Weeping Angel: Difference between revisions

{{About|the Doctor Who villains|the style of grave statuary|Angel of Grief}}

| name = Weeping Angel

| image = [[File:Doctor Who Weeping Angel from The Time of Angels.JPG]]

| caption = A Weeping Angel as seen in "[[The Time of Angels]]" (2010).

| series = [[Doctor Who]]

| type = Winged humanoids

| home_world = Unknown

| first = "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]" (2007)

| creatorlast = "[[StevenSurvivors Moffatof the Flux]]" (2021)

The '''Weeping Angels''' are a race of alien predatory creatures from the long-running [[science fiction]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]''. They were introduced in the 2007 episode "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]", making repeat appearances in later episodes. They also appeared in the spin-off series ''[[Class (2016 TV series)|Class]]''. Since their initial appearance, they have been persistently nominated as one of the most popular and frightening Doctor Who monsters. [[Steven Moffat]] attributes their appeal to [[List of children's games|childhood games]] such as [[Statues (game)|Grandmother's Footsteps]] and the notion that everyany stone statue might secretly be a disguised Weeping Angel.''<ref name="Confidential">{{cite serial |title=[[Doctor Who Confidential]] |network=[[BBC]] |station=[[BBC Three]] |location=[[Cardiff]] |airdate=2007-06-09}}</ref>''

In their usual form, Weeping Angels resemble silent human-sized stone statues in the form of winged [[angel]]s in draped clothing, such as might appear as tomb statuary infrom a Victorian graveyard. As they close in on more aware victims they transformtend to show a more horrific, bestial, and demonic aspect with wide-open mouths, vampiric teeth, and clawed hands paired with a furious expression. It is also implied that Weeping Angels can mimic the forms or dimensions of a broader range of statuary if required: in "[[The Angels Take Manhattan]]" (2012), one Weeping Angel takes the form (or hijacks the existing form) of the [[Statue of Liberty]] (manifesting as a full-size Liberty with Weeping Angel features) and the final moments of "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]" (2007) suggest that ''any'' stone statue might be a disguised Weeping Angel.

In the episode "The Angels Take Manhattan", another form of Weeping Angel is shown, the [[cherub]]im.<ref name="RT preview">{{cite web |last=Mulkern |first=Patrick |lastdate=Mulkern23 September 2012 |title=The Angels Take Manhattan preview |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-09-23/doctor-who-the-angels-take-manhattan-preview |seriesurl-status=Doctor Wholive |titlearchive-url=The Angels Take Manhattan https://web.archive.org/web/20120925172441/http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-09-23/doctor-who-the-angels-take-manhattan-preview |work=[[Radio Times]] |archive-date=2325 September 2012 |access-date=23 September 2012 |work=[[Radio Times]] |series=Doctor Who}}</ref> Unlike the Weeping Angels, the cherubim are not silent, making a childlike giggling and having audible footsteps. It is not explicitly stated that these are young Weeping Angels, but they are referred to as "the babies".

When they are're not being observed by another being, Weeping Angels can move veryextremely quickly andwhich is usually accompanied by a stone-scraping silentlysound. Their phenomenal speed allows them to close distances of metres literally in the blink of an eye. However, when they are're being observed they become "quantumQuantum-lockedLocked", occupying a single position in space and becoming stone. In this state, they're areentirely frozen in place and difficultcannot tobe destroykilled.

Weeping Angels are physically very strong, although they rarely physically kill a victim since this wastes the time-potential energy which the Weeping Angels would otherwise consume to survive. They prefer to take their energy from live victims, but if required, they can drain energy from other forms such as that from electric lights (typically torches or light bulbs), or other electronics.

Weeping Angels have also exhibited a startling ability to project themselves throughfrom anything that depicts a physical image of a Weeping Angel, although this requires an enormous amount of imagesenergy. Using this ability, the Weeping Angels can appear to be manifest themselves from anything fromsuch as videos to drawings. Weeping Angels can also imprint a mental image of themselves into a person's mind bywhen usuallythe victim lookinglooks straight into their eyes for a certain amount of time: the image then gestates and takes over the person's body to manifest as a new Weeping Angel or can kill the host through escaping the body once fully developed.

