I really liked the slitheens. I don't know why everyone hates them.
The concept wasn't bad - actually, quite disturbing; aliens wearing the skins of murdered people - and the look was good, with the innocent baby faces contrasting with the muscular bodies and great talons. But I'm afraid the farting ruined it!
Personally I thought the Weeping Angels were a one-trick wonder. Blink was great, but the subsequent stories lack any reinvention. So I don't think I would mind never seeing them again.
The concept wasn't bad - actually, quite disturbing; aliens wearing the skins of murdered people - and the look was good, with the innocent baby faces contrasting with the muscular bodies and great talons. But I'm afraid the farting ruined it!
I always found it a bit juvnile, though, as you say they are great otherwise. "Boomtown", is a great use of them, and the SJA ones did well too.
I always wanted to see a story that involves more taditional crime, like drug running, since the are a crime family.
True, but what we know about (ordinary) energy includes this:
systems spontaneously degrade from a high energy state to a low energy state, releasing energy. To revert you need to pump energy in. Thus if you mix Hydrogen and Oxygen gas, you pretty quickly (explosively) get Water - to get Hydrogen and Oxygen from water you need to electrolyse it (i.e. pump in electricity) - and its same amount of energy as was released in the first case (1st Law of Thermodynamics)
Thus if "time energy" behaves like ordinary energy (no matter what time itself actually is) and if sending people backwards in time releases "time energy" then going forwards in time should consume it, which doesn't square with the idea that moving forwards in time is a spontaneous process, which it does appear to be, nor does it square with
apparent difficulty we have in going back in time.
We have to guess that the Weeping Angels use the "time energy" to do things like move in space since it is food for them so "time energy" must have some similarities to ordinary scientific energy
Hmm, if time is an illusion then isn't "time energy" too ? So what are the Weeping Angels actually feeding on? :eek:
Of course, I think that was the point of my post.:cool:
My point was that actually we know so little about the universe and the nature of reality that you can't really say how likely or otherwise the Weeping Angels' feeding mechanism is. Science at the moment says "simple" time travel is either impossible or requires vast amounts of energy. The nature of the "time energy" they feed off is even more opaque. The parallels you draw refer to familiar forms of energy and matter and the familiar direction of time's arrow and don't necessarily apply - even in the non-fictional universe.
Most of the universe is presently unobservable (due to the universal speed limit of the speed of light) and most of what we can see suggests our form of baryonic matter is in the minority.
Their method of extracting temporal energy by pushing victims back in time sounds absurd, by the standards of today's science and technology. However, there's always Clarke's Third Law which states "Any sufficiently advanced technology [or in this case natural ability] is indistinguishable from magic".
Yes, well you know where the idea of 'classical good looks' come form don't yer? Our ancestors immortalized the male & female ideal from the classical ear in the form of statues. So if you want to know what timeless facial good looks are, just look at the statues, and don't blink.
The concept wasn't bad - actually, quite disturbing; aliens wearing the skins of murdered people - and the look was good, with the innocent baby faces contrasting with the muscular bodies and great talons. But I'm afraid the farting ruined it!
Thank you. I was fully expecting a pile of angry DW fans after posting that, but it's true. I also have to say that I found the actors who played the slitheen's to be very good. Alien's Of London was very funny.
"I'm afraid that I am going have to remove you from your temporary position as Prime Minister"
Slitheen "Oh, but I was having so much fun"
"Fun? You aren't supposed to be having fun"
And this one:
(farts)
Doctor "Excuse me, do you mind not farting whilst I save the world?"
I wouldn't mind seeing the angels back for the Series 9 finale. A dramatic two-part conclusion that is actually about the angels themselves, and sees The Doctor and his companions stranded across eras in time.
It would be a brilliant way for the Moff to bow out...a timey-wimey tale which delves into the nightmarish truth of one of his best creations.
I wouldn't mind seeing them return at all but I think they have their limitations due to their very nature.
