Doctor Who S05E04: "The Time Of Angels" [Spoilers]

[Atlan]

Would be nice if it wasn't "Hectic frantic button pusching all the time." That got really annoying. By the end of Donna's season it got to the point where the console would catch fire every now and then, sparks fly and the whole thing looks like its going to fall apart in a few seconds

Maybe the TARDIS took a few hits in the Time War and isn't working properly?

It hasn't been working properly for ages. It was meant to be scrapped when the First Doctor nicked it, after all.
But River's revelation of "pushing a few buttons and bazoom! the Tardis flies normally!" puts that one to rest. The Doctor was just being weird, thinks that stable flight isn't "exciting".

[PREDATOR490]

It also kinda makes the Doctor look like a fool when he can arrive on time to the second to save River but seems to have problems hitting the right date when it comes to picking up Amy or bringing Rose back home a year late.
I would have thought they would stick with the idea that it takes 6 people to fly the TARDIS properly as a reason for the Doctor having a hard time doing it. As it is, the Doctor can apparantly fly it just fine on his own and likes to be flung around. Its not like the intro demonstrated the TARDIS almost throwing the Doctor out to a messy end in Eleventh Hour or being unable to keep the TARDIS steady would have made Runnaway Bride chase less chaotic about trying to get Donna out of the taxi.

Apparantly River has either been taken lessons from the best... indicating the Doctor dosent know how to fly the TARDIS properly after decades of doing so. This episode indicates the Doctor has left the brakes on ever since the sound first appeared. Although I wonder if they intend to do away with the sound now as well as the shaking.

I would have preferred to see the point where River first meets the Doctor and see the initial encounter. Without the vague hints that something 'epic' is going to happen between them and the 'book'.

[NecronLord]

Would be nice if it wasn't "Hectic frantic button pusching all the time." That got really annoying. By the end of Donna's season it got to the point where the console would catch fire every now and then, sparks fly and the whole thing looks like its going to fall apart in a few seconds

Maybe the TARDIS took a few hits in the Time War and isn't working properly?

It hasn't been working properly for ages. It was meant to be scrapped when the First Doctor nicked it, after all.
But River's revelation of "pushing a few buttons and bazoom! the Tardis flies normally!" puts that one to rest. The Doctor was just being weird, thinks that stable flight isn't "exciting".

He didn't seem to know the stabilisers were there. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'm inclined to think they were damaged and only regenerated when the TARDIS repaired itself this time.

[NecronLord]

It also kinda makes the Doctor look like a fool when he can arrive on time to the second to save River but seems to have problems hitting the right date when it comes to picking up Amy or bringing Rose back home a year late.
I would have thought they would stick with the idea that it takes 6 people to fly the TARDIS properly as a reason for the Doctor having a hard time doing it. As it is, the Doctor can apparantly fly it just fine on his own and likes to be flung around. Its not like the intro demonstrated the TARDIS almost throwing the Doctor out to a messy end in Eleventh Hour or being unable to keep the TARDIS steady would have made Runnaway Bride chase less chaotic about trying to get Donna out of the taxi.

Apparantly River has either been taken lessons from the best... indicating the Doctor dosent know how to fly the TARDIS properly after decades of doing so. This episode indicates the Doctor has left the brakes on ever since the sound first appeared. Although I wonder if they intend to do away with the sound now as well as the shaking.

I would have preferred to see the point where River first meets the Doctor and see the initial encounter. Without the vague hints that something 'epic' is going to happen between them and the 'book'.

I would write that explanation off as flippant. We've seen the Rani, The Master, Romana, OMEGA and various others fly TARDISes (and SIDRATs) with that sound. I expect she was just teasing there, and it's actually some kind of stealth mode that most Time Lords don't bother with.

Unless those breaks actually improve performance somehow, and River's flying it by the book.

[Gramzamber]

That sound also accompanies the arrival of the Time Lord envoy guy in "Terror of the Autons" does it not?
Granted he appears out of thin air, but I imagine he just set his TARDIS to invisible or super tiny to mess with the Doctor.. or something.
Point being if a Time Lord on official business makes that sound, who isn't going to?

This is why I dislike River. They go out of their way to make her look like she knows the Doctor inside and out, but the way they do it make her come across as a smartass.

