The storyline is structured around a collision of characters and foes, we see a space ship containing a Weeping Angel crash land on a planet and it transpires that the Angel deliberately chose the location of a monastery on the planet to fall on because beneath the building is a series of catacombs full of decaying Weeping Angels – they use the power source from the spaceship’s leaking hyper-drive to revive themselves but fall foul to a Crack in Time that seems to be following the Doctor where ever he goes at present!! The group enter the catacombs to hunt down the Angel and there follows a basic struggle to survive and escape plot line when the group find themselves surrounded by the deadly Angels.
The problem with many of the deaths throughout the first episode is that they seem throwaway – unnecessary to the plotline and there is no thrill or suspense with the execution and build-up. Study Hitchcock’s methods, he is the guru of how to create meaningful responses from audiences in this genre. One of the glaring problems with the script is that when the supporting cast are picked off we don’t really care – because we don’t really know them – the whole process just becomes routine.
River Song the mysterious character from the Doctor’s past, present and future re-emerges and adds cryptic dialogue, which is obviously setting teasers for future episodes and ultimately this season’s final. In which I believe the Crack in Time caused by River Song’s murder of the Doctor will cause such a ripple in the continuum whereby a paradox is created that eventually enables the Doctor to live on. Amy and her space-time location is obviously crucial to the paradox in someway!
It must have been so tempting for Moffat to bring back the Weeping Angels, however they prove ineffective in this ‘catch me if you can story’ any of the old Doctor’s enemies could have sufficed and been a joy to see. Mr Moffat please don’t forget you have a catalogue of classic monsters who could have been much more effective in this story,
The Ice Warriors, rumoured to be re-surfacing in Portsmouth’s Millennium tower in a later story could have been fantastic. Opps just like River Song I need to be careful – spoilers. The ‘Whovian grapevine’ now full of interesting teasers/spoilers due to the wonderful ‘what if’ chemistry caused by this story’s ingenious dialogue insists that the Great Intelligence may be making an appearance and it would be apt to find out that it was this foe behind the animation of the Weeping Angels. Where are the Yeti? Have they been replaced by the Weeping Angels? Unfortunately we know no more about their origins and I felt a little let down by this well directed and cinematographic spectacular two parter. It looked great but lacked substance!
The story has pockets of reminiscence towards a few of the classic Dr Who episodes.
The crack in time scenario seems to be a clear link to the Tom Baker story City of Death. Was this mystery ever resolved properly? The blinded/eyes shut scenario with Amy reminded me of the Sarah Jane incident in the Brain of Morbuis
Penned by Douglas Adams (Hitch Hikers Guide). Indeed Moffat’s writings seem to imbue a similar thread in the character of River Song she like the Doctor and Adams’s style characters is hopping around the cosmos encountering strange and wonderful phenomenon. Hey Mr Moffat those wonderful plans just announced for River Song’s own series hopefully will come to fruition and like the Torchwood franchise parody and compliment the Doctor Who series well. We so need a female Time Lord back again! I love spin offs and reappearances of characters from the mythological vaults of Dr Who and am so looking forward to Katy Manning’s reappearance in the Sarah Jane Mysteries.
There were shades of Earthshock a Peter Davidson story that starts in caves and the woodland set in the spaceship that I really liked reminded me of that underrated Tom Baker story Nightmare of Eden. If I am not careful I could match most of the scene, dialogue and action to many illustrious past Dr Who stories. Please be aware that I am not doing this to suggest that these ideas are just a montage of eclectic writing by numbers, a bit from here matched with another story from there. There are after all as so many of today’s writers tell us ‘no new ideas’ only old ones re-invented, recycled and updated! Let me know what you think? Ultimately this comparison will I hope encourage new fans to get DVD copies of these classic shows and watch them to see the comparisons and inspirations gleaned for these newer outings. Mr Davies was a very effective purveyor of this techniques, if you read any of the Virgin Fiction novels you will soon realise how he brought many of their ideas together in his own renditions.
There is however much originality in this story the silicon based Angels themselves are quite unique and now a highlight of Moffat’s era of story telling with Who. We want to know more and they are creating debate. Excellent stuff!
The scene where the Angel grabbed the and the dialogue between the Doctor here was well written and touching. It reminded me of that film with Sean Connery and Michael Caine – The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Other film influences include the brilliant ‘Decent’ 2005 and ‘The Cave’ 2005.
The Cave seems to be the main influence and even includes the Abbey and explosion scene to get into the catacombs/caves.
Matt Smith’s Doctor truly comes into his own in this story, excellent portrayal of mixed emotions and really establishing his own interpretation of the new Doctor firmly and with a special whimsical quality that can flow into anger and sorrow in one scene – Matt Smith knows his craft well. He enthralls me. The end scene with Amy was funny but boring, we have seen this sort of thing so much before, a better idea would have been to have her fiancé walk in on them as they were sitting on the bed, a much more interesting dynamic. Note to costumes, please no more Army fatigues its so 90’s.
The next story Vampires in Venice is great - truly Anne Rice Inspired
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