The Time of Angels (TV story)
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 River Song and the deadly Weeping Angels. It offered hints to River Song's past and her relationship with the Doctor in his future. It also introduced the Church and its purpose in the 51st century
Synopsis
The enigmatic River Song hurtles back into the Doctor's life but she's not the only familiar face returning; The Weeping Angels are back! The Doctor is recruited by River to track the last of the Angels, escaped from the Byzantium starliner, through the terrifying Maze of the Dead.
Plot
A man dazedly spins around in a green field on a beautiful day. There is a lipstick smear on his mouth. He is approached by two armed guards and a man in evening clothes, who wipes the lipstick off. It is revealed that the men are actually standing in the metallic corridor of a spaceship. Grimly, the man in the evening clothes announces, "She's here."
River Song blasts through a steel door with a firearm; it is a vault of some sort, with a black box suspended in the center. She converts the firearm into a laser and burns a message on the box face. Meanwhile, twelve thousand years later, the Doctor and Amy Pond are exploring a museum. The Doctor shrugs off most of the displays as being "wrong," but is fascinated when they come across the black box. A bored Amy is told that it is a home box, which works like an airplane's black box except it homes. He is certain that the message scrawled on the box is for him, as it is written in Old High Gallifreyan. Amy asks what the message says, and the Doctor exasperatedly replies, "Hello, sweetie." They steal the box from the display and return to the TARDIS, pursued by security.
The box contains security footage of River standing in front of an airlock, where she is confronted by the man in the evening clothes seen earlier; she recites space-time coordinates and suggests an air corridor. The Doctor promptly navigates the TARDIS to River's rescue as she detonates the airlock, flying out into space; the Doctor pulls her into the TARDIS and they tumble over each other. The ship soars away, with River ordering the Doctor to follow it. The TARDIS chases the Byzantium, with River piloting it briskly, much to Amy's amazement. She asks the Doctor who River is and how she can fly the TARDIS, prompting River to explain that she had lessons from the very best. The Doctor looks smug until River says, "A shame you were busy that day." She announces that she has landed next to the Byzantium, but the Doctor doesn't believe this, as the police box did not make the customary dematerialization noise. River responds that it only makes that sound because he leaves the brakes on.
The Doctor, grumbling, opens the door -- despite River's warnings that they must do environmental checks -- and announces that they have landed on Alfava Metraxis, which possesses an oxygen-rich atmosphere and an eleven-hour day. The trio exits the TARDIS to see the smoldering wreckage of the Byzantium lying atop a stony plateau above them. River calls in her reinforcements from orbit and the Doctor proceeds to formally introduce the two women. River produces her diary and asks the Doctor where they've landed in his timeline, but before he can answer, four men in combat uniform teleport down to the plateau and approach them. Their leader, Father Octavian, has already heard of the Doctor, and wonders if River has briefed him on their situation. She turns to the Doctor and asks what he knows of the Weeping Angels.
By nightfall, the Doctor is distressed by Amy's persistent questions about his relationship with River, namely wondering whether or not she is his wife, and her disobedience of his request that she wait in the TARDIS. River calls them to a drop-ship to show them footage of the Weeping Angel they're chasing; it is a four-second clip that River has put on a loop. The Doctor and River explain the nature of the Weeping Angel to Amy and Father Octavian, including their quantum-lock defense mechanism. River offers the Doctor a book that was written about the Angels, which he reads in seconds and is perplexed by because something is missing, though he doesn't know what. While the others make plans, Amy is left behind in the drop-ship with nothing to do. Looking back to the tape, she realizes that the Weeping Angel has changed its position slightly. When she asks River if she captured more than one clip of the Angel, River replies in the negative. When she looks back, the Angel has moved again: it is now facing the camera with its arms spread out. Amy tries to turn the television off, but it quickly switches back on; likewise, she unplugs it, but the screen continues to play the loop. When she looks back up, its face has filled the screen. When she turns to leave, she discovers that the door has been deadlock sealed.
Outside, River wonders how early the Doctor is in his time-stream; when he replies that it is fairly early, she is amused because he doesn't know who she is yet. When she mentions that she has pictures of all his faces in her diary, the Doctor realizes what the book is missing: pictures. The Doctor returns to a paragraph in the book, which states that "whatever takes the image of an Angel becomes, itself, an Angel."
The Angel has begun to project itself into the drop-ship. Realizing that Amy is in danger, the Doctor runs to the door and tries to open it with the sonic screwdriver, but is unsuccessful. He warns Amy not to blink, but not to look into the Angel's eyes because the eyes are the "doors" to the soul; however, Amy cannot stop herself and does. As the Doctor and River scramble to free her, Amy freezes the recording as it loops back, thus ending the "image," and shuts the television off. As the Doctor and River enter to make sure that Amy is all right, Father Octavian informs them that the Clerics have succeeded in blasting their way into the temple, and so the Doctor departs. Amy rubs her eye, mentioning to River that there was something in it.
