Flesh and Stone (TV story)

Flesh and Stone
Novelised as:	The Time of Angels
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Amy, River
Main enemy:	Time Field, Weeping Angels
Main setting:	The Byzantium, 51st century
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Adam Smith
Producer:	Tracie Simpson
Release details
Story number:	206b
Release number:	Series 5
Premiere broadcast:	1 May 2010
Premiere network:	BBC One
Format:	1x 45 minute episode
Production code:	5.5
Confidential:	Blinded by the Light
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Doctor Who television stories
← Previous	The Time of Angels
Next →	The Vampires of Venice
Production order
← Previous	The Time of Angels
Next →	The Beast Below

Flesh and Stone was the fifth episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It was the second of a two-part story that began with The Time of Angels.

This story revealed more about the cracks, such as why Amy cannot remember the Daleks' attacks on Earth during Doomsday or The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. The Pandorica is mentioned again, this time by River Song, hinting it may be a serious event in the Doctor's future. The story also contained a moment where the Doctor appeared out of place from the conflict around him, and seemed more engrossed in a bigger crisis yet to ensue.

Synopsis

There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped by an army of Weeping Angels and an ever-growing mysterious crack, the Eleventh Doctor and his friends try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner. Meanwhile, surrounded by Angels, Amy faces an even more deadly attack, as she's forced to find her way through the forest vault, eyes closed.

Plot

The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, River, Father Octavian and the Clerics have jumped at the Doctor's signal. He tells them to look up, much to Amy's confusion; she asks him to explain. The Doctor retorts "Come on, Amy; the ship crashed with power still one. So what else still work?" The camera spins 180 degrees, showing tat they are upside down on the Byzantium. The Doctor explains the gravity field is still on; his shooting of the gravity globe caused an updraft, allowing them to float up.

Octavian quickly notices that the Weeping Angels are looking more like their namesake; the Doctor sourly notes they're feeding and that within an hour they'll be an army. The Doctor opens the door and enters, appearing to be standing on a wall; he explains to a confused Amy that the gravity orientates to the floor. The Angels pop the lights outside the entrance, forcing the rest of the group to hurry inside. The iris-like door shuts behind them, with the Doctor noting that the Angels are outside the door now that they aren't looking at them.

However, right before they can enter the secondary flight deck, the door shuts. As the Doctor works on the lights, four Angels break off the door and enter the corridor. In the nick of time, the Doctor prevents the Angels from draining the lighting grid's power. However, he gravely announces he will have to drain the power in the corridor to get the door open — including the lights. Octavian and his men line up to fire on the Angels while the Doctor tells Amy to turn the wheel on the door four times after he has cut the power. She responds with ten, before correcting herself. The Clerics use brief shots in the dark, halting the Angels long enough.

Amy opens the door, and everyone quickly enters. The Doctor shuts the door right as the Angels get to it; Octavian magnetizes the door to keep the Angels out, thinking even they cannot turn the wheel now; they start doing so, but slow enough that it buys everyone time to think. Now that Octavian understands that the Angels cannot be stopped by conventional means, the Doctor begins figuring out what their resources are; River joins him in contemplating what they can do. Amy is left wondering what their babbling is about.

River and the Doctor realize that there must be an oxygen factory on board to supply the passengers with air. The Doctor activates a panel on the back wall, which opens to reveal a cybernetic forest within the ship; modified by science, these trees take in star light and convert it into oxygen. He then asks if he's impressed Amy yet, to which she says "seven". The Doctor tries talking to her about it, but reveals a call on the radio from Angel Bob; he asks how life is before apologizing and saying it's a bad subject. Bob tells them that the Angels are wondering what the group hopes to do; the Doctor tells him nothing, and manages to trick him into saying that "[the Angels] have no need of comfy chairs."

The Doctor demands to know what the Angels have done to Amy, to which Bob says the Angels are in her eye. Amy denies it, but finds herself saying "five". Bob then says the Angels will take Amy, the rest of them, and the vessel; the Angels will consume enough power to become masters of time and space. Amused, the Doctor tells Bob to get a life, before apologizing again; there may be some of the original left, and he doesn't want to disrespect the dead. He informs Bob that the Byzantium doesn't have that much power. A screeching noise is heard from outside; "Dear God! What is that!?" Bob explains, the best as it can, that the Angels are laughing because "the Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed".

The crack appears...

