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Weeping Angel

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This article is about the Doctor Who villains. For other uses, see Weeping Angel (disambiguation).

Weeping Angel
Doctor Who race
A Weeping Angel as displayed in 2008.
First appearance"Blink" (2007)
Last appearance"Survivors of the Flux" (2021)
Created bySteven Moffat
In-universe information
Other name(s)The Lonely Assassins
Home worldUnknown
TypeWinged humanoids

The Weeping Angels are a race of predatory alien creatures from the long-running science fiction series Doctor Who. They were introduced in the 2007 episode "Blink", making repeat appearances in later episodes. They also appeared in the spin-off series Class. Since their initial appearance, they have been persistently nominated as one of the most popular and frightening Doctor Who monsters. Steven Moffat attributes their appeal to childhood games such as Grandmother's Footsteps and the notion that any stone statue might secretly be a disguised Weeping Angel.[1]

Development and creation

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The Weeping Angels were created by writer Steven Moffat, and first appeared in the 2007 episode "Blink". Moffat gained the inspiration for the Angels while on a holiday in Dorset. While exploring, he entered a graveyard marked as being unsafe and found a weeping angel statue. He returned years later with his son, but could not find the angel, nor any evidence that it had been there before. Though Moffat attempted further research in the years after the Weeping Angels appeared on-screen, their popularity made this much more difficult.[2] Moffat first pitched the idea for the Angels in the series in 2006, proposing them with the concept that they were "Statues that come to life when, but only when they're unobserved."[3] Moffat would bring the Angels back in 2010 for the two-part episode "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone",[4] with a subsequent appearance in 2012's "The Angels Take Manhattan".[5] Moffat originally planned to have a Weeping Angel act as the main antagonist of the 2015 episode "Heaven Sent", but this was scrapped in development.[6]

The Weeping Angels are portrayed by actresses. Due to the Angels' upright posture and angelic demeanor, dancers were hired to portray them. The costume for the Angels is complex and takes a long time to both put on and take off, with the actresses being on their feet for roughly fifteen hours a day during filming. The studio Millenium FX helped with the Angels' prosthetics.[7]

The Angels make a brief reappearance in the finale of the spin-off series Class, where they are revealed to be manipulating events behind the scenes. Patrick Ness, the series's creator, planned for the second series of Class to focus more on the Angels prior to the series' cancellation. This would have included a visit to their home world and a depiction of a civil war. Most of this would have been a mystery to the audience. Another Angel-related episode concept was dubbed "Time Capsule", which would have depicted an Angel sending the main cast back in time, with a time capsule being used to help them return to the present.[8]

The Angels returned in Doctor Who series 13, also titled Flux. Moffat confirmed their return prior to the series's airing,[9] and prior to their planned official announcement. Moffat later posted a humorous apology video, which ended with a Weeping Angel, implied to be sent by then-showrunner Chris Chibnall, sending Moffat back in time.[10] Chibnall had wanted to have the Angels face off against the Thirteenth Doctor, and had been planning their return for some time.[11] The cast was excited to film with the Angels, but experienced difficulty not blinking when shooting in cold weather.[12]

Appearances

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The Cherubim angels, shown at the Doctor Who Experience.

The Weeping Angels are a race of aliens that feed off temporal energy. They obtain this energy by touching their victims and sending them back in time, feeding on the energy caused by the resultant time travel. The Angels resemble statues due to being "quantum-locked", which means they can only move when unobserved.[13] Later appearances add more abilities to the Angels, including the ability for an image of a Weeping Angel to become another Weeping Angel, the ability for Angels to convert status into other Weeping Angels, and the ability to turn other lifeforms into Angels to allow them to be transported. A smaller version, known as Cherubs, appear in later appearances as well.[14]

The Weeping Angels first appear in the 2007 episode "Blink". In the episode, they have sent the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones back in time, separating the Doctor from his time machine known as the TARDIS. The Angels intend to harness the TARDIS for food, but the Doctor is able to place messages for a woman named Sally Sparrow to find in the future, which guide her to stopping the Angels. The TARDIS returns to the past for the Doctor, and the Angels are trapped within each other's vision, rendering them unable to move.

