Doctor Who Series 5 The Time Of Angels / Flesh & Stone Review

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11th Doctor, Adam Smith, Alex Kingston, Amy Pond, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 5, Flesh and Stone, Karen Gillan, River Song, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The Time of Angels, Weeping Angels

The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone

Review by Paul Bowler

The Doctor (Matt Smith and Amy (Karen Gillan) visit the Delirium Archive, a museum in the distant future, where they find a rather odd exhibit – a flight recorder inscribed with old high Gallifreyan symbols. After discovering it is actually a message from Dr River Song (Alex Kingston), who is currently travelling on the spaceship Byzantium 12,000 years in the past, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to save her before the ship crash lands on the planet Alfava Metraxis.

Right from the spectacular opening scenes, where River sends the Doctor a message back through time “hello sweetie” before opening the air lock on the Byzantium, sending her hurtling through space and into the TARDIS, it’s clear that this is going to be very special adventure. The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone (2010) are the fourth and fifth episodes from Matt Smith’s first season as the 11^th Doctor, written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Adam Smith. These episodes from Series Five also feature the return of Steven Moffat’s most frightening creations, the Weeping Angels, from his Series Three story Blink (2007). Here they return in force in an action packed storyline that makes them seem even more terrifying than before.

While Amy gets acquainted with River Song, and her uncanny relationship with the Doctor, who still doesn’t know who she really is at this point because they both keep meeting at different points in his time stream, River tells the Doctor that the Byzantium’s cargo is a deadly Weeping Angel – a quantum locked stone creature that can only move when nobody is looking at it. As they survey the wreckage of the ship, River sends a message to a squad of military clerics in orbit, commanded by Father Octavian (Ian Glen), who beam down to help secure the Angel before the radiation leaking from the ship restores its full strength.

As the Doctor and River check out a book written by a madman about the Weeping Angels, which states: “That which holds the image of an Angel, becomes itself an Angel,” Amy suddenly gets trapped inside the trailer in the cleric’s base camp where security footage taken of the Angel inside the Byzantium is still running on a continuous loop. They rush to help her but find the door is locked. The Doctor warns Amy not to look into the eyes of the Angel, because they are the doorway of the soul that will allow the Angel to enter there. Amy manages to deactivate the video loop and switch off the screen, just as the Weeping Angel begins to emerge from the screen into the room. Together they set off with Octavian’s troops to reach the Byzantium, but in order to get there they must first find a path through “The Maze of the Dead”, a dark and foreboding labyrinth full of eerie looking humanoid statues built by an ancient race, where Amy begins to feel something in the corner of her eye…

Alex Kingston makes a very welcome return as River Song in this story, bursting back into the Doctor’s life once more, River’s still always inexplicably able to keep one step ahead of the Time Lord, though tragically – as we would later discover in Series Six – she’s also always moving one step further way from him as well. The complex nature of their relationship is a joy to behold. They behave like an old married couple at times, teasing and trying to get the better of each other, which in hindsight all seems rather apt now. With her trademark “spoilers” and TARDIS diary, River is a brilliant character, and here we get to enjoy what I feel is perhaps Kingston’s best performance in the role. Free of the continuity of things to come, River Song is a vibrant and unpredictable character. Later that sheen would diminish a little, but here she is both gloriously mischievous and mysterious in equal measure. I also like how River gets to fly the TARDIS and quickly forms a strong bond with Amy; and the two of them delight in winding the Doctor up – although he still manages to win over River’s uses of the blue “boring” switches by simply taking in the atmosphere outside the TARDIS to identify the planet they’ve landed on.

The long journey through The Maze of the Dead takes a sinister turn when some of Father Octavian’s forces begin to go missing. As the Doctor and River talk about the ancient two headed race that built the statues, they suddenly notice how all the statues only have one head and must really be Weeping Angels! The slow, gnarled creatures begin to take shape, stalking them through the shadows, communicating with them by using the voice of the Cleric Bob (David Atkins), who they have slain. The Doctor has to help Amy after she believes her hand has been turned to stone, preventing her from moving, she is being influenced because she looked into the eyes of the Angel on the screen in the camp, so the Doctor bites her hand to convince her otherwise.

