7X05 The Angels Take Manhattan (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Ghost Bones]

Also, time this week works in such a way that you have to follow everything in a book unless you've not read it yet. And when did she put it in his pocket without him noticing like an idiot?

Honestly, they don't even try any more.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I sat down thinking that this was going to be a two parter.

it wasn't that he couldn't go back to new york, it's that he couldn't go back to 1938.

Although, was that 1938 completely, or 1938 New York?

And it wasn't that he couldn't go back, because he could go back to 1930 and wait around for 5 years, or land in Australia and take a boat over to the States... it's that the fabric of time space had been so indelibly weakened right there, that if that headstone in the present changed again (which is did when Amy went back) it would create a new paradox on top of the bomb-site of the first which would destroy the world.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Just finished it.. teared up at the end.

I think it's great they spent their life exploring a past era. They would have been bored to death in the present sans Doctor but now they get to say.. "hey, doesn't some amazing happen in Paris in X year.. I think it does! Let's go take a look!" It will be endlessly interesting to them.

I feel sorry for Rory's dad BUT.. I wonder if River will pop in and visit her grandfather some time.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

He can still go see them. He just cant take them out of their new timeline.

Heck he could even take them on the tardis as long as he dropped them back where he found them.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Whats the point of filming there if your just limiting your action to the top of a rock in a nondescript park and the inside of an apartment building?

Actually, that rock is quite clearly the one in Central Park. In fact, all of the stuff in the park is quite clearly Central Park. The fountain, the area where Rory is taken, the bridge, all of it. It's Central Park.

 

[StCoop]

What a pile of shite.

You'd think that just this once Moffat would want to go for substance over style but instead with get his usual pile of crap that makes no sense once you apply two seconds of thought to it.

So you can't go back to New York in 1938? Go to London and send them some plane tickets.

So the Doctor can just dish out regeneration energy to heal people whenever he likes? Aren't there a couple of thousand times in the past fifty years of stories when that might have come in handy?

And I'm not even going to touch the stealth capabilities of the Statue Of Liberty.

 

[StCoop]

Actually, that rock is quite clearly the one in Central Park. In fact, all of the stuff in the park is quite clearly Central Park. The fountain, the area where Rory is taken, the bridge, all of it. It's Central Park.

And could have been shot in Cardiff with the background CGI'd in (like they did in plenty of other shots in the episode.) They only reason they went is Moffat's obsession with appealing to the tiny American audience.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I think they went there because it fits the hardboiled detective element. It's also very easy to be atmospheric of other eras in Manhatten. And yes that was instantly recognizable as Central Park.

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Actually, that rock is quite clearly the one in Central Park. In fact, all of the stuff in the park is quite clearly Central Park. The fountain, the area where Rory is taken, the bridge, all of it. It's Central Park.

And could have been shot in Cardiff with the background CGI'd in (like they did in plenty of other shots in the episode.) They only reason they went is Moffat's obsession with appealing to the tiny American audience.

You might want to reconsider the size of the American audience. Hardly small.

 

[StCoop]

Just out of curiosity, is the Steven Moffat who wrote this episode which claims you can't change fixed points in time related in any way to the Steven Moffat who based an entire previous series on the idea that you can indeed cheat your way into changing a fixed point in time?

 

[StCoop]

You might want to reconsider the size of the American audience. Hardly small.

Less than a quarter of the UK audience in a country with over four times the population.

You're right it's not small, it's fucking miniscule.

 

[TyberiusDeAngelo]

So Amy has known all along that The Doctor would/did come back for her and that she would/did have adventures with him? The ending kinda threw me.

 

[Australis]

Best ep of the season. What Amy and Rory do for love is just amazing, and the true heart of the story. The leap off the building... WOW. And then the twist. WOW.

Someone said the stories focus too much on the companions. The real core of the whole Who thing is the effect him being in their lives changes them, this was true for classic as well as nyWho.

As to appealing to the "tiny American audience", Who has had a HUGE pop-culture impact, Who references are in the media a lot these days. Why not build on that?

Oh, and they kept going to the graveyard because it was a fixed point in time with their graves,.

Really liked the hardboiled detective element.

 

[Cutter John]

I liked that quite a bit. Only put off slightly by the fact that nobody apparently notices the Statue of Liberty tromping through the streets.

* Damnit, why does it have to take til her final episode for me to actually like Amy?

* And as far as I'm concerned, this was also the best River story yet. I'm glad to finally see her relationship with the Doctor fleshed out.

* I was actually a bit pissed off by Rory and Amy's jump. "Surely they're not going with this cheesy ending are they?" Thankfully no. Of course the "Ah-ha, we're alive again!" moment immediately after was even worse. But I forgave them immediately after for the surprise goodbye immediately after. And yes, it was a bit of a surprise to me. I was still expecting them to ask the Doctor to take them home.

* So in the end, it really wasn't a sad farewell. Amy and Rory had a good life together. Which they've deserved all along.

*And yes, that final shot of Amelia made me tear up a bit.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I need them to film a Who in Melbourne. We have tons of gargoyles on our buildings, they could do another Angel ep. I feel soooooo upappealed to.

 

[StCoop]

As to appealing to the "tiny American audience", Who has had a HUGE pop-culture impact, Who references are in the media a lot these days. Why not build on that?

Because he's not paid to boost BBC America's ratings. He's paid to make a show for British Licence Fee payers.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Maybe I'm imagining this but--I thought everyone liked New York.

 

[Mister Fandango]

So you can't go back to New York in 1938? Go to London and send them some plane tickets.

Not without destroying New York/the World, as he clearly explained. It's less that he can't go back, it's more than if he does the risk of creating another major paradox is too great, resulting in a massive backlash.

So the Doctor can just dish out regeneration energy to heal people whenever he likes? Aren't there a couple of thousand times in the past fifty years of stories when that might have come in handy?

No, he can't. But just like River gave all of her regenerative energy to a fellow Timelord, he apparently can do much the same. If you're going to be upset about anything, it should be that he has that much fine control over it considering how piss-poor his control has been in the past compared to other Timelords.

That said, it's amazing how collectively and irrationally hate-filled and racist (nationist?) British folks become. It's downright amusing, even.

 

[Australis]

As to appealing to the "tiny American audience", Who has had a HUGE pop-culture impact, Who references are in the media a lot these days. Why not build on that?

Because he's not paid to boost BBC America's ratings. He's paid to make a show for British Licence Fee payers.

I don't get it.

More people watch in the US, more revenue to BBCA
More revenue to BBCA, more revenue to BBC
More revenue for BBC, a better case for booting the series budget rather than cutting it.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

US viewing just ended:

I'm bawling like a baby. That is all.