor’s future? CONFUSED.)
- “Ooooh, Doctor, you sonicked her.” AMY POND, LITERAL FAVORITE PERSON ON THE PLANET.
- “You are mister grumpy face today.”
- “River, hug Amy.” “Why???” “Because I’m busy!”
- “You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down.” OK, SERIOUSLY, 100% DEPRESSING. Holy shit. FUCK.
- MOFFAT EXPLAINED THE NOISE THE TARDIS MAKES WHEN IT LANDS. Oh god, I love that it’s because the Doctor is technically doing something wrong AND HE DOESN’T CARE.
- “Oh, well now it’s just boring, isn’t it? They’re boring-ers, that’s what they are, blue boring-ers!”
- Seriously, one of the most flawless episodes of this show ever. FUCKED UP and EXCITING and RIVETING and I AM SO GLAD NO ONE TOLD ME THIS WAS A TWO-PART STORY.
The short version: This is why, IMO, Steven Moffat has a justifiable claim to being in a different league from almost any other writer New Who has seen. This story is a thing of beauty, damn near perfect, supremely well executed and a joy to watch again and again.
Right, the long version and I was going to start with the negatives but… can’t actually think of any. Oh, wait, I’ve got one, the special guest appearance from David Tennant’s Police Box in the initial space rescue (look carefully, the Mill used the wrong CG model). And… umm… no, sorry, drawing a blank here.a
So, the good! Let’s start with Matt and Karen. This is their first day believe it or not, the very first thing they shot and they’re absolutely on fire. You can tell right from the get go that there’s a genuine chemistry between the two. Eleven is a joy to watch here, from his initial reluctance to get involved with River (wouldn’t you be if you knew how she dies before the rest of the relationship happens?) to his concern for Amy (space teeth! And yes, Matt did bite Karen for real) and on to being the Big Damn Hero for the Clerics while being willing to admit making a mistake. And that badass boast at the end is delivered perfectly, shivers down the spine every single time. Karen is her usual wonderful self, with Amy’s scene in the shuttle with the TV Angel being a real highlight. It’s terrifying as hell and yet she managed to get just enough humour into the performance to balance it out (and, of course, she’s acting to nothing and with no-one else around as well). The reaction on being told it was an Alien Planet(tm) and she could go and see is lovely, being willing to die for the Doctor is fantastic and her constant picking at the River / Doctor puzzle is great. Plus she’s just adorable in that oversized jumper and I won’t even mention the iron bar to the libido that is “heel boy”…
The guest actors do a great job as well, Alex Kingston most of all. She’s got an incredibly tough role when you think about it, having to sell us the idea that this is an earlier River than the one we know with very little time to work yet she pulls it off beautifully. She’s one of those actresses that just feels like she belongs in this show and manages to change up the dynamic without altering the nature of the show, a great double act between her and Moffat. Talking of which the script is just fantastic, fast paced, imaginative, great use of the Angels and the new powers make sense (even the fact they snap necks as they couldn’t send anyone back into the past without risking sending a warning to those in the future). There’s such a lot going on yet Moffat seems to find time to let everyone breathe and bring wonderful little character moments in to play without sacrificing the pace of the episode. Fantastic stuff.
It looks a million dollars too, the effects team and the location scouts did a HELL of a good job all ways round. You really wouldn’t be too upset if this was presented as a movie. Oh and a special YAY for seeing the TARDIS in hot pursuit, always makes me smile. Talking of which I LOVE the ‘leave the brakes on’ scene, it’s a great short hand for showing that, in some ways, River knows more than the Doctor thanks to the out-of-sync meetings while still giving us a great reason for the sound not being removed from the show (because yes, let’s face it, it IS the most wonderful sound in the universe!).
Couple of other little things: if you can, watch the in-vision commentary for this one on the series box set. Karen and The Moff together are just the perfect commentary pair with Moffat providing the running commentary and Karen being a great foil (Highlight is probably discussing the natural sequel to Blink, Wink, and how winking eventually causes the brain to reset and blink so no, it’s not a way to escape from the Angels. Also that the Angel invasion of Earth was thwarted when they came across some bees….). And good LORD how creepy was this episode? From the Angel coming out of the set, the dust from Amy’s eye, the decayed Angel statues moving slowly towards their prey and Amy’s stone hand (which was superbly well done) it’s skirting the boundaries of what you can get away with in a family show and that’s exactly what Doctor Who should be doing dang it!
Heh, I'm actually forcing myself to stop here so as not to just gush over every line, set, movement and noise in the episode… wish I could say that about more shows!
"let’s face it, it IS the most wonderful sound in the universe!"
I have a recurring fantasy that I'm sitting in a movie theatre watching the previews and it's just a black screen with the words "Coming Summer 2015" and nothing else for about 15 seconds.
The words then dissolve to THAT sound, and the clip is over.
Seriously, I get chills.
Ooooh yes… the only small problem being I'm not keen on the idea of a Who movie as I'm not sure it'd work. Though if they DID do one I'd want the first non-teaser trailer to have the 11th Doctor's theme on it as well… honestly, as much as I adore the Who theme, 11's music through an IMAX sound rig would be a punch the air moment. Actually… okay, bad fan fic ahead… imagine Movie Voiceover Guy doing a 'in the darkest corners of the universe lurk terrors that are woven into the nightmares of a million worlds. Creatures that exist only to conquer and destroy against whom no force can stand…. * you know the sort of thing, real end of the universe stuff… and THEN the Vworp kicks in… heck, add on the "hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically….. Run!' from the Eleventh Hour bit to finish off.
I have a negative for you, if you want another? (and only if you're british…)
THE BEEB FOREVER RUINED THE LAST 30 SECONDS OF THIS EPISODE FOR ME
I will never not think of animated graham norton at that most epic of epicosity moments.
eh.
I'll get over it!
Heh, I was watching on BBC HD and we didn't get the dreaded Curse of Norton, only BBC1 fell prey to his irritating visage (and then only BBC1 England). That was ridiculous though, wonder what the reaction was to whoever decided to slap that on there.
I loled at the bit in the commentary when Moffat said that he didn't get the Norton thing because he was watching on BBC HD and afterwards his phone EXPLODED with texts. XD
I was watching that commentary with a mate (yes, it was the first thing we watched when the Blu Ray dropped through the letterbox, no this had nothing at all to do with it being more video of Karen Gillan, yes that second point might be a lie) and we both laughed at that and then damn near broke something when one of us (honestly don't remember who but as it's my story I'll say it was me) wondered what Moffat's phone call to the BBC was like….
WHICHEVER HOLDS THE IMAGE OF GRAHAM NORTON BECOMES ITSELF GRAHAM NORTON.
…That thought made a little bit of pee come out…
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What happened? This is a story I haven’t heard.
This happened http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GspzbY1iYO8 Much to the annoyance of many, many people.
Graham Norton then replied with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpZS_54uoA&fe…
"I like that Amy has absolutely no jealousy in her heart as she watches River bounce about the TARDIS and fly it so much better than the Doctor. (She did learn from the best, right?) Instead, if anything, it’s certainly a humorous sense of curiosity. " – Thanks Mark, you've just summed up (possibly unintentionally) why I couldn't stand a certain blonde companion by the end of her run and adore Amy. Well, that and Amy's tendency of being unbelievably awesome while still feeling like a real person.
Oh and want to get really creeped out? Go watch Blink again and pay CLOSE attention to the angel that was reaching for Sally. Those hands aren't positioned for anything other than neck snapping. Why? Because they need the TARDIS key and if they sent her back in time to live to death she'd take it with her… Moffat really does plan this stuff out ahead of time doesn't he?
“Ooooh, Doctor, you sonicked her.” AMY POND, LITERAL FAVORITE PERSON ON THE PLANET. – May I humbly suggest that Amy is the one you want to know for a few weeks of brain melting, ummm, sonick'ing, Karen is the person you want to hang around for the rest of your life for the sheer joy of it? And no, you don't want to know the number of hours of conversation that went into that conclusion.
"Is the Doctor going to have to bite more of her body? I JEST. LET US HOPE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN, for that would be awkward." Heh, oh thank the lord this isn't Torchwood…. and that's all I'm saying for fear of spoiler territory.
ALL THE PLUS ONES TO YOU. <3
I mostly agree but… Rose and Amy had very, very different relationships with the Doctor when they met other people with strong relationships with him. Rose had every right to a little jealousy, in my opinion (and I think her jealousy was less "Don't touch my Doctor" and more just the realization that he had so much life that happened without her that next to him she might seem so small… Rose never seemed to have problems with the Doctor forming relationships when she was around to be part of it as well, like with Jack.) while Amy and Eleven still barely know each other and so she is more approaching this as a weird adventure and River is just another cool character.
Eh? I fail to see why Rose should have the exclusivity rights to the Doctor.
Er, I never said she should. I said she had a right to an emotional reaction. Rose does get jealous in specific moments, it is true… but, then, she always gets over it. When I said right, I meant more that she was in position where it was completely understandable, to me, that a girl (especially of her age) would be jealous and that it isn't fair to tar her as this horrible jerk for those emotions, which fandom seems overly fond of doing. Unflawed characters are, frankly, boring. And, most of the time, when she acts jealous, it usually is cloaking her real worries/fears of being unimportant, to the Doctor specifically or to the world as a whole. And, she always grew beyond the feelings by the end of the story, often very quickly.
Haha, it's so weird to be defending Rose! She's one of my least favorite companions, actually. I just don't like people claiming that she was soooooooo clingy that it ruined her character when her (very mild) jealousy was, to me, completely situationally understandable (which isn't an endorsement, it just means that it wasn't out of character and made sense in the context why her character would feel that way).
Edit: Whoops, sorry, I reread this and I seem a bit rude- I can see why you would read my comment that way and it wasn't what I intended. I don't think Rose has a right to the Doctor, just to some bad emotions in certain situations.
You said "Rose has every right to a little jealousy". I don't agree with that. It's completely irrational and childish and without a proper reason.
EDIT: And yeah, in Series 2 she started to get clingy, which culminated in Stolen Earth/Journey's End, which made me really hate her. And I actually liked her in Series 1…
Well, I don't think I have anything to say about the Rose + jealousy thing that hasn't been said better and more eloquently before on this blog, so how about we just agree to disagree? I think it all comes down to which character flaws intrigue you and which ones really turn you off a character. I agree with you, though, that season 1 Rose was by far the best Rose.
Okay. 🙂
I am SO on your team regarding the jealousy.
I get that Amy and Rose both have very different relationships with the Doctor, but I still think Amy's behavior was much more mature. It always disappointed me that Rose got so wound up and started trying to one-up Sarah Jane (and that Sarah Jane did the same). It's what Mickey said–the girlfriend and the missus. Personally, the whole romance thing was never my favorite aspect of any of the RTD seasons, so the fact that Amy is able to see someone, ask the Doctor if it's his wife, and not be a brat about it wins me over so hard. I mean, he's 900 years old. He's bound to have met a lot of people along the way, and for any companion to pretend otherwise is just silly.
Agreed 100%
Well that saved me a ton of typing. Also, get out of my head!
Just to add a thought, in Amy's case I'd actually accept it if she DID get a bit jealous over the Doctor. Let's not forget she seems to be without any sort of male authority figure in her life while growing up (just her off-screen Aunt) and had a fairly major obsession with the Doctor. All things considered it doesn't seem unreasonable to assume there's a fair ol' crush going on (especially after he litteraly stripped in front of her then spent the next few minutes being impossibly awesome). On the other hand, considering what she did for a living and the reactions you'd expect her to get just on a day to day basis the ONE thing I'd expect her to be confident in is her ability to at least tempt anyone she really wants to.
Maybe because Amy's a bit flirtatious herself, doesn't mind other woman (River) flirting with the Doctor? Just a thought there…
It's why I love Amy so much. Her security and humour is great. She and River play so well off each other, and it's great seeing two really confident females interract.
AMEN.
So, you know, now that this blog has gotten to episodes that are more widely liked in the fandom, I wasn’t really sure what to do with-
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Oh, why, hello, River.
I really like how this episode starts. We see someone has used hallucinogenic lipstick, has a gun, everyone is slightly nervous about her… it would be easy to think she was a villain. But she’s River~~~ Acting badass in excellent shoes and a killer dress and lovely, lovely sunglasses, acting badass. Winking at the security cameras, leaving a message for the Doctor that he won’t get for centuries. (I love how the Doctor goes museums to make him feel better about himself/keep score.) Also, I really liked how when Amy was watching River on the monitor and she winked and Amy was like “hmmm?” I agree, Amy, River is very intriguing. When she touches her haiiiir! And “Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to,” and then blowing a kiss! I love River so bad. I love how discombobulated she makes the Doctor.
River, how do you know ~Gallifreyian~ and how to fly a TARDIS (the Doctor didn’t teach her!) I love Amy’s face watching River fly. Amy totally shares my crush on River. A lot of people were annoyed that River knew how to fly the TARDIS better than the Doctor but I personally liked it. I like when the Doctor has someone around who is better at stuff than he is (but not everything. Note that she calls him for help when she thinks she’s over her head. Whatever kind of relationship they might have in the future… past… whatever, it’s not one specifically is better than the other.) Also Eleven imitating the TARDIS noise, heeheeeheee. It is a brilliant noise, Doctor! Also, I like that River took her shoes off right away and hung them in the TARDIS. A woman after my own heart.