Having been forced to the highest point in the maze by the misshapen Angels, they find themselves directly below the crashed ship. The Doctor shoots the gravity globe which allows them all to jump up into the Byzantium and escape the Weeping Angels momentarily, but the Angels quickly follow as they flee to the ships oxygen factory – a forest within the ship itself. After noticing a familiar crack in the wall of the secondary control room, the same one from young Amy’s bedroom in The Eleventh Hour (2010), the Doctor suspects the Angels are trying to feed on the time energy.

Matt Smith is already settling into the role of the Doctor, bringing lots of his distinctive characteristics to the fore, which will become a mainstay for his incarnation of the Time Lord during his tenure. There is a lot of humour as well, particularly when he makes the TARDIS landing noise after River “parks” the ship. He also has to save Amy from the Angels, his fear for her is almost palpable when she is walking blindly through the forest, and his rage when trapped before he uses the gun to save them during the cliff-hanger of The Time of Angels is quietly restrained, and almost menacing in the intensity of Matt Smith’s delivery of his lines (Despite an animated banner trailing the BBC’s Over the Rainbow programme notoriously appearing on screen too early and spoiling this dramatic moment during the original UK transmission of the episode). I think this is what made Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor so good, right from the start his performance is more measured, and the way his Doctor often speaks very quietly to make his point is a marked change from his predecessors.

When it becomes clear Amy has begun counting backwards, the Doctor quickly stops her, instructing Amy to keep her eyes closed to starve the Angel that’s gotten inside her brain and prevent it from killing her. With Amy unable to move, the Doctor, River and Octavian go to find the main control room, the Doctor learns that River is actually a prisoner who has been released into Octavian’s custody, offering her help in return for a pardon. Octavian is later killed by the Weeping Angels. Meanwhile the crack in time continues to grow, swallowing up the Clerics guarding Amy in the forest. Now terrified and alone, Amy must then carefully follow the Doctor’s instructions to reach the control room. But as Amy blindly makes her way past the Weeping Angels she stumbles and falls, revealing her blindness, and they begin to turn on her. Fortunately, River is able to teleport Amy to the control room before the Angels can kill her.

Once the Angels have drained the ships power they gain access to the main control room, but they have overlooked the gravity of the situation. The Doctor uses this to his advantage as the vessels artificial gravity systems fail, sending all the Weeping Angels plummeting into the glowing rift, eventually sealing it while the Doctor, Amy, and River cling onto the controls. With the Angel now erased from her mind Amy quickly recovers, the Doctor says goodbye to River before she teleports back to the Clerics ship, but she tells him they will meet again soon when the mysterious Pandorica opens, which the Doctor dismisses as nothing more than a fairy tale. On their return to the TARDIS, Amy asks the Doctor to take her back to the night they left Earth. Amy explains that she’s actually getting married in the morning, showing the Doctor her wedding dress and ring. Suddenly she tries to seduce the Doctor, but he backs away, having noticed that the date of Amy’s wedding, 26^th June 2010, is the same as the time explosion he believes is responsible for the cracks that have been appearing across time. So he takes Amy away so that he can try and figure out what is happening…

This is also a great story for Karen Gillan, who really gets to earn her stripes as a resourceful companion as she literally comes face to face with the Weeping Angels. Amy manages to switch off the security footage of the Weeping Angel, but she has inadvertently looked into its eyes, and allowed the creature to imprint itself on her brain. There is horrific moment when she rubs her eye and dust pours out as they are exploring the Maze of the Dead, and later her hand seems to turn to stone. Perhaps most chilling of all though is the countdown Amy does without even noticing she’s doing it; as the Angel continues to attack her from inside her own mind. Steven Moffat has crafted these scenes perfectly, as viewers it’s almost as if we are stumbling though the forest with Amy as she blindly struggles to escape only to disturb the Angels who slowly begin to turn around and notice her.