The Angels reappear in the 2010 two-part episode "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone". An Angel is held aboard a ship known as the Byzantium, which crashes into a planet. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, River Song, and a group of militant clerics enter the wreckage to recover the Angel, but the clerics are picked off by the Angel. It is revealed that the Angel crashed the ship into a large maze containing a large number of dormant Weeping Angels, which are revived by the power that is contained within the ship. A "crack in time" begins to expand aboard the ship, which the Angels feast on, but soon begin to flee from as the crack expands. The Doctor is able to trick the Angels into falling into the crack, erasing them from existence.

The Angels reappear in the 2012 episode "The Angels Take Manhattan". The Angels infiltrate Manhattan and set up a "battery farm" by creating an endless time loop of people entering a hotel and dying, with the resulting energy being feasted on by the Angels. Amy and her husband Rory Williams are able to break the time loop, eliminating the Angels' presence from New York, but a lone straggler sends Amy and Rory back in time, with the paradoxes caused by the time loop making the Doctor unable to go back and retrieve them. Following this, the Angels appear in various cameo roles, such as in the episodes "The Time of the Doctor", "Hell Bent",[15] and "Revolution of the Daleks".[16] The Angels also briefly appear in the finale episode of the spin-off series Class, where they are revealed to have masterminded events behind the scenes.[8]

The Angels return in Doctor Who series 13, also known as Flux. In the series, an Angel appears in the TARDIS control room, and pilots the ship to a small village. The village becomes assailed by Angels, who are attempting to recapture Claire, a woman they had previously hunted in the episode "The Halloween Apocalypse". It is revealed that an Angel is housed in Claire's mind, and it is attempting to escape the mysterious organization known as "the Division", of which the other Angels are members. The Doctor offers to help the Angel in exchange for information, but the Angel betrays the Doctor for the other Angels, as it had been promised freedom in exchange for handing over the Doctor to the Division. The Doctor is turned into an Angel[17] and transported to the Division base, after which the Angels leave.[18]

In other media

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The Weeping Angels appear in spin-off media. 2019 virtual reality game Doctor Who: The Edge of Time features Angels as a gameplay element.[19] 2021 Mobile game Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins depicts the Angels from "Blink" attempting to get their revenge following the episode's events.[20] The game takes the form of a "found phone" game, with players needing to go through supporting character Larry Nightingale's phone to solve the mystery of his disappearance and stop the Angels.[21] A 2022 board game, titled Doctor Who: Don't Blink features the Angels, with the goal of other players being to complete repairs to the TARDIS before the player controlling the Angels is able to stop them.[22] The Angels are also depicted in several easter egg and cameo roles in other video games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops III,[23] Lego Dimensions, [24] and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.[25] The Angels also appear in comics.[26]

Reception

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In a poll conducted by the BBC, taking votes from 2,000 readers of the Doctor Who Adventures magazine, the Weeping Angels were voted the scariest monsters of 2007 with 55% of the vote; The Master and the Daleks took second and third place with 15% and 4% of the vote. The Daleks usually come out on top in such polls. Moray Laing, Editor of Doctor Who Adventures, praised the concept of escaping a monster by not blinking, something both simple and difficult to do.[27] In a 2012 poll of over ten thousand respondents conducted by the Radio Times, the Weeping Angels were again voted the best Doctor Who monster with 49.4% of the vote. The Daleks came in second place with 17%.[28]

The Weeping Angels came in at number three in Neil Gaiman's "Top Ten New Classic Monsters" in Entertainment Weekly.[29] They were also rated the third "baddie" in Doctor Who by The Telegraph, behind the Nestene Consciousness and Daleks.[30] The Angels were listed as the third scariest television characters by TV Squad.[31] In 2009, SFX named the climax of "Blink" with the Weeping Angels advancing on Sally and Larry the scariest moment in Doctor Who's history.[32] They also listed the Angels in their list of favourite things of the revival of Doctor Who, writing, "Scariest. Monsters. Ever."[33]