The scenes at the crash site are just gorgeous, aren’t they? They all look so lovely. This is as good time as any to discuss everyone’s clothing. River looks like a gorgeous BAMF in her dress, but I have to say I prefer her in the uniform. She just looks so willing to get her hands dirty. That came out much more suggestive than I meant. And Amy’s outfit! I LOVE THAT OUTFIT I WANT IT SO BAD. I have a skirt that would do, tights and sneakers but not the big sweater-y thing :(. I need more big sweater-y things in I suspect, because it looks killer on Amy. Again, I’m going to assume she got it off the TARDIS and even more than that, I’m going to pretend she got it off the 80s section. Also, she repainted her nails. They used to be red, but they are now purple.
“Ooh, Doctor, you soniced her!” Oh, Amy. And she realizes that it’s serious because the Doctor is letting people call him ‘sir’. But not that serious, again, she really doesn’t treat anything as seriously as she could. Grumpy face, indeed.
The scene with Amy all alone with the Angel footage is so creepy indeed. Don’t look away, Amy! It’ll get you! And the Doctor and River figuring it out as it’s happening. And I was very proud of Amy for figuring it out. And I approve of her getting a hug from River for it. But there’s ~something in her eye~
“He doesn’t know yet… who and what you are.” Both who and what… And the Doctor won’t help if he knew? OH RIVER why are you so mysterious?! I am impatient and I want to know… I love how Amy and River interact, though.
And then, suddenly… EVERY STATUE IS AN ANGEL. Dying Angels. It’s an army of angels. And they aren’t sending people back in time… they are just killing them and using them to communicate with the Doctor. Poor Scared Bob… And the Angels are such dicks.
And of course Amy looked at the Angel’s eyes, Doctor! You should have never told her not to do so. She proved in episode one that she can’t resist looking at something she shouldn’t! I love that he saved her by biting her, though.
Isn’t that cliffhanger the most horrible thing in the world?
I LOOOOOOOOOVE the colour of Amy's nails in this episode! I've been looking for that periwinkle/mauve colour everywhere but can't find it 🙁 I also love her outfit but I would look like a balloon if I wore it :/
I own a bottle in that colour. It's from the OPI France collection, and the colour is called "Parlez-Vous OPI?". We used it a lot on my salon.
thank you!!! I'm going to go hunting for it now
Why are you always in my head? About the strangest things? OPI has the best nail polish EVAR.
Maybe it's like The Doctor/Donna? Except neither of us (to my knowledge) are Time Lords? However, I am ginger, which seems to be pretty close. 😛
And yes, cool nails are almost certainly necessary for time-travel.
I'm not ginger, I've got approximately the same color as Ten. Perfect! Surely a human/human biological metacrisis should be sustainable, yeah? ;)My fingernails are now indigo with purple sparkles. Now where's my TARDIS? 😀
Amy always has great nail polish. I love it.
I’m going to pretend she got it off the 80s section
Maybe even a subsection of the 80s section labelled "Lynda Day"… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttDv9-x4AAg (I know, that's not the exact same outfit, but they do have the same basic style!)
Maybe it's a Moffat thing? Yeah, I noticed the Lynda Day similarity myself (Press Gang FTW!).
Ohhhhh River's shoes <3 <3 <3
OMG YES YES YES THIS TWO PARTER! <3 <3 <3 I still cannot pick a number one favorite two-parter, but you better believe this is a contender, right up there with Empty Child/Doctor Dances, the Library episodes, and something yet to come in this series. IT IS JUST THAT FREAKING AWESOME.
Now, I normally love museums, but the one Eleven has dragged Amy to here looks like a terribly dull and dry one, so I sympathize with her lack of enthusiasm for watching him keep score. I'd rather go to an alien planet too.
However, most importantly, RIVER! EEEEE! ZOMG, RIVER!
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Yeah.
(Will I ever stop using Ace Attorney gifs? Answer: NOT BLOODY LIKELY.)
She is incredibly cool in her introduction to this episode, even cooler, perhaps, than in the Library episodes. Striding through the halls in those shoes, burning a message to the Doctor into the homebox, giving him the coordinates so that he could create an air corridor for her to elegantly fly through into the TARDIS from the tight spot she'd gotten into aboard the ship… yeah, it's no wonder I had a reaction quite similar to that gif.
And then we get to the credits sequence, and I see this onscreen:
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Okay, let's review a couple of things. As we know from my reaction up there and my SitL/FotD comments, I am madly in love with River Song. We also know from my Blink review that I'm a Weeping Angels fangirl. So imagine, if you will, the reaction that occurred when I saw that title immediately after seeing River again. If I were to translate it into image form, I expect it'd look a lot like this:
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/4looib.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
So yeah, pretty much your exact reaction, Mark, and I can't help but cackle merrily at how our reactions mirrored each other's.
One of the highlights of this episode for me is the interaction between Amy and River. None of that bullshit jealousy, or being threatened by one another, they'd rather team up to have a laugh at the Doctor's quirks. Amy is intensely curious about River, as I think anyone would be, and I get a kick out of watching her tease the Doctor about her, especially with the "Ooh, Doctor, you sonicked her" line. I also love River trying to comfort Amy after she fends off the Weeping Angel in the recording: "You're brilliant." Which – not that Amy wasn't awesome there, but you can tell that River is also saying that to make her feel better after that terrifying experience. Some people read it as Moffat telling us rather than showing us how cool Amy was, but I didn't take it that way at all; it's just River being compassionate and kind towards someone who's had a huge scare and got out of a deadly situation in a way that was indeed brilliant. I appreciated how she treated Amy here.
Also, appropriate gif is appropriate:
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/aczztz.gif"/>
But back to Amy! The scene with the Angel coming out of the recording is one of the creepiest things I've seen on the show, and yet it also gives me such happy fuzzy warm feelings. WHY AM I SUCH A FREAK? Okay, okay, it's not entirely my Weeping Angels fangirlism at work, it's… also my Amy Pond fangirlism. FINE. I happen to think this is one of Amy's best moments so far, and is one of my favorite moments of hers overall, because she is BADASS here. She does the "blink with one eye, then the other" thing that people apparently had been wondering about since Blink (which of course won't work forever, and Moffat talks a bit about that in the commentary track, saying that people used to say that to him all the time, thinking that he hadn't thought of that), is totally brave despite her fear throughout, and comes up with the solution to pause the recording all on her own. Amy Pond, BAMF forever. I love you, Amy. <3
Fun fact: in the commentary for this episode, Moffat said that he originally intended for the book that River and Eleven consult on the Angels to have been written by one of Father Octavian's clerics who got sent back in time by an Angel, but there wasn't space for it in the episode and he took it out, to his regret. Pity, I think it's a really good idea/twist!
(cont)
Even more interesting to me than Amy and River's interactions, though, is the dynamic between Eleven and River. He's almost… antagonistic towards her at the start, particularly in the TARDIS. Clearly not overly thrilled to see her or with her ability to fly the TARDIS. She seems to annoy him with her knowledge of him and the future and all, the way she annoyed many viewers in the Library episodes (not me, though). He's not eager to have her "drag him" into something just because he knows that her past and his future are written in her diary: quite the opposite. Time is not the boss of him, and he can run away from that future if he likes. I really honestly think he would have, if Amy hadn't persuaded him to let her have five minutes on this alien planet, and if his interest hadn't been piqued by the mention of the "thing that can't ever die" in the belly of the ship. He's not interested in following along with her and having these adventures just because she told him about them the last time they met, just before she died – he needs to be genuinely interested in what's going on. And even when he does get dragged into it all, he's not particularly happy to be getting involved with Weeping Angels again, especially not in this setting.
Also, Matt Smith making the TARDIS noise with his mouth is pretty much one of the funniest things I've ever seen/heard. Just as funny is the anecdote from Karen Gillan that he actually did bite her hand in the stone hand scene, and that's where the scream came from there: it was a real reaction to him doing that. Bless that wacky man.
The revelation that River has been in prison and that there's something she has to keep the Doctor from finding out, lest he stop helping with her mission here, adds further intrigue to the fabulous mystery that is River Song. I WANT TO KNOW MORE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW except I kind of don't because it would be no fun to give it away too soon. Just… color me even more interested than ever, okay? Well played, Moffat. Well played, indeed. Knowing you, I doubt it really is that simple, re: the Doctor and River's future (past? so timey-wimey~) relationship.
On a completely shallow note, Matt, Karen, and Alex look remarkably gorgeous in this episode. And so this doesn't just devolve into me drooling over the three of them, I will proceed to… drool over the scenery, instead! I love the Aplan temple/Maze of the Dead. I think it is absolutely stunning, in a creepy, sad way, and I find myself wanting to know more about the Aplans and their civilization. What can I say, I'm a ruins freak. The 51st century in general is highly fascinating to me, I love it when we get to visit, like here and in the Library episodes. I hope we'll get to again in future episodes!
Speaking of the Aplans, how about that moment in which it finally clicks for Eleven and River that they're not looking at Aplan statues? Took me back to being a kid and watching Return of the Jedi for the first time, when Lando wonders how the Empire could be jamming them if they don't know they're coming. It has the same sort of feel to it, of watching them realize that they're in deep shit.
I love Father Octavian, he is one of my favorite minor characters. "I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." SERIOUSLY, FATHER, WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHEN WE NEEDED MORE PEOPLE TO CALL OUT TEN ON HIS BULLSHIT? Not that Eleven doesn't kinda deserve it here, but that's the really nice thing about this episode: when he's being an ass, he gets called on it right then and there. I mean, I love you dearly, Eleven, and I feel for you (to his credit, he looks like he gets it, and feels bad, immediately after Octavian says that), but you're not the most tactful being in existence (and I love you for it, make no mistake about that, your being so alien is very appealing to me). It's nice to see the Doctor not presented as someone that everyone worships, and I think it plays a part in why I love Eleven so: I'm not meant to see him as a Christ figure, but as an oddball alien with mostly good intentions who stumbles around time and space getting in and out of dangerous situations, who doesn't always save the day and isn't always right or nice. Though I do think Eleven comes across as being quite kind and compassionate in general, and as the nicest of the Doctors I've seen, but that's for other reviews. He's being a bit of an ass to Octavian here, and while I find it hilarious, I also love that Octavian isn't just taking it lying down. He gives as good as he gets, and I love him and their dynamic for that.
(cont)
I liked poor Sacred/Scared Bob too, and just want to compliment his actor, and the actors portraying Christian and Angelo too. You can clearly hear a difference in their voices, from when they're alive, to how they sound after the Angel is using them. Matt Smith again yanks at my heartstrings with just the look on his face as Angel Bob is telling him how he died, and that the Doctor let him down. Again with turning me into a sap, how does he do this. Eleven really did like Bob, but he wasn't able to save him, and he'll always remember that. It's wrenching to watch the Angel play on his earlier kindness to Bob in order to twist the knife in him. They are such fucked up sadists, aren't they?
Which of course leads us into my favorite cliffhanger of all the two-parters. As Moffat says in the commentary (I know, I know, I keep referring to it, but it really is a very interesting and amusing track, honestly!), it's a different sort of cliffhanger. Instead of being about "the monsters are coming", it's about "the Doctor is coming". I also agree with him that Matt Smith did it so beautifully. Every time I watch it, I fangirl so hard over what he says about the mistake in the trap.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
"And what would that be, sir?"
"Me."
<3 <3 <3 Yes. Just… yes. If asked, my answer to if I trusted him would be the same as River's: always.
YOU ARE NOT PREPARED
<img src="http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/8543/tdsstewarteyehearts.gif">
That's me, in response to both this ep and your comments.
Seconded. And this to the whole of artic_hare's comment.
WHY ARE ALL YOUR AVATARS ANGELS, IS IT 'MAKE THREE SHIT HER PANTS' DAY?
(okay probably not, I am not famous. Is it 'Make Mark Shit His Pants' Day?)
OMG YOU'RE RIGHT THEY ARE ANGELS! Creepy. It's like…there's an angel on the internet. Making images of itself.
(sleep well)
-NEVER sleeps well again-It's the High Octane Nightmare Fuel page on TV Tropes that did it, I swear…
Oh crap, mine is too. :O I swear I only visited that page once. D:
Wait, how long has mine been an Angel? When did that happen!?!
I…. It was the pretty flower earlier! When did-
Oh shit. Mine's an angel now too…… Holy crap, WHAT DO WE DO!?
OH GOD IT'S SPREADING
WHAT DO WE DO?
WE'RE ALL DOOMED.
I DON'T KNOW
I MEAN, IS IT SAFE TO BLINK IF THEY'RE INSIDE US?
I WAS AT WORK AND JUST GOT HOME. HOW DID THE ANGEL GET TO ME??!?
WHO'S FLYING THIS THING?!
/random Firefly
Oh, come on.
Every day is 'Make Mark Shit His Pants' Day.
Oh no, you've been taken over too! D:
And me too! Oh noes!
Oh my god, I didn't even notice that! It's so creepy…
Wait, what?
– oh shit. D:
Holy crap, sucks to be you guys…oh wait ::looks at avatar:: Shit.
Yeah, I am lucky I was at work all day and missed it….
WHAT?!? Oh shit. It's got me too.
Awww, thank you both~ <3
Arctic_hare, I want to marry your awesome reviews and have lots of little review-babies with them. Seriously. 😀 All the upvotes for you!!!
Lol so agreed about the review-babies. Arctic_hare's reviews are always awesome. <3
Awwwww! <3 I love you all! Thank you~
Imagine what would happen if Mark and arctic_hare's reviews got together and made little review babies!
I may be new here, but I love everything you say like burning.
Time is not the boss of him, and he can run away from that future if he likes.
I thought that was sort of a nice, but somewhat less pathological, callback to Waters of Mars.
Your Octavian love: OH SO SECONDED. I love when he and the Doctor first meet and he's so visibly disappointed and disbelieving that this weird nerdy guy is the equivalent of an army.