In Series Five the crack in time on the young Amelia’s bedroom wall plays a pivotal role in the events leading up to the series finale. In Flesh and Stone the Doctor begins to realise how the rift on the Byzantium is linked to the crack in Amy’s wall, which has begun to appear throughout time and space, erasing anyone from time that it comes into contact with, and is somehow linked to a massive time explosion. Although these plot threads are left unresolved for now, while the main story arc begins to focus more on Amy and Rory, the events linking the cracks in time would eventually fall into place – particularly a conversation between Amy and the Doctor in the forest in Flesh and Stone – during the complex series finale: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang (2010) when all of the Doctor’s enemies unite to imprison him in the Pandorica.

The Weeping Angels themselves are as fabulously unnerving and creepy as ever. From the moment we see the Angel moving on the screen towards Amy, growing ever nearer, until it begins to emerge from the screen, much like the ghostly entity in the film, The Ring, they are always lurking in the darkness and ready to strike. The statues in the Maze of the Dead begin to come to life and turn into Angels; these lumpy, misshapen things are absolutely horrific as they stalk the Doctor and his companions. When the Angels use the voice of the Cleric, Bob, to taunt the Doctor, it offers an even more gruesome aspect to the Angels powers. On the ship they become full Weeping Angels, caught in the muzzle flash of gunfire, they advance relentlessly, before cornering Amy in the forest – a chilling scene in which the unsettling concept of actually seeing the Weeping Angels moving also becomes a reality. It is only really in the closing moments, when the Angels are sent tumbling into the rift that some of the tension is lost, and it feels like they were defeated a little too easily.

Looking back at The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone now, this exciting action-driven story by Steven Moffat is ingeniously constructed, it successfully broadens the mythology of the Weeping Angels established during their debut story, Blink, and slots perfectly into the ongoing story arc of Series Five while also remaining immensely enjoyable as a stand alone story in its own right. The special effects are also outstanding: from its exciting opening moments in space, to the brooding menace of The Maze of the Dead; through to the final showdown on the Byzantium, director Adam Smith’s work on these episodes is exceptional.

The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone are both thrilling episodes, with some terrific performances all round, together with the return of the Weeping Angels, this exciting two-part story is a real highlight of both Series Five and Matt Smith’s first year as the Doctor.

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The Power of Three

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Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill, Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who, Doctor Who The Power of Three, Doctor Who The Power of Three Review, Dr Who, Dr Who Season 7, Jemma Redgrave, Karen Gillan, Kate Stewart, Matt Smith, Rory Pond, Rory's Dad, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, the 11th Doctor, The Power of Three, UNIT

The Power of Three

Review by Paul Bowler

[Contains Spoilers]

It should have been a day like any other on planet Earth, except the entire world has just woken up to find that millions of little black cubes have suddenly appeared everywhere. These strange cubes appear inert, and are apparently indestructible, but there seems to be no clue as to where they have come from or who created them. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory have to investigate this bizarre phenomenon, which has also caught the attention of UNIT, but it will take months to properly study the cubes so The Doctor has to take a break from his travels and move in with the Ponds…

The Doctor has to take a break from his travels and move in with the Ponds

The Power of Three is Chris Chibnall’s second story this season and is a very different beast from Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, primarily because it encompasses almost a year in the lives of Amy and Rory Pond as they struggle to share their home with the erratic Time Lord. Most of the story unfolds from Amy and Rory’s perspective, like a John Wyndham Sci-Fi page-turner, with Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill turning in a superb performance as the married couple who are beginning to crave a life way from The Doctor and his non-stop adventuring.

Mark Williams also makes a welcome return as Rory’s dad, fresh from his travels around the world; Brian embraces this adventure with The Doctor and more than earns his honorary status as a companion in my book. Brian does everything he can to help the Doctor monitor the cubes, even making his own video log (Brian’s Log) to document events, but after The Doctor whisks Amy and Roy away for their Wedding Anniversary  – a visit to the Savoy in 1890 that unfortunately goes awry with the discovery of a Zygon spaceship – Brian gets an unexpected confession from The Doctor when he presses the Time Lord about the fate of his pervious companions.

