5x04 The Time of Angels (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!!)
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And apparently, the episode is called "The Strawman Stratagem".
Good to see the show back on track. See how much better it is when a story has room to breathe?
I have to admit though River was starting to get on my nerves. I still like her, but really not fond of her constant smugness and one-upping of the Doctor. At least she toned it down about midway through.
I do have to say though, if someone ever brings back Blakes 7, I think they have their Servelan.
* I spotted the problem with the heads on the statues about a minute before the Doctor, and was already mentally writing my complaint post for the forum when he suddenly realizes it himself. Loved that!
* "Come along Pond." and "Oh yes, quite right. Environment checks." "Time is not the boss of me."
* Been a good long time since we've seen the Doctor engaging in a bit of thievery and running away from security guards. Such a classic old Who moment.
Trying to remember, was it viewer complaints that persuaded the BBC to move the previews for multi-part episodes until after the credits?
I do hope they get enough complaints about it that they knock it off. What, so ruining the closing credits week after week isn't enough for them?
Fortunately I usually get my Who fix off HD so it wasn't a problem.
I have to admit though River was starting to get on my nerves. I still like her, but really not fond of her constant smugness and one-upping of the Doctor. At least she toned it down about midway through.
I do have to say though, if someone ever brings back Blakes 7, I think they have their Servelan.
* I spotted the problem with the heads on the statues about a minute before the Doctor, and was already mentally writing my complaint post for the forum when he suddenly realizes it himself. Loved that!
* "Come along Pond." and "Oh yes, quite right. Environment checks." "Time is not the boss of me."
* Been a good long time since we've seen the Doctor engaging in a bit of thievery and running away from security guards. Such a classic old Who moment.
Trying to remember, was it viewer complaints that persuaded the BBC to move the previews for multi-part episodes until after the credits?
I do hope they get enough complaints about it that they knock it off. What, so ruining the closing credits week after week isn't enough for them?
Fortunately I usually get my Who fix off HD so it wasn't a problem.
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So the Angels kill the old fashioned way now as well as send people back in time? Seems to be what they did to the three soldiers. Although it would've been interesting if they encountered say, the skeletons of the soldiers who were time-displaced or something. Then again that might've been too "Silence in the library".
Not saying this is intentional, but in the vast majority of episodes from both old and the "nu," if the Doctor doesn't like someone, then the audience doesn't like that character, either. There've only been a scant few exceptions to the rule. Here the Doctor clearly doesn't like River all that much (stubborn as he's known to be), so I suppose it *could* be interpreted that way to an individual viewer. No one would be in the wrong, I think -- you either side with the Doctor or Amy (who clearly likes her).
Additionally, I think she was "sassed up" this time around because to us, she's already a recurring character. She displays more attitude than she did in Silence in the Library, for good or for ill -- maybe she learns to tone it down in her own future. If this was her introductory episode, then there probably would be a lot more complaints about her.
I found myself nodding in agreement with the Doctor when he said it was a brilliant noise. Brakes or not, I want the engines to sound like that, too!
god, what a bunch of fucking miserable gobshites some of you lot are.
sent my complaint to Auntie Beeb as well. Suggested the move SFCGN to the end credits off the actual episode.
sent my complaint to Auntie Beeb as well. Suggested the move SFCGN to the end credits off the actual episode.
Didn't they say a couple seasons ago that he fixed the chameleon circuit but likes it as a blue box.
The nice thing about the show is that you can take or reject retcons however you like.
For example, I love the idea that the Doctor was a subpar student by Time Lord standards, and that he just barely passed whatever exams were in front of him. Whether he was an unrealized genius bored at school or he really was unexceptional by their standards and then became this great hero over time made him very much a connectable, relatable character. Either way, he had to work after school in order to become the clever, brilliant, and unique Time Lord that he is now.
I don't like that some of the expanded media retconned all that to mean that the Doctor purposely and consciously failed/barely passed his academy days as some sort of statement against the Time Lord system -- it removed a lot of the, for lack of a better word, humanity from the character and that he was no different than people who were automatically endowed with gifts, like Superman or the X-Men. The Doctor is prone to making mistakes, but I'd like to think that a lot of those mistakes helped turn him into the Doctor. Superman is perfect, the Doctor shouldn't be (nor is he ever).
For example, I love the idea that the Doctor was a subpar student by Time Lord standards, and that he just barely passed whatever exams were in front of him. Whether he was an unrealized genius bored at school or he really was unexceptional by their standards and then became this great hero over time made him very much a connectable, relatable character. Either way, he had to work after school in order to become the clever, brilliant, and unique Time Lord that he is now.
