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A selection of fascinating details from the final days of the Ponds.
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00:00The thing that people tend to forget about Doctor Who is its absolute ability to give pain.
00:05Just pain. With some slight trepidation, I'm Sean Farrick for Who Culture, and here are
00:1020 Things You Didn't Know About The Angels Take Manhattan.
00:14Number 20. The Ponds Wanted a Permanent Goodbye. Aside from that Statue of Liberty reveal,
00:19The Angels Take Manhattan is most famous for being the last regular appearance of Amy and
00:24Rory Pond. The 11th Doctor's first friends were snatched from the jaws of safety by a rogue angel
00:28and cast backwards in time forevermore, writing them out of the show in a tragic and permanent
00:33fashion, which is exactly what the actors wanted. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darville requested that
00:38Amy and Rory be removed for good, as they didn't want their demise to be undercut by recurring
00:42cameos like certain other companions. Oh, gross. Gillan did go back on her word when she appeared
00:48briefly at the end of Matt Smith's final episode, but that cameo was both incredibly short and
00:53entirely fitting, considering Amy's connection to the Raggedy Man. Darville, meanwhile, hasn't
00:57been seen in an episode of Doctor Who since departing.
01:00Number 19. It was originally the Daleks. It's difficult to imagine it being any other way,
01:04but the Weeping Angels were not the original villains of this story. Initially, it was going
01:08to be the Daleks. Writer and showrunner Stephen Moffat felt that such a devastating blow to the
01:13Doctor should be dealt by his oldest enemies, adding more heat to their Ian's long feud. However,
01:18he was cautious about returning the Daleks to New York, as this had already been done,
01:22relatively recently, in Daleks in Manhattan Evolution of the Daleks, feeling that the Angels were
01:27a better fit for this sombre noir setting. They were drafted in instead, and the Sons of Scarrow
01:33were moved to the series premiere, Asylum of the Daleks. The Daleks would probably have made for a
01:37much more predictable ending for the Ponds, so we're glad it wasn't them.
01:41Number 18. Middle Name Mayhem. Whovians must have been delighted when they finally learned Rory's
01:46middle name in the Angels Take Manhattan, were it not for the small fact that he had to die for
01:50them to do so. On Rory's tombstone at the end of the episode, the text reads,
01:54In loving memory, Rory Arthur Williams, aged 82. It took us until his final episode to learn that
02:00his middle name is Arthur. Poor Rory. But of course, this is the same as actor Arthur Darvill's first
02:05name. But it could also be a nod to Mark Williams, who played Rory's dad, Brian, in his role of
02:10Arthur
02:11Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. Meanwhile, Amy's inscription gets zero mention of a middle name,
02:16despite the fact that it was revealed to be Jessica way back in her second episode, The Beast Below.
02:20Why no middle name for Amy? Who knows? Damn gravestone double standards.
02:24Number 17. To kill or not to kill. Booting off a companion can't be an easy job for any showrunner,
02:30even if Russell T. Davis did it basically any chance he got. When the time came for Moffat to
02:34say goodbye to Amy and Rory, the weight of this decision really affected him. He told Radio Times in
02:392012 that he would back and forth several times over the couple's fate. How and why would they leave,
02:44and would they live or die? I wrote and rewrote. I had a completely different ending and threw it
02:49away. So many times over those mad few days, the fate of the pawns changed. Alive, dead,
02:54alive, dead. Nothing felt right. Nothing felt inevitable. In the end, he went for a halfway
02:59house. The couple were dead in the timeline of the show, but got to live out full lives in the
03:03past.
03:03It makes you wonder what the ending he threw away was like. Can't have been any sadder, surely.