I loved that, too. Amy was scared but held it together, and it's just nice to have someone tell you that you did a good job in a stressful situation. I really liked how friendly they were!
I just all around love River for this! Considering how much she knows and her history with the Doctor she could act all superior and dismissive of the companions, but she doesn't. Why? BECAUSE SHE'S MUTHAFUKKEN RIVER SONG AND SHE IS MADE OF PURE AWESOME AND WIN!
*BOTTLES OF WIN!
WATERFALLS OF WIN!
YAH, I BET RIVER SONG AND HAYMITCH HAVE MEET UPS AND DRINK FROM BOTTLES OF WIN TOGETHER. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE BOTH SUCH BAMFS.
I imagine she also remembers a time before she'd evolved into the complete,(over-)confident BAMF she is at the time of the episode. A time when she couldn't fly the TARDIS, a time before she knew Gallifreyan, a time before hallucinogenic lipstick and wild adventures. I so very want to see THAT River.
Another nugget (which maybe someone mentioned further down): Back in Silence in the Library when River was trying to compare diaries with 10 she asked him about the "crash of the Byzantium." I LOVE that Moffatt was planning that far ahead!!!
When the Doctor said in this episode that the ship was the Byzantium I cheered a little bit.
Also, I don't have a gif to share but I found this video…The Tenth Doctor: The Musical. Now that Mark is done with 10 there are no spoilers! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dHkbdMYpSA
I adore you and your comments, WHYAREYOUINMYHEADALLTHETIME?! Not that I'm complaining.
I also loved Father Octavian, and that Eleven was "man enough" to take the comment on the chin, as it were. I think the reason I came to hate Ten was that so few people ever called him on his bullshit. Eleven just takes it and uses it to improve.
<3 <3 <3
I feel exactly the same way, as you might have predicted. 😀
I think one reason so few people called Ten on his shit was that at some point in RTD-land, we weren't dealing in-depth with that many characters who didn't know the Doctor very well already, many of whom were half in love with him. (Worst offender: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.) At some point, you stop calling your friends out on their chronic bullshit, you know? You call them out when they're acting strangely, but their persistent bad habits? You start brushing them off. You have to, or that person you otherwise feel such affection for, for good reasons, might make you a little crazy 😉
I think you nailed it, electric ashera. In RTD era, usually the only characters that got proper development or were explored in depth were the recurring ones – Jack, Mickey, Jackie, Sarah Jane, the "main companions"… The one-off characters – not so much. Maybe Joan Redfern, at the end of Family of Blood (one of the reasons why I love her so much).
There were two moments in this episode when I literally thought I was going to throw up with fear.
1) realising that the statues should have two heads
2) realising that bob on the radio was dead and an angel was using him to speak.
JKGSDDKLGJLSDKKDGHFAWLEAFQWIE!
Also Amy rubbing her eye and the bit with her hand was scary. But mostly those two moments above! Real hide behind the sofa telly!
ETA: AND DON'T BLINK! BLINK AND YOU'RE DEAD!
You know I really wouldn’t mind a rescue like that. Ahem.
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/2lbjleg.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"> I want to take a moment just to appreciate and lust after River’s high heels. Just look at them. I also love the River is BAMF enough to work them and sensible enough to take them off the first chance she gets. How much do you love that she hangs them by the heels from one of the TARDIS screens.
‘I had lessons from the very best.’ ‘Well, yeah.’ ‘It’s a shame you were busy that day.’
I do love the dynamic between River and the Doctor. She tells him how to land the TARDIS and he shows her up over the environmental checks. It’s just great banter, especially when you’ve got the addition of Amy teasing the Doctor about sonicing and asking them if they’re married. I also like the growing intrigue about River with the way the Bishop speaks to her. I don’t know what they are to each other and I don’t really mind how it turns out, I just love River and the Doctor together, regardless of the shape it takes.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2je8u1z.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I want to go to the Delirium Archive. Not only is it a gorgeous museum (church museums are always so pretty) but also because it’s the biggest in the universe and I’d love to see what museums are like in the future.
I love Amy blinking one eye at a time when trapped in the room with the Weeping Angel. I know it’s very YMMV but I like the expansion of the Weeping Angel’s story. As with most things I want to talk about in this episode, I think it’s safer to wait until part two to talk about them more so I don’t mix anything up and spoil but I do like learning more about them. I will say the statues being Angels was a great reveal because it’s the kind of thing that’s so obvious in hindsight but because we’re used to one headed statues it goes over our heads.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/205xy76.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
‘Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap. If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.’ ‘And what would that be, sir?’ ‘Me.’
You Are Not Prepared!
I also love the River is BAMF enough to work them and sensible enough to take them off the first chance she gets.
YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. Oooh, that so annoys me in films and television where they have the female character wearing WILDLY INAPPROPRIATE FOOTWEAR FOR THE SITUATION and expect us to believe she's actually running in them.
Yeah, Pepper Potts in Iron Man, I'm looking at you.
Pepper Potts' has another collection of high heels to die for and that I'd never be able to walk in. But yes, I really don't understand how shows/movies have women running around in these amazingly high heels without them being in agony or falling and breaking their neck.
Or Buffy, ALWAYS. Or the sisters on Charmed.
I love River because she's a PRACTICAL lady. And she even changes into fatigues the first chance she gets! The evening gown probably helped her break into the ship, but she can't go running around in caves in it!
Yeah, the inappropriate footwear is often annoying, if amusing, but… I kind of love how they approach it on "Chuck." Like, that's a show where it feels like everyone involved is like, "Yeah, we know this is completely ridiculous and unrealistic; on the other hand, may we present Yvonne Strahovski?"
(Along with the crazy footwear, I'm also more often than not bugged when fightin' females have long, flowing locks that aren't tied back and out of the way. I mean, how are you going to land the perfect kick if you don't have optimal visibility. River Song? Gets her hair into a pony tail, like the awesome and sensible woman she is.)
This this this! I am not a fighting woman (although these days I spend a lot of time with small children who like to hit and kick me randomly because four-year-olds are really violent, does that count?) but I have long hair and the first thing I do, if I'm doing anything other than lying around looking pretty, is get it the fuck out of the way.
Now it's finally long to the point where I am starting to opt for braids over a ponytail.
Agreed, seconded, quoted for truth, etc. 😛
…the image of an angel becomes an angel.
EVERYONE LOOK UP, ARE YOU LOOKING, DON'T LOOK AWAY D:
DON'T LOOK IT IN THE EYE!!!!
Mr. Grumpy Pants. I died. And then the Doctor AGREED with her. I love that Eleven agrees about being Mr. Grumpy Pants.
I hate that he's avoiding a question that I really want him to answer.
Well, he's the Doctor. He is like, the most emotionally avoidant person IN THE UNIVERSE. (Which probably explains me thinking the Doctor is hot, because a lot of my ex-boyfriends have shared this trait.)
River Song is basically my hero. I'm just in constant awe of her whenever she's on my screen, even if it's just her striding down a hall in awesome shoes. (12 cm heels; truly impressive)
<img src="http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7539/riverwalk.gif">
You guys, she writes in Old High Gallifreyan! And she knows the Doctor is gonna come when she asks him to. I just love how confident she is, all the time. And I adore the timey-wimeyness of her being on screen after we've watched her die. And she can fly the TARDIS! Better than the Doctor! I know some people dislike the bit about how the TARDIS shouldn't make that noise when landing since we've apparently seen other TARDISes make that noise (TARDISes other than the Doctor's, I mean), but I'm totally cool with believing River is simply magic. People have made some awesome fanwank explanations for it not contradicting past canon, but I say canon-shmanon – it's a show about time travel. And I adore Matt Smith for when he imitates the noise.
Amy in this ep is also awesome. I love how intrigued she is by River at the beginning, and then the "ooh Doctor, you sonic-ed her" and "heel, boy" lines. That's my Amy. And I love how cleverly she deals with the angel in the video. And when she starts winking omg I love her. River and Amy – my two favorite companions. If the show runners want to make a bottle episode with them where all they do is talk to each other, I'd be totally fine with that. Hell, I'd watch an entire spin-off show about that.
WEEPING ANGELS! One of my favorite villains ever. Ugh, how creepy is that video? And then the door locks – creepy creepy creepy. AND OMG NEW MYTHOS: THAT WHICH HOLDS THE IMAGE OF AN ANGEL BECOMES ITSELF AN ANGEL! Love how utterly terrifying they are.
<img src="http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/6592/normal5x04timeoftheange.jpg">
That labyrinth or whatever it is is just visually fantastic. Totally, completely impressed with how this season looks. And I thought the reveal about the two-headed alien species but the one-headed statues was really nicely constructed – it's one of those details that isn't immediately obvious but is still obvious enough that the audience is privy to figuring it out themselves. Or, as I did, to be all omg duh how did I miss that? As the Doctor said, thick.
And then talking to a dead man, nay, a polite dead man. Well, perhaps not so polite considering he tries to freak everybody out. Ooh Moffat, you're so good at nightmare fuel.
In conclusion,
<img src="http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6588/tdie.png">
<img src="http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/6357/dwriverkiss.gif">
Brilliant Jack Harkness joke is brilliant.
Agreed!
PFFFF, I would pay big money to see Jack Harkness again. Especially with Eleven, because that's bound to be hilarious.
And also Amy. Mmmmm, Jack/Amy…
Also, Jack/River. Oh yeah. (Sorry, Doctor.)
Oh, good God, Jack/River. I believe the TARDIS would implode with that amount of flirting… XD
PFFF I have a perfect reply to this but it is hella spoilery. Sadfaces forever.
I can guess your reply and I am cracking up with laughter and lack of sleep.
xD It's the perfect solution, amiright?
Aaah, I can't guess your reply! 🙁 Um, can you hint in an acronym spelled backwards? (so that it doesn't spoil Mark)
reviR dna kcaJ gnidolpmi eht htiw SIDRAT gnidolpxe eht fo ytirlop eht esreveR…. Okay it isn't as funny as it was yesterday….
Amy even becoming friends with Jack would probably cause the Doctor to either fear that the universe wouldn't be able to handle it, or think about running for the hills.
Best Macro ever or best macro ever?
Nope, BESTESTEST MACRO EVER! 😀
The real best macro ever is similar, but SPOILERY.
You must promise to post it when it's no longer spoilery.
Is it…"full of spoilers"? (that's my fav macro)
I love your conclusion picture! I've never seen this version, the one I have only has the first, second, and fourth panels. I like this one better.
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/641gf4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I love that macro.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/2ikyvs8.gif">
HIS FACE I CAN'T STAND IT HE IS SO ADORBABLE MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISHA HOW DO I QUIT YOU?
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IKR?!
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I love both of your Misha love!
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Appropriate gifs are appropriate!
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Their faces!!! I love them both.
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Shit, it we're doing actual gifs from the show, I could do this all day.
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Oh god, that episode!
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OMG THIS GIF.
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Too much gif squishing. I'll probably stop here myself, but continue playing.
I LOVE IT/HIM!
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ME TOO!
I can't believe we've squished the gifs this much. I have so many new ones to add to my collection, and I see I need to keep watching to get context on all of these. 😀
I am running out, so this isn't directed at either of you. <3
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/ibaw4y.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I don't have enough for all day, but I would love to.
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I love you for posting that Jack macro.
There's another macro that someone made where Eleven meets Jack, and Jack just stares at Eleven for 10 minutes before saying "COME TO PAPA!" xD
Screw being a Disney Princess, I want to be River Song when I grow up!
OMG I had forgotten about that Captain Jack macro. Thank you for reminding me of its awesomeness.
<3
Can I say this now? Didn't you point out on the spoiler blog awhile back that because of Jack's two missing years of memories, we can totally see him interacting with River or Eleven without screwing with canon?
WANT WANT WANT!
Wasn't me, but that is an awesome thing that I would love to see happen. And I'm still bitter we never really saw Jack in a different chronology than the Doctor.
Although I think Moffat tweeted once about the Doctor not wanting to let them meet (the implication being they would be all sexytimes awesome and wreak havoc together, I guess). But like they would follow instructions…still, I'm not sure Moffat's ever gonna deliver on that idea.
EDIT: Found a blog post with the tweets, and I'm copy/pasting it:
DAMN YOU MOFFAT!I can understand him wanting to stick to his characters and not bring back RTD-era characters. But OMFG it would be SO AWESOME.
That was me. I want to know about the missing memories. I would love it if Captain Jack made an appearance, and this would not interfere with anything RTD does with Torchwood.
Sorry I got the two of you confused! Oâˆ_I will be very curious to see what (if anything) happens next with Torchwood. Children of Earth was SO SPECTACULAR. I want to see if they can keep it up, but I also think I might not be sorry if they chose to end the show on such an amazingly high (low) note. (And then it would free John Barrowman up for MORE WHO! DO WANT.)
Lol, no need to be sorry. I have trouble remembering which poster said what sometimes.
ITA, I don't see Torchwood getting much better than it was during Children of Earth. Barrowman on Who again would be awesome! I like him so much better on Who than on Torchwood.
I think that the episode opening is super cheesey. Again with the hello sweetie! And the cat eye protective glasses! And the River Song ~Intergalactic Woman of Espionage and Intrigue~ thing is just really over the top and ridiculous for my tastes. River still doesn’t feel like a real character to me most of the time- she has a tendency to slip into the caricature. And she still can be unbearably smug to me. It’s not that she knows things that the Doctor doesn’t. The Doctor is a know-it-all too. But for me, it’s just the tone she uses that grates to no end.
