Rate and Discuss: The Time of Angels

[SiHart]

Is the Time of Angels a worthy sequel to Blink or has it had you weeping?

Remember no voting until this evening please!

Si xx

[shada pavlova]

Pant-shittingly good.

If anything, a bit too scary. But that's just squeamish little me.

Can't wait for the Doctor/Crack standoff next week.

[Dino]

This was the one where I could really say "Matt Smith IS The Doctor!" so for that alone it deserves full marks. I'll buy the vanilla one of this ASAP.
Was a bit letdown the original weapon of the Weeping Angles (Irony) was diminshed. River Song better here than last series.
A lot of answers are being reached sooner than I expected!
So, and bearing in mind the theme tune version gets more appaling with all the panic edits and remixes it goes through, the full 10!
Will River make the Doctor keep it up next week?

[WibblyWombly]

That was brilliant!! River Song was as mysterious and funny as ever, the Doctor was brilliant and the whole atmosphere was just SO scary and creepy. Moffat didn't waste a second. The realisation of the statues not having 2 heads was terrifying, even I didn't see that coming. I was sure those army men were gonna be UNIT from the future but it turns out they're some kind of church army, SWEET! A good cliffhanger, truely making you wonder what will happen next and the next episode looks brilliant. I'd say that pre-titles opening sequence was probably the longest ever, bar maybe the Stolen Earth one, am I right?

[Andrew Curnow]

I enjoyed it, even though I find River Song more irritating than appealing. The two regulars were on particularly fine form, which is quite impressive given this is some of the first stuff they recorded. The two-headed thing dawned on me just at the moment the Doctor said it, making me feel suitably smug!!

Nice cliffhanger too, one of those 'What will happen next?!' ones!

The most annoying thing for me was, and I don't know whether it happened in all areas, a little on-screen caption announcing 'Next - Over the Rainbow' appearing about thirty seconds before the end. Really very irritating.

[Larry]

8/10 by far the best episode of series 5 so far there was always a worry that bringing back the Weeping Angles would fail to match the high standars of Blink. But we needent of worried once again the Moff, has proved what a top quality writer he is and with the next time trailer this for me has already surpassed Blink. Just like with Blink, this episode was packed with tension and suspencet he Weeping Angles are a truely scarety foe and the reveal of Bob telling the Doctpor he was dead was a spine tingeling moment.There is clearly more back story to come with River Song but I loved the way The Doctor got all sulky when she flew the TARDIS.s .

[Zbigniev Hamson]

The most annoying thing for me was, and I don't know whether it happened in all areas, a little on-screen caption announcing 'Next - Over the Rainbow' appearing about thirty seconds before the end. Really very irritating.

That was terrible, right in the middle of his climactic proclamation too, totally shattered the immersion. Luckily it was the little speech we've heard a million times already on all the trails, but having a little cartoon man fade in over the leading man's mouth while he's delivering a speech... I can't help but think that television in general is aimed at total morons these days, and the BBC is just going along with it for some reason.

[Dave Tudor]

After three very good, if occasionally flawed episodes, the series has really found its feet with 'The Time of Angels' - this was truly excellent stuff. From the intriguing and exciting opening sequence (featuring a most unexpected cameo from The Streets' Mike Skinner!) to that brilliant, slightly unorthodox cliffhanger, 'The Time of Angels' was gripping, pacy, taut, and VERY scary - yes, I found it as chilling as the children did, whether it be the dead Bob's unsettlingly calm conversation with The Doctor, Angels suddenly appearing from nowhere, or Amy's terrifying encounter with the video recording.

As well as Steven Moffat's brilliant script (one of his best yet), what made the episode particularly good was Adam Smith's wonderful direction. So far this series, the directing has been good if unspectacular, but at times the camerawork here was stunning.

