Flesh and Stone (TV story)

Flesh & Stone is the fifth episode of Series Five. It is the second part of a two-part story.

Synopsis
There's no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, The Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner. Meanwhile, in the forest vault, the Doctor's companion, Amy Pond, finds herself facing an even more deadly attack.

Plot
The Doctor, Amy, River Song, Father Octavian and his clerics have all jumped on the Doctor's instructions, and have been caught by the Byzantium's still existent gravity field and have landed on the outside of the Byzantium, upside down in relation to the Weeping Angels left beneath them. They enter the ship, but are followed by the Angels. The Doctor and the others manage to escape and enter the control room.

In there, the Doctor and River realise that there must be an oxygen factory so the occupants can breathe, so the Doctor opens a door to reveal a forest! But then they realise Amy has been counting downwards from ten for several minutes without realising it, and the Doctor notices a crack on the wall, similar to the one in Amy's bedroom. The Doctor examines it, saying "That's extremely very not good", before noticing he is surrounded by Weeping Angels. He escapes, minus his coat, and follows the others. They discover that Amy has a Weeping Angel in the visual centres of her mind. The Doctor tells her if she opens her eyes for more than a second, the Weeping Angel will escape and she will die. She is left with the clerics as the Weeping Angels advance, Meanwhile The Doctor, River Song and Father Octavian head off to find a way to stop the Angels. As they leave, the Angels leave too when a light comes from the vault. Two clerics go to investigate, however, when Amy opens here eyes, she states it's the same crack from her wall. The remaining clerics forget about the existence of the other two, and then a third cleric goes to investigate. The one remaining cleric forgets about the others' existence, questioning Amy. He walks into the light too, and supposedly disappears. The Doctor and Father Octavian continue, but a Weeping Angel captures Father Octavian by the neck. Before Octavian is killed, he tells the Doctor that River Song was a prisoner because she killed a man; a good man. The Angels run away in fear of the crack, due to the Doctor saying it will consume them. The Doctor speculates that the crack is allowing time to be rewritten and River asks him how they can close it, with the Doctor replying that a complicated space-time event can close it: himself. As the four clerics have disappeared, Amy is left truly alone and with only a communicator. The Doctor radios Amy and tells her to come to the control room. She asks why she should risk confronting the Angels and the Doctor tells her that the Angels can only kill her, but the crack can erase her from time. Reluctantly and still with her eyes closed, she follows his sonic screwdriver signal, that is until the Angels arrive and surround her. The Angels are still scared and just follow their instincts around her to freeze to stone, but Amy soon gives herself away as blind and the Angels close in to kill her. Just in time, River teleports her to the control room.

All the Angels come by the entrance to the room as they drain energy from the doors, which then open. The lead Angel, Angel Bob, demands that the Doctor throw himself into the crack in order to save the Angels, Amy and River from it. River, as a time traveller, wants to throw herself in but the Doctor laughs at the idea, claiming that she is not even as complicated as one Angel and that only all the Angels are equivalent to him. Given this, the Doctor tells his friends to hold on to something and the artificial gravity field collapses because of the angels draining all the energy from the ship sending them into the crack. This is enough to seal it, erasing them all from existence. The group escapes to the outside of the temple, Amy safe now that the Angel in her mind has been erased from time. They remember those erased from time because they are time travellers themselves. River tells the Doctor she will see him again when the Pandorica opens and that the man she murdered was the best man she'd ever known. She is teleported back to the penal starship, with the remaining soldiers.

Amy tells the Doctor to take her home. There, she tells him that she is getting married in the morning and kisses him. It is then that he realises she is at the centre of all the cracks and that the time explosion which created them occurs today, the day of her wedding. He quickly whisks her away in the TARDIS.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Octavian - Iain Glen
 * Bob/Angel Bob - David Atkins
 * Marco - Darren Morfitt
 * Pedro - Mark Monero
 * Phillip - Geroge Russo

The Doctor

 * Whilst trying to figure out the implications of the cracks in time, the Doctor wonders to himself about the CyberKing, and wonders if 21st century Earth's lack of knowledge of its presence is somehow related.
 * When mentioning how time can be rewritten the Doctor references Amy's lack of knowledge of the Daleks and planets in the sky.
 * He mentions the duck pond that may not have been a duck pond from DW: The Eleventh Hour
 * Eleventh Doctor states his age to be 907.

