Trivia / Doctor Who S33 E5 "The Angels Take Manhattan"

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• Acting for Two: Arthur Darvill plays both regular Rory and the old Rory, nearing death, that the gang encounters.
• California Doubling: Averted for many of the exterior scenes which were actually shot on location in New York. Played straight for any scenes involving River Song as Alex Kingston was not part of the New York filming.
• The Danza: Rory's middle name is revealed as Arthur, just like Arthur Darvill, whose full name is Thomas Arthur Darvill.
• Defictionalization: The Angel's Kiss. Though it's not exactly the book from the episode — it reads more like a prequel to this episode, showing how long River has been in New York investigating the Angels.
• Deleted Scene: A scene revealing how Brian Williams learns of Rory and Amy's fates was included in the script, but Mark Williams wasn't available to film it. Eventually an animated short called "P.S." was put together with narration by Arthur Darvill to provide some closure for the character.
• Enforced Method Acting: Matt Smith and Karen Gillan got very emotional filming the final graveyard scene.
• Shrug of God: A fan asked Matt Smith at a convention why the Doctor can't go back and get a bus or a boat to New York to visit Amy and Rory in the past. His answer? "Because Moffat".
• What Could Have Been:
  • This story originally featured the Daleks. With the new setting of New York, the Weeping Angels were considered a better fit, as it would be treading old ground.
  • The doctor’s item from Ancient China was originally a TARDIS-shaped puzzle box. He would later use it to travel back to 1938 after locating it in a museum in the 21st century. The creator of the box was also supposed to reappear later on.
  • Grayle was supposed to have been sent to his workshop by the Weeping Angels, forced to create his own antiques. His fate was then changed into becoming a slave during the Renaissance, as shown in one of his paintings. In the finished product, it seems the Weeping Angels just straight up killed him.
  • The time manipulation at Winter Quay was much more elaborate, with versions of both Rory and Sam Garner at different stages of life.
  • Originally, when the TARDIS couldn’t appear in New York, it was meant to appear during the age of Vikings.

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