* "[[Village of the Angels]]" (2021))

* ''Touched by an Angel''

* ''Magic of the Angels''

* ''The Angel's Kiss''

* ''Ten Little Aliens''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=Stephen |url=https://archive.org/details/tenlittlealiens0000cole |title=Ten Little Aliens |date=2002 |publisher=[[BBC Books]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-849-90516-9 |language=en |url-access=registration |urlvia=https://archive.org/details/tenlittlealiens0000cole }}</ref>

* "Living History"

* "Suddenly in a Graveyard..."

* "The Garden of Statues"

* [[Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters|Fallen Angels]]

* [[Doom Coalition|The Side of the Angels]]

* [[The Diary of River Song#Series 7 (2020)|Carnival of Angels]]

The Weeping Angels came in at number three in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s "Top Ten New Classic Monsters" in ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Neil Gaiman: My Top 10 New Classic Monsters|url=http://www.ew.com/gallery/neil-gaiman-my-top-10-new-classic-monsters|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=July 2008|access-date=2008-08-12}}</ref> They were also rated the third "baddie" in ''Doctor Who'' by ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', behind the [[Auton|Nestene Consciousness]] and Daleks.<ref>{{cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Gillian |date=4 May 2011 |title=Doctor Who - the top ten baddies |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8493054/Doctor-Who-the-top-ten-baddies.html?image=7|title=Doctor Who - the top ten baddies|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|access-date=6 August 2011|location=London|date=4 May 2011}}</ref> The Angels were listed as the third scariest television characters by [[TV Squad]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Annie|last=Wu|url=http://www.aoltv.com/2007/10/24/all-time-scariest-tv-characters-3-weeping-angels/|title=All-time scariest TV characters|publisher=[[TV Squad]]|date=24 October 2007|access-date=13 March 2012}}</ref> In 2009, ''SFX'' named the climax of "Blink" with the Weeping Angels advancing on Sally and Larry the scariest moment in ''Doctor Who''{{'s}} history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/2009/02/01/21_scariest_doctor_who_moments_7/|title=21 Scariest Doctor Who Moments 7|work=SFX|date=2009-02-01|access-date=2012-04-14}}</ref> They also listed the Angels in their list of favourite things of the revival of ''Doctor Who'', writing, "Scariest. Monsters. Ever."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/2009/02/01/27_things_sfx_loves_about_new_who_3/|title=27 Things SFX Loves About New Who 3|work=SFX|date=2009-02-01|access-date=2012-04-14}}</ref>

"Blink" won the [[Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form]] in 2008.<ref name="Hugo">{{Cite news |date=2008-08-09 |title=2008 Hugo Award Results Announced |publisher=[[Hugo Award]]s |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/?p=146 |publisher=[[Hugo Award]]s website |date=2008-08-09 |access-date=2008-08-11 }}</ref>

==PopularIn popular culture==

''Weeping Angel'' is the name of a [[hacking (computer security)|hacking]] tool revealed in [[Vault 7]], co-developed in 2014 by the [[CIA]] and [[MI5]], used to [[Exploit (computer security)|exploit]] [[smart TV]]s for the purpose of covert [[Signals intelligence#COMINT|intelligence gathering]]. Once installed in a suitable TV, the tool enables the television to record its surroundings while appearing to be turned off (so-called "Fake-Off"). The tool was developed in 2014 as part of a joint CIA/MI5 workshop, and there's no evidence that it was ever operational.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Pachal| |first = Pete |date=7 titleMarch =2017 |title=CIA hack of Samsung TVs was named after a Doctor Who monster| work = Mashable| date url= 7 March http://mashable.com/2017| access/03/07/cia-date = 2017samsung-03tv-08|hack-weeping-angel/ |url -status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307184611/http://mashable.com/2017/03/07/cia-samsung-tv-hack-weeping-angel/#UDuSXb3Iymqa |archive-date=7 March 2017 |access-date=2017-03-08 |work=Mashable}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| last = Molina| first = Brett| title = Alleged CIA hack named after super creepy 'Doctor Who' villain| work = USA TODAY| access-date = 2017-03-08| url = https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/03/07/alleged-cia-technique-named-after-doctor-who-villain/98853924/}}</ref>

* {{TardisIndexFile|Weeping Angels}}