But I do like the way that the Amy/Doctor/River dynamic works out in this episode because to me, it totally reads like River and the Doctor are Amy’s two amicably divorced parents. I like River when she’s mothering Amy (telling her she’s brilliant and giving her the shot). It feels more natural whereas a lot of time, her persona feels very put on.
The Doctor imitating the Tardis noise is the BEST THING EVER. I like that noise too, Doctor! You keep on leaving the brakes on!
I also really like the Doctor trying to run. “Time is not the boss of me”. I like that he’s trying to avoid his destiny with River because (as I read it, I don’t know if it was written to be read this way) it’s a pretty shit destiny. Have her fall in love with you so that she will later die to save your life. No wonder the Doctor feels guilty and wants to get the hell out of Dodge.
The moment where Amy is trapped in the… room… thing… is super creepy, and I like the concept of the image of the angel becoming the angel itself. But the whole not looking into the eyes of the angel thing… No. Sorry. Now we have to retcon “Blink” because Larry at least was definitely staring angels in the eyes.
The one thing I CAN’T stand is that it takes the Doctor so fucking long to figure out that the status have 1 head when the native population had 2. At least the episode recognizes that it was stupid. So it’s not quite as bad as when it took the Doctor forever to get the connection between a forest and a library. Speaking of the library episodes, the whole Angel’s using Bob’s voice to talk to the Doctor is very reminiscent of the Vashta Narada using Anita’s voice to talk to the Doctor.
And like every good Doctor Who two-part story, this episode ends in a cliffhanger. DUN DUN DUUUUUN.
Actually, there was one line in this episode that pretty much explained why the angels in Blink behaved differently – "…but they were just scavengers". Sure, it takes a bit of suspension of belief, but it is acknowledged.
I know, the change in the Angel's breed annoyed me too. However, I've decided that its not too bad if we remembered that its now the fifty-first century, so a few thousand years have passes since we last saw them and they could have evolved a bit since then.
And the River Song ~Intergalactic Woman of Espionage and Intrigue~ thing is just really over the top and ridiculous for my tastes. River still doesn’t feel like a real character to me most of the time- she has a tendency to slip into the caricature.
This is why I don't like her, thank you for putting it into words for me. She is too incredibly over the top, especially in these episodes. People say it hypocritical to not like River and to love the Doctor, because they have the same characteristics. I don't think they do. The Doctor is a mad scientist, but he's got flaws and can get embarrassed and gets overly angry and can be a vengeful god, whereas River is just … two dimensional. She's cocky, but that's because she IS always right. She needs to share some inner feelings, which I think she does manage to do in Silence in the Library (where I did honestly like her).
Although admittedly I wasn't really paying that much attention to them when they mentioned the native population had two heads, so it was only on a rewatch that even noticed that they did in fact say something earlier in the episode. Oops.
I think she does have major flaws and is not at all perfect, we just haven't gotten to know her fully yet. That's what character development is for! The Doctor has been around for, uh, a few decades (for us) but this is River's 3rd episode on the show.
edit: Took out the first part of my comment in case of minor spoilers because I forget how much we find out in this episode.
Okay, but I don't think 'we haven't seen her enough' is really an excuse. There are many characters that are only around for one or two episodes that I love heaps more than I love River. It is possible to allow for her to have character development in a few episodes. And maybe your point is that this isn't really possible for such an over the top character as River and is possible for other types of characters. I think back to episode 1 of NuWho when the Doctor was first introduced (to me) and I never thought of him like I think of River. He had flaws; he almost lost the battle with the Nestene consciousness.
Well, I guess if you don't like her at this point you are unlikely to do so, but my point was that there's definitely a lot we don't know about her, so it's not entirely fair to call her a flat character. The smug snarkiness is certianly not going to go away and I can see how it could annoy some people.
The problem is, you have to realise that we're seeing River as an ALREADY DEVELOPED character. We haven't seen her beginnings with the Doctor (from her point of view) yet. We haven't seen her character develop into the BAMF she is now. A lot of people tend to forget that.
Also, she's not much more smug and cocky than Romana when we first met… And how many people complain about Romana in this aspect?
And the River Song ~Intergalactic Woman of Espionage and Intrigue~ thing is just really over the top and ridiculous for my tastes.
My take on River is, at this point in her life, she's the sort of person who views herself as a character. She's over the top because she intends to be, because it's what her character demands. I imagine that she, like the Doctor, has a lot of self-mythologizing going on, to justify her actions, clearly not all of which are good or easy to come to terms with. She IS a felon, after all. (Notably, she DOESN'T do this in S4 when she's older. She's mysterious, but for timeline reasons, not because she's putting on a show.)
It annoys me, fuck, it annoys the Doctor, it annoys Father Octavian. But she didn't annoy me earlier. The interesting thing about River so far is getting to see her at different points in her timeline. Maybe as she gets younger and the Doctor gets older, we'll see her less confident, less self-mythologized, more honest and open and less hardened. (Can't say, obvs., because we haven't seen it yet! But in my head that's what I imagine young!River to be like.)
Oh man oh man oh man. I saw about a million promos on BBC America for the Weeping Angels coming back in Series 5, but since I haven’t watched it until now, I had nooooo idea. River Song! What is your deal? “Wife” is not good enough of an answer. Is she an escaped Time Lady? Future Amy (they’re both redheads and the keeping score thing and River’s sort of fond of her I DON’T KNOW)? Is she trolling the Doctor backwards through time? This is so not going to be resolved any time soon, is it?
Okay, this episode is magnificent. I really, really liked it. It was thrilling, even if “Blink” left me with the impression that I shouldn’t trust those deteriorated statues; all statues are out to get you. I loved twitching ever-so-slightly whenever one of the soldiers moved in the background, because their camo made them Angel-colored (yes, I should know better, they’ve never moved on screen, BUT STILL). Yeah, it’s not as scary, but neither is “Blink” on a second watch (at least to me). The story, especially more River here, makes both episodes fun. If it weren’t part of a continuing storyline, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much. I totally agree that the extra space makes the difference between this episode and the previous ones.
And was there an angel with a broken-looking neck at the beginning? I didn’t rewind to check after the Doctor’s conversation with Bob, but could there be angel infighting? Or was I imagining things?
If I have one complaint, it’s that Moffat loves monsters with ANGRY FACE. The Weeping Angels came before the Smilers, but it’s still a little repetitive, especially since the episodes are so close together. If there’s a Monster of the Week with four faces, one of which is scary-angry, I will not be amused.
But most importantly: I totally love Amy now. She’s hilarious. “Oo, Doctor. You soniced her!” and “space teeth” are the best things ever! And when the Doctor was staring her in the eyes, does that mean the Weeping Angel had a door into his soul? Or does it only count if she’s fully an angel? I can wait and see what happens in the second half, but I’m still curious. I liked her nail polish, too (really seizing on the key details here!). It reminds me of You Don’t Know Jacques, though maybe a little purpler. And was she wearing blue chucks? Ten’s wardrobe sorta lives on!
The reason it reminds you of You Don't Know Jacques is that it's from the same collection. It's Parlez-Vous OPI. I know, I own it. 😉
Haha, nice! Their French Collection was lovely. 🙂
RIVER SONG JUMPS OUT OF A SPACESHIP IN AN EVENING GOWN
ANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT HER NOT BEING AWESOME ENOUGH FOR HER REP ARE AUTOMATICALLY INVALID
BAMF!
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PREACH IT, MY FRIEND, PREACH
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i accidentally down voted you. 🙁 I am sorry, have a cookie? Of awesome?
Don't worry, I repaired it by upvoting! 😉
AMEN TO THAT!!!
Heehee, Amen, Clerics…. I am a fully-grown adult I promise!
River Song uses awesomeness while in evening gown. It's super effective!
SO excited for you to reach this one. I was pretty sure the Weeping Angels (and River) would be coming back once it was announced Moffat would be at the helm for S5, but man, what a way to do it. A+++ Stephen Moffat.
Also! Speaking of River Song, remember when she pulled out her diary and asked "Have we done the crash of the Byzantium yet?" THIS IS THE CRASH OF THE BYZANTIUM. My mind, it was blown. 😀
I love that River completely trolls the Doctor here, running around and writing 'hello sweetie' on an ancient artifact to get him to show up.
In conclusion: FLAWLESS.
YAY OMG YAY YOU LIKE THIS EPISODE YAY I LOVE YOU YOU ARE MY FAVORTIE FOREVER
"It's a brilliant noise." Yes it is, Doctor. YES IT IS.
River's shoes: Best Ever, or BESTEST EVER
My BFF is like the Doctor when going through museums. She's getting a PhD in Classics and she critiques the signage. It's adorable.
Now I can finally talk about why I adore Alex Kingston- she's gotten this character out of order, and still is playing her with an arc- we've seen the end of the arc, and now we get an obviously younger, cockier, somewhat sassier River. And Alex BRINGS IT.
ALSO THE SHOES
HANGING ON THE BAR OF THE TARDIS
And i think the scariest thing in the episode is when the Doctor and River both go, "….oh." Because that is the sound of realizing the shit hit the fan 20 minutes ago and there's nothing you can do to stop.
YAY I LOVE THIS EPISODE
I love how the Doctor gets all sulky about the landing noise and the blue boring-ers.
I like your comment alot.
Haha you know your reactions to the surprises in the episodes are almost enough to convince me to never watch trailers again. The Series 5 trailer totally spoiled River's (and the Angels') reappearance and of course everyone was excited to see how it would all play out, but it's still nothing compared to your utter shock here.
I do love this two-parter and the preceding mediocre episodes make this one that much better. And that last line? Yeah, made of awesome. (Although it pissed a lot of people off that the Doctor was using a gun, but I think it's fine because he didn't use it to kill anyone.)
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Other favorite things in this episode apart from what you mentioned: Amy Pond's glee of excitement at the prospect of exploring a different plant (it's a PLANET!) and her red sweater. It's my favorite piece of her wardrobe, IDEK why (probably my weakness for hoodies and unnecessarily wide clothing).
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I've never had a problem with Amy's short skirts because they always balance it out on top. This red sweater is amazingsauce.
The red/blue contrast is just beautiful. I love the use of color in that last image. So washed out otherwise.
I know, I really love the coloring and how vivid the blue and the red are. A lot of great graphics came out of this episode.
I love ALL of Amy's outfits. I wish I could rock a miniskirt as confidently as Amy does! I'm also really envious of her nails.
I'M SORRY MARK WHEN HAVE YOU EVER THROWN YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND YELLED AT THE TV IN PURE, SIMPLE JOY BECAUSE YOUR "FAVOURITE TEAM" SCORED A "TOUCHDOWN" DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT SPORT "TOUCHDOWNS" OCCUR IN MARK YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A "FAVOURITE TEAM" WHAT ARE YOU DOING
PS ILU AND I LOVE THIS EPISODE AND OH GOD RIVER SONG AND ALSO RIVER AND AMY IDGAF I LOVE THEM TOGETHER
ALSO ANGEL BOB ;_______;;;;;;;;;;
OH GOD KASPER NEVER CHANGE
I love this comment forever, it made me laugh SO MUCH
I absolutely ADORE the scene in the TARDIS with the Doctor and River bickering, and in the commentary for this episode Steven Moffat said that was just a time-filler – I'm so glad it made the cut!! I LOVE THIS EPISODE!!!
This episode elevated Moffat to deity status in my mind (Joss Whedon had to scootch over to give him some room). Before this episode, I would have never thought that the Weeping Angels could have been scarier.
BOY WAS I WRONG.
Moffat wins a whole bunch of screams and thirteen Internets.
I am fairly certain that Moffat eats screams for breakfast, then packs a lunch of children's nightmares before heading off to work.
See, I loved Blink and most people I know do and they usually say, well, Time of Angels was good but it wasn't nearly as brilliant as Blink. I agree, Blink is better, but that doesn't stop me from saying I LOVE THIS EPISODE. Angels and River Song. Perfect.
“Oh, big, big mistake. Really huge. Didn’t anyone ever tell you? There’s one thing you never put in a trap. If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap.”
I love this quote. Moffat/Matt Smith do these little speeches so well; that was what did it for me in the Eleventh Hour, the "Hello, I'm the Doctor" speech. This is possibly why I liked the Eleventh Doctor instantly; Tennant had to convince me after Eccleston left, but Matt Smith's delivery of Moffat's lines – perfect from the first second of the series.
(Also, "Oooh Doctor, you sonicked her!")
It goes without saying that you are NOT PREPARED for part two.
The thing is, imho Blink is one of the finest 'hours' of television ever filmed — it stands on its own, and requires little context for non-Whovians than, "There's time travel. He time-travels in a blue box for reasons that won't be explained."
This two-parter is an outstanding episode of Doctor Who. I judge them on totally different scales, like apples and oranges.
Oh random bit of trivia: I heard somewhere Matt Smith bit Karen Gillian for real. Every take. (Crazy Awesome?)
Also, I remember River saying something like "Crash of the Byzantium? Have we done that yet?" in Silence in the Library.
She has got to have slapped him a little after 5 goes…
I seem to remember a clip (from the Confidential, maybe?) shot before the episode was filmed, with Karen Gillian saying something like, "I don't think he's really going to bite me." Cut to Matt Smith: "Oh, I'm definitely going to bite her!"
Yes, she did! I loved that detail. I noticed that when I re-watched season four. I think at that point Moffat was writing stuff in that he wanted to use later, like the Doctor snapping his fingers to open the TARDIS. There was that great shot of him doing that in The Eleventh Hour.
He only bit her once, when she wasn't expecting it.
Multiple takes. The take you see on screen might not have been the first bite Matt Smith did during filming.