The group climbs down into the temple, discovering a gravity well inside; the Doctor kicks a gravity globe high into the air, lighting up the entire temple and revealing hundreds of disintegrating stone statues -- the Angel is a needle in a haystack. The Doctor and Amy rush off to explore, but Father Octavian holds River back, warning her that they need the Doctor on their side and for that reason, he must never know why she has been imprisoned. As she leaves, Octavian sends Clerics Christian and Angelo down to investigate the one exit visible from the chamber.
Up in one of the tunnels, Amy has stopped some distance away from the Doctor to rub her eye; this time, dust runs between her fingers, disturbing her greatly. River appears behind her and gives her an innoculation that will protect her from the radiation seeping down from the ship. Amy takes this time to ask River about her relationship to the Doctor, but River is evasive and Amy continues to believe that they are married. Elsewhere, Christian and Angelo are complaining about the mission when Christian's torchlight flickers. He turns to call for Angelo to come to him, but is killed by the Weeping Angel. Angelo receives a transmission from Christian to come and see something, but this is a trap and Angelo is similarly killed.
The Doctor, Amy, and River hear gunfire and return to the main temple, where Cleric Bob has fired at one of the statues because he thinks it looked at him. Octavian berates him, but the Doctor insists that Bob's fear will keep him alert and fast. Octavian orders Bob to guard the entrance with Christian and Angelo while he and the four remaining Clerics join the Doctor's exploration. On their ascent through the Maze of the Dead, the Doctor discusses the two-headed Aplans, the former inhabitants of Alfava Metraxis who built the temple and have since gone extinct. River and the Doctor suddenly realize that all of the statues in the temple have one head only. The Doctor orders everyone to turn off their torchlights; when they turn back on after a single second, all of the statues have turned to face them.
Below, Cleric bob receives a call from Angelo over his radio, begging him to come and see something. Bob is hesitant but does so, and is attacked by the undamaged Weeping Angel from the ship.
The Doctor realizes that the temple is filled with a dying army of Weeping Angels that is slowly being restored using the radiation leaking from the Byzantium wreckage. As he apologizes for his mistake and for leading all of them into danger, Octavian radios Bob to warn him. Bob informs Octavian that he is on his way up to them, and that both Christian and Angelo are dead. This confuses the Doctor, as the Angels do not normally operate this way -- they displace their victims in time unless their bodies are needed for something. Bob explains that the Angel killed him as well and reanimated a copy of his consciousness to enable the Angel to speak to them; when Bob says that "he" is on his way, he really means the Angel.
The group flees to the Byzantium while the Doctor continues to talk to Bob, confirming that he is speaking to the original Angel from the ship. As he runs to join the others, he finds Amy frozen in the corridor, her hand firmly clasped to a rock; she informs the Doctor that her hand has turned to stone because she looked into the eyes of an Angel, and that he must leave her if he's going to survive. As the lights in the cavern begin to flicker and the Angels continue their approach, the Doctor bites Amy's hand to assure her that it is not stone. They meet up with the others, who are standing on a rocky ledge some fifty feet beneath the Byzantium wreckage. They are trapped with nowhere to go.
Cleric Bob radios the Doctor once more, explaining that there is nowhere for the Doctor to go and they will all be killed by the Angels. He also tells the Doctor that the Angels want him to know that Bob was afraid when he died; while the Doctor had previously assured Bob that his fear would keep him in fast, he died alone and afraid. River realizes that the Angels are trying to make the Doctor angry. The Doctor, asking if he is trusted by the group, takes Octavian's sidearm and orders them to jump on his signal. Turning back to the radio, he apologizes to Bob but assures him that he will do everything in his power to avenge his death; he also warns the Angels of their mistake in setting this trap -- they have put him at the center of it. With that, he shoots the gravity globe, plunging them into darkness.
Cast
- The Doctor - Matt Smith
- Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
- River Song - Alex Kingston
- Alistair - Simon Dutton
- Security Guard - Mike Skinner
- Octavian - Iain Glen
- Christian - Mark Springer
- Angelo - Troy Glasgow
- Bob - David Atkins
- Marco - Darren Morfitt
- Weeping Angel - Marie McGonigle (uncredited)
- Weeping Angel - Caroline Royce (uncredited)
- Pedro - Mark Monero (uncredited)
- Phillip - George Russo (uncredited)
Crew
| Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis |
|
|
|
|
| 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
Languages
- River leaves the Doctor a message in Old High Gallifreyan on a home box: "Hello, sweetie".
Planets
- The Byzantium crashes on Alfava Metraxis.
Spacecraft
- The Byzantium is a spacecraft carrying a Weeping Angel. It crash lands when its warp engines suffer a phase shift.
Species
- Over hundreds of years Weeping Angels lose their form.