[Lord Woodlouse]

l don't really get this whining about the Doctor boasting here and there. lt's not like the Doctor is supposed to be without an ego, he's had a pretty hefty opinion about himself since the day he first appeared on our screens. Nor are we always supposed to like him when he does, sometimes he's quite deliberately portrayed as insufferably arrogant. Generally when we're seeing it it's because something has provoked him, and quite frankly it's pretty realistic for a being with all the prior experience and knowledge of the Doctor to talk that way, especially now he's for all intents and purposes the only Time Lord left.

...and meh, l generally like the music, so long as they balance it so l can hear what they're saying.

[SylasGaunt]

Wait... the weeping angels are snapping peoples necks now? CRAP!!

Of course, the angels could be lying and they did send the people back in time... but told the Doctor otherwise for reasons unknown. Or maybe they did snap the guards necks to paralyze them and sent them back in time while they were too broken to cause temporal shenanigans.

This is explained in the episode and in Blink. the Angels do their time-travel thing to feed by snarfing up the potential energy of your stolen days. The one on the ship however has been well fed by all the assorted 'very dangerous stuff' coming out of the drive room. It isn't hungry, it doesn't need to pull any time travel tricks and settles for a quick, simple, neck-snap instead.

[Shroom Man 777]

AND for some reason it needed to piss the Doctor off with the dessicated cerebrainums of the dead soldiers.

By the way, maybe if ALL the TARDISes of ALL the Time Lords made that sound, then River really DIDN'T disable the sound at all?

Maybe the TARDIS still made the sound. Except that when River pressed the button, you just couldn't hear it from INSIDE the TARDIS (while everyone outside still hears that hilarious asthmatic sound the Doctor makes). Like an internal mute button or something.

BLUE BORINGERS!

[NecronLord]

AND for some reason it needed to piss the Doctor off with the dessicated cerebrainums of the dead soldiers.

By the way, maybe if ALL the TARDISes of ALL the Time Lords made that sound, then River really DIDN'T disable the sound at all?

Maybe the TARDIS still made the sound. Except that when River pressed the button, you just couldn't hear it from INSIDE the TARDIS (while everyone outside still hears that hilarious asthmatic sound the Doctor makes). Like an internal mute button or something.

BLUE BORINGERS!

Actually, in the early episodes, it made the noise inside but not outside.

[Shroom Man 777]

Uh, what? That's very strange. So maybe River just manipulated the whole special effects thing, in which the TARDIS can make the sound effects inside/outside or both inside and outside? That might be a selectable feature in TARDISes!

[Gemini-Preserver]

The TARDIS in the old series at least, pretty much made up its own mind when the soundeffect would play out. It has always been heard from the exterior as its the sound of the engines ripping back into reality or somesuch. From the interior. Materiliazation and Dematerialiaztion noise is the main change.
During the 5th Doctors travels the TARDIS at times (an example is 'The Arc Of Infinity') only makes short take off and landing noises and during flight only a low level hum is heard along with a ping sound when landed. I noticed that there was a return of the humming once River turns on the Boringers.
During Tom Bakers time the console and its button functions would change from story to story, such as the door leaver becoming the takeoff switch and back to door leaver again. As for the console sparking out at the drop of a hat at the end of Tennants era, before the Five Doctors refit, switchs where coming off in the Dr's hands.
Speaking of the Tennant TARDIS did any one else spot its re-apperance in this episode?

[Gramzamber]

Seems like somebody in the CG department missed a memo, heh.
Of course in-universe you can say the chamelion circuit is malfunctioning. I mean, more so than usual.

[Gemini-Preserver]

One heck of a memo to miss 4 episode's in heh
It does turn back straight away. Though perhapse..forshadowing? Tennant/Eccelstone makes a breif comeback for a muilt Doctor story.

River knows all the Doctors? I dont think ANYONE could get away with calling his first and third 'Sweetie'.

[Gramzamber]

River knows all the Doctors? I dont think ANYONE could get away with calling his first and third 'Sweetie'.

I rather think 6 and 7 would react badly too, especially 6.
3 might accept it on a good day. Anyway I'm sure River can make a reasonable assumption of which regeneration is getting the message. Or the Doctor just told her when and where he got a message she was going to make and... and I hate this circular temporal relationship!