03:07Number 16. Grail's Grim Alternate Fate. When Amy and the Doctor first find River and Rory in the past,
03:13they've been captured by Julius Grail, an avid collector of artifacts. While his fate was left
03:18ambiguous in the final cut, there were initially plans to show what happened to him, and they
03:22weren't very nice. One early draft had him banished back to a workshop where he was forced to make the
03:26very items he had spent his life collecting. A second idea was to show him being sent to the
03:30past and then have him turn up in one of his own paintings. This painting would have revealed that
03:35the Angels had sent him back to the Renaissance where he was enslaved. The second idea was filmed,
03:39but was dropped during editing. Number 15. The Jump was filmed first. It's no secret that TV shows and
03:44movies aren't usually filmed in story order. Sometimes moments towards the end are among the
03:49first things captured. This is precisely what happened with The Angels Take Manhattan. The
03:53Ponds think that they've saved themselves when they jumped off Winter Key, killing Rory twice in
03:58one night and creating a paradox that defeats the Angels. The Jump was filmed on the 23rd of March 2012,
04:03the very first day of recording for The Angels Take Manhattan. Meanwhile, the climactic graveyard
04:07sequence was filmed a few weeks later on the 19th of April 2012, making that a very sad day in
04:13Doctor
04:14Who history indeed. Number 14. Cherub Inspiration. The Angels Take Manhattan introduced infant versions
04:19of the stone assassins. Aww, how cute. Until they send you back to the Middle Ages. This type of angel
04:25didn't
04:26exist until director Nick Huron went on a location scouting trip to New York. Huron took pictures of various
04:31landmarks of the city, including the Bethsaida fountain in Central Park, which has a huge angel statue as it's
04:37centerpiece and is surrounded by smaller cherub statues. When studying this photograph back in
04:42the UK, Moffat came up with the idea of a cherub variant of the Waking Angels, as he felt their
04:47childlike design made them incredibly creepy. And you know what, he was bang on the money for that one.
04:52Number 13. Karen Gillan Read the Afterword. The Angels Take Manhattan is bookended by the Doctor
04:57reading a novel written by River Song, which details the events of the episode before and after they
05:02happen. At the end, the Doctor reads the last page of the book, which turns out to be a special
05:07message written
05:07by Amy to let him know that she and Rory lived a good life and still loved him always and
05:12forever.
05:12It's a heavy scene, one of the last bits of communication between the girl who waited and
05:17her raggedy man, so Gillan felt it was important that they did as much possible to get it right.
05:21This resulted in Gillan sitting just off screen, reading the letter aloud to Smith to get as much
05:26emotion as possible out of his performance. Amy and the Doctor, friends till the very end.
05:31Number 12. The Letter Scene's Crazy Filming Conditions. Speaking of this scene, it was way more
05:37complicated to film than you'd think it would be. For this tearful farewell, Smith was afforded
05:41not three takes, not two, but one. One take. This is because it was shot on location in Central Park,
05:48where hundreds of people had gathered to watch it being filmed. Imagine the stress the crew must
05:53have felt, it can't have been easy. Smith was given a different page of the book to hold,
05:56in case somebody photographed the real one, and Gillan was forced to read her lines incredibly
06:01quietly in case she was recorded. Despite all this pressure, Smith pulled it off, which is a
06:06testament to just how blummin' good of an actor the man really is. Number 11. It was almost
06:10wibbly wobblier. The Angels' first episode, Blink, gave the world one of the ultimate Doctor Who memes
06:15in the form of Ten's legendary wibbly wobbly timey wimey speech, so it makes sense that such
06:21mind-bending concepts nearly made a return in one of the Angels' most prominent appearances. Plans for
06:27The Angels Take Manhattan originally featured a much more complex depiction of their time manipulation
06:32powers. Audiences would have seen even more versions of Rory running about the Winter
06:36Quay, as well as different incarnations of Sam Garner, the detective from the cold open. Additionally,
06:42the girl Garner sees in the window was to have been staring at an older, future version of herself.
06:48Eventually, it was decided to simplify things a bit, but this was probably for the best.
06:52Number 10. An Important Last Minute Edition. The final recording for The Angels' Take Manhattan was
06:57supposed to be a few pickup shots on the 30th of April 2012, but at the last minute,
07:01an extra day of filming was pencilled in for the 28th of June. It was decided that the Doctor needed
07:05to say why he couldn't take the TARDIS back to 1938 New York, so lines were written explaining
07:11how the timelines were all scrambled. This pickup was filmed at Box Cemetery in Lanelli, Wales,
07:16where the rest of the graveyard scene was shot. It was directed by Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A
07:20Town Called Mercy's Saul Metstein, as The Angels' Take Manhattan director Nick Huron was unavailable.