You have no idea how hard I am metaphorically sitting on my hands to keep from typing anything that could be construed as a spoiler whatsoever. I have basically duct taped my hands to my chair, is what I am saying. Except they are still able to type. Ignore that. Just trust that I will be leaving a very long comment or five in the near future.
ANYWAY
The emergency brake! The Doctor leaves the emergency brake on! It is SUCH a beautiful explanation! And it's so in character, but I wouldn't have guessed. I don't know, it's just one of those perfect little things about the show that just makes it and the Doctor feel more real.
Okay, so I might be going on a bit about the emergency brake, but please allow it as me funneling my omg-can't-spoil energy into something productive.
Can't wait for you to do tomorrow's post!
The emergency brake! The Doctor leaves the emergency brake on!
That doesn't say much for the emergency brake. It's not really an emergency break; it's an emergency "make the TARDIS sound funny" lever.
(Thank you for allowing me to revisit a favorite Mitch Hedberg joke here. :D)
You know, as someone who considers herself well versed in stand-up comedy, I'm kicking myself for not remembering that joke until you brought it up. Mitch Hedberg was great, wasn't he?
I remember seeing the preview where the Doctor was holding the gun and my friend and I said to each other, "OMG IS THE DOCTOR HOLDING A GUN?! SHIT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL."
And it did. Other than that, I'm just going to have to point up at Stephen_M's comment and say, "WORD," because he expressed everything I wanted to in a much better and more coherent fashion.
Stephen Moffatt, you are my Who god. I BOW BEFORE YOUR GREATNESS.
I really need to get back into the habit of planning what I'm going to say before these posts go up.
RIVER SONG! HBIC IS BACK! YAY! And those SHOES! Those gorgeous, gorgeous shoes that I'd never be able to wear without falling on my face. Love her hanging them up on the TARDIS screen, you just make yourself at home River. I have to share this little tidbit about THOSE SHOES, from Alex Kingston's interview in The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who "Matt's got them. He kept them, not for himself personally but they're around because he wanted them on the set of the TARDIS for evermore." Oh Matt.
Speaking of Matt, you can tell this was the first episode filmed because his hair is OUT. OF. CONTROL! It's just insane during the beach scenes. I may have mentioned it back when she first appeared but where Ten/River left me cold, Eleven/River are so much more fun to watch together. I love his scenes with Amy as well, particularly bumping his head against hers during the "stone arm" scene.
Iain Glen FTW! Octavian and the whole cleric squad are really interesting, the church has definitely come a long way. Poor Sacred/Scared Bob, but he's clearly better than everyone by getting freaked out and shooting a statue.
Oh, I love that Eleven kept the shoes! What a great detail! Later, when she went looking for them she found Jack's squareness gun instead. Brilliant.
Oh, hello there idea, welcome to my personal canon!!
The Doctor actually bit Amy's arm in that scene! Loved it!
Oh Mark, it seems with Moffat, no one ever is prepared.
I'M JUST GONNA LEAVE MY FAVE GIF I'VE EVER MADE RIGHT HERE
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ONE OF MY FAVE EPISODES EVER UGH SO TERRIFYING.
The first time I watched this episode was when I had just started watching the show and had only seen Eleven and maybe one or two episode of Nine. So, as you can imagine, I was totally out of the loop when it comes to River and the Angels. The story summarizes them quite well, so I was able to understand, but wow…sometimes I think it was even better that I knew the storyline when I came back to it after I had watched all the previous episodes, because I was able to concentrate on some of the just fantastic stuff that is secondary to the story. I could watch this every night and love it!
"Good news is that since we’ve already seen her die, she can’t die here!"
Mark, I love your eternal optimism with this line XD
The first time I saw this, I didn't really get too involved until they realized the statues should have had two heads. I just figured they'd go along, find the Angel, fight for a bit and then get out. But the reveal that the maze was actually full of Weeping Angels…
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And when I got my Series 5 DVD boxed set, the DVD with this episode has the video Angel on the menu screen. Yeah… I'm not leaving that on for any length of time.
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I'll comment more tomorrow – I have the hardest time talking about the first half of two-part stories!
Though, here's a funny little story – the very first time this episode aired in the UK, somebody at the BBC decided it would be funny to run a little cute animated trailer advertising some upcoming program with Graham Norton OVER THE VERY END OF THE EPISODE (the part right before the Doctor shoots the gravity globe and everything's all intense and crap). Thousands of people called to complain – it was pretty epic. So, Graham Norton did this on his show later and it's funny as hell (no spoilers) – <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpZS_54uoA” target=”_blank”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpZS_54uoA
Weeping Angel screen burn would be terrific. In both sense of the word.
I hadn't seen the Graham Norton response before. That's great!
Bless Graham Norton. And bless you for that kitty gif.
Plus she's known the Doctor for at least a while in her timeline and that 'shame you were busy that day' line ALWAYS sounded more like teasing than a serious comment to me….
I don't know- I'm wondering if this is a hint towards there being other Time Lords out there.
Maybe when the Doctor told her his real name, he also showed her how to spell in Old High Gallifreyan and it all stemmed from there.
Yeah, I've always thought that her saying 'shame you were busy that day' and the bit about the TARDIS breaks being left on were purely teasing on her part. In fact, it's my head-canon that a later incarnation of the Doctor told her to say that just to mess with him (or Romana did, which would be awesome as well).
That's how I read it, too – plus, she could always be hinting at a different version of the Doctor (either future Eleven, or Twelve, or any of the future Doctors for that matter…).
I'm sort of ambivalent about River Song. I liked her in season 4 but here she just annoys me, quit the teasing Moffat and just tell us who she is already! Didn't anyone recognize the guy River kissed? Looked remarkably like Mike Skinner.
The Streets Mike Skinner? Probably was him, I know he did a cameo somewhere
It was Mike Skinner.
Seriously? That is extremely cool, I can't believe I never noticed that before.
How much do I wish he'd told River that she's fit, but my gosh don't she know it.
I'm now going to assume he said it right before she used the lipstick on him.
EDIT dfjad NEVERMIND I think that was from next episode. That's what I get for not rewatching these. SADS.
Otherwise. Oh god this episode. The thing with Bob has got to be the creepiest part of this, even more than the fact that the Angel in the video moves between the frames. Think about that for a moment.
I might be wrong about this, but I heard that Matt biting Amy here was completely ad-libbed.
Other than that. OMG RIVER. OMG ANGELS. THERE IS TOO MUCH AWESOME IN THIS EPISODE FOR ME TO HANDLE.
One thing I have to wonder: Has the Doctor (as Ten) run into River off-screen since she died? Because when I watched this it felt like he must have seen her since. Or maybe he's playing it up. It's really hard to tell.
This episode. THIS EPISODE. Words cannot explain how awesome and TERRIFYING this episode is. Everything down to the music was on point and nightmare inducing. I was actually listening to my iPod one night, trying to get to sleep when the theme for The Time of Angels came on and I thought I was having a heart attack. Because I was half asleep I didn't immediately recognize what I was listening to, but apparently my body knew because my heart rate jumped and I seriously thought I was dying. It takes SKILL to make something so scary that my body reacted to it before my brain did. So, Moffat, you win. At everything. Ever.
THIS! I did this also. The day after I bought the Series 5 soundtrack, I was listening to it in bed one night and then it got to the song that plays when Amy's trapped inside with the Angel. At first it was just the really unsettling sounds that came on and I was just like "Hmm, I'll just leave it play…" Then it made the violin shriek sound that accompanies whenever the Angel moved on-screen, and I seriously (seriously) wet myself a little bit…
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The trap speech he does at the end was the voice over on one of the BBC America promos that came out, and it is what made me believe that he could be amazing, before the series started. I do love a good speech.
I haven't rewatched this ep yet, so I can't say too much, but I do love the relationship between the Doctor and River. So much joking and teasing, I love it. I also love these episodes because it's the first ones Matt and Karen filmed, so they hadn't totally decided on what Matt's hair would look like so it changes length throughout the episode, depending on where they are. It's kind of fun to see (though I only noticed when I watched the commentary, doh).
And I love these set pictures, they're just having a sunbathe and the cast and crew of Doctor Who comes along:
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What the angels to for fun:
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And this is from the Confidential, Matt and Karen had to do cool filming stuff for the video game and Karen's making fun of how he walks:
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Most of the series 5 Confidentials are so worth it to watch just for Matt and Karen.
Wait, what? So, those bathers are in bathing suits, and the cast and crew of Who are in winter coats? WHAT IS THIS WEATHER?
Since it's somewhere in Wales the weather is pretty much guaranteed to be 'raining' or 'just about to rain'.
I suspect the sunbathers are either insanely optimistitic, heroically determined or inhumanly impervious.
I love the sunbathers. "What the… what? What was that?" And that Karen gif was just adorable.
Hm, that's a pretty good idea! It'd have to be her super speciality, though, because no other archeologists seem to know… maybe she keeps it all a secret.
Lol yes, I bet her thesis was on Gallifrey, and so her specialty is Time Lords (and how to make them heel).
It was highly praised when she published it, especially with so much first hand experience and knowledge.
I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS, BUT FIRST, FUN FACT: that guy that got lipsticked at the beginning is Mike Skinner from the Streets.
What I was most annoyed about is that fact that I HAVE BBC HD! I HAVE HD telly! I ALWAYS watch Who in HD and I forgot to on THIS EPISODE ONLY! GJDSKFHERSDFJADSK!
I love that this episode makes us all feel like idiots, cause they are talking about the two-headed former inhabitants of the planet as they (and us, as the audience) are staring RIGHT AT the one-headed statues. I never put that together, and I wouldn't have. But once the doctor does, it's such a flawless "OH SHIT!" moment.
So yes, this is totally how you bring back the weeping angels and make them terrifying.
IT ALL MAKES SENSE
It's the what that gets me. Who, sure, fine, we all want to know who she is… but what? WHAT IS SHE. DOES WHAT REFER TO HER SPECIES OR SOME KIND OF TITLE OR STATE OF BEING WHAT IS THE WHAT HERE
I'm not even going to ramble on, because it's just obvious how amazing and perfect this episode is.
River + Angels + Moffat + Maze of the freaking dead + Cleric Soldiers + TV Angels = perfection
Easily in my top 5 episodes of this show, pushing top spot
This was the week the BBC launched their animated promos of the three shows on a Saturday night: Total Wipeout, Doctor Who and Over the Rainbow (a talent show looking for a Dorothy for an Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, presented by Graham Norton). At the end of Total Wipeout there was am onscreen banner for Doctor Who while nothing much was happening, so it wasn't too distracting. Then, in the middle of the Doctor's cliffhanger speech, we got this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb83Xh0t9wI
I have to admit I was one of the people who complained to the BBC. Graham Norton (who had nothing to do with it, except for appearing as an animation) did this piece later in the week on his chat show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpZS_54uoA
More tomorrow when spoilers will not be involved.
OMG thank you for the YouTube links! There was lots of undignified snort-laughing on my end!
(Because I live in Asia and my IP address is filtered out by the entire freaking world of legit streaming sites etc., there actually IS no legit way for me to watch American or British TV. Happy side effects? My episodes are never spoiled by things like this!)
Whatever holds the image of an Angel becomes an Angel.
Kinda makes you think about how the Angels got to the Doctor the first time around. After Sally Sparrow gave him PICTURES OF AN ANGEL!
But a thought on that theory– Sally had those photos for an entire year before he gave them to the Doctor.
Yet another reason for me to be Ms. Grumpy Face about the new Angel rules. Make sense Moffat! Make sense!
As I watched S5 first, this was the first I saw of the Weeping Angels and River Song. (This caused me to lose my shit during Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead – especially when the Doctor opened the door with the snap of his fingers. I was all like ‘ELEVEN! <3')
This was the first episode of Doctor Who I watched live. At 9:00pm, in the dark, eating Chex Mix with my sister. We were alone in the house
I knew the Weeping Angels would be scary. I WAS NOT PREPARED. I WAS HORRIFIED AND INTRIGUED AND I WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK AGAIN.
After the episode was over, I was clinging to my sister as we walked up the stairs. I was afraid of the dark for the first time in years, and afraid to blink. OH GOD. IT WAS TERRIBLE. AND AWESOME.
I really liked the atmosphere of the Maze of the Dead. Doctor Who does atmosphere really well. The flashlights and the dark, and….it was great.
And oh hey, new kinds of comments?
One of the most iconic sounds in television history, and it’s because the Doctor drives like my grandma.
<3
RIVER SONG! Haters, or people who call her a Mary-Sue- please take the left handed evacuation sequence. That is all.
Fun fact: It was Matt’s idea to have River crash into the Doctor when he’s getting her into the TARDIS. Even though this did end up causing Alex Kingston to accidently knee him where it hurts a few a times when they were shooting the scene.
FHASDKHFHDSF NO ONE IS EVER PREPARED FOR WEEPING ANGELS.
Mark, your thoughts on the angels here pretty much mirror mine. I’m a major fan of Psychological Horror, and this monster is so far, I think, the only one that’s ever made me jump out of my chair and hit pause on the video so that I can start cursing up storm at my laptop. My mental label for them is ‘WEEPING FHDAJSKFHDJSAHFAHU ANGELS’. Scale from 1 to 10 and they take it to a 20. I’ve been paranoid of human-sized statues ever since this episode.