The relatively small guest cast, led by Alex Kingston and Iain Glen provided solid support, but once again, I find myself absolutely enraptured by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan - not only are they completely and utterly convincing in their respective roles, but their relationship is totally believable, and their chemistry is electric, without having to resort to any underlying romantic tones. I never quite knew what to expect from The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond, but they make a magical duo, and I think at this rate, I may run out of superlatives.

So, 'The Time of Angels' gets top marks from me, and in fact, it my actually be one of the very best episodes of the series yet.

[Dave Tudor]

The most annoying thing for me was, and I don't know whether it happened in all areas, a little on-screen caption announcing 'Next - Over the Rainbow' appearing about thirty seconds before the end. Really very irritating.

First Graham Norton interrupts 'Rose' and now the bloody animated version is doing the same! Norton - keep away from 'Doctor Who'!!!!

[Llordllama]

Happy I guessed right that River and the Doctor are clearly moving in opposite directions in their romance - so should make for a heart breaking First/Final meeting for them at some point. But thoroughly enjoyed tonight (9/10) just docking a point for Murray not writing enough new music. Can't wait for next week.

Oh and I made a formal complaint to the BBC about the Over the Rainbow advert farago!

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh and I made a formal complaint to the BBC about the Over the Rainbow advert farago!

Me too!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

How does one go about that then? I'd happily contribute

Thing is, just about every channel does this all the time now, so I'd be surprised if any number of complaints would make much difference

[matthewsch]

Thing is, just about every channel does this all the time now, so I'd be surprised if any number of complaints would make much difference

Yeah, SJA much? All the episodes are emblazoned with a CBBC logo and they keep coming up with 'coming up next' tags - it annoys me a lot.

I haven't seen this episode yet, so I won't vote or comment yet.

[Lissa]

There was none of this nonsense on the BBC HD channel. Yes, it started late and barely ran 40 minutes but at least there were no interruptions. Apart from the volume dropping by half mid-way through but that might just have been me.

[Llordllama]

You can complain here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/homepage/

Just click on the email option, it's actually a Web form rather than you having to email them. Think I managed use "morons" about a dozen times

[Wayne]

8/10

All buttons pushed, apart from Riversmug.
Hope Part 2 doesn't fail like Part 2 of Silence in the Library did.

These are currently the coolest people on the planet:

[Paul Monk]

Brilliant stuff. Loved it even though I missed the first few minutes whilst William had a collosal tantrum!

[Milky Tears]

First Graham Norton interrupts 'Rose' and now the bloody animated version is doing the same! Norton - keep away from 'Doctor Who'!!!!

None of those happened on BBC1 Scotland.

MOFFEATTTT'S TOO SHORT EPISODES ARE DESTROYING EVERYTHING!!!

[duncan]

7/10 from me and that's for the scare factor.

I'm sorry, but there hasn't been a single episode so far that has truly wowed me. I'm struggling to enjoy the show as much as I did and it's not Matt that's at fault. He's proved to be doing a good job.

It's Moffatt that's letting things down in my opinion. The production of the show has changed way too much. Yes, I know that it did with each change of Doctor back in the old days, but I moved along with the show. This time, I haven't. I still don't like the opening titles and I still don't like the theme tune. I'm really struggling to like Amy Pond. Her voice irritates me and I wish she would add a bit of expression when she speaks.

Anyway, this was probably the best of the four episodes so far. I just hope it gets better! I've felt a bit flat after each episode so far.

[Darren]

The most annoying thing for me was, and I don't know whether it happened in all areas, a little on-screen caption announcing 'Next - Over the Rainbow' appearing about thirty seconds before the end. Really very irritating.

Yes I'm sorry, but it is completely unacceptable in a primetime drama.

Oh and I made a formal complaint to the BBC about the Over the Rainbow advert farago!

Me too

*****************

Hello,

My complaint is concerning the transmission of "Doctor Who" on 24/4/2010.