07:25It's a good job these lines were added, otherwise fans would have been even more confused why the Doctor
07:30couldn't go back and rescue the Ponds all over again. Hmm.
07:34Number 9. Pond River Publishing. Spoiler alert, but everybody knows that River Song's real name
07:39is Melody Pond, and there's a subtle reference to both these monikers in The Angels' Take Manhattan.
07:44The book that starts this whole mess, Melody Malone, Private Detective in Old New York Town,
07:49is written by River and published by Amy. As a result, the name of the publishing company is Pond
07:54River Publishing, a neat little nod to both mother and daughter. This detail isn't visible in the
07:58episode, but it was confirmed by some production artwork. The actual text inside the book was taken
08:03from a real novel called The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. Hammett was a famous detective writer in
08:08the 20s and 30s and was responsible for penning The Maltese Falcon, the film version of which heavily
08:13inspired The Angels' Take Manhattan's tone and setting. Number 8. A Story of Lasts. Amy and Rory
08:19weren't the only ones saying goodbye in this episode. It was also the final appearance of the title
08:24sequence that had been used from the Eleven Doctor's first outing, with the next episode,
08:28the 2012 Christmas special, The Snowmen, introducing a redesign. The Angels' Take Manhattan is also the
08:33last time we saw Eleven's tweed jacket and his first TARDIS console room, both of which were also
08:38replaced in The Snowmen. The loss of the Ponds truly was the end of an era. Number 7. The Epilogue
08:44That Almost Never Was. In The Power of Three, Rory's dad Brian makes the Doctor promise that he'll bring his
08:50son and daughter-in-law back safely. The Time Lord agrees, only to betray that trust one adventure
08:55later. Poor Brian had his entire world turned upside down with seemingly no explanation, that is, until
09:00you watch PS. Premiering online shortly after The Angels' Take Manhattan's broadcast, PS is a short
09:07animated scene of Brian receiving a letter from Amy and Rory delivered by their adopted son. This sequence,
09:13which was written by Chris Chibnall, was supposed to be filmed in live action, but Brian's actor,
09:17Mark Williams, was unavailable for the shoot. Rather than scrapping it entirely, the storybirds were
09:21animated and Arthur Darville was brought in to narrate, resulting in a heartfelt epilogue to the
09:26Ponds' journey. Number 6. It's fans' favourite episode of Series 7. Series 7 was a strange time
09:32for Doctor Who, as it was split into two distinctive parts, one with the Ponds and one without. There were
09:36some great episodes either side of the divide, but the one that Whovians thought was the best of the
09:41bunch was, you guessed it, The Angels' Take Manhattan. On IMDB, the episode is the joint
09:46highest ranked along with The Name of the Doctor, both of which scored 9 out of 10, though if you
09:51count the specials as part of the series, The Day of the Doctor tops them both with 9.3 out
09:56of 10.
09:56While the contenders for the top spot were Asylum of the Daleks at 8.5, The Bells of St. John
10:01at 7.8,
10:02and Hyde at 7.6. Number 5. Brightwell and Hyman. No, Brightwell and Hyman is not a firm of lawyers
10:08or
10:09estate agents, but rather the name of a company that makes matches. Rory uses a box of Brightwell
10:14and Hyman matches to fend off the cherub statues, but what you almost certainly didn't know is that
10:18this brand would appear in Doctor Who again. A few episodes later, in The Crimson Horror,
10:23a poster can be seen in the background of a shot advertising Brightwell and Hyman quality matches.
10:28This makes sense, seeing as how the setting of Sweetfield centres around a giant match factory.
10:32Brightwell and Hyman is never once spoken on screen, making this quite possibly one of the most
10:37obscure connections in the show. Number 4. Why the Doctor can't visit the Ponds.
