I am – Hercules!! On the day BBC America transmits “Doctor Who” 5.2, the real BBC broadcasts 5.4, another scripted by new showrunner Steven Moffat. “Doctor Dan” calls it “a real success”:

Hi Herc, Another review from me: DOCTOR WHO 5.4 – "The Time Of Angels" (Part 1 of 2) WRITER: Steven Moffat DIRECTOR: Adam Smith Any fears over Doctor Who that arose in the past few weeks are squashed by showrunner Steven Moffat's excellent "The Time Of Angels", a suitably adrenalized sequel to his superb, award-winning episode "Blink". In a dual timeline teaser, intrepid archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) escaped from a spacecraft known as the Byzantium, after alerting The Doctor (Matt Smith) to her whereabouts by carving a message in a stone block that she knew he'd one day steal to read from a museum. Reunited, The Doctor, River and Amy (Karen Gillan) were pulled into an adventure when the Byzantium crash-lands on the alien world of Alfava Metraxis, and The Doctor is made aware that a deadly Weeping Angel resides in the bowels of the ship, which has become embedded in a cliff-side labyrinth known as the "Maze Of The Dead". River and her team of paramilitary priests led by Father Octavian (Iain Glen) need The Doctor's help in capturing the Angel, which was believed to be dormant but is coming back to life. Well, what can you say? This was absolutely great. Undoubtedly one of Doctor Who's most filmic episodes, it felt very expensive with its subterranean locations, and the story contained three gripping sequences (River's airlock escape in the teaser, Amy coming face-to-face with an Angel via a video-feed, and the realization that all the statues inside the maze are starving Angels who are stalking them whenever the lights flicker out.) Kingston was clearly having great fun with River, who's one of the most fascinating recurring Who characters because she has so much future knowledge (or "spoilers") that go beyond what The Doctor knows. Whenever she's around he's somewhat demoted, and even Amy picks up on the marital vibe between them – although the truth behind River's identity appears to be more complex than that, and would apparently result in her imprisonment if she told him. Matt Smith was back on-form after what I felt was a slight blip last week. You just can't help enjoying his young professor with wishbone legs, kind of gawkily and clumsily making his way through the story. And, while Amy and River both had their little victories that emasculated The Doctor (not least River's prowess flying his TARDIS), he had more opportunities to take the lead and remind us why he's so revered by River and is, after all, the star of the show. I was beginning to wonder if this new incarnation of The Doctor would be too goofy, but while he's certainly not as cool as David Tennant's, Eleven's faults make him more relatable and unpredictable. Overall, with new elements of the Weeping Angels mythology introduced to make them appear even deadlier, and a compelling action-based tone throughout, "The Time Of Angels" was a real success. The only major negative is that it had to end so suddenly, but the trailer for next week's conclusion looks equally as good, if not better. The Good -- Matt Smith and Alex Kingston on top form, and Karen Gillan's still very good. -- Some excellent location filming and CGI for the crashed Byzantium ship. -- A really compelling action-adventure tone with genuinely scary moments. The Amy-versus-Angel sequence was like something out of The Ring, for 8-year-olds. -- The usually witty, playful and clever dialogue and banter from Moffat. Phrases like "what if our dreams no longer needed us?" The Bad -- Umm, nothing worth mentioning. Maybe you could take umbrage that the Angels have been re-imagined as something more violent and frightening than the freaky statues that just zapped you back in time in "Blink" (a benevolent death), whereas now they're snapping necks. The Geeky -- This episode was obviously a sequel-of-sorts to "Blink" and the first episode filmed of series 5. -- The "crash of the Byzantium" was referenced by River Song during her debut in series 3's "The Silence In The Library" -- You may recognize Iain Glen (or his distinctive voice) from many Hollywood action movies like Resident Evil 3, Kingdom Of Heaven and Tomb Raider -- Did The Doctor really just read an entire book in a second, or was he just joking? -- The iconic whirring sound the TARDIS makes when it appears/disappears isn't supposed to happen, it's just because The Doctor leaves the "handbrake" on! Indeed, he appears to even fly the TARDIS badly because it's more fun, as there are buttons ("boringers") that make the ride a lot smoother! Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

“Richey” calls it “an exciting story”:

STORY The Doctor and Amy receive a centuries old message from River Song whilst visiting a museum and rush to her assistance. They give her a lift to the crash site of an old spaceship, where something terrible is lurking in the ruins. REVIEW This is more like it! Moffat pens this week’s adventure, drawing on two of his strongest creations from Tennant’s era – River Song and the Weeping Angels. I personally found the idea of these creatures disturbing enough in “Blink” but Moffat gives us an added dimension of terror here with the Angel’s ability to become animated even through video footage! It’s a wonderfully bizarre and truly science fiction concept and it works great. The success of the Angel’s as villains in Doctor Who boils down to the very simple idea demonstrated so perfectly by Alfred Hitchcock in The Birds. By taking something ordinary and every-day that you would never think twice about and making it sinister you guarantee yourself an excellent nemesis. Frightening as the Angel’s are, they became doubly so by the conclusion when The Doctor realises just what they’re up against. Can’t wait for the conclusion. The return of River Song this week is a welcome one simply for the fact that she is one of the most mysterious characters in the show since it’s return. She is The Doctor’s worst nightmare, basically; someone who knows almost everything about him but whom he knows so very little about. And it’s plain to see here that he’s not exactly happy to see her as a result. River’s spoken manner of familiarity irks The Doctor but at the same time it makes her feisty and likeable to us, the audience, making it difficult for us to side with The Doctor; we want to know who she is and what their relationship is all about, whereas he would much rather steer clear of her. That being said, one of the clerics in tonight’s episode mentions to River that The Doctor clearly doesn’t know yet who and what she is. How do you make an intriguing character more intriguing? Call her a ‘what’! I’ll bet there are Who fans all over the internet right now laying wagers on River being a Time Lord (or even, god forbid, The Rani). The locations and effects work for “The Time Of Angels” really sold the story. One of those instances where shoddy sets would’ve lowered the tension considerably. But we’re treated to huge catacombs and shadowy relics, with The Doctor, River and Amy backed up by a team of soldiers who are in fact clerics (nice Games Workshop reference there!). The story takes place almost entirely in these catacombs so delivering the scares and chills is crucial in order to maintain the audiences interest. And this was indeed the result. Excellent stuff. As for the characerisation in the episode, the two leads continue to have a great chemistry and I’m growing very very fond of the ‘Teacher-Pupil’ vibe between The Doctor and Amy. Every time he refers to her as ‘Pond’ instead of Amy, it’s like an old school master being dismissive of his charge. Add River to the mix and we get a perfect opportunity for Amy’s inquisitiveness to bring out the cheekiness in her. Big smirk moment: Amy calling The Doctor ‘Mr Grumpy Face’. It’s not done in a god awful cheesy way, it’s perfectly suited to how Amy is behaving here. She’s after information and The Doctor is resilient so Amy plays up and gives him cheek. Cue The Doctor’s grumpy ‘Come on, Pond.’ RATING Moffat delivers another exercise in suspense and tension in the same vein as “Blink” and in bringing back that episode’s villain gaurantees us an exciting story. Add to this the intrigue still surrounding River and a tight “Caves Of Androzani” style cliffhanger and you’ve got yourself a perfectly well earned 9/10.

“Gabba-UK” calls it “a good solid episode”:

Hi Herc, Well, at the risk of making these one of those rambling style reviews that AICN is infamous for, this has been an eventful week for me and it might influence my writing style. In the last 36hrs I have been diagnosed with an uncommon form of Touretts and had the police foil an attempted armed robbery of the shop I work in!! So my mind is wondering a little at this point. Thusly, the review is either going to be a rambling mess or an utter delight. This is the return of the ridiculously popular Weeping Angels from the third season's 'Blink', Moffat's undoubted Who peak so far. Sadly it doesn't mean the return of the huge fan favourite Sally Sparrow, played by the gorgeous and recently oscar nominated Carey Mulligan but we get the equally gorgeous and sexy as hell Alex Kingston as the mysterious River Song. Now, River has been made a huge, vibrant nexus of Whovian speculation in recent months. Some of it frankly far fetched but with intriguing possibilities. And I hold my hand up to dabbling in a couple of the more out there theories, before a couple of Talkbackers cry foul but my posistion is the default fan one, that being that River is the Doctors future wive. But I like the some of the ideas that are out there so I choose not to dismiss them completly. This is also the first two-parter of this series, next week being 'Flesh and Stone'. Hopefully because of this my only real bugbear with The Moff's reign so far, the rushed nature of some of the stories, won't be an issue this time. So Tourettes and robbery not withstanding, I've been looking forward to this story tremendously. Opening up with a escape from a ship spanning 12,000 years and light years apart, this is a zinger of an episode. Kingston is showing a love for a role I haven't seen since she played Moll Flanders a decade ago. And the interplay that is flung between her and Matt Smith is fantastic. This doesn't mean that Amy is lowered to the lowest rung of a three step ladder. In fact, she is continuing in her quest to be the smartest companion the Doctor has ever had. But before those who have decrying how she seems to be 'smarter' than the Timelord go loopy, on more than one ocassion the Doctor saves her so all is right in the world once more. The Weeping Angels mythology is expanded fantasticlly well and prove themselves as one of the most deadly creatures in the Who universe. Mind you, what kind of 'Private Collecter' would be nuts enough to keep one in a collection? Iain Glen is always good value and as Father Octavian we get that wonderful voice of his caressing his vowels. I know girls that freely admit to getting moist with his voice. And as a side note, as an atheist, I kinda like the idea of The Church of England getting tooled up in the future. CGI for once is not the foremost effect in this episode. It's mostly practical and make-up being utilised with clever editing. This actually makes it look more expensive than last weeks Dalekfest. And it's creepy. The idea of a vicious killer sneaking up on you when your not looking is frankly, unsettling. This is a good solid episode, the best of Smith so far and while it might not be a squel to Blink as worthy as Empire was to Star Wars, it's certainly up there with Godfather II. Strong comparison perhaps but I really enjoyed it. And it ended on a proper Who cliffhanger! What more do you want?

“Kelvington” calls it a “romp”:

Well the last two weeks of “Doctor Who” have been for me somewhat of a letdown, I was not impressed with the flying whale, and the Daleks didn’t do much for me either. However, that’s all in the past now, I think Moffit front loaded the lesser episodes and is going to make the rest of the series a run for the finish. A long great run, because tonight’s episode was amazing. Now a lot of people don’t like River Song. I get that, I really do, but next to Tracy-Ann Oberman, Alex Kingston is my second favorite adult female on the 2005 version of “Doctor Who”. So I was probably already going to enjoy this episode no matter what. Now tons of articles and words have been written about how can River Song know the Doctor no matter what his face looks like, and how can she know how to fly a different TARDIS than the one she’s seen in the future or the past, and how can she… etc, etc, etc. Guess what none of that matters, and that’s a good thing, because they really don’t address it much, they just go with the story. And let’s be honest we never really thought Moffit would draw a Venn diagram, explaining this point, it’s not his style. This episode is more of a history lesson about what the “Weeping Angels” are, and what they have been. When they started talking about them, I kept hearing the echos of George Lucas saying, “we never really saw Jedi’s fight, in the first three films we only saw an old Jedi and a guy in a robotic suit fight, we never saw young ones go at it”. It’s sort of the same here, it seems the Angels we encountered before were old and tired ones, the concept for this episode is that these are the proper “Weeping Angels” of old. So as two parters go, this one is off to an amazingly good start, and the cliffhanger tonight rivals Eccleston era “Bad Wolf” speech. If you thinking this series would only be silly and rubbish, and there would be no proper scares in it, then we were wrong because tonight, we get a good old fashion, get you kiddies behind the sofa romp. For that I say thank you Mr. Moffit. Just my 2¢

“Spud McSpud” calls it “riveting”:

THE TIME OF ANGELS is a spectacular return to form by Steven Moffat, who frankly had a few of us worried by the last couple of episodes - although that fantastic first episode set up a lot to live up to. People actually disappear in this episode, and actually (supposedly) die. There are many chilling moments, lots of creeping about in dark corners with Angels appearing out of nowhere, some interesting nuggets of info about who River Song REALLY is (and what she's done), and better character work with Amy, who has been a bit of a blank slate compared to previous Companions. Sorry if this upsets anyone, but this review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. Did I say - ** SPOILERS ALERT ** ?? A great set-up for a two parter, with touches of SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY. The Doctor and Amy are poking around in a museum (actually a bunch of intergalactic museum pieces in a church). The Doctor finds a spaceship's black box, which has a message for him in Old Gallifreyan text on it. After half-inching the piece, a la the last scene of THE ROCK, the Doctor and Amy discover a way to find River Song - and so they do. Off they go, into an adventure that on the surface is the recovery of the cargo of a ship that crashed on a nearby planet. River calls in some troops - actually a bunch of Church troops, led by Bishop Octvaius - played by Iain Glen, bringing the gravitas - and off they go, hunting what they think is one solitary Weeping Angel. Oh no. There's NEVER just one Xenomorph in these scenarios is there? After a particularly tense sequence with Amy, where we discover that among other tricks they have up their sleeves, the Angels can transmit themselves through any optical media, a la Sadako/Samara in THE RING, we're off and running. Bishop Octavius knows something about River that the Doctor (and we) don't know, which no doubt will play into the season finale and definitely next week's episode. And once we're into the cave system, and before you can say "Crowe! Dietrich! Sound off!", cleric soldiers are getting offed left and right. This is the point where Moffat rips himself off from SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY - the idea of dead good guys being able to speak through radios etc, to heighten the tension - and, like in SILENCE, it works brilliantly. There's even more scares in store when we realise - as does the Doctor - that there are WAY more Angels than anyone first suspected, and at the end of the episode, we get that classic line they trailed the season trailer with - "If you're smart, if you want live to see tomorrow, and if you're very very smart, there's one thing you never ever put in a trap... ME!". And with a big bang - we're into the TO BE CONTINUED titles... THE GOOD - This is Moffat making an ALIENS episode of WHO! With Weeping Angels! And River Song! And a shitload of 51st Century Bishops and Clerics (all of whom are heavily armed and look like British troops - very Warhammer 40,000!!)! There's a brilliantly sustained sense of foreboding, with the info coming at us thick and fast - amid some beautifully observed character moments. "Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron". The threat of the Angels is multiplied to the nth degree, and we find there's more to River Song than we at first thought - though as she got so much out of the Doctor, such as how to drive the TARDIS and write in Gallifreyan (not to mention she knows his TRUE NAME!), it'd be a shame for her to be a villain in any way. But it leaves you desperate to know what happens next week - and in the trailer, they make a lot out of the fact that a crack - yes, THAT crack - appears in the episode. Wow! A season arc that might make sense!! No more of this "Bad Wolf" shit... THE BAD - Smug is not the same thing as cool. It'd be nice to see characters be less smug and more cool. River and Amy are comoing across as too smug, and it'd be nice to see some karmic payback for that. Every good character in htis seems to be the smartest, the most brilliant, and there are no flaws - which makes all the good guys insufferably smug. Hope this works itself out. And occasionally it's a bit confusing as to who's where - it's not Paul WS Anderson standards, but it's a bit samey - lots of running through various cave corridors filled with blue backlit dry ice, but no real geography connecting them. It's a very, very minor blemish in what is basically the best Moffat ep since BLINK, and DEFINITELY the best of the Matt Smith era - which is a lot, considering how great the season opener was. THE AWESOME - "River, hug Amy." "Why?" "'Cos I'm busy." "Anything that holds the image of an Angel IS an Angel." Iain Glen being as badass as he always is. "He doesn't know what you are, does he?" "It's too early in his timeline." The VERY ALIENS-style hunt for a Weeping Angel in a room full of stone statues. The Angel coming for Amy out of the TV (very THE RING!). "Sorry I called you an idiot. There's no way we could have saved your men." "I know, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll be telling that to their families.". The crack in the universe. THAT last line. And the hints that next week will bring lots and lots more answers - about the crack in the universe, about River, about the Angels. And hopefully, about the Doctor, and his future. This episode restores my faith in the Moff. Absolutely riveting stuff.

“V'Shael” calls it “good”:

