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Farewell to Amy and Rory! Chris from Radio Free Skaro reflects on departing companions and traveling alone, and I try (and somewhat fail) to separate "The Angels Take Manhattan" from the hype and show format. Plus a brief appreciation of Babylon 5's Michael O'Hare. All in successive two-minute (relatively) chunks.
Chip,
I have to slightly disagree with your take about the Doctor on this one.
I would call it one of those "heat of the moment" situations where no can totally think to clearly. At the moment, I can totally understand why he reacted the way he did, but only later, when the emotion was out of the picture, realize that it was the best decision.
I think there were also a couple of other things going on as well. From a Timelord perspective, this wouldn't be proper. Having an Weeping Angel feeding off Amy by sending her back in time would be just wrong.
Also, the Doctor couldn't guarantee that Amy would end up with Rory.
I am also responded to this for another reason. I have heard many Doctor Who podcasters and fans having issues with the Doctor allowing Solomon to die at the end of "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship."
There were comments that the Doctor wouldn't have done that. Also, there were comments about how the 10th Doctor would have at least gave Solomon a warning.
In my mind, I would say this is a case of when you hear a story about a man murdering a man who just raped his daughter. Yes, murder is wrong, but many people would understand.
Solomon murdered all the Silurians on the ship. Blatantly shot Mark Williams in the shoulder. Did all this because he wanted to make money from this precious cargo. He didn't believe the Doctor's warning about the ship was going to be destroyed, but when he did, he was more than willing to sacrifice "the precious cargo" for a better "item", an Egyptian Queen. Only to illustrate this point by outright killing one of the dinosaurs, who just a few minutes earlier, was precious to Solomon.
Only later, we get the idea and implication that Solomon would rape the Queen.
From my perspective, when Solomon killed the Dinosaur was the moment where the Doctor decided he would have to so something about Solomon. This was "10th Doctor" warning moment without it being verbally done.
Should the Doctor taken the high road and saved Solomon and turn him over to some sort of "police"? Yes. Can I understand why he didn't? Again, yes. Like the father who would murder a man for raping his daughter.
I see reaction of the Doctor about Amy's leaving and allowing Solomon to die the same. A very understandable emotional response in a stressful situation.
If we sit back, and expect the Doctor will ALWAYS take the moral high road in every situation, I would find that to be unbelievable and rather boring storytelling.
The Doctor is a brilliant character, but a character with flaws. He isn't a god nor should he be.
Very valid take, John.
Well put John. Very well put.
Thank you for your lovely words on Michael O'Hare. Like you, I have a special place in my heart & life for Babylon 5, and the passing of Michael O'Hare was a profound loss for me. So many of them gone – Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, Tim Choate, Jeff Connaway – all beyond the Rim now!