HDFKJSAF JUST THIS EPISODE. I’d first started with Series 5, and I was excited to hear about them being in this series. I’d never watched ‘Blink’ before this episode, but knew the warning about not blinking, and that they moved when you take your eyes off them. I WASN’T PREPARED FOR THE VIDEO CLIP SEQUENCE. OH GOD. NIGHTMARE & PARANOIA FUEL FOREVER. And this is coming me, whose watched ‘The Grudge’ at 2AM in the morning and went to sleep just fine after finishing it. Watching this for the first time at 1AM in my dorm = WORST IDEA EVER. And recently, I finally got around to watching ‘Blink;- and I have to say that I’m still terrified of ‘Time of Angels’ more. In ‘Blink’ they just send you back time…which isn’t that scary. These ones OTOH snap your neck. D:
Also, AMY APPRECIATION TIME: She figured out that you could wink at them. xD
And a short fic rec for anyone who wants it (now that Mark has seen River in this series):
The Care and Feeding of Tiny Humans (and slightly larger Time Lords). No spoilers for anything upcoming. The Doctor comes back a lot sooner than 12 years, and takes little!Amelia Pond on adventures.
Ah these comments, s’all different :\
This was the VERY FIRST episode of Doctor Who that I EVER saw…. SO MUCH LOVE.
Also, watching these episodes now that I’ve seen all the other DW episodes is so crazy! I had NO idea of the context that other fans were seeing these episodes in!
I'd only seen Eleventh Hour before this. While TEH drew me in with it's infectious charm, this was the episode that made me think 'wow, this is no kids' show'. I told all my friends what a great and terrifying bit of TV I had just seen, and what a great concept for a monster this was, and then someone burst my bubble and told me that the angels had been in it before, as well as River Song.
As amazing and important as this episode was for me the first time round, it STILL gets better every time I watch it
Yeah there was some arm flailing going on at my place when the angel came out of the screen.
WHAT NO WHAT WHY HOW IS THIS WHAT NO
Though I admit I was pretty eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh about the "looking into the eye of the angel" bit, but whatev, whatev I rolled with it. But for real the dust coming out of Amy's eye was 110% horrifying to me because I have SERIOUS EYE/BLINDING-RELATED PHOBIA. YEEEAAAARGH.
The first time I watched this episode, I hadn’t seen seasons 1-4 yet, so River was totally new to me. Going back to this episode after I had seen SitL and FotD really changed my perception of the relationship between the Doctor and River. There is so much guilt in him I didn’t see the first time.
This line was apparently cut for time, but I kind of wish they’d left it in (I could do without the flashback)
River: You’re angry, which usually means you’re feeling guilty. Have you let me down recently?
[the Doctor recalls River’s death]
River: Well whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll forgive you. If you’ll forgive me.
All the sads.
BTW, I love Alex Kingston and I can only hope to look half that good when I’m her age but WHAT DID THEY DO TO HER HAIR? Seriously, I hate the hair and makeup for her this ep. The makeup looks caked on and her hair looks like a brillo pad.
What we saw when it first broadcast was the Doctor giving his hero speech right over a nasty animated gif of Graham Norton. Hey ho.
Love the creepiness of the Angels stealing Bob's brain for communication. Oh and Bob wasn't actually wrong to shoot the statue earlier was he? Lovely reveal of the single heads of the statues.
The Church Militant. Nice idea, military clerics stomping around the place dealing with ecclesiastical issues like Weeping Angels.
Oh and "that which holds the image of an Angel becomes an Angel". Nice, not blinking now becomes as dangerous as blinking! Thanks, Moff!
SCARED BOB NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
STOP KILLING MY FAVORITE SIDE CHARACTERS!
It's okay Bob, there's a nice place for you in the Disco room next to Ross Jenkins. Grab one of Rose's joints and get yo freak on.
Now that that's off my chest…
SHAFIGASHIGGWERIOHJG DFIOJIOGIGER(TEWJFO OMG MOFFAT WHAT THE HELL?!
What is in your head so dark that it can create such nightmares?! But YAY AMY AND RIVER POWER COMBO!!!!!!
Oh, and the image of an angel…
[img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/full/262386569.png?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJF3XCCKACR3QDMOA&Expires=1300828310&Signature=OwGMa8zGZtA0QwY2SarnPoizXWU%3D"%5D
It's okay Bob, there's a nice place for you in the Disco room next to Ross Jenkins. Grab one of Rose's joints and get yo freak on.
I want to upvote you like a million times just for this comment.
THIS.
Unfortunately, Sacred Bob's death was pre-ordained.
(See what I did there?)
*Facepalms and upvotes at the same time*
Awright, comments are proper, now. XD
Oh gosh this episode.
River, you fabulous, gorgeous creature.
Eye Scream is my pet squick, so the sand and the ew and the augh and the flinch and the crawling out of my skin…yeah.
Link to TV Tropes! http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com/
It's the Weeping Angel of the real world. Blink and epic chunks of your life could disappear.
Obligatory image is obligatory:
<img src="http://images.sodahead.com/profiles/0/0/1/8/3/7/0/5/7/tvtropes-20189153469.jpeg">
River Song, she can hallo my sweetie any time…
In Doctor Who Magazine (Yes, there is one. Yes, I read it.) Moffat said that the line “we keep meeting in the wrong order” is supposed to make it clear that this ISN’T the second time that they met. Which means that there’s a whole set of adventures featuring Ten and River just waiting to be written…
If the image of an Angel can become an Angel then that means
THEY CAN CLIMB OUT OF YOUR TELEVISION!!!!!!
Sweet dreams.
I seriously wish there was at least one more episode of River with Ten.
RTD should have let Moffat write one of the 2009 specials which could take the place of, say…. Planet Of The Dead?
I wish this too. In my headcanon, he meets her when he's running away after WoM. Maybe she was a lady in waiting for QE1 and fooled Ten into thinking she was thequeen? QE1 was just mad in the Shakespeare Code because she really liked River, okay? I would seriously do anything to erase Ten/QE1 from existence.
This was my first introduction to River Song (having missed a few eps of series 4. In fact I’ve never seen the two parter of S4 with River in them so I was majorly confused during your MWatches reviews!) and I loved her on the spot. I get why people are annoyed by her, but I like her! And yes, fuck yes, the angels are back and worse! More rules and more stuff they can do to you…
Watching Blink again I calm myself by the drs way of describing them as being the kindest killers of the universe (in spite of their scary faces!) but this episode? Blows that right out of the water. It ramps them way back up to super duper scary!
Don’t blink, but don’t look at them either! Argh!
Stupid comments section being all screwy today…sorry if I have, like, 20 identical posts. Grrr.
THIS EPISODE. I HAVE LOTS OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS TWO PARTER BUT I WILL WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW AND JUST POST THIS GIF FOR NOW.
<img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f155/Starsea/Doctor%20Who/Who%20Macros/queenofsmite-grumpy_face_text.gif">
I was, but now I'm smiling!
I loved this episode and you loved this episode and everything is right in my fannish world! 😀
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/2db6rlz.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
First can I say that I really want to go museum hopping with the Doctor as he keeps score and gets tetchy when they get things wrong? That honestly sounds like my idea of a good time.
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/20a2emc.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
Then museums segue into River Song in THOSE SHOES being all kinds of wonderful, and you just know this episode is going great places. The hallucinogenic lipstick is such a fun touch, as is her crash landing into the TARDIS. I love that she's comfortable enough there to take control steering, fly it properly and hang up her shoes! It is ever so intriguing. This leads to one of the funniest moments in DW so far for me- the TARDIS noise and Eleven's disgruntlement over being shown up. I laugh every time I even think about that scene. Eleven and River's dynamic is so very different than with Ten and I think it's for the better. There's great tension and flirtation; somehow it just works much better with Matt Smith. IDEK.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2eaqgjm.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
Amy and River together. How could the Doctor ever resist? Look at them! They are vibrant, beautiful, curious and adventurous. There is no jealousy, just an instant sense of companionship and mutual interest.
That picture also leads me to the point that this season of Who has been so beautiful to look at! The production values are fantastic and just the photography and direction are very cinematic. The attention to color and contrast and shot placement are wonderful. I tend to really notice these things and I'm loving that there's been such a huge upgrade this season.
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/28a3l1t.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/dxjlh2.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
<img src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2l8jdrr.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS PICTURE. The minor characters in this episode are fascinating. Father Octavian is tough, takes pride in his work and his faith and calls the Doctor out when he's being an ass. Sacred/Scared Bob is great as well. He had the right idea shooting that statue! I am so intrigued by the world set up in this episode. The church of the 51st Century has mobilized into something much bigger and I want to read a book about it. It doesn't even have to be a novel; in fact, I'd prefer a fake history book or something detailing the development of the church and why they are the force acting in this scenario. Getting back on point, just that small detail creates such a rich world to explore in this epsidoe. Toss in the Aplan culture and all the ruins and my inner history geek is in ecstasy.
When I hear complaints that Moffat sacrifices characters on the altar of plot, I think of this episode and am boggled. As wonderful as the adventure is, and as CREEPY AS FUCK I find the Angels, the character moments and interactions are really what put this into awesome territory for me.
THE ANGELS. I also never expected them to come back, but I am ever so glad they did. My heart was in my throat the entire time Amy was sealed in that room. I am extremely sensitive to things moving when they shouldn't so that pushed all my terror buttons. She was far more clever and rational than I would have been in that scenario. I'd be rocking in the corner with my big sweatshirt pulled to cover my head.
<img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/2psktol.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
The eyes are the door to the soul? Way to teach an entire generation to try to simultaneously not blink while also not making eye contact with anything, Moffat. Because when you do, creepy stuff like this happens:
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/34qsoyx.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
The reveal in the Maze of the Dead, and Angel Bob all lead up to one of the most awesome and terrifying cliffhangers I've seen in Who yet. The Doctor is pissed and ready to fight back and the Angels surround them. Where can it go from here?!?!
Words cannot express properly how much I love this episode.
First, the AWESOMEST OF AWESOME intro – River effectively using the Doctor's ability to time travel (and knowing he'll find the homing box in a museum one day), and just being a BAMF. Also, apparently, the whole "River falling down on the Doctor" was Matt's idea… 😀
Second, the Angel in the video. When I saw that it moved, I got a massive nerdgasm and literally screamed "QUANTUM SUPERPOSITION FTW!!!" The "coming out of the television" part was clearly inspired by "The Ring", but it was still INCREDIBLY CREEPY. *shudder* And the quotes from the book, too – especially this one: "The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they're the doors. Beware what might enter there." OMINOUS AND CREEPY. Good insight of Amy to blink only with one eye at the time, though (something a lot of people pointed out after "Blink"), and especially pausing the Angel in a blip in the video loop. Pretty clever!
The dialogues between the Doctor, Amy and River are priceless. Especially between Amy and River – it really evokes an "older sister/younger sister" relationship.
The voice of Sacred/Scared Bob after the Angel took it for its own – oh, my God. Something about the voice's total impassivity, which contrasted with what it was actually saying, was incredibly chilling.
The cliffhanger was tense, but I suspected what would be the resolution.
ONLY THE WHOLE SUSPENSE WAS BROKEN BY THE BLOODY GRAHAM NORTON AD!!! >_<
<img src="http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/Tauriel/vlcsnap-2011-03-22-22h51m17s72.png">
What the hell were you thinking, BBC?! Luckily, they apologised after the massive incoming flow of complaints from DW fans.
And Graham Norton apologized himself in hilarious fashion. (even though he had nothing to do with it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpZS_54uoA
It's a tradition at this point! I remember when "Rose" first aired you could hear Graham over the start lol
Deleting this for expectation spoiler.
That reply is hilarious! 😀
I was watching on BBC HD, so I never saw that. I had no idea it was that bad. No wonder Moffat's mobile crashed from a million texts all coming in at once!
Did anyone see Charlie Brooker's rant about the ad trail on You Have Been Watching? Bloody hilarious! There's a small clip of it on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRa45Eaebfg
Er, bit of language, mind… The full section was very funny, and the episode featured a longer discussion about Doctor Who (only as far as this ep, as the show aired around the same time, so no spoilers!), if anyone's interested. I recommend checking out the episode on 4od 🙂
There are so many awesome things about this ep: RIVER SONG! WEEPING ANGELS! Did I mention River Song? Definitely one of my fav eps in Season 5. I to love that the sound and shaking of the TARDIS is just because the Doctor likes the noise and thinks landing perfectly is boring. Oh Doctor, I love you, never change. His impression of the noise the TARDIS makes is priceless too. I also love when the Doctor bites Amy’s hand and her reaction:
Amy: You bit me!
The Doctor: Yeah, and you’re alive.
Amy: Oh, I’ve got a mark, look at my hand!
‘Blimey your teeth! Do you have space teeth?’
"And ALIVE, did I mention?"
You Are Not Alone
The "Amy Pond Haters Club" is short in members. BUT WE ARE STRONG
Ok it seems to be working again now *phew*
The guard at the beginning is played by Mike Skinner from The Streets. That camera style they used is featured a lot in his music videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7MCbis75wk
NSFW!!!!
I love the Mr. Grumpy Face bit. It reminds me of my little sister. If I'm in a bad mood around her, she will ask if I'm "on the grumpy bus today." If I'm in a really bad mood, she'll tell me I'm driving the grumpy bus. Usually it makes me laugh, and then I'm less grumpy (except when I'm really pissed and then it makes me grumpier.)
The "Welcome to Doctor Who" set of episodes sounds intriguing. How many did you use and which ones, if I may ask?
Dalek, Empty Child / Doctor Dances, Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead.
