DOCTOR WHO REVIEW: THE TIME OF ANGELS/ FLESH AND STONE
Written By: Steven Moffat
Directed By: Adam Smith
The Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone was the first two part story of Matt Smith's first series as the eleventh doctor, and saw the return of professor River Song from the previous series and the immensely popular Weeping Angels who first appeared in "Blink".
I'm overly keen on the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who, not many of his stories are to my liking. I hate the majority of series six, and I strongly dislike parts of series seven. Series five for me was definitely his strongest series and I did think that his doctor got off to a good start, it was nice to see a different contrast with him after David Tennant. You came to Doctor Who in 2010 and it felt in every sense, like a new series. It had a new doctor, it had a new companion, new and refurbished TARDIS inside and out, new title sequence, it was in HD for the first time, Russell T Davies had left and Steven Moffat was in charge - he was the new show runner, so many new and exciting things were happening at the time, and I for one remember adapting well to the new change. It was great to was a new refreshed version of the show because things were starting to get very samey and repetitive with Russell T Davies, it seemed like the right time with a new doctor to have a bit of a change and see what it be like under the reign of a new show runner.
Matt Smith was an unknown to me, I didn't know who he was before he got the part. It was quite a bold move to cast a young man in the part, and Doctor Who has certainly made him more recognisable now than he was before.
Time of Angels/ Flesh and Stone is certainly one of his better stories, on both sides of the production.
The story goes that The Doctor and his companion Amy Pond are summoned by River Song, a mysterious woman from the Doctor's future. She takes them to the planet Alfava Metraxis, where the spaceship Byzantium has crashed. Hidden inside is a Weeping Angel, a creature that can only move when unobserved by others. With the help of Father Octavian and his militarised clerics, the Doctor, Amy and River Song travel through a stone labyrinth to reach the ship. On the way, they discover that all the statues in the maze are Angels, which are slowly restoring and planning to trap them in the labyrinth.
Following the cliffhanger of the previous episode, the doctor, Amy, River song and Octavian and his militarised clerics have escaped entrapment by the Weeping Angels, creatures who only move when unobserved by others. They take refuge inside the crashed starship Byzantium, but the Angels pursue them and Amy is on the brink of dying from the imprint of an Angel in her eye. Both the Angels and the Doctor's team face danger from a widening crack in space and time which has the power to erase people from history.
Inspired by the relationship between the film Alien and its sequel, Aliens, Moffat wrote
the episode as a more action-oriented sequel to "Blink". It was the
first episode to be filmed in the series; filming began 20th July 2009 at Southerndown beach, Vale of Glamorgan which
was used as the surface of Alfava Metraxis. The episode was watched by 8.59
million viewers in the United Kingdom, received the highest Appreciation Index
given to the fifth series at time of broadcast and was acclaimed by critics as
one of the best episodes of the series. I for one would agree with that, and I think, because it's got the doctor in it, it's much better than "Blink" in some cases.
The point of bringing a monster back is due to the fact that there was 1. popular with viewers and
2. seeing if you can top the success they had in their first story. In the case of the Weeping Angels, both those things are achieved and in terms of writing, this is a very thrilling and exciting story to watch. It has you on the edge of your seat and the story is very quick passed, no stop to take a breath, it's a hands on threat, survival story. It's just a shame that right at the very end in the final scene, its ruined by a stupid kissing scene, where Amy tries to snog the doctors face off. I just thought "No! This has been such a great story, please don't ruin it!"
I think the reason why I think this story stands out as being the best of Matt Smith's stories is the fact that this is one which I definitely know I can always enjoy, despite the kissing scene. Considering that I don't like many of Matt Smith's stories, there really isn't that much to choose from and in effect I end up playing it safe because that era for me sadly was on track to going down hill, which is a shame.
This concludes my reviews of best doctor stories. I can't do best twelfth doctor story because the twelfth doctor era isn't finished yet. Let's hope Peter Capaldi stays as the doctor for as long as possible to give us a load of verity of stories to choose from.
