Did anybody else find this a bit confusing? My television is almost an antique but, you know, a worthless antique, and the sound on it wasn't great, so for the first ten minutes or so I couldn't hear any dialogue, just loud music and sound effects. So I haven't a clue how the Doctor got them out of the trap, and the shoot-out on the way into the spaceship was scary but disorienting in a way that I don't think it was supposed to be.
Matters then improved a lot for me in the middle, where Amy had to keep her eyes shut or she'd die (I'm really not clear on why, but I am traditionally generous on bonkers "science" in Who - this is not the Open University after all) - a really nice down-to-earth scary-for-the-kids touch in the middle of all the monsters and craziness. The angels are still terrifying and all the darkness and strobing worked brilliantly. Loved the fact that the soldiers were convincing as soldiers, loved the brave Bishop dying a hero's death, loved the ongoing chat with Angel Bob, continue to love River Song no matter what she does (flirting with the Doctor good, implication that she might kill the Doctor somewhere along his timeline even better). Delighted that she's going to be back again soon.
But the stuff with the crack in the universe I could barely follow at all. When Matt Smith talks really fast I can't actually understand what he's saying, which doesn't help. (Sudden realisation that I am turning into a grumpy old woman. Ah well. I did have a birthday a couple of weeks ago. And hey, I've just remembered, I didn't wear ear-plugs when I went swimming on Saturday morning, so maybe it's that.) So I got that "it's a crack chatter chatter end of the universe chatter time running out chatter chatter chatter IT WILL BE AS IF YOU'VE NEVER BEEN BORN!" Not a good thing obviously.
And as for Amy hurling herself at the Doctor at the end, I found it completely implausible as there's no sexual chemistry between them at all, but I did find Matt Smith's desperate attempts to get away from her very funny (hurrah!) And my favourite thing about this episode is that Moff's brought in the series arc good and early, so all the crack-in-the-universe, Amy-getting-married stuff will shape the rest of the episodes, and there's nothing I love more than a long series arc, so I think he's doing a great job as series runner and I'm all happy and excited.
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I won't post much because you've just said it all, really and I agree with all you said, especially about MS.
Well, agree with all of it apart from the Martha bit, because she was badly used and I loved her so nerrs to you ;)
The whole thing was a mess! I had no idea what was going on most of the time.
Hate the 'walk like you can see' thing. These are meant to be highly intelligent beings - so they can notice the slight blink but strut about like John Travolta with your eyes closed and you've fooled them? NO. Sci-fi has to make sense within the world that's been established and that just didn't.
And I just found the end scene a bit cringeworthy... maybe it was meant to be, and to be fair, Amy does make her living as a kissogram and is mad as a box of frogs so it's hardly out of character. That didn't stop me from watching through my fingers though.
So yeah... didn't love it.
I think there was definitely something wrong with the way the sound was mixed and I have a recent Sony TV. I was constantly having to adjust the volume with my remote. Matt Smith talks too fast, in a low voice and it's not clear what he is saying with the loud background music (yeah I'm starting to sound like my father here).
There were some high points as you mention but overall I was a bit disappointed and the second part of Flesh and Stone was weak. I think we need to give Matt Smith some time to grow into the role but he does seem currently quite dull. Amy is good.
Oh yeah - the 'walk like you can see' thing: she didn't walk like she could see. She walked like she couldn't see. So it didn't even make sense on its own terms.
Agree entirely. Potentially good episode undone by lack of enunciation and some too rapid, weird bits of plotting. Ah well!
I like Matt Smith, but then I was not a huge fan of David Tennant (possibly the only one in the world it seems). This episode was alright, but having just watched the original weeping angels episode a few weeks ago, I didn't like the way that they changed the characteristics of the angels. As has already been pointed out - "walk like you can see" didn't make any sense. And the fact that the angels seemed to have no problem looking at each other, while that stopped them dead in their tracks in the original.
Other than that quibble, though, and the fact that the Amy throwing herself at the Doctor seemed much too forced, I thought it was a decent episode. Next week looks cool. Vampires!
It's funny, I'm having exactly the opposite experience. I was appalled when Matt Smith was unveiled as the doctor: I thought he came across as a teenager doing an impression of DT in Overexcited Doctor mode.
But actually I am quite enjoying his Doctor. Not as much as DT, admittedly, but that was probably too much to hope for. I agree that Amy trying to snog him seemed to come out of nowhere, but there does seem to be a convention that all of the Doctor's companions must fancy him, even if there is no outward sign of it.
Well yes, walking like you can see didn't work, which is why River had to teleport Amy out of the forest. She only got away with it for a couple of minutes because the Angels were more worried about the crack.
What I'm missing in MS's Doctor is the moments of wonder - like DT's 'Oh, you are beautiful!' when he sees the werewolf in Tooth & Claw. Otherwise, I'm liking his Troughtonish take on the character. He's better at the shoutiness than Tennant was.
I think MS has plenty of chemistry with Karen Gillan, and I didn't find Amy leaping on the Doctor odd at all. She's running away from a wedding she's not sure about, she very nearly died, she wants some contact. And she's mad as a box of frogs. It was cringey, but is was surely supposed to be.
And I agree, using the cracks early as part of a plot is much better than Rusty's hamfisted attempts at story arcs.
And the sound levels are all over the place. I have to watch with subtitles.
I think they've got chemistry - just not sexual chemistry. I like the father-child moments when they hug or the Doctor kisses her on the forehead. Personally I don't fancy people who remind me of my dad (or granddad), but then I'm not mad as a box of frogs. Oh. I mean, I'm not mad in the same way that Amy's mad.