Hi Herc, Talkbacker V'Shael here. Just a quick review of tonights Doctor Who episode, which you can use on the site. An amazing little opening. Moffat once again displays that he loves playing with time in the plot. Non linearity, a speciality! They definitely play around with the tease of Songs relationship to the Doctor. It's now begining to look like she's not so much a wife (or the Rani or any other time lord) so much as as she is a very successful con woman. The episode was good, (a huge improvement over last weeks) but not without problems. My biggest problem actually isn't with the episode per se, but with the insane amount of spoilers for this episode, which could be found online in interviews and statements and what-not. Including what you might think would be the biggest one of the episode itself. (I blame that one of Moffat actually) They need to learn how to keep a secret from the RTD camp. Mind you, there were some great big twisty moments in this episode. The Good - The cast continue to impress, particularly Matt. He's channeling the Doctor in a way that's vastly different to 9 and 10. The episode of chock full of nice SF ideas.Dialog and moments that can make you laugh. The Bad : Moffat does steal some of his own quotables. That doesn't always work, and can seem egotistical. Also, I didn't care much about the "redshirts" of the episode. You'll know them when you see them. And as I mentioned above, a profusion of spoilers ruin some potentially great moments. Also, the sound guy made a weird choice to have the light of the torches hiss every time the torches moved past the camera. That was VERY distracting. The Ugly : The "cliff hanger" is possibly the worst of the shows history. I'm including when the Master walked up a flight of stairs in The Five Doctors. The Doctor gives a very nice quotable line just before the end, but you know EXACTLY what is going to happen at the start of next episode. (They refer to the Gravity ball several times in the episode. He tells everyone to jump, and shoots the ball. Obviously, they will all jump the 30 metres or whatever up to the Byzantium.) Next week, looks like the pay off to this weeks setup. Very promising, and the crack will not just make a reappearance, but will be noticed by Amy and the Doctor (who calls it "very very not good")

“Stanton” says:

Woo-hoo! This is what Doctor Who should always be like. The Angels are back - and rather slower - but that's all good, as I kept looking at the clock to see how much time I had left. I would have been happy with several hours: it was feature film quality. So: THE GOOD (1) River Song - still ahead of the Doctor in time - but Moffat makes her more mysterious than ever: is she a thief? If so, why is she hanging around with the Church? (2) Alex Kingston - perhaps slightly too bitchy at the start of the episode, but otherwise she's note-perfect as ever. (3) Matt Smith - My guess is the second and third episodes were filmed first; he's as brilliant here as he was in episode 1. (4) The effects - amaaazing. And actually kinda beautiful. (5) The script - Moffat back to his best. And the trailer for the second half looks even better... THE BAD(ISH) (1) It was a good idea to give the angels new powers - but Moffat may have given them too many. I counted three new ones here, and their principle thing of sending people back in time hasn't cropped up yet. (2) It felt a bit too much like last season's "Silence in the Library" for comfort. River Song calls the Doctor to her assistance (in quite a cooler way though - Moffat could have multiplied that into a whole episode); then she is with a team of redshirts who get picked off one by one by creatures who can only kill in the dark; and the creatures communicate electronically with one of the dead people's voice. The structure was a bit... samey. (3) Not much was done with River Song and the Doctor's relationship here. Kingston has said there's only flirting between the characters as Smith is young enough to be her son. From a production point of view I think avoiding a mutual love-in was sensible, but her flirting with him was perhaps the wrong tack. At the start of the episode he tries to avoid staying with her - for fear of their future together. River Song could have been written to be hurt at this - and I was seriously surprised that Moffat didn't directly compare the Doctor's feelings to Amy trying to avoid her future wedding. I think some potentially good character moments were missed... But maybe next week. THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY The BBC have just started that awful US export of a little cartoon advertising the next programme popping onto the bottom of the screen toward the end - it's as annoying as someone's loo-ward silhouette appearing against a cinema screen at a crucial point in a movie. If there's one thing to completely ruin a dramatic climax it is a cartoon of a prancing Graham Norton. For God's sake BBC - WHY???

“badbluberries” says:

Ok I've taken a moment to compose myself and dismantle the pillow fort that was protecting me from this weeks episode. I'm a relatively recent convert to the doctor, started with the specials last year as a bit of casual viewing but I've made the new series the focal point of my Saturday afternoon. Last weeks episode seemed a bit of a set up for things to come and as such it had me doubting my new placed faith in British scifi. More established who viewers will regulary tell you that earlier series, from their childhood, would strike as much fear as they would excitement. This weeks episode had me intrigued from the beginning, laughing after the titles and cowering in the foetal position by the credits. No time was wasted this week, every line was lean but not to the point of rushings things. The pace was one of the stronger points, I felt like I had no tome to breathe. The doctor hit the nail on the head when he said 'fear keeps you fast'. Even when the action was absent, every nod to the relationship between River was tantalizing. His fear at even stepping out of the tardis with her spoke volumes. I can't wait to see what part Prof Song plays in this seriers and the Doctors future (possibly his demise?!?).

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