The Weeping Angels are some of the most fearsome creatures on Doctor Who, and they are far deadlier than the show pretends. In their televised appearances, the Weeping Angels have been responsible for some horrifying “kills”--sending people back through time, never to be seen again. Some people find their groove wherever they are sent–but many more do not, and as seen in Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #7, some meet truly gruesome ends.
First appearing in the now-classic third season episode “Blink,” the Weeping Angels quickly became one of Doctor Who’s most popular alien races. A race as ancient as the universe itself, the Weeping Angels exist in a “quantum-locked” state; if any being gazes upon the Weeping Angel, it ceases to exist, becoming merely another stone statue. However, the moment a person turns their back on the Angel, it sends them back into the past, consuming the “time” the victim had left; those who fall prey to the Angels can find themselves thrown back potentially hundreds of years in the past. Fans have seen what becomes of a few of the Angels’ victims, including Amy and Rory Pond, and for the most part, they find a groove in whatever time frame they end up in but not everyone gets a happy ending as seen in a Doctor Who story written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Daniel Indro.
In a disturbing sequence, the Doctor relates the history of the Weeping Angels to his new companion Gabby. He explains the inner workings of the Angels, describing how they attack their victims as well as the best way to defeat them. As the Doctor talks, readers see the fates of three hapless victims: one is sent back to 1879, deposited on a train minutes before it goes off the rails, killing everyone on board’ a second is dropped dab-smack in the middle of gladiatorial games in ancient Rome and the third is sent to London in the 1530s, where thanks to their futuristic dress and mannerisms, they are about to be burnt at the stake for being a witch.
The Weeping Angels Are Even Scarier Than They Seem
When comparing the Weeping Angels’ kills between the television show and the comics, one thing becomes clear: the show has sanitized the Angels a bit. In the Angels’ first appearance, two of their victims acclimate to the times they were sent back to, leading relatively normal and productive lives; furthermore, two of the Doctor’s companions: Amy and Rory, were victims of the Angels, but were able to start new lives in the past. The Angels’ victims in this story have no such luck, finding themselves in horrifying situations that end in quick or painful deaths. Given the sheer number of people who have fallen prey to the Weeping Angels, this seems like a more likely outcome. As far as fans know, the victims’ final destination is seemingly random, but if the Angels could choose a place, it would make their powers all the more horrifying.
The primary reason the program could not depict these brutal “kills” due to the constraints of being a family television show, leaving the final fates of their victims up to the viewer’s imaginations. The Weeping Angels are some of the most popular bad guys on Doctor Who, and their return is inevitable. One Doctor Who comic showed just how terrifying the Weeping Angels can be–even more so than the television show.