Doctor Who Review: Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone

When watching the first series of Doctor Who with Matt Smith, I wasn’t all that sure. Not about him, he’d been brilliant in every episode, but just in everything. The first episode had been brilliant, but it’d been followed by two, shall we say, less than stellar stories. I wasn’t really sure what was wrong, but luckily with hindsight it was just that those weren’t great episodes rather than a major flaw in the series. But at the time I was a little worried, and then, well, and then this story came along. And it was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So let me explain why. Something that had been missing I thought was a connection to earlier series. So in this story we see the return of two of Steven Moffat’s greatest creations, River Song and the Weeping Angels. Now, we’ll get to the Angels later, but for now, let’s talk about River. River is bizarre in that I used to hate her. With her smug attitude her original appearance really annoyed me, but it was this story that began to show me what was going on. It showed us the plan of seeing younger Rivers and the unfolding tragedy of her loss of the Doctor. And as well as that, I just find her a hell of a lot of fun. Other connection-y things were that this episode contained a lot of references, to the old, and the classic series, a line nicked from Tom Baker, and to the future, a mention of the headless monks and how River learnt to fly the Tardis. The future references obviously aren’t apparent the first time you watch it, but once seeing season 6, it provides a lot of fun when rewatching this story with all the new knowledge you have. So I like little details like that, and I liked the jokes. This story, well at least the first half, before things take a more serious turn, is really witty, and I like the sort of clever jokes that Moffat sticks in his script. The story is well scripted and has a good plot. In general it’s not a too complex plot, unlike some later Moffat stories, but this is definitely a good thing and allows you to have a fun and scary ride without getting confused. However it’s filled with enough interesting ideas to keep your attention and make this one hell of an entertaining story. Matt Smith is at his best, which is surprising considering this is the first episode shot with him, and he’s already got his portrayal of the Doctor down to a T, and even Karen Gillan isn’t too annoying this time, and is quite a lot of fun. I also like the supporting cast, but they don’t really have anything much to do. Another thing to note is the return of Adam Smith as director, who also directed the series’ opening episode, and he makes one hell of a good looking story. Now, there are a lot more good things to say about this episode, but I’ve always said that it’s better to just tell people enough to get them to watch something, rather than tell them every single detail and ruin it. So if you’ve seen it, you know why it’s so good and if you’ve not, then go watch it now. Unfortunately, there are a few things that bugged me. And they are entirely to do with the Weeping Angels. And my problems only come from the fact that a whole lot of new things about them have been entirely made up. If this had been their first story then fine, but it’s not, so it feels weird. Their method of killing has changed, they’ve changed from just any statue to just that specific shape, they have a whole bunch of new powers, they’re now apparently the last of their kind and they are said to be a lot more dangerous than they were last time. It just reminds me of the Daleks, because when they came back in the new series they were given too much power and made the last of their kind every time, which made the stories they were involved in very limited. So while the Angels worked here, I have an unfortunate feeling that if they turn up much more they’ll seem played out. But here, I’ll admit they were pretty scary, so I’ll give that a pass. And of course, there’s the final scene. I don’t get it. I don’t know why it’s there or why Amy behaves that way. I would get it if it wasn’t for how Rory and her relationship is shown later. They are shown to be totally in love, so why this here? I don’t know. Although I do like the way the Doctor reacts. Final thoughts then. This is a very well made and entertaining story. It makes you think, but not so much that you forget to have a good time, and although it has a few very minor faults they really don’t even dent the story as a whole and I’m sure it’ll go down as a classic of the new series. 5/5