Flesh and Stone (TV story)
Flesh and Stone was the fifth episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It was the second part of a two-part story that began with The Time of Angels.
Synopsis
There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, The Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner. Meanwhile, in the forest vault Amy finds herself facing an even more deadly attack.
Plot
The Doctor, Amy, River Song, Bishop Octavian, and his clerics have all jumped on the Doctor's instructions, and have been caught by the Byzantium's gravity field. They land on the outside of the Byzantium, upside down over the restoring Weeping Angels beneath them, draining all the energy around them. They enter the ship, but the Angels pursue them. The Doctor and the others escape to the control room.
The Doctor and River realise that there must be an oxygen factory so the occupants can breathe. The Doctor opens a door to reveal a forest. Amy, however, has been counting down from ten since they got into the spaceship. The Doctor notices a crack on the wall, similar to the one in Amy's bedroom. While the others flee into the forest, the Doctor examines it, before noticing he is surrounded by Weeping Angels. He escapes, minus his coat, and rejoins his companions.
Amy is down to two in her countdown. She lies down and River pulls out a medical scanner to check her while Octavian complains that they are exposed to the enemy. River then tells him that his job is to keep the Doctor safe; she then says if he's dead, she won't forgive herself. Before she can say what the opposite is, she asks "And Doctor, you're right behind me, aren't you?" Much to everyone's shock, the Doctor is. River says she hates the Doctor, but he tells her she doesn't. River and the Doctor look at Amy's readings as she asks what's wrong with her. River replies, "Nothing, you're fine." The Doctor says, "Everything. You're dying!" He orders Amy to close her eyes. She has a Weeping Angel in the visual centres of her brain.
If she opens her eyes for more than a second, the Weeping Angel will escape and she will die. She is left with the clerics as the Weeping Angels advance. The Doctor, River and Octavian head off to find a way to stop them.
The Angels leave too, when a light comes from the vault. Two clerics go to investigate. When Amy briefly opens her eyes, she sees it's the crack from her wall. The remaining clerics forget about the existence of the other two, and Pedro goes to investigate. Marco, the one cleric left, forgets about the others' existence. He walks into the light and vanishes.
The Doctor, River and Octavian reach their goal: the secondary control room. A Weeping Angel captures Octavian by the neck. Before Octavian is killed, he tells the Doctor that River Song was a prisoner because she killed a man; a good man. The Doctor joins River, shutting the door to the sound of Octavian's neck being broken.
The Angels flee from the Crack. The Doctor saying it will consume them. The Doctor speculates the crack is letting time run out. River asks him how they can close it. The Doctor shouts that a complicated space-time event can close it: himself.
Amy is alone and blind, with only a communicator. The Doctor radios her. She must come to the control room. The Doctor tells her that the Angels can only kill her, but the crack can erase her from time. He sends software to the communicator to direct her to the control room with the sound of his sonic screwdriver. Terrified and with her eyes closed, she follows his signal until the Angels arrive and surround her. The Angels are scared too. Their instincts freeze them to stone around her, but Amy falls and the Angels close in to kill her. Before the angels could reach her, River teleports her to the control room just in time.
The Angels drain all the energy from the doors to the secondary control room. The doors opens, revealing the Angels with their screaming faces, except one: the lead Angel, Angel Bob, who demands the Doctor throw himself into the crack to save the Angels, Amy and River from it. River, as a time traveler, wants to throw herself in, but the Doctor laughs at the idea. She is not even as complicated as one Angel and it would take all them to equal him. The Doctor tells River to "Get a grip", and the artificial gravity field collapses because the angels have drained all the energy from the ship. They fall into the crack, sealing it and erasing themselves from existence.
The group is outside of the temple. Amy asks why she can still remember the Angel in her mind and the people sucked into the crack. The Doctor tells her they can remember those erased from time because they are time travelers themselves.
River says she may have earned her pardon. The Doctor asks her about the man she murdered. She says sadly that he was the best man she'd ever known. Before she leaves the Doctor asks if he can trust her, River laughs hysterically. "If you like. . . but where's the fun in that?" She is teleported away with the remaining clerics.
Amy tells the Doctor to take her home. There, she tells him that she is getting married in the morning and tries to seduce the Doctor. He realises she is at the centre of all the cracks and that the time explosion which created them occurs the 26th of June, 2010: the day of her wedding. He whisks her away in the TARDIS.
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 |
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| 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 to himself about the CyberKing, and wonders if 21st century Earth's lack of knowledge of its presence is somehow related.
- When mentioning how time can be rewritten the Doctor references Amy's lack of knowledge of the Daleks and planets in the sky (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End).
- He mentions the duck pond that may not have been a duck pond from DW: The Eleventh Hour
- Eleventh Doctor states his age is nine hundred and seven, which suggests that a year has passed since the events of The End of Time.
- River Song said that she and the Doctor will meet again when the Pandorica opens. The Doctor claims that it is just a fairytale.
Timeline
- Amy's age is established and her second encounter with the Doctor 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 rumored title for the episode Gridlock.
- In the trailer at the end of The Time of Angels it shows a crack - 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 DW: The Eleventh Hour. The Doctor says of the crack, "That is extremely very not good."
