10 Simple Fixes That Would’ve Improved Doctor Who
2. Don’t Show The Weeping Angels Moving
The Weeping Angels are, without doubt, some of the scariest monsters in Doctor Who. The entire premise of a stone statue hunting you in the darkness and killing you with time is, arguably, more terrifying than simply a grotesque creature with a gun.
One of the most intimidating elements of the Angels is the way they approach their victims. Jumping forward with each flash of darkness as their mouths widen and their arms raise. Part of the fear factor comes from never actually seeing them physically move. When light shines upon them they are as still as a statue (pun intended), and so we only ever see them progressing forward in unseen jumps.
That is, until the Series 5 episode Flesh and Stone. Although the majority of the episode does show the Angels moving in their normal way, there’s one moment where we see them slowly turning their heads as they approach Amy. Arguably, the reason we see them moving is because Amy has her eyes closed and therefore they are unseen, however, for the audience, this ruined that ominous element of how they move, and reminded us that they’re merely performers in costumes.
The simple fix here would be to maintain the ambiguity of the Weeping Angels. Simply remove those moments of slow, human-like movement, and make use of flashes and faster cuts between shots to build up the tension even further. When the Angels attack, the audience needs to feel as though they cannot blink - but all this scene did was make fans roll their eyes.