"The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone"

The Doctor has had a host of recurring foes in his television adventures, but most of the time he only has to defeat an enemy once. Sutekh, the Drashigs, Magnus Greel, the Malus, Scaroth and the Beast are just a few of the memorable one-night stands the Doctor has had. Until now, the Weeping Angels would have been near the top of the list- "Blink" remains one of the greatest stories the programme has produced in any era and the Angels one of the most chilling race of monsters ever seen on the small screen. It could be argued that a return appearance would ruin the impact of the Angels- but it took very little time for me to conclude that the return of the Angels was nothing short of a resounding success.

The basic plotline of "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" is simple- the Doctor helps to locate the Angels in a crashed spaceship and get his friends out safely. This is a canvas for Moffat to paint his exquisitely shaded opus. As with his stories in the Russell T Davies era, this adventure is brimming with fantastic ideas and concepts. The squad of soldiers featured in the story are not Army, but the Church which has, as the Doctor says ‘moved on’; trees are cybernetically augmented to form oxygen factories in starliners; Moffat’s ability to build worlds is phenomenal. However, this would be for naught if the monsters did not work- the reason the Angels worked the first time was that they were based on a very strong, but idea. Betray that idea or employ excessive casuistry to circumvent its limits and the impact of the Angels is disastrously dampened. However, Moffat only builds on the ideas- that which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel, resulting in a very tense scene with Amy. Building on this, we find that looking into the eyes of an Angel for too long results in an image of the Angel forming in the mind, which leads to the horrifying idea of Amy having to walk through a group of Angels with her eyes shut. The Angels are given a personality for the first time, gleefully sadistic and chillingly psychopathic. As with his previous two-parters, Moffat does not merely rely on the ideas brought up in part one, he brings in more to complement them. A very familiar crack has opened, a crack which destroys time. People approaching too closely are erased from existence as if they have never existed- and even the Angels are terrified. This leads to the dénouement, where seemingly minor things raised in the story come together perfectly- the ship’s failing power, the quirks of artificial gravity- to solve the crisis in a simple way that works without insulting the viewers’ intelligence.

Moffat’s mastery is not just about plot and concepts, obviously. The dialogue is wonderful, ranging from the funny that we expect, to moments of beauty (‘What if our dreams no longer needed us?’) and real poignancy (‘I wish I had known you better’/ ‘I think, sir, that you knew me at my best’). In such a packed story there would appear to be no room for character- yet Moffat, for the first time, has succeeded doing what RTD did deceptively easily- making every character seem real, no matter how minor. This is helped by a very strong cast, including Mark Monero and Darren Morfitt (who was so memorable in Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers). Even Mike Skinner’s cameo works well. We also have a reliably solid performance from Iain Glen as Octavian.

Directing the story is Adam Smith, who does stunning work throughout. I must draw special attention to the first 5 minutes which is one of the most awesome sequences I have ever seen on the small screen. Smith constructs each scene perfectly. Amy’s encounter with the image of the Angel on the screen is a well-realised homage to Ringu, well worth the eight minutes it takes up on screen. Amy’s walk through the forest of Angels wrings every bit of tension out of the script. The script asks for something that has the potential to be disastrous- we see the Angels move for the first time and it is testament to Smith’s skills that these scenes work magnificently- the first one in particular is a real jump moment.

The story, of course, also has the return of another memorable Moffat creation- River Song. Alex Kingston effortlessly makes her the irresistible character she was in "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" and it is clear that there is more to her than we thought. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan continue to build their fantastic rapport with their best performances yet. The rapport builds to such an extent that we get something that we have never seen before- the Doctor fighting off the ravishes of his companion. The scene is funny and believable in terms of what we know about the character and her situation- Amy is clearly bit more forthright than Martha!

"The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" is an astounding adventure, destined to become one of the true classics of the programme.

NEXT: "The Vampires of Venice"