Doctor Who – Time of The Angels

The Angels are coming…

This episode revisits the Weeping Angels, terrifying predators disguised in the form of stone statues, which previously appeared in the tenth Doctor story Blink – itself based on a short story that Moffat wrote for a recent Doctor Who annual. In addition to this, the episode sees the return of the enigmatic River Song (played by Alex Kingston), a feisty archaeologist introduced in Silence in the Library, and supposedly the Doctor’s future wife. Drawing on themes from such well-received past stories, this episode certainly has high expectations to live up to.

Well, the episode certainly delivers. After a fast-paced and clever opening scene, the Doctor and Amy soon join River Song on a barren ruined planet, in search of the last surviving Weeping Angel. They are accompanied by a squad of militant clerics, as they search for the creature amidst a ruined temple full of stone statues. There is a certain amount of friction between Amy and River at first, as they both vie for the Doctor’s attention, but this soon gives way to heart-stopping drama. Many moments reminded me of the episode The Impossible Planet, as the Doctor leads a party underground into the ruins of a lost civilization; and this outing is certainly as dark as that one.

While the Angels featured in the episode Blink merely sent their victims back in time, feeding on their stolen potential, Moffat now takes it up a notch. We are told that the Angels need bodies for something, so now they break their victims’ necks with stone hands.

In terms of plot, the episode runs like a horror movie. From Amy’s early encounter with the Angel, through the deadly expedition into the sprawling ruins, and the final horrifying twist at the end; each idea reflects classic horror scenarios, but strung together seamlessly, and featuring an entirely original new monster.

In The Time of Angels, Moffat doesn’t just bring back his creation, but rather he develops the idea in a number of ways. The idea that any image of an Angel can itself become an angel is truly frightening, and leads to a scene reminiscent of The Ring, when Amy is trapped in front of a screen, through which a videotaped Angel slowly emerges. The twist at the end, on realising that each one of the many stone statues is in fact another Angel, is devastatingly effective.

The idea that weak and hungry, the Angels begin to loose their form, becoming distorted, misshapen and wingless effigies, is another original twist. It makes the army of stone monstrosities even scarier, with their mutated and deformed features.

It is also rather disturbing that the angels were able to communicate using the dead consciousness of their victims. Though the idea makes little sense, it doesn’t feel like a problem, as the Angels are so far from human understanding, that they border on what we might call the supernatural. The realisation that the dead Private’s voice on the radio is actually speaking a message from these creatures  makes for a chilling moment.

The episode ends with an unusual cliff-hanger, as the party are trapped in the caves, surrounded on all sides by the approaching Angels. The Doctor gives a wonderful, triumphant speech to the creatures, before firing a sonic gun up at the ceiling above them. Rather than leaving things bleak and hopeless until next week, Moffat shows us that the Doctor has a plan, and we’re left waiting to see exactly what it is he’s done. It’s a refreshingly optimistic twist on the usual cliff-hanger format.

This episode also marked a far greater threat to Amy than before. As a result of her early encounter with the Angel, she becomes somehow tainted by it, resulting in strange hallucinations. We see stone dust falling from her eye as she rubs it later on, and towards the end she becomes convinced that her hand is turning to stone. This attack on the Doctor’s companion brings home the very real danger, and one can’t help but wonder what further horrors await her in part two.

In the preview of next week, we also see a glimpse of one of these developing cracks – this time it seems, as an integral part of the story. It’ll be good to see Moffat weaving this ongoing theme into the fabric of a story, and suggests we’ll learn a little more about what to expect towards the end of the series.

Some may be wondering by now exactly who River Song is. When she speaks to the Bishop early on, he comments that the Doctor doesn’t yet know her true identity, and refers to her recent incarceration. The idea that Song might be the Doctor’s future wife (and he her former husband) strikes me as a little thin, and one can’t help but wonder what hidden twist is coming.

She’s highly intelligent, possesses a sonic screwdriver, is familiar with the ancient artifacts of Gallifrey, knows the Doctor’s true name, and is able to fly a TARDIS better than he can. (One detail I rather enjoyed was the revelation that a TARDIS shouldn’t make any sound on materialising – the ‘vroorp vroorp’ sound we all know and love, it transpires, is a by-product of the Doctor trying to ‘park’ with the brakes turned on.) Personally, I’m rather hoping she’ll turn out to be the Rani – the Doctor’s Timelady rival, last seen in the 1987 story Time and The Rani - but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Roll on next week!

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