Amy's Choice
sovietusername
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sfgtp/Doctor_Who_Series_5_Amys_Choice/
Theres lots of big stories in series 5 with huge concepts and scenarioes such as The Eleventh Hour, The Pandorica Opens, the Big Bang, BUT, theres also quite a few smaller ones wiith with quite a slower pace and which are mcuh quiter. Now, I fear I know what Daveyboy's going to say already
, that it's to slow, and there are some bits which do drag along e.g. in the TARDIS, but this is an episode that's deffo meant to be slow, and like episodes such as Midnight, would not be nearly as good if there were a faster pace to the episode. I love the atmosphere and slight creepiness of this, the village scenes feel especially dreamlike and it makes the episode a very different one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y0atJgId9U
Personally, I love this episode, it's one of my favourites. The concept is brilliant, them having to decide between 2 worlds (though I did think it had to be the TARDIS one as the attack of old people seemed a tad silly), and the revelation that neither was real was very surprising The writer here is briliant, I always thought they should come back. It has lots of funny moments e.g. the Doctor pushing Miss Poggit off the roof, Rory wacking an old woman with a massive log, and one of my favourites, Rory being thrown into the air by that old guy who snook him toffees. "Did I not say thank you?":D
But we have lots of serious moments. The characters really go through big stuff here. Like I said before, I love Rory and you really sympathise with him. PLUS, he dies for the first time here! A big occasion! He and the Doctor are constantly driven at odds here. We have lots of questions raised about the Doctor here as well, who he is, his name, why he travels with his cpmapnions etc. The DreamLord was a brillaint villain. He steals every scene he is and really convinces you he;s this big powerful and mysterious being who may actually be equal to the Doctor. And the final revelation of who he actually is was totally unexpected, but really good. The scene at the end though, where the Doctor sees the DreamLord in his reflection kinda left me wanting more and it's a shame nothing mores been made of that. It would be nice to explore the Doctors dark side a little.
The star of the show here though is Amy, in an episode that is essentially all about her. She's at her most likeable here as she finally decides between the Doctor and Rory. Up unti now Rory had just been portrayed as this awkward unexciting guy who could never live up to the Doctor, and who Amy only seems to be with cos she cant get any better. But here we realise just how close they are. Amy loves Rory, just as much as he's ever loved her, and this is the first time we've ever really seen this properly. She grows so much here and earns her place as one of my favourite companions. I love her standing up to the DreamLord in the frozen TARDIS, and her suicide in the Village (though I must say it is a little questionable, as she's carrying a child as well).
It's hard to explain just why I love this episode so much. It's just great. Every scene is done with such quality and perfection. It's a really different episode and thats about so much yet still manages to be quite small and contained.
I just love it to bits. It's one of my all time favourite episodes and I'd definately five it a 10/10.
(And of corse, this episode has what is perhaps one of the BEST scenes not only in Dr Who, but perhaps in the whole of TV History. I love it, it always makes me laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juMnJpQmOA8&feature=g-hist
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant)
Theres lots of big stories in series 5 with huge concepts and scenarioes such as The Eleventh Hour, The Pandorica Opens, the Big Bang, BUT, theres also quite a few smaller ones wiith with quite a slower pace and which are mcuh quiter. Now, I fear I know what Daveyboy's going to say already
, that it's to slow, and there are some bits which do drag along e.g. in the TARDIS, but this is an episode that's deffo meant to be slow, and like episodes such as Midnight, would not be nearly as good if there were a faster pace to the episode. I love the atmosphere and slight creepiness of this, the village scenes feel especially dreamlike and it makes the episode a very different one.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y0atJgId9U
Personally, I love this episode, it's one of my favourites. The concept is brilliant, them having to decide between 2 worlds (though I did think it had to be the TARDIS one as the attack of old people seemed a tad silly), and the revelation that neither was real was very surprising The writer here is briliant, I always thought they should come back. It has lots of funny moments e.g. the Doctor pushing Miss Poggit off the roof, Rory wacking an old woman with a massive log, and one of my favourites, Rory being thrown into the air by that old guy who snook him toffees. "Did I not say thank you?":D
But we have lots of serious moments. The characters really go through big stuff here. Like I said before, I love Rory and you really sympathise with him. PLUS, he dies for the first time here! A big occasion! He and the Doctor are constantly driven at odds here. We have lots of questions raised about the Doctor here as well, who he is, his name, why he travels with his cpmapnions etc. The DreamLord was a brillaint villain. He steals every scene he is and really convinces you he;s this big powerful and mysterious being who may actually be equal to the Doctor. And the final revelation of who he actually is was totally unexpected, but really good. The scene at the end though, where the Doctor sees the DreamLord in his reflection kinda left me wanting more and it's a shame nothing mores been made of that. It would be nice to explore the Doctors dark side a little.
