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Doctor Who Season 7 Episode 5

The Angels Take Manhattan

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AIRED: Sep 29, 2012

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9.1

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Episode Summary

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In New York, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory meet River, but the Weeping Angels threaten the city as time periods overlap and time runs out for two of the travelers.

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120

Doctor Who "The Angels Take Manhattan" Review: It's Called Marriage

This story, the Ponds' last, was one of love and choices, and it rested almost entirely on Amy and Rory.

By Emily V. Gordon, Sep 30, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (12)

This was Rose again, and we've already done that once

5.0

By MikeUK123, Mar 30, 2013

I agree with noelviega.

This could have been much better if not for the sudden time travel restrictions that are invented to create some false emotional event.

We need to go one way or another. Either the Doctor can do anything time-travel related, or he can't. Let's not save the day one moment by some amazing, but out-of-the-blue intelligence from the Doctor, then the next moment lose his companion through a new 'fixed' rule of time travel, and the book.

With Rose at least it made sense in the enormity of the situation. But with Amy Pond it did not. It was all set up simple for those two to decide to live a normal life. It didn't need an attempt to get emotional, and it came across in my opinion as very false.

The previous writer did a better job of this, and it's a shame the new series is a step backwards in that sense.moreless
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I love Doctor Whople walk up inside of it.

10

By WalterThomas, Jan 11, 2013

I love Doctor Who and why not it's better then most of the crap written here the so I'll always give it a 10 until the day it really turns to crap. Honestly I thought the whole Statute of Liberty thing was really cheesy to say the least. I also think it's sort of crappy Rory and Amy couldn't just live happily ever after. We've had Doctor Companions leave happily ever after before. Why not now ?

Of course I feel for the doctor. He has just looss so much. But honestly, this was a loss he need not suffer. I don't see the sense of bringing them back miraculously time after time only to have them die one last time so as to write out there characters.moreless
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Tear-jerker

9.5

By TOMH1109, Dec 20, 2012

The tears are out. I promised myself I wouldn't cry at Amy and Rory's demise but I couldn't help myself. But the point of this episode is mis-direction. Admittedly, the plot twists could be seen a mile off and I predicted it the moment the trailer was released. But, it was wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey at its best and it was good to have River around without her stealing the show or being stupidly important to the plot, whilst still having some good hints towards her demise, which for her at this point, is close. Likewise, the Angels themselves, back to basics, at their best and most dangerous. But the real trick of this episode is not the fact that you're crying or why you're crying, its WHO you're crying for. When it was revealed this episode would be heart-breaking, he didn't say who for. And you expect it to be tragic for Amy and Rory, but it isn't. Just one episode previously, they were considering giving up. Now, they get to. Happy. No, this episode has you crying for the Doctor. The man who has lost so many friends, loses two more. And the moment where he is practically begging Amy not to leave him is as sad and poignant as anything this show or any have produced. Top quality but predictable entertainment.moreless
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Not the best send-off for the Ponds

5.5

By noelveiga, Oct 14, 2012

Aw, we're back to this stuff now, then? Man, I hate this stuff. I hate Moffat when he decides that Doctor Who is not about plot or pacing or, you know, good writing, and he just comes up with random cool ideas and images and smears them all over the script.

See, under Moffat the Doctor goes beyond the usual silly Deus Ex Machina and into the realm of masturbatory non-storytelling. Who cares if the plot doesn't make sense, or if there is no buildup to the emotional payoff? It's Doctor Who! You can do anything!

But... you can't. You can't spend two seasons getting abusing time travel plots and then come up with arbitrary restrictions to time travel when it suits the need to write some characters off. You can't spend several minutes on inconsequential characters only to gloss over what is ostensibly the plot. The plot, by the way, is that a demented collector mob boss is seemingly feeding people to Weeping Angels who in turn have set up a human farm in an apartment building that can only be wiped out by paradoxing it out. I'd say that takes a bit more than a quick, confusingly shot chase and a dramatic declaration to resolve, right? You can't just jump straight to the end from the beginning with no middle in between, no matter how timey wimey you get.

Or, well, you can, I guess, but then you get a half-assed episode. It's telling that the one saving grace I found here were those nice fancy glasses that actually give some personality to the Doctor's costume (and that keep very deliberately sliding down Karen Gillan's nose in a disturbingly cute way).moreless
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Angels Statues

8.5

By JDML23, Oct 14, 2012

This episode gave me emotional whiplash. I've been trained by the episode Blink to find the weeping angels really terrifying, so seeing one always makes me jump and squeak. A Weeping Angel Statue of Liberty? Nearly had me on the floor laughing from the ridiculous. Um.. okay. No. Just no.

Rory dies again! At at least the freaky aspect of being stuck in a building full of moving statuary really gave me then creeps. But then the Doctor ruined it by saying that Rory never left that room. Which made me think.: "Wait, how did he get food then? Unless you're trying to say that the statues go to the market."

I enjoyed seeing River and I like how well she just gets the Doctor. And her reaction when he used some of his regeneration energy on her? Perfect.

Oh, I'm so going to miss the Ponds. I adored them being with the Doctor but I'm also content that they got to live their lives out together although I will always be questioning the fact as to why the Doctor can't pop over for a visit.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Matt Smith (VI)	The Eleventh Doctor
Karen Gillan	Amy Pond
Arthur Darvill	Rory Williams

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Michael McShane	Julius Grayle	Guest Star
Rob David (II)	Sam Garner	Guest Star
Bentley Kalu	Hood	Guest Star
Alex Kingston	River Song	Recurring Role

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (11)
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- Sam Garner: New York. The city of a million stories. Half of them are true. The other half... just haven't happened yet. Statues, the man said. Living statues that moved in the dark.
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- River: The Angels are predators. They're deadly. What do you want with them?
  Grayle: I'm a collector. What collector could resist these? I'm only human.
  River: That's exactly what they're thinking.
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- River: Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently there's no record. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting himself from every database in the universe.
  The Doctor: Umm, you said I got too big.
  River: And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be someone?
  The Doctor: You might be the woman who killed the Doctor.
  River: Doctor who?
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- The Doctor: But how did you get your wrist out without breaking it?
  River: You asked, I did. Problem?
  The Doctor: You just changed the future.
  River: It's called marriage, honey. Now hush, I'm working.
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- The Doctor: Why did you lie to me?
  River: When one's in love with an ageless god who insists on the face of a 12-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage.
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- The Doctor: It would be almost impossible.
  River: Loving the almost.
  The Doctor: But to create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power. What have we got, eh? Tell me, come on. What?
  Amy: (taking Rory's hand) I won't let them take him. That's what we've got.
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- Rory: I always wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty. I guess she got impatient.
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- Amy: Rory, stop it, you'll die.
  Rory: Yeah, twice. In the same building on the same night. Who else could do that?
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- The Doctor: What the hell are you doing?!?
  Amy: Changing the future. It's called marriage.
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- River: What matters is this. Doctor, don't travel alone.
  The Doctor: Travel with me then.
  River: Whenever and wherever you want. But not all the time. One psychopath per TARDIS, don't you think?
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- Amy: And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter that'll ever live. And save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond and this is how it ends.
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NOTES (3)
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- The logo reflects the theme of the episode: this one consists of a greened-bronze pattern such as found on the Statue of Liberty.
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- International Airdates:
  US: September 29, 2012 on BBCAmerica
  Australia: October 6, 2012 on ABC1
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- Music: Englishman in New York (Sting)
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