Ideally I'd want a regneration story in there but Rose is a bit weak and features a burping wheelie bin, Christmas Invasion is looooooong winded if you don't know the show already and Eleventh Hour is awesome but doesn't have the actual regeneration in it and I'm not subjecting ANYONE to End of Time. So I usually settle for a five minute "right, here's the background you need to know" chat and chuck 'em in at Dalek. Added advantage, if they like those episodes I can then give them all of Series Fnarg to start them off on a full series. I almost included Human Nature / Family of Blood but while it's awesome on toast it's also a wee bit confusing if you've only seen one other 10 episode before that.
That said if I was trying to get someone in who was very much of the 'it's a kids show' mindset it'd be Blink, followed by Eleventh Hour and Empty Child / Doctor Dances. If I know they go for that sort of thing I might chuck Midnight in there too but it's risky as that's very much a love it / hate it episode.
Oh and I deliberately try to stay away from the season finale stories, don't want to spoil too much if they decide to watch the whole thing.
Good choices; I'd probably also add Smith and Jones, Human Nature / Family of Blood (you could have that with two other Ten stories before it), Utopia, and The Unicorn and the Wasp (it's a pretty fun romp if you get past the giant wasp thing).
Ooh, Dalek is a great place to start. It's still one of my favorite episodes.
What about Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways?
You get your regeneration story in there, and, um, I can't be the only one with an unhealthy love of that two-parter can I?
Great episodes BUT if you haven't seen Series 1 the Bad Wolf thing makes even less sense, you loose the emotional impact of the Long Game and the Doctor's slight oopsie and it does spoil the rest of the series if you know how it ends. Ultimately I'm trying to give 'em an overview of the series without spoiling the major plot threads too badly and Moffat's stories tend to be more stand alone than arc.
Ahh, yeah. If you want them to get to The Parting of the Ways on their own you sort of have to let them, don't you…
(I recently talked a friend into watching Doctor Who simply by pointing out that the Doctor is the most fantastic model of bad-ass masculinity I can think of, WAY better than James Bond. Didn't even have to force him to watch delicious teaser episodes or anything! Then again, I was doing it at a distance…)
I'm saving all my brilliant comments for tomorrow, because I'm really bad at commenting on the first episode of a two-parter. However, a random thought occurred to me while rewatching this episode last night. When the Doctor mentions that he had dinner with an Aplan architect once, it reminded me of the bit with the architects in "The Curse of Fatal Death". I wonder if it's meant to be a (not terribly obvious) reference to that, since Moffat wrote it too.
Hahaha YES i thought that as well. I really hope that's what Moff was thinking about when he wrote that line XD
HAHAHAHA
OMG HAS MARK SEEN CURSE OF THE FATAL DEATH?!?! YouTube link for Mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpaSzw1qck
It's not spoilery, just ridiculous in the best of all possible ways. Moffat's love of the timey-wimey played for humour instead of angst/horror. LOVE!
I'm glad you liked the "extended" angels, but I still prefer the old and more straightforward rule set. Which is why I am torn on this episode, because otherwise it is really great and creepy.
Oh, and some late comments for the previous three, just because I didn't comment at the time
5.01 – A brilliant, funny and exciting opening story, the only competition from RTD is Smith & Jones. But right now I think that TEH wins. I love little Amelia, the Doctor, Rory and the dialogues. I like Amy here too, but I have to say that RTD managed better to make me "feel" and know the companions quickly.
5.02 – rather mediocre and I don't even know exactly why. Overemphasized overemphasis is overemphasized, though.
5.03 – Though Moffat and Gatiss can't be blamed for the way Davies got rid of the Daleks, the line "one ship survived" is really lame. Survived the reality bomb? How?! I always imagined Davros would somehow be involved in the return, because we didn't really see him die. I don't like the taliking-a-bomb-out-of-exploding part either; it would work in a comedy and I suppose it fits Moffat's fairy tale concept of Doctor Who, but still. Another failing of the episode imho is the sporadic cheerfulness of the Doctor, Amy and Churchill. Enough has been said about other problems, but I still managed to think "This wasn't too bad for a Dalek episode". Which says something about my dislike for them I suppose.
Amy: Why do they call him "Father"?
Doctor: He's their bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st century. The Church has moved on.
O RLY? It's moved on so much that they're wearing 21st century army uniforms? NICE ONE CHURCH
Well the church has always been 3 millennia behind. I'm surprised there hasn't been any fuss over Moffat making the church into an army. Seriously you'd think someone would complain about the idea of clerics and bishops killing people since that's what soldiers do.
Maybe it's because the Templars got there first to the soldiering and killing thing. I liked it, myself. Not the "killing for your faith" thing, but the nod to that past. Anyway, I guess that being in the military demands a bit of faith in your superiors and your government. Same difference, in a way.
Great cliffhanger, or greatest cliffhanger ever?
Amy: Why do they call him “Father”?
Doctor: He’s their bishop, they’re his clerics. It’s the 51st century. The Church has moved on.
O RLY? They’ve moved on so much that they’re wearing 21st century army uniforms? NICE ONE CHURCH
(For the record, I love this episode. I used to work for the Church of England and someone I worked with made this observation. You think it’s bad when the Church is wearing things that are hundreds of years out of date? Try three thousand!)
(Also, sorry if the first part of this is repeated. My original comment disappeared T_T )
Ahhh! I'd say it works given that River's wearing a 1920s cocktail dress.
They can either make everything look futuristic (i.e. get everyone into tinfoil) or go a bit retro. It is a bit silly – the equivalent of modern soldiers wearing chain mail – but an in-universe anachronism stew is a good substitute for the "future-clothes" look.
Hello, I've been following this blog thing for a few months, but this is my first time commenting.
First off, because I've been wanting to say it for ages now – you are not prepared!
I love this episode so much, it's absolutely flawless! River Song! Weeping Angels! Epic cliffhanger! What more do you need?
Just wondering though, between Blink and this two-parter, which did everyone see first and which do you find more scary? Because I saw Blink first and I always considered that one scarier, but my brother, sister and one of my friends saw ToA/FaS first and they think this ones scarier. Just something I find interesting.
Anywho, I'm super excited to finally join the party here!
It must just be me that thinks the angels don't hold up well to a repeat. I get that they tried to explain away the different abilities in this episode, but…grr. Somehow, they were far scarier when they were simpler. But now…well, you see, they can kind of talk and they can move and they can infect you when you look at them and… It was more effective in my book when they were a terror you could never see, but that would get you as soon as you closed your eyes. Ah, well.
But it wasn't an old historical artifact when she wrecked it. It'd be like carving into a black box in modern times.
In all fairness River didn't write a message on an artefact. The home box probably only became a historical artifact 12,000 years in the future in the Delirium Archives because River carved her message on to it and made it special/unique. When she wrote her message on it, it was just the future equivilant of a black box, nothing special at all.
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/5p4so8.gif" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
If you carved "hello sweetie" into your computer and it ended up in a museum 12,000 years later, would you have ruined an old historical artifact? 😉 No. And neither did River. WATCH IT AGAIN.
I LOVE THIS EPISODE SO MUCH. FUCKING PERFECT.
First of all, River Song is a MOTHERFUCKING BADASS. I love her and her, "Oh, NBD, I'm just gonna break into this ship and leave a message for the Doctor 12,000 years in the future oh and then JUMP OUT OF A SPACESHIP."
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYf_PHkd0vI/AAAAAAAABuU/8mZXlQmclgY/504_riverwink.gif">
I love how she just keeps taunting the Doctor and calling him "sweetie", and how Amy totally just wants to more about her. I think they're a lot alike, in a way.
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYf_MdSiz0I/AAAAAAAABuQ/-ehvvS6MnBo/504_spoilers.gif">
Oh, and Amy?
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYf_PkxguII/AAAAAAAABuY/LbhJQAyrdX0/504_anybodyneedme.gif">
I NEED YOU. I need you to keep being lovely and awesome! I have such a lady-crush on Amy. And I love how the Doctor keeps trying to leave her out (probably to protect her and to avoid having another Donna situation, but still), and she just refuses to let that happen. Hey, Doctor, remember how Amy Pond saved your ass in the past two episodes? Yeah, don't forget that. She's BRILLIANT, like River says.
Also, "Have you got space teeth?" XD
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYgJqBoQ2CI/AAAAAAAABuk/_6gGr4nKE-w/504_notblink.gif">
"Has anyone ever told you how hard it is to NOT BLINK?" I love that they included her doing the winking thing because we all talk about how we would do it if confronted with Angels. (You should always have a plan for dealing with Weeping Angels.)
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYgJo3bDIWI/AAAAAAAABuc/fJ3whMbYzww/504_angel.gif">
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_3lVOb8wvDlE/TYgJpdYrLSI/AAAAAAAABug/eLWq8OSOq4Y/504_angel2.gif">
AHHHH ANGELS. ANGELS EVERYWHERE.
Oh, and how fucking awesome is the Doctor? I love Matt Smith's Doctor because of moments like the "you never put me in a trap" speech. He kind of sneaks up on you with the scary, but god, when he gets mad, he's so good.
I have a plan for the Zombie Apocalypse and the Weeping Angels. I just need a plan against the Cylons and I'm set.
You are obviously a person who has their priorities straight. 😀
Also, my favourite bit:
Matt Smith breaking the Doctor Who set
<img src="http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c251/Tauriel/mattbreakingset.gif">
It was completely unintentional, but Matt didn't break character, simply went on. Notice how Karen's trying not to laugh. 😀
Was it really unintentional? I would imagine if something like that happened and they decided to keep it, they would shoot a take or 4 with him intentionally doing it.
Yeah, that's what I meant – it was unintentional, but perfectly in character for Eleven, so they decided to keep it in. 🙂 Still, funny as hell.
Yes, it was unintentional. Whether that was the first take and whether they had to do it intentionally for further takes, I don't know. The actual breaking and throwing away is all in the same camera angle, so presumably the same take. The cut to River + Amy's reactions only requires Matt to hold the broken strap in his hand.
And that's one of the reasons why I love him. <3
That is actually in my Top 10 Eleven moments. He's just like "Whoops…. No, I meant to do that." Oh awkward Doctor <3
I also love how you can just barely see Karen Gillian trying not to laugh. Just a flicker, she stayed in character amazingly well, but just for a second you can see her going "Not laughing…not laughing…definitely not laughing…"
That reminds me – I need to make a GIF of Karen trying not to laugh, possibly with a "not laughing… not laughing…" to use at appropriate moments. 😛
Why are you people posting images of the Angles? Don't you know they become angles? Are you trying to kill everyone?
Yes.
THE ANGELS HAVE THE MARK BLOG.
(I am also having a ton of problems with IntenseDebate tonight and I am blaming it on the angels.)
Well for me, the problems started as soon as I changed my avatar pic to an Angel. So that's concrete proof, obviously.
Our evil plan backfired on us. 🙁
My god, what have we done?!
I remember when the preview for this season aired, and everyone was flipping a shit because they thought that the Doctor was pointing a gun at some one. and they were like "DA DOCTAH DON'T USE GUNS MOFFAT. ADERDERDER"
and Moffat was like CALM YO TITS
and Moffat was like CALM YO TITS
That phrase=not so cool. It's sexist.
This. 😐
…..it's an expression, I don't think it is necessarily sexist and I did not mean it in a sexist way. I think there is a difference between excepting something as humor and something that is genuinely sexist. I am sorry that it offended you, but I don't think there is anything to be particularly offended about
oh, and another thing. IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT I'M SAYING ACTUALLY SAY IT INSTEAD OF RANDOMLY DOWN VOTING. THAT DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO ME.
Just because it's an expression doesn't mean it's not offensive. "That's so gay" (meaning "That's fucking stupid") is also just an expression, but I'm pretty sure no one on this blog is going to argue that it's not offensive. "Calm yo tits" plays into the assumption that women are hysterical and can't control their emotions. I'm sure you didn't mean to be offensive, but this is why we have to keep an eye out for bias in the language we use. Unintentional sexism (racism, homophobia, what-have-you) can be just as harmful as intentional sexism.
Oh, and I didn't downvote you. I merely expressed my displeasure in a civil fashion.
Personally, I don't mind it. (I lol'd) It's just per blog rules to try to avoid being potentially offensive. Even mildly sexist figures of speech.
Just wanted to get that out there before you get the impression that we're all demonizing you and shaking our heads from atop our high horses over something I don't think anyone will be losing sleep over.
While I love this blog (obviously) I think that there is a time and a place for things to be considered sexist. This was obviously not a case where I was attempting to be sexist (guys have breasts too…sorry bad joke), and while I am open to debate, I don't think that this is something that needs a lot of debating….
thanks for the nice comment 🙂
When something is sexist. it is the time and the place to be considered sexist. Hypatia explained why, there's is a long history of misogyny behind the idea that women were hysterical beings who needed to "calm down,: even if you didn't mean it that way.
I know you didn't mean to give offense, but Geek culture is full of shit like this and if people don't explain why it's wrong, no one will learn.
This to the highest possible degree. Unless you're yelling "sexist sexist sexist" at someone who's currently in the process of diffusing a bomb, the idea of "time and place" is ridiculous.
Just tracked down this comment, after seeing it highlighted in the spoiler blog, and that phrase was really out of order.
It's been shown previously on this site that I have a slightly different perspective at times on issues of racism, sexism and indeed feminism, but I don't believe there's any perspective that can justify the above remark.
The point you were making about certain sections of fandom needing to calm down about the Doctor using a gun before they knew the context, was a valid one. By phrasing it the way you did, you've drawn the focus away from that and really spoiled what could have been a very intelligent comment, making it sound stupid and ridiculous instead.
Just think more in future before using that kind of language.