The star of the show here though is Amy, in an episode that is essentially all about her. She's at her most likeable here as she finally decides between the Doctor and Rory. Up unti now Rory had just been portrayed as this awkward unexciting guy who could never live up to the Doctor, and who Amy only seems to be with cos she cant get any better. But here we realise just how close they are. Amy loves Rory, just as much as he's ever loved her, and this is the first time we've ever really seen this properly. She grows so much here and earns her place as one of my favourite companions. I love her standing up to the DreamLord in the frozen TARDIS, and her suicide in the Village (though I must say it is a little questionable, as she's carrying a child as well).
It's hard to explain just why I love this episode so much. It's just great. Every scene is done with such quality and perfection. It's a really different episode and thats about so much yet still manages to be quite small and contained.
I just love it to bits. It's one of my all time favourite episodes and I'd definately five it a 10/10.
(And of corse, this episode has what is perhaps one of the BEST scenes not only in Dr Who, but perhaps in the whole of TV History. I love it, it always makes me laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juMnJpQmOA8&feature=g-hist
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant
) 0
Comments
Oh, and I can't quite put my finger on why, but Amy's Choice has one of my favourite pre-title sequences. The Doctor's line "this is going to be a tricky one" right before the titles roll just gives me the feeling of "oh, this is going to be good!".
You will be pleasantly surprised to know that I actually like this episode!
One of the small advantages of every single episode(bar The 11th Hour) being below par is that when a really good episode comes long you enjoy it a lot more. I remember starting to watch this and just expecting it to be another snoozefest but in fact it was an episode that shows that like Midnight, a slower paced episode can work if there's enough there to grab your interest and it's executed right on screen, a common failure of most episodes in this Series imo.
I think this is one of the better Amy/Rory stories where the relationship between the two is put under scrutiny but they come out winning on the other side at the story's conclusion. And as you say, it shows in full The Doctor's dark side in the shape of the Dream Lord, who I thought was slightly similar to The Celestial Toymaker from Season 3 of Classic Who in the way he can't be touched and mercilessly mocks The Doctor.
It certainly was a brilliant concept making the viewer unsure which reality is real and switching between the two. Matt Smith is again superb in this, just loved it when he puts his hands under Amy as if to catch the baby when she pretended to go in labour!
Haven't really got that much more to say about it but after The Eleventh Hour, I'd say this was my second favourite episode of this Series. It's shame some of the other slower paced stories didn't live upto this episode as it truly was superb.
And Soviet, just to let you know, three episodes down the line, normal service will be resumed!
I liked the idea of the Dream Lord (it would be nice to see him again) and Rory was just as cute as a button, with his ponytail!
The pacing was fine, the plot nicely complicated - so why do I still think it feels a bit flat? I don't know, I wish I did, but having seen it 3 times now, I still don't feel emotionally engaged with it. There was never any real sense of danger or excitement.
I think it's a good episode, but I don't particularly want to see it again.
That'll teach me to make assumptions
I wasn't fussed about which world was real and which was not, the revelation that none of them were real was more of a relief than a surprise to me. I thought the attack of the old people was awful, the freezing sun was an interesting concept but it turned out to be an extremely boring scenario anyway.
Then Rory died and it here where I really started to like Amy. Risking her own life just to be with Rory again just proved that she wasn't just getting married to him for the sake of getting married. It completely redeemed her for kissing the doctor in the previous episode. Little did she know that she would soon become his mother in law!