An early wake up call for Amy & Rory

Meanwhile, it falls to the esteemed actor Steven Berkoff to chew up the scenery with his perfectly understated performance as the villainous Shakri, the alien menace behind the cubes. Shakiri isn’t introduced until the latter half of The Power of Three, but his presence reveals that his race was known, to the Time Lords – and it would seem that these legendary beings act like intergalactic pest control, wiping out whole civilizations to prevent “contamination” by those they deem unfit to evolve. The two Orderlies (David Beck & Daniel Beck), who carry out Shakri’s orders to harvest bodies from the Hospital where Rory works, are also eerily similar to Mr Oak and Mr Quill from Fury From The Deep (1968), particularly when Rory’s Dad finds himself cornered by the duo. Three are also a number of cameos by several famous faces: newsreaders covey the global scale of the invasion,  they are joined by Professor Brian Coxx who theorizes about the cubes, and  Lord Alan Sugar as the mysterious cubes begin to infiltrate every corner of society, encroaching on the populations everyday working lives.

If living with The Doctor wasn’t trouble enough for the Ponds, having UNIT turn their lives upside down doesn’t help much either (Particularly when they burst into the Ponds home while Rory is in a state of undress). The Power of Three features the welcome return of the United Nations Intelligence Task Force, and this episode also features Jemma Redgrave as UNIT’s new Head of Scientific Research – the charming Kate Stewart. Its great to see Matt Smith’s Doctor working with UNIT again, his first being The Sarah Jane Adventures episode: Death of the Doctor (2010), and this adventure is also reminiscent of some of the Pertwee stories from the 70’s (Where UNIT played a significant role in Dr Who), and Chibnall does a superb job of introducing Kate as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart ’s daughter while The Doctor and UNIT struggle to contain the cubes uncanny invasion by stealth.

The Doctor & Kate Stewart / the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

There are plenty of fun moments too as The Doctor does his best to fit in with the Ponds linear existence on Earth, but the Time Lord is like a chaotic explosion in their lives, and after spending nearly a year with The Doctor we begin to see Amy and Rory wishing for an easier way of life. The Doctor has been a part of virtually every aspect of Amy and Rory’s lives, there have always been three people in the Ponds marriage, and The Power of Three ironically pushes The Doctor back into Amy and Rory‘s lives in a way that makes their bond even stronger. Even fish fingers and custard makes a welcome return, although it is almost upstaged by the humble Yorkshire Pudding!

The Power of Three is a rare instance of The Doctor not actually knowing what is going on. We are used to him knowing just about everything about everything, so to hear him admit to that he has no idea what the cubes are is quite unsettling.

While his attempts to fit in with his companions lives offers plenty of comic relief, especially when he gets hooked on the Wii and mowing the lawn, this episode also offers Matt Smith some great material to work with. There is one scene in particular, when Amy confesses to The Doctor that she is beginning to think about leaving The Doctor for her life on Earth with Rory. Karen Gillan and Matt Smith have an amazing chemistry on screen, never more so than here when she turns to him for some heartfelt advice when it comes to choosing between her “real life” and her “Doctor life” and The Doctor surprises her by telling her how much she means to him. She was the first face he saw after his regeneration, because of this the Ponds are destined to be emblazoned on his hearts forever, and that is why their adventure in the TARDIS are all the more meaningful to him.

Amy, Kate, & The Doctor watch as the cubes begin to countdown

Jemma Redgrave also has some wonderful scenes with Matt Smith’s Doctor when he visits the UNIT base beneath The Tower of London, and the moment when the Time Lord realizes that Kate Stewart is the daughter of his dearly departed friend – Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart – we are treated to one of those rare moments in Dr Who where the past and present collide to give us something truly magical. Kate plays a pivotal role in helping The Doctor deal with the threat posed by the cubes, her links to the series past gives the inclusion of UNIT an added depth, and I sincerely hope Jemma Redgrave’s returns for more episodes.

