Current Doctor Who Review – Time of the Angels
I think producer Stephen Moffat was right to hire Smith, he’s a great actor and only 4 episodes in, it feels like he’s been at this role forever, which is interesting, because unlike many of his predecessors, he was not a Doctor Who fan as a child, which is not surprising, considering the show was canceled when he was 5. Speaking of Mr. Moffat, he’s given us some of the best writing since the show came back in 2005, (Empty Child, Girl in the Fire Place, Blink, to name just a few), and one thing he never lets viewers forget is how messy time travel is. Now that he’s at the helm of the show, he’s able to revisit some of the ideas he first presented under Russel T. Davies, and this weeks Time of the Angels, is just such an occasion, where he brings back not one, but two favorites from years past, River Song and the Weeping Angels. River Song is interesting in that she is a future love interest of the Doctor, who brow beats him like they are married, but having not yet met her in that context, and not yet fallen in love with her, it’s quite obvious that he does not like being treated this way by her. However, knowing that some future version of himself does hold her in high regard, he kind of holds his tongue around her and accepts the abuse. It’s amusing to see his character forced into that light. She’s played by Alex Kingston, who is probably most famous in America for her role on ER. The Weeping Angels are from the very popular (and exceedingly good) episode called Blink. Stone statues so long as you observe them, super fast, fanged terrors if you blink or look away. Nice creepy stuff. Time of the Angels reintroduces River and the Angels in a way which does not necessitate watching the stories they originated in, but if you have seen those, this story will deepen your knowledge and appreciation of both. And, as to how this reintroduction occurs, I’m hesitant to reveal anything at all about the plot, because the mysteries start piling up almost as soon as the show starts, and I have no wish to spoil this for anyone. What I will tell you to look out for is some very wonderfully classic Doctor Who with a new face, good writing, nice twists, and a great climactic setup. This episode was written by producer Stephen Moffat, so you are in very capable hands, and he delivers in this one, his strongest script yet in the new season. If you haven’t given ‘new’ Who a try, this is a great place to start. Doctor Who – Time of the Angels, BBC America, Saturday night (check you local listings for times).
Stepping outside of the normal postings here, I’d like to recommend you take an hour of your evening this coming Saturday (or later on, if you can DVR it) and watch Doctor Who, The Time of the Angels on BBC America. If you haven’t heard, the 2005 relaunch of Doctor Who has a new lead actor, and a new producer, and a new, beautiful, companion (Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan). Matt Smith has become the youngest man yet to take the role and I don’t think I’ve ever seen fans take to a new Doctor this quickly or passionately (at least what I’m hearing).
May 4th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Damn it. I need BBC America.
May 4th, 2010 at 9:43 am
I’m angry that they moved off of the SF channel, because now I can’t see it in HD and I can’t cancel the expensive part of my cable.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
yeah this was a really awesome episode as was the second half which we got last Saturday.
Matt Smith is turning out to be pretty damned good, although I think that’s mostly because he’s acting the role very similar to David Tennant so it hasn’t been as jarring an experience.
Hilden, not sure if it’s IP blocked in the US or not but if not trying http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
Oh yeah, Karen Gillan is THE awesome as the sidekick. Star of the show for me right now.
May 4th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I feel ypur pain Hilden, BBC America HD is NOT part of the HD package I get with DISH. Maybe SyFy picks it up again.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Damn. I was all excited but the BBC iPlayer is for Brits only, it seems. Ah well. At least I can get BBC radio now. Thanks, Phil!
May 4th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Hilden, I’ll record it on my DVR for you. Then you can come over and we’ll cuddle up on my couch, wearing our rubber alien suits. Just make sure you bring a theremin.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I don’t know what it costs (if anything) but there is a way to get a kind of UK MAC address or some other mimicing or relocation software solution to watch the BBC iplayer outside the UK. I might add, my cable provider does not offer BBC America at all, but I’ve also heard one can DL the show via Bit Torrent, but I’m not entirely sure that is legal, so caveat emptor on that.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
@Hilden, yeah I figured that may be the case. We get the same thing with stuff like Hulu in the UK. You can easily torrent it if needed, but I think the idea of cuddling on John’s couch with the alien suits seems much more appealing ^^
May 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
I’m with Philthbot, I was typing my response when John’s went up. Cuddle FTW.
May 6th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I find Moffat’s idea of turning Doctor Who into a time travel show to be a little disturbing. It takes some getting used to. The original concept of Doctor Who, which was adhered to for decades, is that it’s an anthology series which uses the Doctor and the TARDIS as a device to star the same characters in every episode. Time travel was never used for any narrative purpose with only the very occasional exception (e.g. Day of the Daleks). Whenever two time travelers met, they were always at the same point in their timelines. So it’s very strange for the show suddenly to be interested in causal paradoxes and non-linear relationships and all that jazz.
May 6th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
What about Warrior’s Gate (one of my all time favorites)? It involves so much time travel shenanigans that many say it doesn’t make any sense. I think Moffat has the potential to make too much of it, so the question in my mind is if he will make to much of it. Then again, I’d love to see him reintroduce the Time Agents Jack mentions in Emptry Child. One imagines them to be like Time Cops (but hopefully better than the movie). I think it’s a valuable thing to explore in the series, but can certainly be made too much of.
May 7th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Oh forgot to give a shout earlier, but congrats Tribix on getting a regular contributor role! I really LOVE reading your stuiff. Keep it up!
May 7th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Thanks Riker. Means a lot.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Warriors’ Gate, unlike Day of the Daleks, doesn’t really present us with any time travel paradoxes so much as a certain amount of non-linear jumping around in the timestream, but I’d grant it as another of the very occasional exceptions. That brings us up to two in 26 years. Moffat alone has already beat that in less than five.