Towards the end of the programme a graphic appeared on the screen informing me (needlessly) of the programme which would follow.
Obviously, the BBC need to advertise their programming, but to do so in this manner is, in my opinion, entirely unacceptable. It was very distracting and intrusive, spoiling my enjoyment of the programme.
I could find it understandable during daytime or light entertainment television, but to blatantly place such advertising in a primetime drama series where the viewer is focusing on the plot/atmosphere of the programme of is unbeleveable.

I cannot believe that with the range of listings magazines, EPG's, internet etc with which to advertise, the BBC cannot wait 4 or 5 minutes without promoting a new programme or think that their viewers really need to be patronised.
It is also vaguely disrespectful to the actors and production teams who work hard on your flagship drama.

The BBC produce fantastic television but promoting it should be more subtle. I would be very happy if next weeks transmission is advert- free.

Thank you

****************


Anyway, back to the episode.

5 out of 10


To be honest, I found it a bit meandering. The pre- titles sequence was very good, nicely setting up the story. But after that it didn't really seem to go anywhere until the last ten minutes or so. Much of the episode was taken up with Amy's witless comments about River and moaning that the Doctor made her go to a museum. We could have done without the continual recap of the Doctor's history/future with River "She's from my future"; "It's too early in his timesteam".
The army were simply fodder weren't they? In Silence in the Library, the secondary characters were fleshed out and well developed, so why not here? The only one we were really introduced to was Bob, and that was only a plot contrivance so we would go "Awwwwww" when his neck was snapped.

Matt Smith contines to be a revelation as the Doctor. His intolerance of humans who get in his way, only to be knocked down a peg by the Bishop was well played. The look on his face at times as he knows he's already watched River's death nicely underplayed. River Song is just as irritating here as before but I can't help liking her, and it makes sense that the Doctor would be with someone who was more than a match for him.
But Amy. I really don't like her. I know this was the first story they filmed, but she is arrogant and obnoxious, not feisty and confident as she is surely meant to be. I hope she picks upin future episodes.

Not a bad story, but I was hoping for something better. And it wasn't particularly scary.

[Alex]

I really enjoyed this, though it did take a little while to get going after the fantastic pre-credits section. But I especially loved Amy being trapped in the ship with the tv/holo Angel, her hand turning to stone, and Angel Bob (even if that is a bit Silence In The Library), plus personally I'm a big fan of the banter between River and the Doctor as well.

It was genuinely unsettling, and I felt quite smug about wondering why the statues didn't have two heads long before the Doctor realised it. My only complaint would be the short running time - even US shows run a bit longer than Who does now!

A very solid 8/10.

[Martin Curnow]

The most annoying thing for me was, and I don't know whether it happened in all areas, a little on-screen caption announcing 'Next - Over the Rainbow' appearing about thirty seconds before the end. Really very irritating.

It happened here and annoyed me and Nath to high heaven......!

[Andrew Curnow]

You'd better complain too then! But did you like the episode...?

[MinaHarker]

Brilliant.

I went into it with high hopes because I really loved "Blink", and "The Time of Angels" didn't disappoint me.

I thought River Song rocked. Going from glamourpuss to "let's do it" soldier? Cool!

Amy's confrontation with the "holo Angel" was genuinely tense.

The discovery that all the statues were Angels? Scary!

The three dead soldiers - the speaking after death thing was a bit "Silence In The Library" but worked very well. I wonder if the names of the soldiers were a bit unsubtle though. "Christian" and "Angelo", the "Christian Angels" fighting against the demons-disguised-as-angels? "Bob", as in "Mostly Harmless"? Then again, who ever said DW was subtle?

I was genuinely disappointed when the episode finished, and a cartoon Graham Nortan wandering across the screen at the climax/cliffhanger *really* ticked me off. I can't wait for next week!

[Captain Tancredi]

I get the distinct impression that somebody has tried to brand Saturday night on BBC1 with those animations in between the programmes- not a bad idea in itself, but there's a difference between doing it to a game show and putting one thirty seconds from the cliffhanger of a two-part drama.

Mind you, thirty years ago it would have been Larry Grayson being pursued by a Mandrel...