The Doctor wonders what he has missed and turns to see a huge crack open in the wall of the ship, releasing a bright light as the room begins shaking in respone. It is the exact shape of the one in Amy's bedroom wall. He orders the others to run while he looks at it. Though Amy is reluctant, River pulls her away, knowing the Doctor knows what he's doing (most of the time). A scan from the sonic screwdriver tells the Doctor that the crack is "extremely very not good." When he turns to follow, he is surrounded by the Angels; scanning the room quickly, he attempts to avoid them. Unfortunately, the moment he's almost into the forest, one catches him by his jacket.

The Weeping Angels do not kill him immediately, confusing the Doctor. He turns around to see two of them facing the crack, arms raised as if it embrace the energy flowing out of the crack. Wiggling to get free of the grip of the Angel holding him by his jacket, the Doctor tells them that the light coming out of the crack is pure time energy, something that they cannot eat; it is not power, but "the fire at the end of the universe." As the entire group looks at the crack, the Doctor runs off into the forest without his jacket, telling them, "Another thing, never let me talk"; he got out of his coat while they were distracted.

Meanwhile, Amy has reached "four" in her countdown and lies down, cradling her head. River produces a scanner to check her while Octavian worries they are exposed. River retorts that Octavian's only job is to keep the Doctor safe. If he's dead, she won't forgive herself, but if he's alive, she won't forgive him. She realizes he is standing right behind her. They wonder how he escaped the Angels; "Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe". When questioned what the crack really is, the Doctor repeats "the end of the universe". He rushes to Amy and deduces that because she looked into the eyes of an Angel, and, as the image of an Angel becomes an Angel, there is a living Angel in her brain's visual center. Worse, Amy is at "two" now, and can feel the Angel about to burst of her head.

As knocking out Amy would simply allow the Angel to possess her instead, the Doctor decides to have her instead close her eyes; it's the only way to starve the Angel in Amy's mind and keep it dormant. Amy soon begins to normalize, wondering if its okay to see again; however, the Doctor tells her its a bad idea to attempt doing so. If she opens them for more than a second, the Angel will escape and she will die. Unable to see, the Doctor suggests she stay in the clearing with the others while he and River proceed to the primary flight deck. Octavian insists that where River goes, he does as well; he explains that they are "married, in a manner of speaking" and thus cannot let River out of his sight. The Doctor reluctantly agrees, leaving Amy with the remaining Clerics. As they head off, Amy asks him not to leave him.

As Amy sits waiting, the Doctor suddenly reappears and tells her it's vital she start trusting him. She asks how she can, as he doesn't always tell her the truth. He says if he always told the truth, he wouldn't need her to trust him. Amy then asks how the crack in her wall can be here, and the Doctor responds that he doesn't know yet, but he's working it out. He requests that she remember what he told her when she was a little girl. When Amy asks him what he told her, the Doctor tells her that what he said isn't the point... just as long as she remembers. Just as quickly as he arrived, the Doctor is gone again.

As Octavian, River, and the Doctor move through the forest, Octavian tells the Doctor that River is on leave from Stormcage Containment Facility in his custody. Through this mission, she hopes to earn a pardon. While River tries to open the door to the primary flight deck, the Doctor considers the anomalies he has recently noticed: the duckless duck pond in Leadworth; Amy's inability to remember the Dalek invasion of Earth; and the CyberKing in Victorian London not being in any recollection. . He uses River's scanner to work out that a temporal explosion will occur on 26 June 2010 and cause the cracks in time and space — Amy's time.

The Angels stake out the clearing and begin tearing apart the treeborgs to cut off the power supply to the lights. The lights flicker. When they go out, the Angels are nowhere to be seen. Light projects across the forest from the secondary flight deck. Marco, the squad leader, sends Crispin and Phillip to investigate it. Amy insists on seeing its source, though she will have to open her eyes. When she sees it is the crack from her wall, she collapses and begs to know why it is following her.

The lead cleric, Marco.

Marco orders Pedro to go to the light. Amy reminds him he sent the other two, but he insists there weren't any others. After some time, Marco decides to go and investigate, having forgotten Pedro as well. Amy pleads with him to stay. As a compromise, he leaves her a spare communicator and agrees to speak to her through it. As he reaches the crack, his voice vanishes in a crackle of static. Amy is now left alone without anyone to guard her from the Angels: the one in her mind and the ones outside of it. (The clerics didn't really think how to keep her safe through, out of their curiosity).