The real shock comes after the cubes have finished their bizarre countdown to reveal themselves as instruments for the Shakri  – and induce heart attacks in anyone near them when they finally activate; including The Doctor! In some ways these strange cubes were oddly reminiscent of the same devices the Time Lords used to send psychic messages when they are in urgent need of assistance; like those seen in The Doctor’s Wife (2011). It’s a bold move by Chris Chibnall to hint that the Shakri are in some way linked to the Time Lords, but no real explanation is given. The hologram running the spaceship seems to converse with The Doctor, almost as if he knows him, possibly pointing towards an even greater threat lurking on the fringes of the future for the last of the Time Lords.

This episode rockets along under Douglas Mackinnon crisp Direction, hitting the perfect balance between the superbly choreographed action as UNIT make their spectacular return, effortlessly encapsulating the global panic as the cubes begin to count down to activation. This story holds the added significance of featuring the last scenes that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill actually filmed for Doctor Who, which also coincidentally happened to be filmed at St Cadocs Hospital in South Wales; the same location used for The 11^th Doctor’s 2010 debut: The Eleventh Hour. The Power of Three is a terrific showcase for Amy and Rory, in this, their penultimate adventure, as well as ushering in a new era for UNIT with the introduction of the wonderful Kate Stewart.

The Power of Three is a terrific showcase for Amy and Rory

The Power of Three almost feels like it has drifted in from the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who, it’s a terrific episode, and breathlessly energetic as it plays out against the everyday backdrop of present day Earth. Although the invasion might be resolved a tad too quickly, there is still lots to enjoy here, not least the last chance to see The Doctor, Amy, and Rory before the encroaching darkness of the Ponds imminent departure breaks all our hearts.

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The God Complex A Retrospect From Room 11

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Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill, David Walliams, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Series 6, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, Minotaur, Nick Hurran, Room 11, Rory Pond, Seven Moffat, TARDIS, The Doctor, The God Complex, Toby Whitehouse

The God Complex A Retrospect From Room 11

By Paul Bowler

 It has been a fantastic year for Doctor Who. The show has regularly achieved high ratings and been showered with glowing reviews, we were treated to Impossible Astronauts, Hitler in a cupboard, and even a wedding – but there was one episode above all that got fans talking and speculating about the mythology of Doctor Who; and that episode was The God Complex. When the TARDIS is thrown off course during their trip to the planet Ravan-Skala, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory find themselves stranded in a mysterious Hotel. With it’s tacky 80’s décor and rooms filled with horrifying secrets: Weeping Angels, Clowns, and savage Gorillas – the Time Travellers are soon fighting for their lives against the unspeakable monstrosity that stalks these nightmarish halls with only their wits and a handful of  guests left to help them.

 Being Human creator Toby Whitehouse is no stranger to Doctor Who, with 2006’s School Reunion and last years The Vampires of Venice, he is probably one of the few writers this season truly vested in the art of creating such a wonderfully perplexing; and macabre experience as The God Complex ultimately delivers. The Hotel itself is a twisting conundrum that closely resembles MC Escher’s Klimmen en Dalen, in that it is a maze of constantly shifting corridors and rooms with no discernable point of logic or perspective to bond it in reality. Doctor Who seldom dips its toe into such horrific imagery as seen in The God Complex, but Whitehouse goes for the jugular on several occasions. Toby Whitehouse mines a rich seam of horror influences in The God Complex. The Shining is an obvious, and unavoidable, comparison – as is the videogame Silent Hill 2 which also shares the psychological terror of the unstoppable Pyramid head – but neither is comparable to Whitehouse’s incongruous descent into Sci-Fi’s twilight hour.