"Blink" won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in 2008.[34]

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Weeping Angel is the name of a hacking tool revealed in Vault 7, co-developed in 2014 by the CIA and MI5, used to exploit smart TVs for the purpose of covert intelligence gathering. Once installed in a suitable TV, the tool enables the television to record its surroundings while appearing to be turned off (so-called "Fake-Off").[35][36]

References

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  1. ^ Doctor Who Confidential. Cardiff. 9 June 2007. BBC. BBC Three.
  2. ^ "How did Steven Moffat come up with the weeping angels? | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Former Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat shares early Weeping Angels idea | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Doctor Who: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone ★★★★★ | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  5. ^ Martin, Dan (29 September 2012). "Doctor Who: The Angels Take Manhattan – series 33, episode five". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  6. ^ "Steven Moffat reveals Heaven Sent originally featured Weeping Angels | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Playing one of Doctor Who's scariest monsters". BBC News. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Weeping Angels storylines revealed for Class season 2 | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Steven Moffat confirms Doctor Who series 13 to feature Weeping Angels | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Steven Moffat apologises for spoiling Weeping Angels return | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Doctor Who: Weeping Angels play "very sinister" role in series 13 | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Doctor Who: Flux cast talk "worst" part of Weeping Angels return". Digital Spy. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  13. ^ "A Brief History of the Weeping Angels | Doctor Who". DoctorWho.TV. Archived from the original on 16 November 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  14. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (23 September 2012). "The Angels Take Manhattan preview". Radio Times. Doctor Who. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  15. ^ "Doctor Who's scariest monsters revealed | The Weeping Angels | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Doctor Who prison monsters | The Ood, Weeping Angels and the Silence | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  17. ^ Allcock, Chris (21 November 2021). "Doctor Who: Flux Episode 4 Review - Village of the Angels". Den of Geek. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  18. ^ Allcock, Chris (28 November 2021). "Doctor Who: Flux Episode 5 Review - Survivors of the Flux". Den of Geek. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Doctor Who video game trailer teases return of the Weeping Angels". Digital Spy. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  20. ^ "Doctor Who | The Lonely Assassins mobile game release date | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  21. ^ "Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins review | Gameplay, story, rating | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  22. ^ "Doctor Who board game Don't Blink announced | Radio Times". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  23. ^ Crecente, Brian (17 November 2015). "How to awaken the creepy Doctor Who Easter egg in Black Ops 3". Polygon. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  24. ^ Whitbrook, James (25 September 2015). "In The New Lego Video Game, Doctor Who's Weeping Angels Are Scarier Than Ever". Gizmodo. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  25. ^ "What were the best gaming Easter Eggs of 2015?". Digital Spy. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  26. ^ "Weeping Angels and Autons invade Titan's Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor S2 #1". SYFY Official Site. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2024.
  27. ^ "Monster Hit". BBC. 12 September 2007. Archived from the original on 1 March 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2007.
  28. ^ Jones, Paul (9 June 2012). "Doctor Who: Weeping Angels beat The Daleks to be voted fans' favourite ever monsters". Radio Times. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  29. ^ "Neil Gaiman: My Top 10 New Classic Monsters". Entertainment Weekly. July 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
  30. ^ Reynolds, Gillian (4 May 2011). "Doctor Who - the top ten baddies". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
  31. ^ Wu, Annie (24 October 2007). "All-time scariest TV characters". TV Squad. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  32. ^ "21 Scariest Doctor Who Moments 7". SFX. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  33. ^ "27 Things SFX Loves About New Who 3". SFX. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  34. ^ "2008 Hugo Award Results Announced". Hugo Awards. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
  35. ^ Pachal, Pete (7 March 2017). "CIA hack of Samsung TVs was named after a Doctor Who monster". Mashable. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  36. ^ Molina, Brett. "Alleged CIA hack named after super creepy 'Doctor Who' villain". USA TODAY. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
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