THE STONE KILLERS

[Updated] [April 25th, 10.59 - French Time] Doctor Who - The Time of Angels (Series Five, Episode Four): In which the Doctor is reunited with Her Indoors and faces familiar enemies. While poor Amy gets stoned.

It begins like a scene from an episode of The Avengers, goes on like an ITC show. Then the Doctor does his Indiana Jones while the action continues (« Hello Sweetie ») like in a Spooks episode and finishes James Bond style (« Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to. ») And this is only the pre-credits sequence!

Once again there are shades of series one in The Time of Angels. Remember when you could have a political conspiracy, a pre-watershed horror movie, and a nod to Love actually all in a single episode. Here you've got 42 minutes of Aliens, Moonlighting, Ring (« It's just a recording ») and Predator, directed by Adam Smith - the best candidate to direct a Christmas special. And writtten by His Excellency Steven Moffat, modern master of psychological terror and Patron Saint of every furniture shop in the UK: because with him sofa sales go through the roof (you definitely need one to watch the show).

« She's the future, my future. » Cry him a river... Played by Alex Kingston, archaeologist Doctor River Song (Silence in The Library/Forest of the Dead) is back, which means trouble for the Doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). This time she (apparently unwillingly) "scouts" for troops of paramilitary priests hunting a much familiar menace: « Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels? »

Fun scenes between Mr and "Mrs Doctor" (the blue stabilizers) and an experiment in terror with the aptly called Maze of The Dead are some of the highlights of this instant classic: « I didn't escape sir, the angel killed me too. It snapped my neck. Sorry for the confusion. » Nice to see Simon Dutton, and the cliffhanger was riveting. Not sure for the Graham Norton as Darrin Stephens cameo...

Favourite lines: « I'm nobody's taxi service and I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship » and « Er...no, I mean he had two heads ».

Update (7.55 - French Time): Superb review in Cathode Ray Tube (http://cathoderaytube.blogspot.com/2010/04/doctor-who-series-5-time-of-angels.html).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/apr/24/doctor-who-time-of-angels
http://denofgeek.net-genie.co.uk/television/471290/open_letter_to_whoever_put_a_graham_norton_graphic_over_tonights_doctor_who.html