Episode 7 - Amy's Choice

[django]

I thought this was a very bland and dull episode. Whilst it had some interesting ideas, I found it totally devoid of tension. They were supposed to be 40 odd minutes fom death in both worlds, yet there was no sense they were in any real danger.

After the highs of River Song and the Angels I have found the last two episode to be very lack lustre. I even enjoyed "Victory of the Daleks" more than these episodes!

[JahRose]

I agree with django that this was a bland and dull episode.  So in the end we had three "worlds":

> The world of pregnant Amy in which the threat was being turned into dust.

> The world of the TARDIS in which they'd freeze to death.

> The "real world" of.... what?  Dream dust and the Doctors... guilt?

I would have enjoyed it more if for us as viewers couldn't tell the difference between the dream and reality.  So once the final reveal was made it was more of a suprise to us.  I think then this episode was have been very successful.  I'm giving this a 3/5 as I understand where the story was going, it just didn't acheive its goals.  I know I'll like it better the 2nd time round.

But hey... no silence... and we didnt' see Amy's crack.   Though, I would have been interesting if she did actually give birth and then had to make her choice.. but oh well.

[Ian]

Excellent episode, probably the best of the season so far. Good high concept and I was very impressed with how quickly and easily the concept was communicated before the credits so we could get on with exploring it.

I was unsure which way they would go pretty much to the end. The Tardis seemed the obvious real world, but I was half expecting it to twist it so the 5 years, pregnancy and ponytail were all real.

Ok, we got a reset switch at the end, but not really as the relationship between Amy, Rory and the Doctor won't return to where it was (thank god). In fact I'm really pleased that all that tension should be gone now so we can get on with some cracking good stories with minimal anxst

[JahRose]

The more I think about this episode, the more I like it.  Even though by the end of this episode I knew it was from the Doctors point of view, now I realise that EVERYTHING said by the "Dreamlord" is how the Doctor truly feels.  I don't think we've gotten an inside view of the Doctors thoughts and feeling before on this personal level.  I'm going to rewatch it at a later time... I have to get up 6 1/2 hrs to get ready to catch a 6AM train into New York.   I have a feeling that my orignal 3/5 score may just get bumped up!

[clarksavagejr]

 I found "Amy's Choice" an enthralling 43 minutes of television. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it a heck of a lot. The regulars were all on fire, particularly Matt Smith, who continues to bring the eccentricity and mercurial mind of the Doctor to the fore. His use of hand gestures and body language is wonderful.

Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill get lots of good character moments to shine as well. Toby Jones makes a great, snarky, sinister foil. Simon Nye's script is very clever, allowing for lots of witty dialogue mixed in with genuine menace. The seemingly idyllic village setting of Upper Leadworth is used to good effect. Some fans have commented on a certain AVENGERS-esque feel to the village scenes, and they may be right. Certainly this is one of the more original adventures to come down the pike in a while.

The final resolution of the Dream Lord's threat is perhaps the only slight let-down in the whole show, saved perhaps by the Doctor's alternate reflection on the Tardis console. I'm not sure the Doctor of the Classic series ever would have possessed such darkness that NU WHO seems determined to burden him with...but whatever. It's a legitimate path to take the character down.

Overall, this has been a pretty strong season (or series) so far, IMO. Moffatt seems to be getting the balance between the classic series vibe and the new, flashier series' energy just about right, while turning up the quirkiness and innate British-ness of it all. Personally, I could use even more of a push into Classic series territory, but I understand how that might not work with today's casual audiences.

Next week's looks smashing...a coal mining town, a deep-earth drilling project gone awry, and the return of the Silurians. And it's a two-parter. Can't wait!

[Tegan]

The middle eight of this series.

I think this is that difficult 8 bars in the middle of the Song (see what I did there) linking the start and end.

Everyone the Doctor has met has been trying to get his goat, to try and make the Doctor react out of character.

This time it's Rory, trying to shame him at a most inopportune time, and the Dream Lord with really lame, music hall insults doing the same.

Hated the Dream Lord, a really horrid (as in little child horrid) little man. Pesky. Annoying. A nuisance, but ultimately ineffectual. And I'm guessing that's precisely what he's meant to be.

And did you notice the number plate on the Kombi? ADW. A Dream World. Got that one right away. The cold star had me confused though, until the twist at the end. Didn't see that coming.

Overall, a slightly above average story, but I'm getting more and more convinced that this will be the best series of Who since the return. More coherent, and even though the stories are different, heading to the one conclusion.

[Ian]

The final resolution of the Dream Lord's threat is perhaps the only slight let-down in the whole show, saved perhaps by the Doctor's alternate reflection on the Tardis console. I'm not sure the Doctor of the Classic series ever would have possessed such darkness that NU WHO seems determined to burden him with...but whatever. It's a legitimate path to take the character down.

Actually, having thought about this some more, the whole concept of the dreamlord being the darker side of thd Doctor is pretty much identical to the Valeyard in Ultimate Foe. Not being sure if the things he is seeing is reality is a similar theme to the scenes in the Matrix as well in the same episode.

