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.

Don't Blink

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!

The President of Zimbabwe apparently possesses tapes of some early episodes of the science fiction series that could be thirty or forty years old, according to The Sun.

Some Doctor Who programmes were deleted by the BBC in the late sixties and seventies to make room in the Beeb’s film library for new shows and Zimbabwe is thought to have bought the first season of the time-travel series when it was still the British colony Rhodesia.

But because of poor diplomatic relations with the country, UK researchers are unable to look in Zimbabwe’s TV vaults and cannot know for sure if President Mugabe owns the missing 1963 and 1964 series starring William Hartnell.

The BBC, which is missing 108 of 752 Doctor Who episodes and wants to recover lost episodes to release on DVD, also suspects that some later programmes not held anywhere else in the world may also be in Zimbabwe.

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Over the decades some previously lost episodes have been relocated as far away as Hong Kong and New Zealand.

A BBC source apparently told The Sun: “We have looked all over the world for missing Doctor Who episodes but there are still some broadcasters we have not spoken to. Zimbabwe could prove a problem as there is so much red tape.

“There is a fear that we may never get our hands on the footage and that would be a real shame for fans.”

I’ve just watched the episode (First Part) , and I must admit I yet again loved it, this is in my opinion the best episode so far, I just can’t wait for next saturday, firstly, heres a trailer:

I was lucky enough to meet the sontaran before he was moved from the Blackpool Museum temporarily for some publicity shoots, and being up-close to the original sontaran I can tell you that the BBC have done a wonderful job of reviving him, here is a little clip from the Classic DOCTOR WHO……………….

If you havn’t seen the episode here is the official BBC Trailer, closely followed by a few clips from the episode:

What a belter! The best episode so far this series as far as I’m cencerned, very clever how thoughts and opinions on subjects such as the UK’s foot and mouth crysis and “culling”. all in all a real thought provoking episode.

As you can imagine, Donnas visit to this strange alien planet and meeting this unfortunate race of squid-like slaves really freaked her!

The episode allows new  viewers to discover the origins of The Ood and why they behave the way they do – but will the Doctor become their friend or foe?

The OOD were last seen plummeting into a black hole back in series two and Russel T Davies was said to be “Delighted” regarding the OODS return.

A fantastic story line that saw the Doctor and his new sidekick travel back in time for a very hot date in pompeii, this story portayed so well how gullable the human race was (and still is) when it comes to myth, legend and superstition.

And I must add that yet again, Catherine Tate played a blinder as far as I’m concerened.

Heres a little for those of you that just can’t get enough!

I know theres alot of debate over the first episode, I can only give my opinion, and that is…. it was bloody fantastic!

I have never been a Catherine Tate fan (please do not take that personally Catherine! I am in my thirties and I must admit my teenage kids think your the best thing since sliced bread, my son often watches your encounter with Tony Blair and thinks its fantastic, so in short, I’m an old fart!.)

Even after the Christmas Special, I could not see how Catherine would gell with the Doctor, I did however see it coming, the storyline was funny, whitty and a good break into the series for new fans (my 2 year old son included) who can no longer go to bed without his David Tennant action figure (thanks character options).

If I wanted to, I could bore you with the details, luckily for all of us, I don’t have to, here are a few clips thanks to our freinds and youtube:

And if thats not enough, check out the Series one launch where David Sillito talks to David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Elisabeth Sladen below, also including clips from Partners in Crime.

First shown on BBC TV on March 16th 1984, the fifth Doctor gets caught up in the politics and dangers of mining spectrox on the planet of Androzani. With spectrox being the most valuable substance in the universe as you can imagine things get a little heated!

• The Doctor — Peter Davison The Doctor — Colin Baker
• Peri — Nicola Bryant Sharaz Jek — Christopher Gable
• Morgus — John Normington Timmin — Barbara Kinghorn
• The President — David Neal Stotz — Maurice Roëves
• Krelper — Roy Holder General Chellak — Martin Cochrane
• Major Salateen — Robert Glenister Soldier — Ian Staples
• The Master — Anthony Ainley Adric — Matthew Waterhouse
• Nyssa — Sarah Sutton Tegan Jovanka — Janet Fielding
• Turlough — Mark Strickson Voice of Kamelion — Gerald Flood

In this clip we see Peter Davison and Colin Baker staring as the Doctor!

We want your Doctor Who info, if you have a write up, comment or clip, you can comment on the post (below) or better still, contact us with your doctor who goss!