River opens the maintaince hatch to the flight deck, and steps inside while Octavian waits with the Doctor. "Time can be un-written" the Doctor muses. The lights go out. When they return, Octavian is trapped in an Angel's stranglehold. Knowing the Doctor cannot save him, Octavian tells him River is in prison for murder and he shouldn't trust her. As the Doctor flees, Octavian's neck is snapped. River tries to get a teleport working as the Doctor explains the cracks; if a complicated space-time event is thrown in, the crack will shut, and he's such a thing. When she challenges his ideas, he responds with growing rage and tells her the teleport is useless.

Amy huddles alone in the forest, blind and with nothing but the communicator. The Doctor contacts her; Amy must make her way to the flight deck. The Angels can only kill her, but the crack can erase her from time. He sends software to the communicator to guide her. Terrified, she slowly makes her way across the forest, soon surrounded by the army of Weeping Angels fleeing from the crack. In their own terror, they do not realise her eyes are closed and their defence mechanisms kick in. They figure it out, though, when Amy trips over a root on the ground. They slowly remove the statue guise, and move in to kill her. Just as an Angel reaches towards Amy, River thankfully gets the teleport working and transports her to the flight deck.

As most of the ship's power had been drained, the flight deck door opens. The Angels are all snarling at them, except for one with a communicator and a smug grin on its face - Angel Bob. Angel Bob explains that the Angels have calculated the crack will close if the Doctor sacrifices himself to it, saving them, Amy and River. River, as a time traveler, offers herself in his place, but the Doctor laughs — she is not even as complicated as one Angel and it would take them all to equal him.

"Bob" tries to get the Doctor to sacrifice himself to close the crack.

The Doctor tells River to get a grip, as she continues protesting; however, he firmly tells her to get a grip. River realizes what the Doctor is telling her; the Angels are in for a nasty surprise by their own hand. River has Amy grab onto the console, telling her not to let go. Angel Bob tells the Doctor that they need him to sacrifice himself now. However, rather than comply with the Angels' request, the Doctor explains "the thing is "Bob", the Angels are draining the power from this ship. Every last bit of it. And I thing they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the GRAVITY of the situation. Or to put it another way Angels... night-night."

In their hunger, the Angels have made the boneheaded move of taking all the ship's power, turning off the artificial gravity. The Doctor grabs a console and watches in delight with River as the Angels crash through the forest and vanish into the light coming out of the crack.The crack glows brighter, and closes; it's now safe for the trio to leave the ship.

Later, a second squad of Clerics cleans up the camp outside the temple while Amy sits nearby, complaining of aches from climbing out of the Byzantium with her eyes shut. The Doctor tells her that she did not have to do this. Since the Angels fell into the crack, the one in her mind never existed now. Amy wonders why she remembers them and the Clerics, when they never existed at all; the Clerics ended up killing themselves by investigating the crack, and they didn't remember each other. The Doctor explains that, as a time traveler, she now sees things differently.

The Doctor goes to River, who has been handcuffed. She is prepared to teleport up to the prison ship, hoping to have done enough to earn a pardon. The Doctor admits that Octavian told him of River's crime that she murdered a man. River confirms this. When further stating that Octavian told him the victim was a good man, she replies that he was the best man she ever knew. The Doctor asks if he can trust her. River laughs, saying he can if he wants to... "but where's the fun in that?" She vanishes with the Clerics.

Back in the TARDIS, Amy tells the Doctor that she wants to go home. He thinks she means for good, but she insists she has something to show him. He parks the TARDIS in Amy's bedroom five minutes after they first left. Amy shows him her wedding dress and engagement ring; she is getting married in the morning to Rory Williams.

Amy kisses the Doctor.

Amy says the she needs comforting, after the recent events. She tries to explain to the Doctor "who" she wants, but the Doctor hasn't a clue to what she is talking about. Seeing he is not going to get hints, Amy kisses him. She continues to allude to sexual connotations, all of which the Doctor nervously attempts to fend off. He rebuffs her advances by protesting that he is 907 years old and the kind of relationship she wants will never work out between them. She states that she wasn't thinking of anything nearly that long term. She attempts to undress him and kisses him again, but he pushes her away, citing her marriage the next morning. This suddenly makes him remember the date of the temporal explosion: 26 June 2010. 26 June is the date of Amy's wedding. He pushes her back into the TARDIS just as the clock turns past midnight to the next day.

The cracks in time will be created on Amy's wedding day.

A flashback returns to the conversation River Song and the Doctor were having about the origin of the cracks in time. Amy's wedding day will preclude a catastrophic event. The base code of the universe translates to "26 06 2010", the date of an explosion that caused the cracks to appear.