10:41One of the biggest bugbears fans have with The Angels Take Manhattan is that, in theory,
10:46the Doctor could just hop in the TARDIS, choose a random city in the past and tell the Ponds to
10:50meet
10:50him there. But unfortunately for a Fez-loving hero, he's played fast and loose with the rules of time,
10:55and Amy and Rory's history was too wibbly wobbly to interfere with. At least that's the explanation
11:00offered by Steven Moffat, who said he can't interfere. In normal circumstances he might have gone back and
11:05said, look, just put a headstone up and you'll write the book. But there is so much scar tissue,
11:09and the number of paradoxes that have already been inflicted on that nexus of timelines that will
11:13rip apart if you try and do one more thing, he has to leave it alone. Considering how often Doctor
11:18interferes with those timelines and fixed points, it's an explanation that's unlikely to satisfy
11:22many fans. But over a decade later, it's the only explanation we're ever going to get.
11:26Number 3. It has a sequel. During the Covid-19 pandemic,
11:29Whovians around the world came together to watch old episodes of the show. To coincide with the screening of
11:34Doctor's wife, a short film was produced called Rory's Story. Written by Neil Gaiman, it featured
11:39Mr. Pond talking to his soon-to-be adopted son Anthony from 1946. He's filming himself on a
11:45smartphone he'd carried from the future, just don't worry about how he might have charged it, okay?
11:49Rory recounts several of his and Amy's adventures, including how they ended up in the past,
11:53before his wife calls for him to come help paint the baby's room. It was lovely to check in on
11:58the Ponds
11:58after so many years away, especially during those gloomy pandemic times.
12:02Number 2. Yowza. The Doctor has said and done many unfashionable things over the years,
12:07but uttering the word Yowza, that ranks up there with the cringiest. Eleven says it while reading
12:11Melody Malone, prompting Amy to call out his choice of words. She shouldn't have been too surprised,
12:16though, as he'd actually said it before. In the Almost People, when looking for an escape route,
12:20the Doctor exclaims Yowza, but he finds one, much to Amy's confusion. Then, in the name of the Doctor,
12:25he says it again after avoiding the Great Intelligence's minions, the Whispermen. They've never said it since,
12:31though. Probably realized how uncool it was. Number 1. Amy's ending was years in the making.
12:35In December 2011, it was announced that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were exiting Doctor Who,
12:41nearly an entire year before it actually happened. Moffat tried to throw viewers off the scent by
12:45introducing new companion Jenna Coleman early, but we all knew the inevitable was coming.
12:50Interestingly enough, Amy's swan song had actually been foretold much earlier. And by much earlier,
12:55we mean her very first episode. When a young Amelia is waiting for the Doctor to return in
13:00the eleventh hour, there's a shot of her looking up at the sky as she hears the sound of the
13:04TARDIS.
13:04This seems a bit random at the time, as it was established that the Doctor never came back for
13:09her. And, in fact, that was an important part of Amy's character. She was the girl who waited,
13:14after all. In The Angels Take Manhattan, however, we learn that the Doctor did eventually go back for
13:19her, but only after Amy asks him to in her final letter. This is something Moffat had been planning
13:24to reveal from day one, as he revealed to the press before The Angels Take Manhattan debuted.
13:29After showing Amelia Pond in the garden as a young girl in the eleventh hour, the final shot in The
13:34Angels Take Manhattan is a punchline I've been waiting to tell for two and a half years. One of the
13:39great things about the Eleventh Doctor's era is that it's one giant story arc from the first episode
13:44to the last. This payoff in particular was incredibly emotional for fans who'd stuck with Amy's
13:49journey from that very first shot of her lonely old house.
13:53That's everything for our list, folks. What did you think of this episode and what did you think
13:56of this list? Let us know in the comments below. Please don't forget to follow us over on Twitter
14:00at WhoCulture. We're on Instagram at WhoCulture as well, and we're also on TikTok. Thank you so much
14:04for your ongoing support. You are wonderful. You are brilliant. Look after yourselves. And,
14:09above all else, until I'm talking to you again, keep things wibbly wobbly.
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