~ Season 5, Episode 5 - Flesh and Stone Written by: Steven Moffat Directed by: Adam Smith Original Air Date: May 15, 2010
Synopsis There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, The Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner. Meanwhile, in the forest vault, the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond, finds herself facing an even more deadly attack.
Plot The Doctor, Amy, River Song, Father Octavian and his clerics have all jumped on The Doctor's instructions, and have been caught by the Byzantium's still existent gravity field and have landed on the outside of the Byzantium, upside down in relation to the Weeping Angels left beneath them. They enter the ship, but are followed by the Angels. The Doctor and the others manage to escape and enter the control room.
In there, the Doctor and River realise that there must be an oxygen factory so the occupants can breathe, so the Doctor opens a door to reveal a forest! But then they realise Amy has been counting downwards from ten for several minutes without realising it, and the Doctor notices a crack on the wall, similar to the one in Amy's bedroom. The Doctor examines it, saying "That's extremely very not good", before noticing he is surrounded by Weeping Angels. He escapes, minus his coat, and follows the others. They discover that Amy has a Weeping Angel in the visual centres of her mind. The Doctor tells her if she opens her eyes for more than a second, the Weeping Angel will escape and she will die. She is left with the clerics as the Weeping Angels advance, Meanwhile The Doctor, River Song and Father Octavian head off to find a way to stop the Angels. As they leave, the Angels leave too when a light comes from the vault. Two clerics go to investigate, however, when Amy opens here eyes, she states it's the same crack from her wall. The remaining clerics forget about the existence of the other two, and then a third cleric goes to investigate. The one remaining cleric forgets about the others' existence, questioning Amy. He walks into the light too, and supposedly disappears. The Doctor and Father Octavian continue, but a Weeping Angel captures Father Octavian by the neck. Before Octavian is killed, he tells the Doctor that River Song was a prisoner because she killed a man; a good man. The Angels run away in fear of the crack, due to the Doctor saying it will consume them. The Doctor speculates that the crack is allowing time to be rewritten and River asks him how they can close it, with the Doctor replying that a complicated space-time event can close it: himself. As the four clerics have disappeared, Amy is left truly alone and with only a communicator. The Doctor radios Amy and tells her to come to the control room. She asks why she should risk confronting the Angels and the Doctor tells her that the Angels can only kill her, but the crack can erase her from time. Reluctantly and still with her eyes closed, she follows his sonic screwdriver signal, that is until the Angels arrive and surround her. The Angels are still scared and just follow their instincts around her to freeze to stone, but Amy soon gives herself away as blind and the Angels close in to kill her. Just in time, River teleports her to the control room.
All the Angels come by the entrance to the room as they drain energy from the doors, which then open. The lead Angel, Angel Bob, demands that the Doctor throw himself into the crack in order to save the Angels, Amy and River from it. River, as a time traveller, wants to throw herself in but the Doctor laughs at the idea, claiming that she is not even as complicated as one Angel and that only all the Angels are equivalent to him. Given this, the Doctor tells his friends to hold on to something and the artificial gravity field collapses because of the angels draining all the energy from the ship sending them into the crack. This is enough to seal it, erasing them all from existence. The group escapes to the outside of the temple, Amy safe now that the Angel in her mind has been erased from time. They remember those erased from time because they are time travellers themselves. River tells the Doctor she will see him again when the Pandorica opens and that the man she murdered was the best man she'd ever known. She is teleported back to the penal starship, with the remaining soldiers.
Amy tells the Doctor to take her home. There, she tells him that she is getting married in the morning and tries to seduce him. He declines and realises that she is at the centre of all the cracks and that the time explosion which created them occurs today, the day of her wedding. He quickly whisks her away in order to try to sort the issue out.
Just a run-down on some Weeping Angels facts - perhaps one of the more frightening monsters that Doctor Who may have come across. These creatures are also known as the Lonely Assassins, these aliens could only attack their targets if you took your eyes off them. The moment anyone looks directly at them, they become immobile and powerless. But, turn away, even for a split second, and they send you back randomly into the past, feeding off the temporal energy that is left behind by your life no longer existing in your proper timeline.
Weeping Angels Facts
Other Names : The Lonely Assassins Home Planet : Unknown Appearance : Winged Humanoid Statue Weaknesses : If they see each other they turn into stone. First Appearance: Blink Doctor: Tenth Doctor Last Appearance: Flesh & Stone
Possessing a natural and unique defence mechanism, the Angels are quantum locked. This means that they can only move when no other living creature, including their own kind, is looking at them. As soon as they are observed, they instantly turn to stone and cannot be killed.
The Weeping Angels were winged humanoids who evolved numerous unique survival mechanisms throughout their time, including the ability to move creatures back through time with a touch. This allowed them to consume the potential energy from the time the victims could have had alive had the Angels not transported the victim back in time.
In The Time of Angels the Doctor and Amy along with River Song went hunting for a solitary Angel but discovered an army of them waiting in the Maze of the Dead! Although the Lonely Assassins vastly outnumbered their prey the Doctor was able to outwit them using gravity and the army was defeated. But there's no telling where the Weeping Angels might strike next... the Doctor must remain on his guard against these beautiful but merciless killers.
~ For us poor sods in North America, we have to wait until May 15th to get our next dose of Doctor Who. The last episode (5x4) left us hanging but get ready for part two of this nail-biter, 'Flesh and Stone'. We know that one may watch this episode online already but we think that watching it 'live' on the telly with the fam just can't be beat.