That brings us nicely to the monster of the piece, the magnificent Minotaur. This is not the first time the Doctor has faced such a beast. The creature first appeared in The Land of Fiction in the 1968 story The Mind Robber, and again in a more mythical incarnation during 1972’s The Time Monster, and even the Fourth Doctor claimed to have a hand in the Minotaur’s legend. The Minotaur in The God Complex is a triumph of costume design, kitted out with superb animatronics; we have a monster that is sure to evoke a few nightmares in younger viewers. This beast feeds on the faith of its victims, luring them to their deaths with images of their own fears, until they fall babbling at its feet – almost welcoming the end – with cries of “Praise Him” as they die.

 The God Complex is blessed with a fine supporting cast: David Williams gives a suitably quiet and unsettling performance as the cowardly Mole-Creature Gibbs, Daniel Pirre is positively chilling as the unhinged Jo, and Sarah Quintrell effectively plays the intuitive Medic who ultimately sacrifices herself to give the Doctor and his friends more time. At times though it does feel like The God Complex is playing out an intergalactic version of Ten Little Indians, but the suspense is ably handled by Whitehouse’s clever script to always leave us wondering which character will be next to face their fears and fall beneath the gaze of the Minotaur.

Of course the key moment in The God Complex comes when the Doctor and Amy come across their rooms. After their encounter with the Weeping Angels earlier in the episode, we know these images are nothing more than highly sophisticated illusions, but it is the allure of the Doctor facing his own fears that make the secrets of Room 11 all the more terrifying as the Cloister Bell rings out when the Doctor opens the door. The Time Lords deepest fears remain unseen: Daleks, The Master, River Song, the death of the TARDIS, eternal loneliness, and even his own catastrophic part in the Time War that changed the universe forever are all possible contenders for the Doctor’s greatest nightmares. I prefer the notion that the Doctor saw something of his companions fate and the ultimate price that Amy Pond will pay for her trust in the Doctor; a fate which might very well be a paradox of the Doctor’s own inevitable demise.

Whatever the Doctor saw, it gives him the answers he needs to defeat the Minotaur – but to do so he must first destroy everything Amy believes in. Has the Doctor finally realized the impact of his decision to return to the little girl who made him fish fingers and custard during his post regenerative mania? How he has constantly broken and twisted the laws of time to suit Amy, Rory, and to a lesser extent, himself. As he pleads with Amy, we see her younger self again, raw and innocent, and suddenly we can almost imagine what Amy saw back in Room 7 – a mad man in a blue box – and in an heartbeat we know that it spells the end of the glorious Ponds’ adventures with the Doctor.

The climax of The God Complex is something of a dual edged sword. With the Minotaur dead, the Hotel is revealed to be a holographic maze on board a prison ship drifting through space, gathering tributes for sacrifice from across the galaxy, and the Minotaur is actually a distant cousin of the Nimon’s!

 The Minotaur’s dying words proffers a chilling observation for the Doctor, one that may one day have far reaching repercussions for the TARDIS crew, as well as the Doctor himself. But before fans can start spitting fire and begin leafing through their discontinuity guides, the Doctor whisks Amy and Rory back home to Earth. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill are a joy to watch in this impromptu epilogue as each of them suddenly has to face up to the reality of what their adventures together now mean for them.

The God Complex is a disturbingly good horror story, one which sometimes meanders, but gently delivers its shocking ending with a euphoric charm that leaves us gazing in disbelief – much like Amy as she watches the Doctor walk out of her life. It blindsides you completely, and is one of the sixth seasons most startling twists so far.

The God Complex is a story guaranteed to mystify as much as it colludes with your imagination, and whether the secrets of Room 11 are really part of The Moff’s grand design or just posthumous supposition on our part, still remain to be seen. Loaded with more subtext than a Dining Hall full of ventriloquists dummies, and with more layers than a Rubik’s cube, Toby Whitehouse has dared to make us ask who, or what, a Time Lord might actually pray to. Not since the Curse of Fenric has the Doctor’s motives for choosing his travelling companions been called into question so literally, but The God Complex’s delicious juxtaposition of Ace’s dilemma has spawned another fine episode in a season that has continued to surpass all expectations.