C+Q - The Time of Angels (2010)

In many ways, The Time of Angels is the true start to the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who. While The Eleventh Hour introduced us to Moffat's new vision for the show, those changes were mainly aesthetic, such as a new title sequence, a new costume, a new screwdriver, a new TARDIS, and a new face for the Doctor. Here, we actually get to see what the showrunner intends to do with this aesthetic. This episode introduces many recurring themes of the Eleventh Doctor's era: stories set in multiple time zones, perception, and, of course, the Weeping Angels and River Song (as well as the wider plot device of meeting characters in the wrong order).

Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone could be seen as Steven Moffat's victory dance after securing the role at the BBC he'd been dreaming of for years. In the very first two-parter of his era, he brought back the most popular thing from Blink and the most popular thing from Silence in the Library. What really makes this episode (and this two-parter in general) work so well is that these elements are both greatly expanded upon with new details, like the Angels' new image-based powers and River's new prison backstory. This is the way sequels should be done and it feels as if these new additions to the lore justify this victory dance, in case you needed a justification.

Let's start where the episode does. The pre-title sequence is one of the best Doctor Who has done. It, like the rest of the episode, is witty, fast-paced, engaging, inventive, and elegantly written. Despite featuring huge leaps through time and space, the idea itself is so simple: the Doctor, being a time traveller, likes to go to museums to see display pieces he's in some way influenced. During a visit to one such museum ("The final resting place of the Headless Monks..."), the Doctor stumbles upon a home box with Gallifreyan text on it, a message that could only be for him. He steals the home box, accesses the security footage on it and sees River Song. She says some co-ordinates, he goes to those co-ordinates, and arrives exacted when she planned to catch her jumping out of a spaceship. Perfect. Genius. It's complex but it makes total sense. It's easy to follow, tells us something about the Doctor's character, tells us something about River Song's character, and is just damn good television. Damn, damn good television.

And that's my review of The Time of Angels in a nutshell. This is good TV. More evidence for this statement comes when the Weeping Angels' new abilities are revealed. The Angels' powers are discovered in two ways at the same time: by Amy, who finds herself up against these powers in a practical scenario, and by the Doctor and River, who encounter these powers theoretically by reading about them in a book. The episode then intercuts between scenes of the Doctor and River discussing the theory and scenes of Amy seeing them in practise as she experiments with pulling the plug out of the screen, or pausing the recording. The projection of the Angel is finally defeated when Amy takes a piece of theoretical knowledge from the Doctor and River (the image of an angel becomes itself an angel) and applies it practically (pausing the recording on the distortion).

As a result of this demonstration, we're treated to an intense action scene where Amy uses her intelligence to save herself, and we as an audience now have a perfect understanding of absolutely everything there is to know about a Weeping Angel. The only aspect of the Angels this scene doesn't demonstrate is what happens if you stare into their eyes, which is set-up here and becomes central to the plot of Flesh and Stone. By the way, the conversation flow of 'how early is this for you?' to 'how do you recognise me?' to 'why aren't there any pictures?' to 'the image of an angel becomes itself an angel' is pure art. It gives us tons and tons of exposition, advances the plot, expands on the character of River Song and her relationship with the Doctor, and sounds completely 100% natural. The Time of Angels is such a delight to watch because it's so elegant and efficient in its writing.

The 'crash of the Byzantium' as seen in this episode is a direct reference to Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead which adds an extra layer of enjoyment to that two-parter. In fact, everything we see of River Song in this episode is completely consistent with what we discover about her in later stories, which is a real accomplishment considering how complex her timeline is. Knowing who she is really enhances this episode when you start to notice pieces of dialogue or subtle details in how the characters act that may or may not have actually been planned. The fact that Amy is clearly in awe of River is a nice touch that shows she approves of her daughter's lifestyle and makes up in part for the fact we never really saw Amy being a proper mother to River before she left in The Angels Take Manhattan.

On the subject of Amy, I love that the fact she hasn't been taken to an alien planet prior to this episode plays a major role in the story. These little hints, like the dressing gown and the Churchill cliffhanger in The Beast Below, make it seem as if The Eleventh Hour through to Vampires of Venice happen exactly one after the other. While I love off-screen adventures as much as the next Big Finish fan, I do like the Hartnell-era idea of continuity between stories, like the radiation meter at the end of The Firemaker, or the arrow in the TARDIS at the start of Gridlock.

The statue reveal at the end of this episode is a great moment. By introducing the human-shaped statues (a shape which we humans wouldn't think to question) before explaining that the Aplans had two heads, Moffat knew that nobody would notice anything was wrong until it was specifically pointed out by the characters. 'If the Aplans have two heads, why don't the statues?' is like something an obsessive fan critic like me would point out as a plot hole on Twitter months after this episode aired because the plot never really lingers long enough on the statues for us to think about them. The best way to hide the solution to a mystery is to hide the mystery all together, and Moffat's script along with Adam Smith's direction does this beautifully.

I know this is basically half of a review because the story doesn't end here, but part one of this two-parter is just brilliant, and one of my favourite episodes from Series 5. It's great to see an alien planet for once and the Weeping Angels are one of the most genuinely terrifying recurring monsters that Who has ever had. Despite being the first episode they filmed together, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are already at home in their roles, particularly Gillan who has really nailed the character of Amy Pond and portrays her in a way that makes her feel different to any other companion. Matt Smith on the other hand clearly has a lot of growing to do before he finds the Eleventh Doctor but he's still enjoyable to watch and his occasional slapstick moments, like when he accidently rips something from the roof of the ship, add a real charm to the character. I've said it once and I'll say it again: The Time of Angels is damn good television.