The Doctor got them out of the trap at the start by getting everyone to jump and so get scooped up by the gravity field created by the ship (okaaaaay, I guess) and then the shoot out was because the doctor had to cut the lights to get something going to open a door for them, but with the angels approaching, darkness meant Sure Death. So the shooting was to keep the angels at bay - and the flashing of the shots fired did give a nice strobe-light effect as the angels advanced.
After last week's build up and wonderful creepiness, this week was bit of a disappointment. And I don't really mind Matt Smith, so that's not my issue. I agree that the "walk like you can see" was dumb, and I noticed that the angels could look at each other too. Also, I thought it was a mistake to show them actually moving. Much less scary than turning and then finding they've moved when you weren't looking.
Love River Song, and all the little hints we're getting, ex: "You don't even know WHAT she is!" and when she insinuates that throwing herself into the mysterious crack would be as effective as if the doctor did it.... hmmm.
Looking forward to next week, if only for the set (I will put up with not so great episodes when the set/costumes are pretty).
Oddly enough, I find Matt Smith's Doctor easier to understand than David Tennant's Doctor who spoke so incredibly fast that I really needed the closed captions to follow.
I enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed it even more because in Canada, the Winston Churchill episode was transmitted this weekend, and I watched it again to see if I liked it any better. I didn't. This latest episode is just so much better done.
Sure, there were flaws. Our late lamented Tenth Doctor described the Weeping Angels (I don't remember his exact words) as the kindest killers in the universe. So what's with the neck-breaking and killing for enjoyment? I was also startled by Amy's pouncing on the Eleventh Doctor. We don't really know her well enough to tell if this is out of character for her. She seemed really out of character in that abysmal Episode Three, but then, so did the Doctor. I thought Matt Smith did a fine job of portraying the Doctor's failure to see what she was getting at. (You'd think after 900-odd years he'd have some sort of grasp of human sexuality, but he seems to have a blind spot when it's directed at him.) The Resident Fan Boy and I got the impression that his real horror came from the fact that he still sees her as Little Girl Amelia.
Is it possible that the nasty sea-change in the Weeping Angels and Amy's sudden pash for the Doctor are connected with that crack in Space and Time?
Oh, and I just love love love River Song. Is it greedy to want her in every episode?
"Is it greedy to want [River Song] in every episode?"
No it is not! In fact I demand that River Song gets full companion status, or even a spin-off.
I was quite bothered that Stephen Moffat kept changing the goal posts with the Weeping Angels: a) we find out that if you look them in the eye, they take over. I am sorry, but according to that, Sally Sparrow is toast. b) Amy closes her eyes, and that prevents the weeping angel from taking over, but when the angels are sucked into the crack, she opens them and the Doctor says something like "It was always an image, it can't hurt you". Am I missing something? (quite possibly, I was slightly losing my patience by then).
My point is that SM changes the rules (his own rules), once to get Amy in jeopardy, a second time to get her out of it. Not great.
There's something funny about the scene where the Doctor kisses Amy on the forehead, by the way. The Angels grabbed his jacket and he doesn't wear it for the rest of the episode, but he's wearing it in that scene, and he doesn't talk about Angels or keeping her eyes shut at all. I think he's come back from a different point in time...
P, agreed re looking in the eye - but the angel in Amy's brain thing did make sense: it's because once they've gone in the crack, it's as if they had never existed, so she never saw the angel, so it never got inside her head. The Doctor conveniently points out that the reason she can remember it is that she's a time traveller.
Stu_N: strange moment of timeflow or continuity error? Will we ever know?
I am still liking Matt Smith, and I loved the moment when he kissed Amy on the head and told him to trust her (whether or not he's popped back from a different time point). Agree the walk like you can see stupid, but oh wasn't it scary that she's left alone in the woods with the weeping angels.
River Song was AWESOME - I loved that cheeky - Can I trust you, River? If you like at the end.
I thought the Amy trying it on with the Doctor was hilarious, as were his efforts to get away from her. And he's assuming she's going to want a full blown thing and her saying, she's not into anything longterm. Hilarious piece of misunderstanding & I think in keeping with Amy's character.
Loved it!
And the vampires next week look great!!
I think it's a strange moment of timeflow, because it's the second time something like that's happened this series. The first time was in the first episode.
I won't add any more to the MS and plot arc debate as I you've all said it much better than I could anyway, but I will comment on the sound levels.
Being an audio bod myself I know quite a few sound engineers who have mixed for TV and all agree that the music levels are mixed far too high. What sounds good in a Soho/Cardiff Post Production suit isn't the same as what us normal folks hear on our TVs...
Stu N - holy mackerel, I just watched that bit again and I think you're onto something. It's such a strange piece of dialogue, telling her she needs to remember what he told her when she was 7... I think you're right, he's come back from another point in time to try to warn her about something.
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey!
Consider me converted to Stu's theory. Definitely not a continuity error, and would explain how come the Doctor went to see junior Amy at the end of episode 1, but senior Amy can't remember...
Mr Smith's Doctor is working for me so far (full disclosure: never a big Tenant fan). Dramatically I find his Doctor - wonky, unsettled, asexual, unhuman - more intriguing than DT's gushy wide-eyed romantic. And I completely bought AP's throwing herself at him (bold and awkward on her part, but not out of character), and his response - and really enjoyed that this happened up front and early, unlike all the companions mooning at DT's doctor for many episodes.
I agree entirely about Matt Smith. I cannot identify with him at all. It is his voice for me ....far too much of a monotone. No emotion or inflection other than 'angry'. I really have tried to be fair and watch without bias, but enjoyed DT's vocal delivery and speech alacrity so much!
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