The Dream Lord was absolutely fantastic as well, although I think this episode should be the first and last time we see him. I wouldn't want him to return only for a repeat of this episode and I don't particularly want him to be more dangerous.
Overall, an 8/10. It would have been an extremely good episode if the two worlds were more . . . dangerous? Interesting? I suppose the slow pace of the story was intentional but it still didn't completely work for me.
Karen was the star turn here and really excelled, though Matt and Arthur were both excellent too.
I loved that we finally found out how much Amy really loved Rory.
Instead of a future without. Leaving her best freind and daughter behind.rip mrs williams.
The whole 'waking dream' theme becomes more and more disturbing with each repetition, which is something I didn't pick up on before. Toby Jones is wonderfully creepy as the Dream Lord, demonstrating the power of negative suggestion, and Amy finally shows she has a heart, rather than (as I feared) a shard of ice. Rory continues to be great value, and I think Matt demonstrates his best acting so far, both comical, when, as Daveyboy said, he puts his hands underneath Amy to catch the baby, and solemn, when he gets into the car with Amy...
The scenes with the frozen TARDIS and the cold star in the distance are visually stunning, too. I find the resolution to be a bit of an anti-climax, but the final image is great.
It was a wonderful opportunity to see the main trio all in action, though was perhaps a little too soon in the chronology given that Rory has only been aboard one episode previously. Most interestingly, and perhaps the only thing I liked about Amy and Rory's relationship at this stage was the different views they had - Amy was the child-at-heart traveller, and Rory was the reluctant traveller trying to keep his girlfriend happy. It was a new companion dynamic we hadn't seen before, and one that was sorely underused in the series.
Toby Jone's offered a delightful and eerie villain in the shape of the Dreamlord. His character was intriguing, quite unpredictable, and I'm not ashamed to admit I didn't see the ending coming in the slightest. But Jones was very entertaining, witty and enjoyable...definitely one of the villains you'd hope to see again at some stage, and the final image of the episode hinted that that wasn't beyond the realms of possibility.
The two threats of the episode - the killer pensioners and the cold star were more interesting to me than most people from the sounds of things. The shots of the elderlies in the field was quite haunting, and despite the episode leading to some granny-bashing, it was another original baddie for the show.
More interesting than anything though, and what made the episode a stand out one for me was the segments between The Doctor and The Dreamlord. It was bizarre seeing The Doctor get put down so intensely, and the revelation about the Dreamlord's identity at the end was perhaps the strongest and most solid development of our leading man since the show came back in 2005. Sometimes the show tries too hard to make The Doctor mysterious and unknown, but here he is fleshed out that little bit more. So despite this being a story revolving around Amy's choice, it was the role of The Doctor that topped it for me, and was the first time that Smith owned the role, I think. As such, I remember this episode fondly and consider it a highlight of the bumpy road that was Series 5.
I think it paved the way for a brilliant mix of Doctor Who-level scares, and some well placed witty comedy. I wouldn't object to Simon Nye writing a sequel episode some time, or indeed any additional episode of 'Who
The episode for me has it all. It has a lot of scenes in the TARDIS which I love, especially in this episode as the TARDIS scenes are dramatic and aren't just there as filler scenes. I loved the whole idea of their being two reality's and Amy having to choose which one was real and which was fake. Turns out, neither of them were, a twist I was very happy with. It also had the emotion with Amy thinking that Rory had died and possibly killing herself and the Doctor just to have a chance of seeing him again.
Toby Jones played the villain perfectly. I particularly liked him because he looked so normal - he didn't have three heads, he wasn't green - he was just a normal bloke which made him all the more threatening. He was surprisingly creepy, especially when he was alone with Amy as the others were sleeping.
Overall, I loved the episode and it's eeriness. Definitely a stand out episode of series 5.
Absolutely superb.
That's another reason why this episode was so interesting: Simon Nye. I remember having misgivings when I read that he was writing an episode. (The Men Behaving Badly guy, writing for DW? Aaargh! Nooo!
But he did a superb job, somehow managing to completely wear the mantle of a DW writer and put totally convincing dialogue into the character's mouths without ever allowing his regular "voice" to kind of poke through and spoil the mood. Very few writers with a distinctive style are able to do that.