The Time of Angels (TV story)

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The Time of Angels was the fourth episode of the fifth series of BBC Wales Doctor Who. It was the first part of a two-part story. It saw the return of the enigmatic woman of the Doctor's future, River Song, and the terrifying Weeping Angels. Throughout the episode, hints are given about River's relationship with the Doctor in his personal future. It also showed the purpose the Church will serve in the 51st century.

This is the first time in the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who that the Weeping Angels appeared. This episode also saw them display new and frightening powers.

Synopsis

The enigmatic River Song hurtles back into the Eleventh Doctor's life, but she's not the only familiar face returning — the Weeping Angels are back! Following River's calling card, the Doctor is recruited to help track down the last of the Angels, which has escaped from the Byzantium starliner and into the terrifying Maze of the Dead.

Plot

A man our continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

"Me!" The Doctor then shoots the gravity globe with Octavian's sidearm, plunging them into total darkness...

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



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.
          

Reza Karim and Jill Reeves were interviewed on the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential, credited as "Prosthetics Supervisors". Likewise, Ailsa Berk is clearly seen providing choreography for the Weeping Angels in Confidential. However, none of these people were listed in the end credits of The Time of Angels as originally broadcast on BBC One.


References

Individuals

  • Berger was in charge of laying the explosives.
  • The Doctor's on Virginia Woolf's bowling team.
  • Amy guesses that River Song is the Doctor's wife in the future. River doesn't tell the truth to keep the established timeline from being polluted.
  • Everyone in the service of the Church is given a Sacred Name.

Species

  • The Doctor states that humans are like rabbits, spreading out across the universe.
  • Over hundreds of years Weeping Angels lose their form.
  • The Aplans are a two-headed species.
  • The Doctor had dinner with the Aplans' chief architect.
  • The Aplans are said to have died out over 400 years before the Byzantium crashed on Alfava Metraxis.
  • The Delerium Archive is the final resting place of the Headless Monks.
  • There are over 6 billion human colonists on Alfava Metraxis.
  • In the book the Doctor reads about the Weeping Angels, it states "that which holds the image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel".
  • One of the Clerics talks about chasing lava snakes.
  • River says the Angel was retrieved from the ruins of Razbahan.

TARDIS

  • The TARDIS is capable of creating and extending an air corridor.
  • River Song says the TARDIS has brakes.
  • According to River Song, the TARDIS isn't supposed to make the classic materialisation/dematerialisation noise; she says it's because the Doctor always leaves the brakes on, which he counters by saying he likes the sound the TARDIS makes.
  • The TARDIS can operate like a spaceship, following the Byzantium through space before jumping through time to reach the crash site.
  • The TARDIS has blue stabilizer buttons the Doctor seemed unaware of; however, he then says that they are "boring".

Languages

Locations

Planets

Religion

  • The soldiers who accompany River Song are from the Church.
  • The Angels' use of the phrase, "Come and see", is a reference to the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation, specifically the Angel of Death.

Technology

  • A home box is like a flight recorder; if a ship crashed it would fly to the spacecraft's planet of origin.
  • The projection of a Weeping Angel is able to deadlock seal the landing pod, despite the pod not having the capability.
  • Perception filters are referred to again.
  • The new sonic screwdriver is as ineffective against deadlock seals as its predecessors.

Spacecraft

  • The Byzantium is a spacecraft carrying a Weeping Angel. It crash lands when its warp engines suffer a phase shift.

Story notes

  • This was the first episode of Series 5 to be shot, and therefore the first episode featuring Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.[1]
  • This is Amy's first meeting with River Song, who, unknown to her, is actually her daughter.
  • Amy Pond thinks her hand has turned to stone. Actress Karen Gillan had previously appeared in TV: The Fires of Pompeii as a member of the Sibylline Sisterhood, a cult of soothsayers whose flesh was beginning to turn to stone under the influence of the Pyroviles.
  • This is the third appearance of the Weeping Angels if one counts non-TV appearances; they have previously featured in TV: Blink and in Captain Jack's Monster Files. (See WC: A Ghost Story for Christmas)
  • The Doctor ripping the strap off the ceiling of one of the small ships was originally an accident; the producers liked the idea so much that they filmed Matt Smith doing it again.
  • At one point in the episode, Bob shot one of the statues because he thought it looked at him. All the statues turned out to be Weeping Angels, so the statue probably did look at Bob.
The controversial cartoon
  • In this story, River Song is a doctor. She seems surprised when the Doctor lets slip that she will one day be a professor. In conversation with Father Octavian, she mentions that she was imprisoned for a crime, and the Doctor wouldn't help them if he knew who she was. It was revealed shortly before the episode aired that the crime was murdering "the best man she ever knew." She was convicted of the murder of the Doctor (See TV: The Wedding of River Song). [2]

[[Video:Graham gets exterminated for spoiling Doctor Who - The Graham Norton Show preview - BBC One|thumb|right|Graham Norton's response to the furor caused by the appearance of his cartoon avatar during the episode's cliffhanger.]]

  • During its airing in some parts of England, an animated advert for the talent show Over the Rainbow began playing over the cliffhanger. This sparked complaints to the BBC, who later apologised. The advert contained an animated Graham Norton, who later joked about it on his own show – saying he finally secured a role on Doctor Who. However, his voice had already been overheard during the first episode of the revived series, Rose, when an error in broadcasting began playing the audio of a trailer featuring Norton for another of his talent shows, Strictly Dance Fever. In referring to his "appearance" in "Time of Angels," Norton then played a version of the cartoon banner, with a Dalek exterminating his cartoon self; coincidentally, the same show also featured an appearance by Karen Gillan and they spoke further about the error.
  • This is the first episode of Series 5 not to feature one of the Cracks, but one does show up in the next episode. This is likely because it is the first of a two-part story.
  • One question commonly asked by fans regarding TV: Blink was why Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale did not try closing one eye at a time to keep the Weeping Angels at bay. When the Angel is attacking Amy, she tries this, but remarks on how difficult it actually is.
  • The episode ran short in its original cut because high tides at the beach location forced the abandonment of about three scripted pages — including the scene which had been used to audition Karen Gillan for the part of Amy Pond. In its place, Steven Moffat inserted the scene where River flies the TARDIS, filmed as a pick-up. (DCOM: The Time of Angels)

Ratings

Filming locations

Rumours

  • A teaser from Digital Spy implied a data ghost device would appear in this episode.[1]
This proved partially true. The same suits which have the devices were spotted in the episode, but were not used.

Production errors

  • When the Doctor is talking to Angel Bob over the radio, he doesn't have a torch in his hand. In the next shot, running past Amy, he is shown with one.
    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.
  • The warning on the dropship door reads "CAUTION: Trip Hazzard". The word is properly spelled "Hazard".
  • When River is in space, the TARDIS has white windows. The scene cuts to a close up of the Doctor, and the windows are black. Also, the St John's Ambulance badge is missing from the door. Steven Moffat admits on the DVD commentary that it is the "David Tennant police box", but falls short of laying blame at the feet of any particular production member.
  • Steven Moffat notes in the in-vision commentary that there are massive continuity errors throughout the episode with respect to the length of Matt Smith's hair. Indeed, careful examination reveals that Smith's hair has several different lengths, sometimes within the same scene.
  • Before River is sucked out of the Byzantium, unlike the other two, the guard on the left has no pipes on his side of the corridor to hold on to, yet when River is sucked out, he can be seen hanging onto something.
  • At the end when the Doctor is seen shooting the gravity globe, he does not actually move his finger, but the pistol still shoots.

Continuity

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. [4]

External links

Footnotes