I heart Steven Moffatt. Truly. He is the awesomest.

[upsticks]

Blink was brilliant. Love & Monsters left me bored and annoyed, so I tuned in this week, remembering it was the same Doctor-lite structure, and thought "I'll watch it anyway."

No indifference here. It was fantastic. Brilliant. The work of a genius.

Ok, so I would have liked a bit more time travel, but to make you want to ask so many questions and have almost all of them answered was surely a sign of the skill of Sir Moffatt. He played on fundamental fears that we have as children - strange looking statues that make us feel sad but also look cold and gothic; adult fears of losing lost loved ones, and the fears we have as Doctor Who viewers - that the Doctor will not come to save us, that the situation cannot be solved, and that people will die because of things that perhaps could have been sorted, had the Doctor been there.

The conversation was top-notch. Short and sharp and funny. My bet is that "The Angels took the Phonebox" t-shirts will be around to purchase pretty soon. Explanations of "timey wimey" and even the lizard was clever. After all, what is Doctor Who without a lizard? And with a quick dig to ITV (or a nod of the head to anyway), the episode was clearly based in our own world.

Compared to some of the stuff we've seen last series, even this series, this episode was, to my mind, unsympathetic. People were lost, there was a fear that Sally was the cause of the disappearances, that she wouldn't get her life back, and she did infact lose her friend and a potential boyfriend. I think that shows more of the dark!Doctor that people have wanted, and man, did it add to the scary!

There were also questions about whether the angels were good or bad at first, (especially with the ambiguity of them - set in an old abandoned house, and yet a symbol of love and calmness the world over) And what and how they were doing that good or bad. Fighting the angels was a simple yet next-to-impossible task - one I reckon will have many people afraid.

The (almost) ending had me shocked. Would the same Doctor that had saved all the guinea pig people in New Earth and previously yelled "No, this time, everybody lives!!!" leave two innocent people to die while helping him?

... that clever Doctor. He had it all sussed out, I don't care what he said on the Easter egg. (how many of those will there be in the Series 3 boxset I wonder?)

perfect characterisation, (although WAY not enough Martha *sob*) a brilliant score as always, a plot that strikes fear in everyone because it grabs everyone for different reasons, snappy dialogue in the infamous Steven Moffatt way, all with an end that makes us discuss, makes us smile, and perhaps most importantly, makes us think.

Series 3 has been a bit under-par for me. I found Gridlock a little boring, and Human Nature/Family of blood was good, but perhaps a bit overrated. I came to this episode with low expectations. And what did I find? Brilliance. Simply superb writing. And maybe even a contender for favourite episode (although with Captain Jack back next week, who knows.)

Steven Moffatt, why you don't have a knighthood, I don't know.

Coupling and the best episodes of Doctor Who. Srsly, why no Sir?

Comments

[alocin42.livejournal.com]

Yeah I didn't have very high expectations either but then it proceeded to rock my socks off! Steven Moffatt is rather genius-like.

When you said "saved all the guinea pig people in New Earth", my first thought was weren't they cats? closely followed by maybe there were guinea pig people as well as cats, how did I miss that? and dragging along behind, finally, oh, not *literal* guinea pig people - right! It's too early for my brain.

[glitterfairy25.livejournal.com]

I thought that might catch some people out but I didn't know what else to call them - Diseased people is not very PC is it?

[kaowyn.livejournal.com]

Scariest episode ever!!! For real. I watched it at midnight last night, alone, and in the dark. NOT a good idea. I was terrified when the angel switched positions and was going after Kathy. Just horrified. The sound effects made it even more scary. And how they cut away so that you never actually saw the angels move, just their terrible faces. God it was horrifying. I was totally ready to ship Sally/Billy. They were so cute. I was so upset when he got taken away. :( But at least they both found happiness in the end.

Next week. OMG I cannot wait. O_o

Woah, that was longer than I expected...

[glitterfairy25.livejournal.com]

Midnight, alone, in the dark? Woah. I couldn't watch it at 7pm, in the light, with family without being scared. My little sister couldn't sleep afterwards. I think the scariest thing is that the people thrown back in time weren't lost or dead really, but they were unreachable, never to return. What could have happened becomes what never will happen, and for Doctor Who, where time travel is usually a good thing, that's scary. I think it also emphasised how alone people can be, which makes it all the more sad/scary.

I can't remember where, but someone said on one of the comms that that not seeing the angels move was the cleverest bit about it, because we never see the angels move, even when the characters backs are turned, which means we must be part of the episode, and it makes you feel all the more like you are there when you watch it. Srsly, that was possibly the best episode of Series 3. Steven Moffatt, god!

Soooo excited 'bout next week too! I watched Torchwood recently, so I now I am even more *squee* about Captain Jack. I want to know what happened, see more links between the two programmes and have John Barrowman on my tv again. :D

[deerfold.livejournal.com]

http://www.cafepress.com/angelphonebox.140080579

didn't take long...