It wasn’t among Moffatt’s best, but it was the first episode of the season I even liked, and a memorable send off for the ponds. Matt Smith is great, but Moffatt was a better writer than show-runner - disappointed that the show hasn’t improved as I expected after Davies left - in fact, it’s worsened its flaws, by being more and more nonsensical, making the Doc a “space god” who is never in danger, the sonic screwdriver does anything the plot wants, and there’s always a left field solution, generally a deux ex machina.
The show feels like it’s being written primarily for 12 year old girls these days. Eccleston must have really had an impact on the show’s writing.
Wel,l if you listen to the excellent ‘Ed Riordan’ comedy show on Radio 4, you’d know tat the BBC is run by 12 year-olds these days :).
hepcat
1663
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Moffat hasn’t been churning out quality stories for a few years now. I was really happy for Doctor Who when I learned that Davies was handing the reins over to him, but after doing so it’s like he stopped trying.
Editer
1664
I think Moffat’s a sign, unfortunately, of what happens when you let a fanboy run the show. I would always get frustrated by stuff like Star Trek writers who weren’t really into the franchise, but I think there’s perhaps something to be said for reigning in the ability to play Mary Sue with characters.
Quaro
1665
I think it’s just quantity. When he was JUST a writer everything he did was good, a couple of episodes a season or whatever. Now he’s in charge of all of Doctor Who AND Sherlock? Probably not his skill set.
Now, let’s not cut off our nose to spite our face! Blink was about as perfect an hour of television as you get, given the fact that you’re talking about quantum-locked stone angels who feed off potential time energy. It was internally inconsistent, and didn’t break its own rules.
Then the spaceship episode comes along (forgive me for not remembering the name), and suddenly you have a new set of rules. Besides the whole “oh look you’ve got dust in your eye” think, now it’s “The angels can’t move if they believe you’re looking at them”, which is completely different from the original, “The angels are physically unable to move when any living being looks at them. They simply turn to stone. It’s a fact of their biology.” And then you get inane things like seeing angels actually move, which ruins the whole scary aspect from the first episode.
That said, I did like this latest outing with the Angels, because at least they didn’t physically move. But Blink…Blink was flawless.
I’ve said for a while (and probably in this thread!) that Moffatt is great for one-off episodes, but they tend to be a little too wild and careless for me. He always wants to add one too many fantastical elements to the story. The thing about Davies is that his episodes were always grounded and generally easy to explain, so it made the occasional Moffatt episodes easier to stomach. It’s like having a crazy uncle: He’s fun to have around a couple times a year, but you wouldn’t want to live with him every day.
I’ve begun to have the same dread when I see that Moffat has written an episode as I used to have when RTD wrote an episode. I know that the character beats will be good, but the plot will be nonsense.
Many have already mentioned how casual the looking at the Angels was in this episode (River should have been dead or zapped at least three different times in the Collector’s study). And the Statue of Liberty? Really? Since victims were always turned away from the Statue when they hit the roof, that meant that someone had to be looking at the Angel to freeze it. And since siccing Lady Liberty on escapees seems to be the Angels’ favorite tactic, you’d imagine that people saw this quite a lot. I’d think the Statue of Liberty appearing in the middle of Manhattan with a scary face every now and then would be on the front page of the paper. Especially if a witness could explain how the Statue made it over the water in the first place.
As for the Fate of the Ponds, it seems like one of two scenarios is possible:
-
Rory and Amy were zapped back to the farm, since the paradox was undone by the re-capture of Rory. Therefore, their “happy ending” was something out of a Beckett play as the two of them were confined to a single room for 50 years.
-
Rory and Amy were zapped back to a farm-free 1938, in which case, they could have hopped a bus to anywhere and had The Doctor pick them up in a location far away from the time distortions of NYC. All of 1938 is dangerous? OK, they lay low for a year, maybe five, and get a ride in the TARDIS then. Or they go over to London and meet up with Churchill and wait for the freshly-minted 11 to show up during the Blitz. They certainly didn’t have to live out their lives in the past. And considering that Brian awaits their return, I’m sure they wouldn’t choose to live the retro lifestyle.