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Octavian - Iain Glen
• Bob/Angel Bob - David Atkins
• Marco - Darren Morfitt
• Pedro - Mark Monero
• Phillip - George Russo

Crew

Executive Producers   Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis

General production staff Production Executive - Julie Scott Line Producer - Patrick Schweitzer Location Managers - Gareth Skelding, Paul Davies Unit Manager - Rhys Griffiths Production Co-ordinator - Jess van Niekerk Production Management Assistant - Claire Thomas Production Runner - Sian Warrilow Production Accountant - Ceri Tothill A/Production Accountant - Carole Wakefield Script department Script Editor - Lindsey Alford Camera and lighting department 1st Assistant Director - Dan Mumford 2nd Assistant Director - James DeHaviland 3rd Assistant Director - Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch Runners - Nicola Eynon Price, Laura Jenkins Continuity - Non Eleri Hughes Focus Pullers - Steve Rees, Anna James Grip - John Robinson Camera Assistants - Tom Hartley, Jon Vidgen Boom Operator - Dafydd Parry Gaffer - Mark Hutchings Best Boy - Pete Chester Electricians - Ben Griffiths, Steve Slocombe, Bob Milton, Alan Tippets	Art department Supervising Art Director - Stephen Nicholas Art Department Co-ordinator - Amy Pope Associate Designer - James North Production Buyer - Ben Morris Set Decorator - Julian Luxton Props Buyer - Adrian Anscombe Set Designer - Ben Austin Storyboard Artist - Matthew Savage Concept Artists - Richard Shaun Williams, Peter McKinstry Graphic Artist - Jackson Pope Standby Props - Phill Shellard, Tom Evans Standby Carpenter - Will Pope Standby Art Director - Ciaran Thompson Standby Rigger - Keith Freeman Standby Painter - Ellen Woods Props Master - Paul Aitken Props Chargehand - Matt Wild Dressing Props - Martin Broadbent, Rhys Jones Props Makers - Penny Howarth, Nicholas Robatto Construction Manager - Matthew Hywel-Davies Construction Chargehand - Scott Fisher Practical Electrician - Albert James Scenic Artists - John Pinkerton, John Whalley Graphics - BBC Wales Graphics Costume department Costume Assistants - Sara Morgan, Maria Franchi	Make-up and prosthetics Make-up Supervisor - Pam Mullins Make-up Artists - Abi Brotherton, Morag Smith Prosthetics - Millennium FX Movement Stunt Co-ordinator - Crispin Layfield Casting Casting Associates - Andy Brierley, Alice Purser General post-production staff Post-production Supervisors - Chris Blatchford, Samantha Hall Post-production Co-ordinator - Marie Brown Assistant Editor - Cat Gregory On-line Conform - Matthew Clarke, Mark Bright Special and visual effects VFX Editor - Ceres Doyle Colourist - Mick Vincent Sound Sound Recordist - Bryn Thomas Dubbing Mixer - Tim Ricketts Sound Maintenance Engineer - Jeff Welch Supervising Sound Editor - Paul McFadden Sound Effects Editor - Paul Jefferies Foley Editor - Helen Dickson

Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.

References

The Doctor

• Whilst trying to figure out the implications of the cracks in time, the Doctor wonders about the CyberKing, and if 21st century Earth's lack of knowledge of its presence is somehow related.
• The Doctor states his age is nine hundred and seven.
• River Song says she and the Doctor will meet again when the Pandorica opens; the Doctor claims that the Pandorica is just a fairy tale.

Timeline

• Amy's age and her second encounter with the Doctor are established as taking place in 2008 (when she encountered Prisoner Zero), while her third encounter with the Doctor when she left with him took place on the night of 25 June 2010 when Amy is twenty-one.

Story notes

• According to Steven Moffat on the 30 March 2010 edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Front Row, the title of this episode was supplied by his son, Joshua.
• The title is a play on "flesh and bone", a common idiom referring to a creature's anatomy, since most humans and animals are composed of flesh and a skeletal structure. The title also refers to the Weeping Angels' weakness of turning to stone whenever anyone looks at them, and possibly the fact that Amy thought her hand had turned to stone in the previous episode, The Time of Angels. This was a rumoured title for the episode Gridlock.
• There is a crack in the Byzantium — continuing the theme throughout the series. The crack appears to be growing, and upon finding it, Amy Pond notes its similarity to the one on her bedroom wall from TV: The Eleventh Hour. The Doctor says of the crack, "That is extremely very not good."
• The Doctor says that time can be unwritten.
• The time on the scanner that the Doctor holds says that Amy's time is her wedding day.
• The Weeping Angels are seen moving for the first time. One Angel is seen moving a hand to grab the Doctor by his jacket, and later they turn their heads when they realise that Amy can't see them.
• The date shown in the episode, 26/06/2010, would be the broadcast date of the final episode of Series 5, The Big Bang, in Britain. In other countries, it was not aired until later, however.
• The method the Doctor uses to dispose of the Weeping Angels mirrors his method of vanquishing the Cybermen and Daleks in TV: Doomsday.
• Amy continues the tradition of female companions kissing the Doctor. However, instead of falling in love with him, Amy had another idea.
• This episode aired on the same day as the K9 episode Alien Avatar was first broadcast on Disney XD in Britain. It also aired on the same day that Sirens of Ceres was first broadcast on Network Ten in Australia.

