Doctor Who: 7 Reasons Series 7 Part 1 Happened In Reverse For The Doctor

7. The Angels Take Manhattan

Our story begins as the Doctor is enjoying a nice day with his long time companions, Amy and Rory, on a quiet little picnic in New York, circa 2012. Suddenly, Rory gets taken by the Weeping Angels and so begins an ill-fated trip that ends with the Ponds being sent to the past. The Doctor cannot retrieve them because he knows that he doesn't. Basically, a fixed point in time is created surrounding their fate and the Doctor is forced to abandon them - at least safe in the knowledge that his companions' lives were happy. This story is all about fixed points in time. It finally provides a solid condition for them to come into being - points that cannot be changed due to the participants' knowledge. This serves as foreshadowing to the beginning of this story that is almost the same as the traditional order. The Doctor doesn't like endings. He has a time machine. He can go back to see them before they were sent to the past to live out their lives. Perhaps the Doctor got this idea when he went back to see young Amy. He would have realized that since it wasn't specified that he didn't see her again that night... He could do it. Indeed, it seems like the Doctor can do anything if he doesn't know that he doesn't do it. It's a strange-sounding explanation but to find a comparison, it's like Harry knowing that he could cast the corporeal Patronus at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban because he knew that he did do it. It's a timey-wimey thing.