- The Doctor had dinner with the Aplans' chief Architect.
- The Delerium Archive is the final resting place of the Headless Monks.
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 Revelations, specifically the Angel of Death.
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, to which he counters, saying he likes the sound the TARDIS makes. However other TARDISes make the classic noise when piloted by other Time Lords, such as The Master's and The Rani's. Even when Romana piloted the Doctor's TARDIS, the ship made the same noise when materialising (DW: The Pirate Planet). It is likely that River was teasing the Doctor.
- 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".
Technology
- A Home Box is like a flight recorder; after a ship lands it flies 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 refered to again.
- Gravity globes, first seen in The Impossible Planet, return.
Story notes
- This was the first episode of Series 5 to be filmed, 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 DW: The Fires of Pompeii as a member of the Sibylline Sisterhood, a cult of soothsayers whose flesh was beginning to turn to stone due to 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 DW: 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.
- 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 once 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 DW: The Wedding of River Song). [2]
- River Song is the sixth person seen capable of flying the TARDIS solo since the reintroduction of Doctor Who in 2005. Others have included: the Doctor; Captain Jack Harkness; The Master; Rose Tyler empowered as the Bad Wolf entity; the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor; and Donna Noble during her Meta-Crisis with the Doctor. Prior to 2005, several companions and (of course) other Time Lords were able to operate the TARDIS to varying degrees.
[[Video:Graham gets exterminated for spoiling Doctor Who - The Graham Norton Show preview - BBC One|thumb|250px|right|Graham Norton's response to the furore 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 previously 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.
- 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. However, some have noticed what appears to be a closed crack in the Weeping Angel recording.
- One question commonly asked by fans regarding DW: 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)
- In Journey's End, the Doctor claims that the real reason the TARDIS makes the sound is because it needs six pilots, though its possible that it was possibly changed due to the TARDIS transformation.
Ratings
6.8 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.[3]
Rumours
- River Song's presence in this episode may indicate that it is set in the 51st century, but this is not certain, as it is unknown precisely where in the timeline River Song comes from. The Doctor very briefly mentioned that it was the 51st century.
- A teaser from Digital Spy has implied a Data Ghost device will appear in this episode.[1] This was 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 gentlemanly 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
- When River Song takes the red high-heel shoes from the TARDIS console, it is interesting to note that it was there since The Eleventh Hour.
Continuity
- The same suits River Song and her crew wore when she became an archaeologist can be seen in this episode in the pod where Amy encounters her first Weeping Angel. (DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead).
- The Weeping Angels previously appeared in DW: Blink.
- River Song previously appeared in DW: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
- The Doctor refers to the events of DW: Blink.
- River Song mentions the crash of the Byzantium in DW: Silence in the Library.
- The Doctor previously used the TARDIS to chase a crashing space ship in DW: The Empty Child.
- A gravity globe was previously used in DW: The Impossible Planet.
- Amy refers to visiting a spaceship and Winston Churchill's cabinet war-rooms. (DW: The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks)
- High Gallifreyan was previously seen in DW: The Five Doctors; the Doctor declares he is one of the few who understands the language.
- The new sonic screwdriver is as ineffective against Deadlock Seals as its predecessors.
- Perception Filters are mentioned, though the Doctor does mention that the group may have just been "a bit thick".
- The scene where the Doctor refuses to do an environment check is reminiscent of DW: The Power of the Daleks, where a post-regeneration Second Doctor absentmindedly starts to wander out of the TARDIS. When his companions protest that he hasn't checked for oxygen on the planet, the Doctor rattles off the temperature, radiation, oxygen density, and detects a likelihood of mecury deposits.
- Similar to the Fourth Doctor with Romana I, the Doctor is annoyed by someone claiming to be better at piloting the TARDIS than he is.
- After flicking quickly through the book on the Weeping Angels, the Doctor remarks "Not bad, bit boring in the middle." He did a similar thing with a book in a Parisian cafe in DW: City of Death and "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold in DW: Rose.
- The Doctor tells River that he is not a taxi service. The Fifth Doctor told Adric the same thing in DW: Earthshock.
- The Book of the Weeping Angels later appears in the Doctor's study in his TARDIS. (VG: TARDIS)
- River Song again uses the hallucinogenic lipstick in The Pandorica Opens.
- River mentions that she learnt to fly the the TARDIS from "the best" and notes that "it's a shame you (the Eleventh Doctor) were busy that day". It is revealed in Let's Kill Hitler that River learnt to pilot the TARDIS from the TARDIS itself shortly after her regeneration, being recognised as a child of the TARDIS owing to her conception taking place while the TARDIS was in flight.
Timeline
For the Doctor and Amy
- This story occurs after DWAN: Nowhere Man
- This story occurs before DW: Flesh and Stone
For River Song
- This story occurs after DW: The Big Bang
- This story occurs before DW: Flesh and Stone
Home video releases
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]
