Angel Bob

Angel Bob
Main aliases:	Byzantium Angel
Appearances:	DW: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
Main actor:	[[actor::David Atkins (voice)|David Atkins]]

Angel Bob was a name the Doctor gave to the Weeping Angel that was within the vault of the Byzantium. It was called such because it communicated by using the severed larynx of the Cleric Bob as a mouthpiece.

Biography

Early History and the Byzantium

A large army of Weeping Angels had wiped out the Aplan race on Alfava Metraxis in the mid-47th century, but in doing so had remained without an energy source to feed on and were trapped and weakened. Knowing of the fate of its brethren, the Weeping Angel lay patiently waiting in the ruins of Razvahan and feigned being in a 'dormant' cycle. Just as it planned, it passed from one private hand to another until it would eventually come in possession of a temporal core to help revive its fellow Angels. The opportunity came when it came to be stored in the Byzantium.

In the meantime, River Song was sent on behalf of the Church to find it and neutralise it. She managed to get on board the Byzantium during her investigation and captured four seconds of footage of the Angel. Prior to departing the ship she warned its captain the ship would not reach its final destination.

The Angel caused the Byzantium to crash on Alfava Metraxis above the Aplan Mortarium where the Angels remained, killing all other passengers on-board. The once dormant and weak Angels within the catacombs beneath the temple began to awaken and regenerate.

On Alfava Metraxis

Father Octavian and a team of Clerics arrived at the crash site to track down the Angel. To explain what they were up against, Song showed the looped recording of the Angel to the Doctor, Octavian and Amy Pond. While the others left the pod they were in, Amy remained alone with the recording in its constant loop. However, unbeknownst to the expedition, any image of a Weeping Angel ultimately becomes a Weeping Angel. The image in the recording soon came to life and deadlocked the doors of the pod, trapping Amy within. The Angel was able to project itself beyond the image and was able to become a projection in the room, until Amy was able to exploit a glitch in the recording to turn off the projection of the image when it was close to making contact with her. She had however stared into the eyes of the projection, opening her 'soul' to it. (DW: The Time of Angels) This produced an image of an Angel in the visual centre of Amy's mind, opening her up to manipulation by the Angels (such as hallucinations) and death as the image of the Angel within her would ultimately become a real Angel. (DW: Flesh and Stone)

The Angel escaped the vault of the Byzantium and went through the Maze of the Dead. When the Clerics Christian and Angelo were sent to investigate the further catacombs the Angel killed them by breaking their necks. It then took their central nervous systems and reanimated their consciousness temporarily to lure others to their deaths. It used the same procedure with the Cleric Bob on a more long-term basis, to communicate with the Doctor, Amy, River and the remaining Clerics.

The Angel continued to use Bob's remains to relay its messages to the Doctor, who therefore began to call it "Angel Bob". It tried to anger him by having Bob tell him how his words of encouragement to the soldier had been lies. (DW: The Time of Angels) When the Doctor and the Clerics were surrounded near the Byzantium's oxygen factory, Bob commented how the Angels were amused at the Doctor not seeing the crack in time they could see. Angel Bob later informed the Doctor in the oxygen factory how the Angels' manipulation of Amy was just for fun, making him throw away his communication device in anger.

As the crack expanded the Angels ran away, and Angel Bob reappeared in person after the Doctor, River and Amy were cornered in the Byzantium's control room. He attempted to coerce the Doctor into throwing himself into the crack in order to seal it, saving the Angels and his friends. As the last of the ship's energy was taken by the Angels, the gravity field failed. Angel Bob and the rest of the Weeping Angels on board fell into the crack, sealing it and were subsequently erased from existence. (DW: Flesh and Stone)

The Doctor later prevented the crack from ever existing. (DW: The Big Bang) What this meant for the events on Alfava Metraxis, and the fate of Angel Bob, is unknown.

Personality

"Angel Bob" showed no remorse for the killing of several clerics and also claimed to enjoy doing it when it spoke to the Doctor using Cleric Bob's vocal chords and central nervous system. It also tormented Amy with a copy of its self by making her think she was turning to stone. The Angel was also very patient and clever; the Doctor guessed it had never been dormant but had rather allowed it self to be captured so it could get the needed power to revive its people.

It also possessed a sadistic sense of humour; it pretended at first to be Cleric Bob making his remains say what had happened to him. (DW: The Time of Angels) Later, after the copy of itself within Amy made her perform a countdown to the moment when the copy would consume her, Angel Bob indicated it was making her do the countdown for fun. (DW: Flesh and Stone)

Interestingly, Angel Bob originally seemed to be on the Doctor's side, telling him that the angel was coming for them and encouraging the group to run. By the next episode however, Bob is taumting the Doctor, and is against him. Perhaps when he first spoke to the Doctor, Bob's mind was still somewhat alive, and slowly intergrated itself into the Angel over the course of the story. By the conclusion, Bob is completely dead, with the Angel speaking directly through him.