5x04 The Time of Angels (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!!)

[Count Zero]

Hooray! The next episode is less than an hour away.

Spoiler: plot synopsis from BBC website

The enigmatic River Song hurtles back into the Doctor's 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. But can she be trusted?

So, Amy's going to meet the Doctor's former/future love interest. Could be awkward. Personally, I hope that Moffat finally delivers in this two-parter.

 

[DimesDan]

Is it me or does what River is holding looks a bit like a Keno remote from SGU? Also, are the ratings being or will be affected by the weather as for the forth week in row, it's rather warm again!

 

[davejames]

Woohoo! Hopefully when I come back and check on this thread later, there will be some much better reviews than there were last week...

 

[ITL]

Sweet Zombie Jebus that was all kinds of fecking awesome! A truly great episode out of The Moffs' top drawer. Oh yeah!

 

[DimesDan]

Sweet Zombie Jebus that was all kinds of fecking awesome! A truly great episode out of The Moffs' top drawer. Oh yeah!

I've had a bit too much sun the last couple of days and feel like shite, from what I saw of it, it was good, I'll have to rewatch it though later to be sure!

 

[DangerMouse]

At last!!!!

That's what we've been waiting for, come on

Yes, yes, yes - woo hoo

 

[Captain Shaw]

Is it me or does what River is holding looks a bit like a Keno remote from SGU? Also, are the ratings being or will be affected by the weather as for the forth week in row, it's rather warm again!

They will probably be down a lot more next week if it's nice as its a bank holiday weekend.

 

[Lonemagpie]

my most overwhelming thought about tonight's Dr Who is this:

Thank you so much, BBC, for putting a logo and cheesy animated Graham fucking Norton to blot out a third of the screen during the climax. I really fucking needed that, you stupid fucking twats. As if Saturday's don't seem to belong enough to the cunt as it is...

Anyhow... Not bad at all. Moff is still mining his previous episodes like they're going to junk the archives in five minutes, but it was all entertaining fun.

The River-as-the-Doctor's-wife gag is driven into the ground though. And then some. There seems to be some actual darker mystery about her though. It's also nice to see that next week will bring the "crack" back to the Doctor's attention...

The Angels in the tunnels look like Exxilons... And, speaking of continuity, the TARDIS landing beep from the 80s!

Anyway, being only the first part of the story I'll pretty much withhold more comments till after next week's conclusion.

8/10

 

[DimesDan]

Is it me or does what River is holding looks a bit like a Keno remote from SGU? Also, are the ratings being or will be affected by the weather as for the forth week in row, it's rather warm again!

They will probably be down a lot more next week if it's nice as its a bank holiday weekend.

I know of a few people not watching as I'm camping with my Scouts and I know a few of them are into Who.

 

[Jamee999]

That was very good. I wish Moffat could write every episode of everything. Ever.

 

[Pat]

Superb! The best of D11 thus far.

 

[WillsBabe]

That was so much better than last week for me. I'm really amazed it was the first episode that they filmed, they were all so on, particularly, Karen Gillan, I felt. Love River's shoes.

Oh, and I totally agree with Lonemagpie's sentiments about the Graham Norton banner. Big moment, great dialogue, new actor in major role showing his chops, what shall we do? I know, throw a banner all over it. Fu*ktards.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

That was just tremendous in every way.

 

[DarkHorizon]

I didn't get that banner. BBC Wales wouldn't allow it on their flagship show, I guess...

 

[wamdue]

I didn't get that banner. BBC Wales wouldn't allow it on their flagship show, I guess...

lucky you, watching the effort going into filming that scene on Confidential, makes the IPP all the more tragic.

Up to that point however the episode was good, even if it started to lag in the middle, as it appeared that not much was really happening. Not unheard of in a 2 parter.

Talking of 2 parters, plenty of stuff about River, the Angels & Amy, we could sit & discuss, (& im sure we will) but we wont know how good that stuff is until part 2 has aired.

 

[Hennessy Badger]

It was better than last weeks. Good but not fantastic. The first half of the episode was really strong. I loved River's entrance, and the whole 'Amy trapped with the vid-Angel' part was wonderfully intense.

But near the end of the episode it really lost steam and started to feel like Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead part 2 (or should I make that 3). We had:

1) River
2) Dead minor character's voice being used by the 'monster'.
3) Stay out of the dark!

It all felt very samey-samey by the end. And the cliffhanger was not half as good as "Donna Noble has been saved." Not even close.

But next weeks episode looks good, so here's hoping it ends strong.

 

[captcalhoun]

brilliant!

OOO, OOO, OOO! They're not using the ubiquitous H&K G36 assault rifles!!! They had P90 sub-machine guns!!

got wonder what's changed in the next 4K years that the 'church' has gone all Ordos Militant and started wearing 4,000 year old British Army uniforms...

 

[matthunter]

Solid episode... good performances all round, Matt Smith doing "flustered intellectual" very well as River upsets the Doctor's usual air of confidence. River not nearly as annoying as her previous appearance and played well off Amy, who still got lots to do. Her interaction with the Doctor was a bit more rounded this week, very playful as if he's still her childhood friend ("Are you all Mr. Grumpyface today?") even if adult Amy may have the hots for him.

The Angels weren't quite as scary as their previous appearance, because the "character glances away and when they look back the Angel is right in front of them" trick is hard to repeat well. Still, the revelation that the Angel isn't alone, quite naturally spinning off from a seemingly throwaway line in the conversation, was really well done. Moff seems to like the "Monster speaks with the voice of its dead victims" idea as well, but it came off well here, with "Bob" sounding genuinely apologetic at what the Angel was making "him" say.

And River may have something more than just "spoilers" that she wants to hide from the Doctor... looking forward to next week.

 

[Skellington]

Now this is more like it. Gave it a "Good", but at 4/5 that's what I'd normally call "excellent". Some very quotable dialogue, intriguing concepts and a sense of fun. If the poll title had been "How awesome was Karren Gillan in this episode?" I would have given full marks. Also liked the prologue (hallucinogenic lipstick? Shades of Firefly's Our Mrs Reynolds, perhaps?) and the in-TARDIS interplay between the Doctor and River. I think that she was being a bit presumptive at the start, though.

 

[Thor Damar]

I've got this feeling in my head that the Moff's going to resolve the cracks by the end of the second part. Which would be an interesting twist methinks.

Quite surprised that I didn't get the plot twist about the army of angels, I guess I was too busy imaging a whole planet full of Zaphods.

Can't wait until next week. Even if it means more graham smegging norton