OH MY GOD YOUR AVATAR <3<3<3<3
Someone in this post (I can't remember who it was, sorry) explained the bit about the neck snapping. It had been annoying me too, but I get it now. The angel wanted to revive the army and had all that energy of the ship to wake them up. They couldn't risk their usual method of sending someone to the past because they might warn the future expedition of what had happened (timey-wimey, idgi) so the angel killed and used those soldiers to distract the expedition long enough.
It works for me.
The other thing about the Angel snapping necks rather than sending its victims back in time, is that the Angels in Blink fed off the energy of the time displacement. The Angel here has a huge spaceship reactor spilling out enough energy to restore hundreds, maybe thousands of others. It doesn't *need* the energy from time displacement. It would be like snacking on a biscuit when there's a huge banquet right in front of you.
I always assumed that the neck-breaking had two purposes:
1. the angels needed a voice to communicate with the Doctor and it took them time to "get it right"
2. wanted to scare the clerics
But your explanation (didn't want to risk a person warning the others from the past) makes total sense, too!
it took them time to "get it right"
Well, that's horrific, I hadn't realized. D:
And now I'm picturing the angel earnestly trying to get it to work but failing and getting all frustrated at having to kill another one instead of baiting the Doctor like it wants to. It's so hard to get vocal chords to work, guys!
Yeah, that DOES sound like Moffat nightmare logic, doesn't it? 😛
To my mind, this is one of several cases I've noted so far in S5 where there's this huge nonsense thing in the episode, and it would've taken one line of dialogue for the writers to explain it so we don't have to fridge logic it to death on our own. That's a perfectly fine explanation but it seems like the writers should have provided us with one for why these angels behave so differently. (I mean, we got one for why they LOOK different, so…)
Agreed. I don't know if that explanation is fridge logic or if it comes from commentaries or other sources but it should have been in the episode.
I disagree. I like these things being left unexplained. Leaves room for individual interpretation, and that's good, in my opinion.
Yeah, I realised as I was writing my response that one person's “plot hole” is another person's “intriguing ambiguity” or “writing for a smart audience (who don't need everything explained to them).”For me personally, wondering why the Angels behave so differently detracts from an otherwise solid episode with lots of interesting stuff, when it didn't have to. It's one thing, but it's a big thing, because after all it's an episode about fighting off the Angels. (And also, because Moffat's writing just doesn't scare me, I'm probably more liable to notice and nitpick than to have an overwhelming emotional reaction that reduces the impact of unexplained stuff. Apparently, for me, Weeping Angels are nothing compared to Daleks with pockets and tea trays. Go figure.)
>Yeah, I realised as I was writing my response that one person's "plot hole" is another person's "intriguing ambiguity" or "writing for a smart audience (who don't need everything explained to them)."
The difference, to me, depends on how important the point is – which is, of course, a matter of opinion all by itself. To me the exact reason why the Angel is killing differently (and people seem to be forgetting it's only ONE Angel doing the killing, not Angels plural) isn't vital to the plot. There are clearly a number of compelling reasons and I think to focus on one – which could only be speculation on the Doctor's part anyway – to the exclusion of all the others would be a bigger problem.
I don't think there is any need to choose between the different reasons suggested here – they're ALL true! On the other hand, there seems to be no good reason in favour of time displacement, therefore the Angel's actions are perfectly reasonable.
I agree with you, Nyssa. I hate when things are spelled on a silver platter as if the audience is stupid enough to connect things themselves. And in this case, there IS an explanation in an episode – the angels in Blink were only scavengers, so it's possible that their powers were limited.
<img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/34j9h5v.gif">
Now if anyone wants to manip an angel head onto Sam's head…
Well, this isn't the same as manip an angel head onto Sam's head, but:
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/mj4do1.jpg">
An image of River becomes River?
*waits*
No? Oh 🙁
Well, it was worth a try.
Um FUCK ALL YOU GUYS AND YOUR ANGELS PICTURES.
Crying in fear.
actually I love you, things like this are what make Mark Does Stuff so fun.
<img src=http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/DanaanMI/Gifs/2edtekk.gif>
::runs like hell::
Yeah.. they kinda planned that over at the spoilers blog..
Cut scene that was scrapped from the first few drafts, from when River reunites with the Doctor and exits the TARDIS once they land (from DWM Special #26)
Amy: What's up with you, anyway? You look like you've seen a ghost.
As the Doctor suddenly reacted, there was a flashback to Forest of the Dead as the 10th Doctor helplessly witness River's death; the Doctor recovered from the memory and emerged from the ship.
And another, from later:
River: Doctor, is there a reason you're not looking at me? Oh! You're angry, which usually means you're feeling guilty. Have you let me down lately?
The Doctor suddenly recalled again the death of River just as the clerics began to meterialize.
River: Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll forgive you. Long as you forgive me.
I SO SHIP THEM.
AND RIVER SONG IS FLAWLESS.
<img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/67o8jq.jpg">
Favourite two-parter of the series.
Countless things done stunningly right. Not a flaw with it.
Oh, okay. Fine. One flaw? Didn't quite get what happened when the Doctor initially bit Amy.
That's it.
That's IT.
Moffat's my favourite writer. Between Blink, this, and Silence in the Library… oh, and The Eleventh Hour. And, hey, let's throw in The Empty Child too. I don't think it's a spoiler to say he's not done being fantastic, either.
I LOVE it when your reactions match mine, and if anything you've loved The Time of Angels even more than I did. If I couldn't wait for your reaction to this episode, I'm anticipating tomorrow's all the more.
He bit her to prove to her that her hand was not stone. 😀
There are so many good moments and lines in this episode, so I'm just going to mention a few of my favorites:
"Hallucinogenic lipstick… she's here." From the music cue and the Very Serious expression on the dapper man in the suit, it's easy to assume this lady is bad. She's bad and wears fabulous shoes. And has a derringer blowtorch. She is River Song. And she is BAD ASS TO THE BONE. I highly approve of the fact she took off those fabulous shoes as soon as she could, because that's what I would do.
The Doctor is affronted by her skills and the now "boringness" flight of the TARDIS. lol. He goes to sulk. "Parked us." "But… it didn't make the noise." Matt Smith makes this hilariously asthmatic sound. It reminds me of a show I saw on the History channel years ago, hosted by David Carradine. The only part of the episode I remember is when they were talking about cowboys who came to town on a Saturday night. The cowboys would loosen their spurs so they would jingle when they walked. I always thought that was cute.
"What do you know of… the weeping angels?"
<img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b213/angiealight/dramachipmunk.gif" border="0" alt="Image Source,Photobucket Uploader Firefox Extension">
THE WEEPING ANGELS! They're one of my favorite Doctor Who creatures.
I wasn't especially thrilled by the previous episode, (it's a middle of the road for me), but The Time of Angels is really enjoyable, for a variety of reasons, a few of which I will enumerate:
1) The dynamics between the characters is excellent. They all play off each other really well in this episode.
2) The pacing is neither sluggish nor frantic; but brisk and exciting.
3) The cinematography – as always, this season – is gorgeous.
4) Threat level: Menacing. The Weeping Angels are there – they're right there in plain sight. Even with everybody looking for a Weeping Angel, they don't notice that these statues, in varying levels of decay – ARE THE ANGELS. And they use the voice of poor Bob the Scared to taunt the Doctor. These bastards are damn creepy.
5) There are so many memorable lines and terrific moments, with great flow throughout the episode.
Don't have much in-depth to say… it IS the first half of a two-parter! I am intrigued, there are some things that rub me the wrong way and things that rub me the right way, and I am reserving judgment until I rewatch part 2!
River. She's very different here, isn't she? In Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead she was cocky and a bit of a rule-breaker but always seemed kind, level-headed, and confident. This younger River is cocky BEYOND BELIEF and has a very crazed femme fatale thing going on. She annoys me, to be honest, but it makes me wonder how she matures into the River that awed me in S4.
I do love that she and Amy just bond right off the bat, over their mutual assessment of why the Doctor loves museums, and then keep bonding and working together. And I ADORE the way Amy teases him about her. "Yes. You're right. I am definitely Mr. Grumpy Face today."
I think your hair is grumpy too, Doctor!!
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/bhmzbb.png" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">
Little things:
– It's nice that she can be a bad-ass in those insane dominatrix heels, but I would never wear them with that dress. This is of course a purely arbitrary fashion judgment and not any kind of character commentary. I do also love that she takes them off at the first available opportunity though. I would too!
– "The crash of the Byzantium" is one of the events from River's diary in the Library, when she says it's still "early days" for the Doctor, because he's so young (And she reiterates it here). On the other hand, if she can remember the Crash of the Byzantium, how does she not remember that she had that adventure with Eleven instead of Ten? I think maybe Moffat didn't know if he'd still have Tennant but it's a little tweaky thing that irks me. "I have pictures of all your faces. I need the spotters' guide." Hmm. But if the Doctor only FIRST met her as Ten then she can't possibly have run into 1-9. Does this mean she also knows Doctors 12, 13, and 14? I AM CONFUSED HALP.
– Having a relationship running in opposite directions must be really maddening. River, as in S4, seems to be very intimate with the Doctor already, whereas the Doctor barely knows her. That he would answer her call immediately given that he doesn't really know her, and when he's so horribly wary of her, seems a little odd to me, and makes me wonder if Ten had any offscreen run-ins with her that would make this more justifiable. (And would maybe make her confusion about whether this was a Ten adventure or an Eleven adventure more understandable.)
Random thing: WARRIOR-PRIESTS! Love it.
The angels. So much less scary this time around. The new rules introduced about them kind of kill the power of the ONE rule about them introduced in "Blink." So does their more straight-foward violence. Snapping necks? That's just… frankly pedestrian! Weeping Angels, I expected so much better from you.
The reactions TO the Angels, however, are often brilliant. (And, what delicious irony to have priests fighting angels! Only just realised that on rewatch…)
Bob: Sorry, sorry, I thought… I thought it LOOKED at me.
Bishop: We know what the angel looks like, is THAT the angel?
Bob: No sir.
Bishop: No sir it is not. According to the Doctor we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be VERY GOOD, if we could all remain calm in the presence of DECOR!
Finally, I would like this t-shirt. That is all!
Ooh, we finally found a place where we differ! I would wear those shoes, which officially means we're not mind-clones. It's a good thing, because I was getting scared for a while.
I also loved clerics fighting Angels. Bishop may not have been warm'n'cuddly, but I loved his lines.
Yeah, a fic somewhere had River knowing Gallifreyan because she was an archaeologist, and it totally became my headcanon after that.
I need this fic in my life stat.
FOUND IT FINALLY:http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=37328&chapter=1It's kind of cracky, but it involves Dr. Song being brought in to confirm that the Doctor is actually a Time Lord using her archaeological knowledge (and the Doctor schools her crap Gallifreyan pronunciation… as if anyone would be pronouncing a dead language well?) Anyway, I rather liked the idea that River would KNOW THINGS because she's an academic and it's her JOB to know things.
See now you should NEVER ever encourage bad fan fic. However as you have, in fact, done so let's try this… Set to this music (WARNING, if you want to stay spoiler free for this series do NOT click this link as even the track title is a bit of a spoiler, mmkay?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq_dBvckHWQ
0:00 – 0:55 : "A long time ago and far, far away from here I met someone who showed me the universe. Its wonders, its majesty…and its terrors. Every nightmare we've ever had made flesh. And when they decide it's our turn there is nothing we can do to stop them. Nothing at all…"
0:55 – 1:10 : "And then I learned one more thing… even monsters have nightmares!"
1:10 – 1:54 : If it's the teaser trailer TARDIS Vworping in followed by 11 doing the "Basically Run" bit. If it's the full one the usual montage of action scenes, highlights etc.
See, told you not to encourage me 😉
Mark, I applaud you for catching the gravity globe at the end. I didn't catch that the first time around, myself.
No, Amy, no!
<img src="http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t3/Crayola_of_Doodah/Ensignamy.jpg">
NOT A REDSHIRT!!! D:
Oh dear god Kirk in his prime and Amy? I think Spock and Bones would be the only ones on that mission.
Also, Amy thinks her hand has turned to stone. Karen Gillan previously appeared in The Fires of Pompeii as a member of the Sibylline Sisterhood, whose flesh was beginning to turn to stone…
Okay, that is awesome.
The Doctor: something something the inhabitants of this planet had 2 heads
Me: Then why don't the statues? God, DW production crew, how could you screw up something like that? At least I noticed it because I'm ~*super smart*~
Moffat: PS THEY'RE ALL ANGELS SUCK ON THAT
Yay, now I like River Song! Part of it is because now we're with Eleven, and my jealousy over her Possible Ten Marriage/Smooching is no longer at the forefront of my brain. Another part is her 100% badassedness. I think I wouldn't mind if she was in every ep.
Well flipping noticed, then, I was UNBELIEVABLY slow to get why they were snarfling on about how many heads they had!!
This is the Aliens to Blinks Alien I think. Blink had a few Angels and is more personal/scary. This has a whole load of Angels running round and marines with guns.
Just posting quickly to say: This is the most fucking terrifying episode of Doctor Who I have ever seen.
I'll try to come back and add more when I've read the rest of the comments 🙂
(and I think I'm a day behind? I don't even know any more)
River? MEH.
MOFFAT EXPLAINED THE NOISE THE TARDIS MAKES WHEN IT LANDS. Oh god, I love that it’s because the Doctor is technically doing something wrong AND HE DOESN’T CARE.
I don't think that can be correct. I saw in an episode of Classic Who how the Master got into the fire grate to escape and they realized that it was the Master's TARDIS camouflaged as the fire grate because of the noise it made. As far as I know, the Master wouldn't make that mistake and leave the brakes on to make that noise, especially knowing that the Doctor does.
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