They work best as a terrifying symbol of everyday fears. That was their genius in Blink. To make you worry that all these statues we pass everyday just might be...something. I think Moffat has used them well since the debut. But while they are already iconic I don't think they have the mileage of your Daleks or Cybermen etc because they have no character. This limits the story options massively as they have to be dialogue free (unless you get an Angel Bob situation). I would leave them alone for a season or so and then maybe either do a big epic sendoff or perhaps even a big change in how they are portrayed.
I think they should be used sparingly. If they are so ancient, so unknowable, it should be portentous when they appear.
And I can't help feeling that Moff takes a bit of delight that 'his' monster is entering the cannon like the Daleks and Cybermen already are.
Fwiw though,he may may be right; my son (who will be 15 in December) was scared witless by the Angels when they first appeared. It will be his Who 'hiding behind the sofa' monster when he tells his own kids about it.
Who'd've thought those strange, expressionless mechanical creatures with one eye and no proper arms, that look like pepper pots with bumps on, that can't even go up stairs and have an odd name and a speech impediment were anything but a flash in the pan?
I feel it's become a "Conservation of Ninjutsu" situation with the Angels.
One Angel (or four) equals a deadly near unstoppable threat, while hundreds of them are useless and ineffective.
Plus having large numbers of them around also contradicts the rule established in Blink that they dare not look at each other and so are pretty solitary creatures.
Comments
The concept wasn't bad - actually, quite disturbing; aliens wearing the skins of murdered people - and the look was good, with the innocent baby faces contrasting with the muscular bodies and great talons. But I'm afraid the farting ruined it!
I always wanted to see a story that involves more taditional crime, like drug running, since the are a crime family.
My point was that actually we know so little about the universe and the nature of reality that you can't really say how likely or otherwise the Weeping Angels' feeding mechanism is. Science at the moment says "simple" time travel is either impossible or requires vast amounts of energy. The nature of the "time energy" they feed off is even more opaque. The parallels you draw refer to familiar forms of energy and matter and the familiar direction of time's arrow and don't necessarily apply - even in the non-fictional universe.
Most of the universe is presently unobservable (due to the universal speed limit of the speed of light) and most of what we can see suggests our form of baryonic matter is in the minority.
Their method of extracting temporal energy by pushing victims back in time sounds absurd, by the standards of today's science and technology. However, there's always Clarke's Third Law which states "Any sufficiently advanced technology [or in this case natural ability] is indistinguishable from magic".
Thank you. I was fully expecting a pile of angry DW fans after posting that, but it's true. I also have to say that I found the actors who played the slitheen's to be very good. Alien's Of London was very funny.
"I'm afraid that I am going have to remove you from your temporary position as Prime Minister"
Slitheen "Oh, but I was having so much fun"
"Fun? You aren't supposed to be having fun"
And this one:
(farts)
Doctor "Excuse me, do you mind not farting whilst I save the world?"
It would be a brilliant way for the Moff to bow out...a timey-wimey tale which delves into the nightmarish truth of one of his best creations.
They work best as a terrifying symbol of everyday fears. That was their genius in Blink. To make you worry that all these statues we pass everyday just might be...something. I think Moffat has used them well since the debut. But while they are already iconic I don't think they have the mileage of your Daleks or Cybermen etc because they have no character. This limits the story options massively as they have to be dialogue free (unless you get an Angel Bob situation). I would leave them alone for a season or so and then maybe either do a big epic sendoff or perhaps even a big change in how they are portrayed.
And I can't help feeling that Moff takes a bit of delight that 'his' monster is entering the cannon like the Daleks and Cybermen already are.
Fwiw though,he may may be right; my son (who will be 15 in December) was scared witless by the Angels when they first appeared. It will be his Who 'hiding behind the sofa' monster when he tells his own kids about it.
The longest journey starts with the first step.
One Angel (or four) equals a deadly near unstoppable threat, while hundreds of them are useless and ineffective.
Plus having large numbers of them around also contradicts the rule established in Blink that they dare not look at each other and so are pretty solitary creatures.