Timeline

 * Amy's age is established and her second encounter with the Doctor as taking place in 2008 (when she encountered Prisoner Zero), while her third encounter with the Doctor when she left with him took place on the night of 25th June 2010 when Amy is 21.

Story Notes

 * According to Steven Moffat on the 30th March 2010 edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Front Row, the title of this episode was supplied by his son, Joshua.


 * The title is a play on 'flesh and bone', a common idiom referring to a creature's anatomy, since most humans and animals are composed of flesh and a skeletal structure. The title also refers to the Weeping Angels' weakness of turning to stone whenever anyone looks at them. This was a rumored title for the episode Gridlock.


 * In the trailer at the end of The Time of Angels it shows a crack - continuing the theme throughout the series. The crack appears to be growing, and upon finding it, Amy Pond notes its similarity to the one on her bedroom wall from DW: The Eleventh Hour. The Doctor says of the crack, "That is extremely very not good." Also, near the end when the Doctor is talking to River Song in the Vault, the television in the background shows what seems to be an eye swinging down and back up again. This is the movement of the Atraxi eye in the Eleventh Hour.
 * A video clip on the official Doctor Who website shows that the Doctor gets the Weeping Angels to say "comfy chairs".
 * The Doctor finds out that time can be unwritten.
 * The time on the scanner that The Doctor holds says that Amy's time is her wedding day.
 * The Weeping Angels are seen moving for the first time. They are seen turning their heads when they begin to realise that Amy can't see them, and one of them moves it's hand to catch the Doctor by his coat.
 * The date shown in the episode, 26/06/2010, is (if all episodes are not interrupted) the final episode date of Series 5.
 * The method the Doctor uses to dispose of the Weeping Angels mirrors his method of vanquishing the Cybermen and Daleks in DW: Doomsday.
 * The clock in Amy's room is shown switching from 11:59am to 12:00pm (noon), even though it appears to be the middle of the night outside. A similar effect is observed at the end of DW: The Eleventh Hour, when a clock in the TARDIS exhibits identical behavior, despite it being night outside.
 * Amy is the first companion who tried to seduce the Doctor in such a manner as the one she displayed and becomes the latest companion to kiss the Doctor.
 * This is one of only a few stories in which everyone the Doctor and his companions meet are dead by the end of the story. This is especially unusual considering the amount of stories written by Moffet in which everybody lives.

Ratings
6.9 million

Filming Locations
to be added

Rumours

 * Amy and Rory will either marry each other or put it on hold at the end of the episode, and Rory will travel in the TARDIS at the end. This was proven false, but Rory will travel in the TARDIS in the next episode.

Production Errors

 * When Father Octavian has been caught by the angel, his struggles show that the 'stone' arm of the angel is actually flesh. Incorrect, as the Angel used in this scene is not played by an actor, but instead a statue. As shown in Dr Who Confidential
 * When Amy lies down on the tree stump her hair is all over her face but on the wide shot her hair is behind her head.

Continuity

 * Events the Doctor thinks are erased from history by the cracks include DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End and The Next Doctor.
 * River says to the Doctor "You, me, handcuffs... must it always end this way?", unknowingly referencing her own death in DW: Forest of the Dead.
 * River Song refers to the events of the Pandorica opening, likely to be the finale of Series 5.
 * There is a flashback to DW: The Eleventh Hour.
 * Amy asks the Doctor "Do you comfort a lot of people on the night before their wedding?" The Doctor previously interrupted Donna Noble's wedding in DW: The Runaway Bride.
 * After the Doctor leaves with River and Octavian to find the primary flight deck, the Doctor returns for a moment to speak with Amy and his behavior and appearance is completely different (Jacket, rolled-up sleeves, different watch, etc). Speculation suggests that there is something significant about it; what precisely it means has yet to be revealed, with some fans suggesting it is the Eleventh Doctor at some point further in his future, come back to that point.
 * The Doctor mentions the duck-pond with no ducks from DW: The Eleventh Hour.

DVD and Blu-ray Release
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Two will feature The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice. It will be released on Monday 5th July 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.