C+Q - The Angels Take Manhattan (2012)
Doctor Who's 2012 output is a very mixed bag for me.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy are pretty
solid, The Power of Three and The Snowmen are flawed but overall
okay, and Asylum of the Daleks is one I'm really not into.
Overall, I'm not satisfied with Series 7 Part 1 as a send-off
for Amy and Rory. They really did deserve better. For instance,
a full series of 14 episodes would've been nice, as it would've
allowed for a lot more time to develop their characters and
bring their arcs to a stronger close. We would've had more time
to explore their feelings about having their daughter stolen
from them at birth, more time to develop a connection to River
now that they know she's their daughter, more time to examine
how the Doctor has had both a positive and negative impact on
their lives, and it would've allowed us to see more of a great
idea suggested by Dinosaurs on a Spaceship that they're slowly
becoming more and more competent adventurers in their own right
instead of still being sidekicks. Instead, 2012 gave us a
handful of barely connected stories, some of which didn't even
focus on the Ponds at all. I mean, even their final adventure
isn't really about them.
The Angels Take Manhattan, a 44 minute episode, begins with a 5
and a half minute pre-title sequence where Amy and Rory don't
even appear. I sort of see what they were trying to do in not
making Amy and Rory's departure the focus of the episode, making
it seem like just another adventure and showing that any
adventure can be a companion's last, but this set-up is
contradicted when the TARDIS team do finally appear and the
Doctor suddenly claiming that he "hates endings", an obvious
knowing wink at the audience who are already fully aware that
this is Amy and Rory's last appearance. A 5 and a half minute
pre-title sequence would be fine as a way of setting the tone,
something that it does do competently, but not when there are
far more important things to be getting on with. Really, to
justify this opening, the episode should've been a full
hour-long finale.
Look at the inclusion of River Song for example. Here, she makes
her first post-marriage appearance and it's the first and only
time when the complete Pond-era TARDIS team are all on the same
page. River Song has been demystified and everyone now knows who
she is and what she means to the Doctor. So why aren't there
more scenes of dialogue between her and her parents as they try
to get to know each other as family members and not as passing
friends? At least River and Amy do sort of get a scene together;
Rory on the other hand only has one real dialogue scene with his
own daughter, and it's mostly exposition explaining why the
TARDIS can't land in New York.
Actually, that's something that really bothers me about The
Angels Take Manhattan: this isn't an episode about the Ponds
leaving. This is an episode about Amy leaving. Rory is entirely
ignored. When he and his wife plunge off a rooftop, the Doctor
shouts "AMY!" three times but never "RORY!". The final line of
the episode is "This is the story of Amelia Pond and this is how
it ends." Well, sure, but it's also the story of Rory Williams.
Amy's last line is "Raggedy man, goodbye!" and Rory's last line
is "There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as
me." This episode does not in any way care about Rory, so how
are we meant to? Amy Pond's entire life is basically one big
fairytale, and at least in this episode, Rory plays the role of
Prince Charming, an entirely one-dimensional perfect husband
who's willing to wait 2000 years for her. I'm not complaining
about this being a story where a female character is more
important than their idyllic male partner, because usually it's
the women in stories who are defined entirely by their relation
to a men. However, no-matter which way the genders are switched,
or even if the Pond's marriage was same-sex, it doesn't change
the fact that The Angels Take Manhattan, despite being the end
of the couple's journey, has very clearly picked a favourite
between the two. We're supposed to be crying over the loss of
Amy, not Rory.
On the subject of fairytale tropes, this was a very fairytale
exit for the pair. I don't think it's a coincidence that the
Weeping Angels were chosen to be the Pond's final adversary. For
one thing, they don't look like traditional sci-fi monsters in
that they're made of stone, whereas Daleks and Cybermen are both
encased in shiny metal. Also, while Weeping Angels do kill
people, they don't do it was an electronic scream of
"EXTERMINATE!!!!!!" and the zap of a laser gun. To quote the
Tenth Doctor in blink, "Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels.
The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely."
They're definitely the more romanticised option for a companion
death.
The Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel is never explained
or used and is totally spoiled by the overly long pre-title
sequence. If you have the fact that the Statue of Liberty is a
Weeping Angel tucked away up your sleeve, only a fool would blow
their best trick in the opening five minutes because then you've
got nothing to build up to except the fact that the Statue of
Liberty is a Weeping Angel...again! And it's infinitely less
surprising and impressive the second time, especially once
you've realised that they're going to make no attempt whatsoever
to explain it. So what, can Weeping Angels convert other
statues? That sounds like a really cool concept, if only they'd
have thought to use it. This episode is full of Weeping Angels
who don't look like traditional Weeping Angels from Blink, The
Time of Angels, and Flesh and Stone, despite the fact that the
image of an angel is apparently what gives it it's power. I'd
love it to be explained in full one day, because the idea that
any statue can be converted into a Weeping Angel is fantastic.
Yet another concept or scene that could've been crammed in if
The Angels Take Manhattan were an hour-long episode. Sure, that
little bit of exposition would detract even more from Amy and
Rory, but at least it would've made the episode make more sense.
The lack of sense that The Angels Take Manhattan makes brings me
onto another fairytale aspect to this episode: the fact that the
plot is literally being dictated by a storybook. At first, this
is really cleverly used, like when River and the Doctor
essentially have an argument through a book, with the rapid
cutting back and forth between River saying something to Rory
and the Doctor immediately reacting to what she just said in the
TARDIS. These scenes are brilliant and, as with most great
Moffat scripts, they allow the story to move along at breakneck
pace, with characters reacting to what's happening right after
it happens, drawing you in to the sense of adventure. Unlike
most great Moffat scripts however, the concept quickly falls
apart and plot holes begin to emerge. So according to the book,
the end of The Angels Take Manhattan is 'Amelia's Last Farewell'
to the Doctor. But why can't River use her vortex manipulator to
go back in time and return them to their families? Just because
they can never see the Doctor again surely doesn't mean that
they can't still see anyone else. More time for explanations
could've easily been fitted in if this episode had a full hour
to fill. Basically what Moffat wanted to do here was to kill off
Amy and Rory but do it in a lovely, charming, wholesome way
where they actually died of old age in each other's company
instead of being gruesomely exterminated in a purely sci-fi
death scene, despite the fact that the way he ended up doing it
didn't actually make that much sense.
Overall, The Angels Take Manhattan got so much right, and if it
was just another episode where the main selling points were the
return of the Weeping Angels and River Song, then it would
probably be the highlight of Series 7 Part 1. The problems
really start when you factor in Amy and Rory's departure and the
fact that this is their last chronological appearance in the
entire show (ignoring a hallucination in The Time of the
Doctor). I wanted to see more of Amy and Rory talking things
through with their daughter in their last opportunity to do so,
and more focus on them instead of everything else going on
around them. That said, something could be said for leaving the
audience wanting more so perhaps I'm just a bitter fan who can't
accept the fact they've gone. Most of all though, I wanted a
final scene that made sense without having to debate it for
years on forums. In fact, I'd preferred it if, after jumping off
the building together and arriving back safely in the graveyard,
they'd just have got back in the TARDIS and told the Doctor they
wanted to go home, then live out the rest of their lives in true
happily ever after fashion. It would've been a lot less tragic
and impactful but it would have made a lot more sense.
Next: The Snowmen