There were lots of cool elements in the episode, but the overall package felt wobbly. Amy and Rory deserved a better send off than that.
Personally, I think the Angels could be one of the classic villains, taking their place alongside the Daleks and the Cybermen. However, I think a lot of damage was done in their second appearance by changing their rules, making them killers rather than time displacers, and, worst of all, showing them moving. I was pleased to see them return to their roots in this episode, even with some of the sillier moments.
I enjoyed the episode, but yeah, their being stuck in the past falls apart with any kind of scrutiny. The doctor could have picked them up in 1939, let them live their lives out in the present and then took them back to the past to die (to fulfill the date on the gravestone.)
So here’s a scene that was never shot. A little bit drawn out, but gives a happy closure to Amy and Rory. Just the scene of the man delivering a “Dad” envelope to Brian would probably have sufficed though (for anyone who remembers Blink.)
biosc1
1669
That video makes me more confused about how they can send a letter (and the delivery person) and not take a trip across the Atlantic
Matt Smith’s first season on sale for $19.99 on Amazon (choose Amazon from the list of alternate vendors on the right). You’ll have to wait up to three weeks to get it, but that’s about a third of the going rate.
In some ways, I think the issue is that he’s a fanboy of his ideas versus the show itself. I’d expect a stereotypical fanboy of the show to be more likely obsessed with canon, and therefore more likely to keep “the rules” more consistent between stories.
I can’t see a real fanboy of the series approving those new Dalek designs. Fan outcry is why, I think, we saw all those “old” new series Daleks working under the Power Rangers Daleks instead of being replaced by them.
Moffat, unfortunately, is obsessed with revisiting his creations, but making them “bigger” and “better” each time. It’s happened with the Angels and with River.
It also doesn’t help that Moffat has mentioned that he’s not as concerned with any “science” behind the show. Forget complaints about the Sonic Screwdriver or even the Psychic Paper, I want a ban on nanomachines being used as magic for the next 3 years by either Moffat or Mark Gatiss.
rei
1672
Veefy
1673
I wonder if Moffat is a fan of Calvin and Hobbes… :)
So I finally got around to catching up with this season on my DVR.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Angels Take Manhaten or whatever it was called may rank as the most aggrivating epiosde of Doctor Who I have ever watched. Forget for a moment how the Angels suddenly broke every rule that was ever set for them, taking them from possibly the best ever Who creations to utter risiculousness (Lady Liberty, really? Really?!). Even without that nonsense the entire plot was a jumbled mess and compeltely inconsistant.
Then, tack on the ending. Please tell me this is not the way Amy and Rory leave the show. What a complete shit way to write off two beloved characters, possibly the best companions ever as far as I’m concerned. I’m pissed as hell. Worse, now we’re going to get River and her inane bullshit as a companion for the rest of the season? If that’s the way it pans out, I may not be around for another season of Doctor Who.
You already saw the new companion in the first episode, although she was most likely not playing same character. I’m not sure where that River stuff is coming from.
Are you talking about the woman from the Christmas episode last year, or Oswin, the crash survivor turned-Dalek from the Asylum of the Daleks episode this season?
I assumed River because they acted like they were going to be traveling together at the end of the Angels episode, and they are married in this timeline/incarnation after all.
Oswin. Actually, Oswin’s ancestor played by the same actress, as I understand it.
River specifically says "we can travel together once in a while, but I’d make a terrible companion. " I assume she’ll be around for an episode or two while they introduce Oswin, then be back to on-again, off-again, like before.
I do hope we see more of River. I have a huge crush on Alex Kingston.
Hey, what’s up, new TARDIS interior? http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/new-look-tardis-interior-unveiled-43303.htm
Looks very old school BBC (cheap) but Matt Smith has never looked so Doctor-y.
What the hell? What brought about that?! :/