I don't like that some of the expanded media retconned all that to mean that the Doctor purposely and consciously failed/barely passed his academy days as some sort of statement against the Time Lord system -- it removed a lot of the, for lack of a better word, humanity from the character and that he was no different than people who were automatically endowed with gifts, like Superman or the X-Men. The Doctor is prone to making mistakes, but I'd like to think that a lot of those mistakes helped turn him into the Doctor. Superman is perfect, the Doctor shouldn't be (nor is he ever).
The idea of the Doctor being rebellious against Time Lord society does mesh quite well with what we know of him, though. After all, he stole the TARDIS and took (his possibly at the time underage) granddaugher with him. So maybe he was indeed a slacker with a rebellious streak in school.
I thought this episode played really well and is firmly up there as my second favourite of the season to date behind TEH. I just love that first episode that little bit more because of the magical fairytale elements and setting particularly in the early scenes.
I think the season to date emphasises how important the director is in the equation. Adam Smith's work seems to be head and shoulders above that of Andy Gunn and I'm hoping we see him executing more directorial duties in future years.
Very definitely a 5/5 and I'm hoping the denouement is as great as the set-up.
I think the season to date emphasises how important the director is in the equation. Adam Smith's work seems to be head and shoulders above that of Andy Gunn and I'm hoping we see him executing more directorial duties in future years.
Very definitely a 5/5 and I'm hoping the denouement is as great as the set-up.
Oh, sure, probably. I somewhat liken him to people like, say James Carville (without getting too political, of course), guys who were slackers in school and didn't realize their genius potential until later on. Carville had almost all straight Fs throughout high school and only got his act together well after that phase of his life, and now he's one of the most powerful political figures out there, married to a similarly powerful wife. The guy was always smart, he was simply unfocused and a rebel. To me that says a lot more than the person who was consistently better than their peers and then became automatically great. Carville is still somewhat of a rebel himself, unafraid to criticize his own party. (of course, the Doctor is far less partisan, far less divisive, and far more phsyically attractive than Carville!)
So for me, the Doctor would be someone who's consistently anti-authoritarian (except when it comes to himself, naturally), but is sometimes unaware that he is; that's just his nature. I like the rebellious, unmotivated young Doctor who found his true motivations -- exploring and saving the universe -- through growth, to be more appealing than a Doctor who rebels simply for the sake of it and was somehow born a god. I like that he can save the universe in the most clever of ways, but still can't drive!
"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them." -- I'd like to think the Doctor fits in two of those three categories
Awesome episode, and with so much packed into it too. I feel like I need to see it a couple more times just to absorb it all.
Yeah, like others have said, the second half wasn't quite as strong, and the Angel attacks (save for the one on Amy) didn't seem as effectively staged as before.
But there was still a ton of stuff here to like. And hell, if something like Victory can improve on repeated viewings, I'm sure whatever doubts I have about this episode will be erased completely when I see it again.
While I admit Kingston overshadowed Smith a bit in this episode (and for the first time really made him look young), I don't feel like that's been a continual problem with him. I think he's held the screen really well so far, and has been endlessly fascinating to watch.
Yeah, like others have said, the second half wasn't quite as strong, and the Angel attacks (save for the one on Amy) didn't seem as effectively staged as before.
But there was still a ton of stuff here to like. And hell, if something like Victory can improve on repeated viewings, I'm sure whatever doubts I have about this episode will be erased completely when I see it again.
While I admit Kingston overshadowed Smith a bit in this episode (and for the first time really made him look young), I don't feel like that's been a continual problem with him. I think he's held the screen really well so far, and has been endlessly fascinating to watch.
"You're not talking to me, Sir. The angel has no voice, it stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and reanimated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
My first impression was that he was using his data ghost to warn the Doctor and everyone about the angel. I think that might've been a little more interesting than the angel (sigh) eating his brain and stealing his voice.
You know, if you take offense at a fucking hilarious side-joke, then you truly are as humorless as everyone here has described. Well done.
Nonsense.Your predetermined dislike of him is showing. Matt Smith was the star of this episode, as he is every episode before. The very idea that this was his first episode filmed blows me away. He was absolutely on fire, every moment he was on the screen. David Tennant could only wish to have had this much screen magnetism.
Me too!!! 
BTW....best Moffat episode since The Empty Child.