Of course Trial of a Timelord is not high on most peoples list of examples of old Who, and I would say Amy's choice is far superior. But the idea of the Doctor having this dark  side has certainly been investigated before.   

[Nick Whitfield]

I thought Amy's Choice started quite slowly but the more it went on the more interesting it got.  It is definitely the most serious of stories of the whole series so far. 

There didn't appear to be much danger to start with, but then there were the infected old people, a nice twist on massive deadly physcial power in frail bodies.  I liked the apparent confusion between the two dream worlds.  Mind you I didn't notice at the time that the doctor had worked out what was going on when he told the dream lord he knew who he was. Presumably the doctor knew amy's crash into the dream house, was the dream and that was the way to get back into the tardis nightmare.

All in all despite the viewer having to work quite hard, it was a really intrigueing watch and the whole scenario between amy and rory was very touching.

[Ian]

It just occured to me, people have been asking for a 'Tardis' episode, and we just got it. They never left the Tardis the whole time! 

[George Harrison]

Ultimate Foe.  

Ahem... "The Trial of A Timelord Parts 13 and 14"

[Ian]

Ultimate Foe.  

Ahem... "The Trial of A Timelord Parts 13 and 14"

aka The Ultimate Foe :p

[The Brigadier]

I loved this episode! This is definatly top of my list of favourite episodes!
The Dream Lord was Fantastic and could he be The Valeyard?
I think the dreams were based on Rory and Amy's dreams, Rory wanted a peaceful life with Amy and Amy wanted a fun life with The Doctor and Rory.
Rory's "Death" Scene wwas one of the highlights of the episode for me, it showed that Amy really loves Rory and I think it was hard for The Doctor to because another one of his conpanion / friend has died in front of him. I hope Rory stays for another series but after looking at some of the filming pictures for episode 10 onwards I don't think he does. (Could he be killed in next weeks to parter?)
I'm disapponited that we didn't see more of the Interior TARDIS but I'm not to bothered.

I hope The dream Lord isn't in the finale and I don't think he is but He could be in the christmas special (Maybe in SJA). Although I doubt he will be as good as this episode as I think the plot of Dream and Reality might get boring after a while. They'll probally have some sort of twist.
Also I think Steven Nye has now made millions of kids scared of there grandparents!
I really enjoy Men Behaving Badly (A TV show created / written by Steven Nye) and I think Steven is a brilliant writer.
Anyway, Brilliant episode and It's given me a great idea for a Fan  Fic.!

5/5
 

[Tegan]

Also I think Steven Nye has now made millions of kids scared of there grandparents!

Hah! Steven Nye never met MY grandparents!

[JahRose]

Wow, I think I was really tired and cranky when I first saw this episode.  Because the more I thought about it afterwards, I realized that there was a lot about it I was missing.  Even when the end was revealed, I had the details in mind, but I just couldn't process it at that time.

Initially I wrote:

I would have enjoyed it more if for us as viewers couldn't tell the difference between the dream and reality.  So once the final reveal was made it was more of a surprise to us.

My first thoughts after watching this episode was obviously that the reveal was when the Doctor "blew up" the TARDIS to show that ice sun was also a dream.  However, the reveal was more subtle than that.  It was the fact that the Dream Lord was the Doctor, and everything that the Dream Lord AND the Doctor said had a deeper meaning.  I caught this the first time around, but I quickly discarded the comment when the Doctor says to Amy and Rory:

"I wanted to see how you were; I don’t just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS.”

So then when the Dream Lord says…

“Friends, is that the right word for the people you acquire?  Friends are people you stay in touch with.  Your friends never see you again once they’ve grown up.  The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?”

Now we can see the true motives of why the Doctor needs Amy to choose Rory and more importantly, for Rory to believe her.  Also, makes sense why the Doctor doesn’t fight back against the words of the Dream Lord, because he’d just be fighting with himself.  Wow… just wow.

Matt, Karen, & Arthur were fantastic in this episode, and I can’t believe I didn’t see how brilliant it was in the first place.

[Henry Gordon Jago]

A solid 4.5/5 (I voted 4 in the poll).  An exploration of the very Nu-Who territory of interpersonal relationships couched in a mash-up of the decidedly old-school likes of The Mind Robber, The Celestial Toymaker, and The Edge of Destruction/Inside the Spaceship/serial C (delete to preference). 

Great performances from the regulars.  I know the knock against Rory is that he's seen by many as a Mickey clone, but I find the writing for his character and Arthur Darvill's performance much more genuine than all the bluster and posturing we got with Mickey.  There's tons more real chemistry between Rory and Amy than there ever was between Rose and "the tin dog".

I'm loving this season more and more.  I can't wait to see what other surprises are in store in the next few weeks, but at the same time I don't want it to end!

And my heart leapt a bit during Confidential when we got to see the TARDIS interior covered in nice shiny white (even if it was faux ice), at least for a brief moment.  I so miss that look.