Righto - having said that, we do pop into the official BBC Doctor Who website, most-oft to peep the little bonus that accompanies each week's episode. The 'Flesh and Stone' episode has a wonderful panoramic photograph of the Byzantium Forest, which allows one take a 360 degree peek at the lush environment featured in the episode. Check out the interactive fun and more (including another print-and-cut Weeping Angel mask) here.
Spot all the Angels and give yourself a prize ! (allow some time to let the graphics load up)
Written by: Steven Moffat Directed by: Adam Smith Original Air Date: May 8, 2010
Don't blink - the Weeping Angels return! The Doctor is recruited by Father Octavian (Iain Glen) to track the last of the Angels through the terrifying Maze of the Dead. And the mysterious River Song (Alex Kingston) is back in the Doctor's life - but can he trust her?
The enigmatic River Song hurtles back into the Doctor life but she’s not the only familiar face returning… The Weeping Angels are back! The Doctor is recruited by Father Octavian to track the last of the Angels through the terrifying Maze of the Dead. As the Time Lord faces the Lonely Assassins, last seen in Blink, River Song is by his side.
These “angels” are actually aliens who have a built-in defense mechanism — if they come into anyone’s vision, they are transfixed into stone. But when those people look away, the angels move incredibly quickly to grab you. Their touch sends you back in time, and the angels feed off the residual energy of the life you would have had.
“They’re the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely” ~The Tenth Doctor
* This is, in truth, the third appearance of the Weeping Angels if one counts non-TV appearances; they have previously featured in DW: Blink and in Captain Jack’s Monster Files (See WC: A Ghost Story for Christmas)
Steven Moffat stated in a TalkTalk interview that his son – while watching the episode – said 15 minutes through the episode: “Dad, that is the single most scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”
When teasing the new series, one of the things Moffat mentioned was “the Doctor’s mistake in the maze of the dead” – no doubt a reference to this episode
* There are lots of clips of this episode in the trailers for Series 5. These include-A group of Angels not Weeping, not Screaming, just putting their hands in the air.
-Some Angels capturing River Song and the Clerics
-An Angel in a vault with Amy looking at it through a T.V monitor – in Doctor Who Magazine 418 including a preview of this episode, the synopsis states the Angel is in the Byzantium Spaceship and is being stored in the vault, but escapesHow the other Angels come along is unknown.-A Single Angel screaming
* A clip for the episode heavily indicates that this episode will not chronicle River Song’s first meeting with the Doctor (from her perspective), as she knows, interestingly, how the pilot the TARDIS herself and claims that he “leaves the breaks on” (causing the materialising noise) and talks about him as if they have travelled together before.
In there, the Doctor and River realise that there must be an oxygen factory so the occupants can breathe, so the Doctor opens a door to reveal a forest! But then they realise Amy has been counting downwards from ten for several minutes without realising it, and the Doctor notices a crack on the wall, similar to the one in Amy's bedroom. The Doctor examines it, saying "That's extremely very not good", before noticing he is surrounded by Weeping Angels. He escapes, minus his coat, and follows the others. They discover that Amy has a Weeping Angel in the visual centres of her mind. The Doctor tells her if she opens her eyes for more than a second, the Weeping Angel will escape and she will die. She is left with the clerics as the Weeping Angels advance, Meanwhile The Doctor, River Song and Father Octavian head off to find a way to stop the Angels. As they leave, the Angels leave too when a light comes from the vault. Two clerics go to investigate, however, when Amy opens here eyes, she states it's the same crack from her wall. The remaining clerics forget about the existence of the other two, and then a third cleric goes to investigate. The one remaining cleric forgets about the others' existence, questioning Amy. He walks into the light too, and supposedly disappears. The Doctor and Father Octavian continue, but a Weeping Angel captures Father Octavian by the neck. Before Octavian is killed, he tells the Doctor that River Song was a prisoner because she killed a man; a good man. The Angels run away in fear of the crack, due to the Doctor saying it will consume them. The Doctor speculates that the crack is allowing time to be rewritten and River asks him how they can close it, with the Doctor replying that a complicated space-time event can close it: himself. As the four clerics have disappeared, Amy is left truly alone and with only a communicator. The Doctor radios Amy and tells her to come to the control room. She asks why she should risk confronting the Angels and the Doctor tells her that the Angels can only kill her, but the crack can erase her from time. Reluctantly and still with her eyes closed, she follows his sonic screwdriver signal, that is until the Angels arrive and surround her. The Angels are still scared and just follow their instincts around her to freeze to stone, but Amy soon gives herself away as blind and the Angels close in to kill her. Just in time, River teleports her to the control room.
All the Angels come by the entrance to the room as they drain energy from the doors, which then open. The lead Angel, Angel Bob, demands that the Doctor throw himself into the crack in order to save the Angels, Amy and River from it. River, as a time traveller, wants to throw herself in but the Doctor laughs at the idea, claiming that she is not even as complicated as one Angel and that only all the Angels are equivalent to him. Given this, the Doctor tells his friends to hold on to something and the artificial gravity field collapses because of the angels draining all the energy from the ship sending them into the crack. This is enough to seal it, erasing them all from existence. The group escapes to the outside of the temple, Amy safe now that the Angel in her mind has been erased from time. They remember those erased from time because they are time travellers themselves. River tells the Doctor she will see him again when the Pandorica opens and that the man she murdered was the best man she'd ever known. She is teleported back to the penal starship, with the remaining soldiers.