Ratings

• 6.9 million viewers

Filming locations

• The beach scenes on Alfava Metraxis were filmed at Southerndown beach, Vale of Glamorgan. This was also where scenes in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and Journey's End were filmed.
• Scenes in the forest vault of the Byzantium were filmed in Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean.

Rumours

• Amy and Rory will either marry each other or put it on hold at the end of the episode, and Rory will travel in the TARDIS at the end. This was proven false, but Rory joined Amy and the Doctor in the TARDIS in the next episode, and he and Amy got married in the series finale.

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• When the Doctor is searching for a way to open the door to the forest he places his hands on it and it wobbles.
• When Amy lies down on the tree stump her hair is all over her face but on the wide shot her hair is behind her head.
• While the Doctor is talking to River in the forest, he has both hands behind his back as if tucking in his shirt; however in the next shot he is still in mid-sentence and is suddenly holding his hands in front.
• While the Doctor talks to River at the end of the episode the position of his right suspender strap switches places from angle to angle.
• Just after the Doctor leaves with River and Octavian, his future self holds Amy's hand and talks to her. However, he does not wear his normal gold watch, which is replaced with a black one, and does not have the vortex manipulator on his right arm, which he should have had.
• During the final scene in Amy's bedroom the Doctor looks at Amy's alarm clock. Despite the fact that the conversation was talking about Amy getting married "in the morning" the clock changes from 11:59 AM on 6/25 to 12:00 PM on 6/26, a mysterious 24-hour jump.
• In the scene where Amy is following the sound of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, there are points where the light on the screwdriver is off, yet the sound can still clearly be heard on both ends of the communicator.

Continuity

• River says to the Doctor, "You, me, handcuffs... must it always end this way?" (TV: Forest of the Dead)
• River Song mentioned the crash of the Byzantium when meeting the Tenth Doctor. (TV: Silence in the Library)
• River Song says the Doctor will see her again soon, when the Pandorica opens. This refers to their later (to her earlier) adventure where it is shown she knows to say this as Amy told her she did. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
• When mentioning how time can be rewritten the Doctor references Amy's lack of knowledge of the Daleks and planets in the sky (TV: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End), and that no one on Earth remembered a Cyber-King in 19th century London. (TV: The Next Doctor)
• The Doctor and Amy both recall the crack from her bedroom wall. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
• After the Doctor leaves with River and Octavian to find the primary flight deck, the Doctor quickly returns for a moment to speak with Amy and his behavior and appearance are different (jacket, rolled-up sleeves, etc). This turned out to be the Doctor from the future. (TV: The Big Bang)
• The Doctor mentions the duck-pond with no ducks in Leadworth. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
• The Doctor kisses Amy on the head before temporarily leaving her. He did the same with Zoe Heriot (TV: The War Games) and Jo Grant (TV: Colony in Space).
• Angel Bob says that "the Doctor in the TARDIS" hasn't noticed. Prisoner Zero said something very similar to the Doctor. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
• River says that the man she killed is the best man she knows and is indicated to be the Doctor himself. This is confirmed in Let's Kill Hitler where the crew of the Teselecta state that she killed the Doctor on 22 April 2011 on Lake Silencio which is a fixed point in time. River's "murder" of the Doctor is later explored in The Wedding of River Song.
• River states that she hopes she has done enough to get a pardon. While she apparently doesn't at this time, she is later pardoned after the Doctor erases all records of himself, meaning there is no proof she killed anyone. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan).
• River later visits her Amy and Rory shortly after the events of this episode for her during The Wedding of River Song to reveal the Doctor's survival to them and that she had lied about not recognizing Amy.

Home video releases

Series 5 Volume 2 DVD Cover

BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two was released on Monday 5 July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray, featuring The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice.

External links

• Series 5: Episode 5 - Flesh & Stone [1]
• Flesh and Stone at the Doctor Who Reference Guide