- A video clip on the official Doctor Who website shows that the Doctor gets the Weeping Angels to say "comfy chairs".
- The Doctor finds out 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 their hand to grab the Doctor by his jacket, and later they are seen turning their heads when they begin to realise that Amy can't see them.
- The date shown in the episode, 26/06/2010, was the final episode date of Series 5 in Britain. In America, however, it was not aired until much later in the summer.
- The method the Doctor uses to dispose of the Weeping Angels mirrors his method of vanquishing the Cybermen and Daleks in DW: Doomsday.
- Amy is the first companion who tried to seduce the Doctor in such a manner as the one she displayed and becomes the latest companion to kiss the Doctor.
- 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.
- Because the cracks never existed, the events of this story may have changed.
Ratings
6.9 million
Filming locations
- The beach 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.[1]
- Scenes in the forest vault of the Byzantium were filmed in Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean.[2]
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
- 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.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.
- 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.
- Steven Moffatt originally wanted this episode to be called War Of The Angels.
Continuity
- Events the Doctor thinks are erased from history by the cracks include DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The Next Doctor.
- River says to the Doctor "You, me, handcuffs... must it always end this way?", unknowingly referencing her own death in DW: Forest of the Dead.
- River Song mentioned the crash of the Byzantium to the Tenth Doctor in DW: Silence in the Library.
- River Song refers to the events of the Pandorica opening, foreshadowing the series 5 finale. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
- There is a flashback to DW: The Eleventh Hour.
- Amy asks the Doctor "Do you comfort a lot of people on the night before their wedding?" The Doctor previously interrupted Donna Noble's wedding in DW: The Runaway Bride.
- After the Doctor leaves with River and Octavian to find the primary flight deck, the Doctor returns for a moment to speak with Amy and his behavior and appearance is completely different (Jacket, rolled-up sleeves, different watch, etc). This turned out to be the Doctor from the future, though there were some inconsistencies concerning his watch. (DW: The Big Bang)
- The Doctor mentions the duck-pond with no ducks from DW: The Eleventh Hour.
- This is the second time the doctor has kissed a female companion on the forehead before he temporarily left them; the first was Zoe Heriot in DW: The War Games. He similarly kissed Jo Grant on the forehead in DW: Colony in Space, but that was upon meeting her (after she had been abducted).
- Angel Bob says that the Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed. Prisoner Zero says something similar to the Doctor in DW: The Eleventh Hour.
- In DW: The Big Bang, the Doctor prevented the cracks from ever existing. Although most cracks were closed, anything that Amy remembered (such as her travels) would still exist following the finale, meaning a few cracks still existed, but as seen, were solved individually (such as the one on Byzantium being closed due to swallowing the angels)
Timeline
For the present Doctor and Amy
- This story occurs after: DW: The Time of Angels
- This story occurs before: DW: The Vampires of Venice
For the future Doctor
- This story occurs during: DW: The Big Bang
For River Song
- This story occurs after: DW: The Time of Angels
- This story occurs before: DW: The Wedding of River Song
DVD/Blu-ray-exclusive scene
The 2010 DVD and Blu-ray release of the Complete Series 5 included an additional scene from Flesh and Stone. Contrary to many reviews and video-sharing site repostings of the scene, it is not a deleted scene, but rather a scene shot specifically for the DVD/BD release sometime during the later stages of Series 5 production.
The scene reveals what happened after Amy's failed seduction attempt and the Doctor taking her away. Inside the TARDIS, Amy continues to try to convince the Doctor to sleep with her, leading him to explain his attitude towards his companions -- that they help him "see things" that he no longer is able to see because of his age and travel experience. Her physical desires replaced by curiosity, this leads Amy to quiz the Doctor about his past companions.
She eventually tricks the Doctor into unlocking visual files of past TARDIS inhabitants, and she is treated to a slide show of various female companions ranging from Barbara Wright to Donna Noble, with apparent particular emphasis on Leela. In order to distract Amy from the picture show, the Doctor suggests they pick up Rory from his stag party, which leads directly into The Vampires of Venice.
Other companions shown in the slide show include Polly Wright, Leela, Peri Brown, both Romanas, and Josephine Grant, as well as recent companions Rose Tyler and Martha Jones. With the exception of Sarah Jane Smith (also shown), all companions pre-dating Rose are making their first on-screen appearance in the post-2005 era (Jo Grant's appearance in SJA: Death of the Doctor had not yet been broadcast at the time of the DVD/BD release).
The context of the scene supports the recurring implication that the TARDIS is sentient, given the way the Doctor reacts to the TARDIS when the slideshow begins -- coupled with the fact the TARDIS does not show images of the Doctor's various male companions such as Ian Chesterton, Adric or Jack Harkness. The fact expanded universe companions, such as Izzy Sinclair and Destrii from the comic strip and Evelyn Smythe and Lucie Miller from the audio dramas, are not visible does not necessarily disqualify them from canon as the viewscreen is not visible all the time, and several TV series companions are not shown either.
Home video releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two was released on Monday 5th July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray, featuring The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice.[3]
External links
Series 5: Episode 5 - Flesh & Stone [1]