[DaveJB]

One heck of a memo to miss 4 episode's in heh

This may have been the fourth episode aired, but it was actually the first to be produced in this season. It's possible that the VFX department either didn't know the TARDIS exterior was going to be changed, or didn't have a new model ready in time and so slapped the previous version in there, hoping that no-one would notice the difference.

[Rye]

Liked the episode, wasn't entirely sure what was going on with the snapped necks and the dead talking; the dead that weren't Bob were complicit in the thing's plans, whereas Bob himself wasn't. Maybe I missed something important. Also, watching it on iPlayer is great, but I wonder if the sound is forced to be mono or something, because frequently the FoxNewsOrchestra music drowned out dialogue. In my view, they should change it to a more ambient and minimalist electronic score with a bit of string and brass sections at the climaxes when things are suitably epic/doomy.

[NecronLord]

She may have pictures of all his regenerations but that doesn't mean she knows them.

[Zac Naloen]

Am correct in remembering Ten didn't recognise her?

If that is the case seeing as the Doctors time stream seems to be the only consistent time stream in the show that means she can't possibly have met any prior to Ten, right?

[Hillary]

Am correct in remembering Ten didn't recognise her?

If that is the case seeing as the Doctors time stream seems to be the only consistent time stream in the show that means she can't possibly have met any prior to Ten, right?

You're right - the meeting in the library was the first in his timeline. I'm guessing, as she died in that episode, this must also have been the last meeting from her point of view.

Of course, dying in Who is no guarantee of no return.

[Admiral Valdemar]

One heck of a memo to miss 4 episode's in heh
It does turn back straight away. Though perhapse..forshadowing? Tennant/Eccelstone makes a breif comeback for a muilt Doctor story.

River knows all the Doctors? I dont think ANYONE could get away with calling his first and third 'Sweetie'.

Maybe reading too much into it, like those shots in nBSG with the Enterprise in or a Firefly freighter. I did notice it, but thought I'd been mistaken when it reverted back again next scene. I remember some fans complaining about window dimensions when the new series started with Nine.

[Gemini-Preserver]

This may have been the fourth episode aired, but it was actually the first to be produced in this season. .

Really? Bit of a strong story for the new boy to be thrown into straight off. I was under the impression that it was the beast below which had been filmed first

[DaveJB]

Beast Below was filmed joint-second, with Victory of the Daleks. This two-parter was the first to be filmed; IIRC they had to do so because of Alex Kingston's work schedule, and also because they hadn't yet got permission to make The Eleventh Hour a longer episode than usual.

[Gramzamber]

Maybe reading too much into it, like those shots in nBSG with the Enterprise in or a Firefly freighter. I did notice it, but thought I'd been mistaken when it reverted back again next scene. I remember some fans complaining about window dimensions when the new series started with Nine.

Which was, somewhat ironically, lampshaded in "Blink" when the detective guy says that it's "windows are all wrong".

[Temujin]

Well it gets a five from me.

Aside from River voguing to the security cameras and flushing herself out into space for dramatic effect, it was pretty damn good. I think the Angles are even creeper this time, as their not exactly acting as we’ve come to expect them to.

Amy is hands down the best companion of nuWho. She’s better looking than chave Rose and doe-eyed Martha, and is a confident and competent, yet not annoying. I’m willing to bet that the whole female companion fawning over the Doctor was RTDs doing, so I’m not expecting it from Moffat.

As for the church brigade, while I would have liked a little modification to their uniforms, I understand the budget is tight and it doesn’t really bother my suspension of disbelief any.

[Jalinth]

For the church soldiers, either camo'ed cassocks or at least one other obviously religious Christian symbol (given the "father" and "bishop" title of the CO) on the solders would have been nice. I wish they changed the opening by simply having River write on the box for help and justify by saying anything Gallifrean makes it to the museum. Then Tardis zips in, picks her up from a jail cell or sealed cabin, zips out. Then go to crash site based on the black box's condition and info. Would help tone down River's apparent arrogance level.

The "broken necks" deaths will be explained in part 2. They made too much of a big deal out of it.