Doctor Who: Series 5, Episode 7, Spoilers

[rabid1st]

We come here not to complain about Amy Pond, but to offer her a choice.

I rather liked this episode. It reminded me very much of Old School Doctor Who. The little village, the cheesy aliens, the TARDIS not behaving properly. The weird tool box that declares the TARDIS was built in 1963 and contains whisks and wine bottle openers. I figured out pretty early on that the Dream Lord was the Doctor's subconscious. Unlike many reviewers, I can easily buy that the Doctor hates himself that much. Hence the Valyard. I'm not going to go there, though I suppose other people will be going there. I went already. Took the tour. Bought the T-Shirt. But back to this version of two Doctors in one episode, I thought some of the digs he made about himself were spot on, of course. But a few others were OTC and felt like that muppet thing I've been going on about lately. You know, as if the writer was trying to force us to agree with him by having the characters do his preaching?

I am, however, not going to complain about Amy being a muppet. I didn't particularly feel she was muppet-like in this one. Though, given the episode did rather revolve around her and her romantic notions about the Doctor, we can't get away from the Moff telling us what we should feel. I can just hear the uproar over this sort of episode with Rose at the center of it. Will she pick Mickey or the Doctor being the sole story behind say Age of Steel? Nope. That wouldn't happen. Bet you never thought you would come to a point where RTD was the "subtle" one. But, anyway, the odd thing was that while I didn't particularly find Amy muppet-like in this one, I did find her to be a waste of space. She doesn't do very much, which is a bad thing to be in an episode called "Amy's Choice." To me, I felt like the Doctor and Rory were front and center and I rather enjoyed them both.

Yes, Amy being big as a whale did make for some interesting zingers. And yes, I can see her perky fury and the little slow tear. But I don't particularly care, because we haven't put any work in on Amy, yet. Kes said she thought this story came too early in the season. I think Amy is a one season wonder...so this is a fine place for her to arc into the downward slide. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe she will begin to develop depth at the end of the series. But I doubt it.

The old people taking over the world is interesting. But again, the aliens have a very limited motivation. I suppose just wanting others to suffer is what we do now. For me, the whole Doctor/Rory bickering and working through what was real and what wasn't seemed the best part of the episode. Well, that and the general atmosphere of old Who about it all. Again, I don't connect with any big emotions with this crew. So, when Rory died, I simply assumed that he wasn't dead since the reality he died in was so obviously wrong. You can go back to Old Who and find a better version of this dream world idea in S1. There, even with minimal effects, there was genuine confusion about what was real.

I would have rather had much more of a build up to the TARDIS as the "fake reality" and then had the Doctor work out that the village he saved wasn't real either. He and Rory and Amy sort of relaxing on the park bench, waving at neighbors, Amy goes into labor and on the way to the hospital the Doctor works out that it's all a dream. But that's just me, nitpicking. It was an enjoyable episode, if a little rushed. And so what if there wasn't really any emotional impact behind any of it? I just don't believe that Amy could seriously care enough about grown up choices to be deciding between the Doctor and Rory. Maybe between childish adventures and growing up and becoming a mom. But my lack of engagement is really Moff's fault because he never lets me connect with Amy...he never gives me anything genuine to hold on to with her...so I don't really care about her choices.



Rae

Comments

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

This wasn't my favorite episode of the season, but it wasn't my least favorite, either. The fact that both options weren't the "real" reality was very obvious, right from the beginning, so my investment in either outcome plummeted to nil. It was like...go on and die already so we can wrap this up! LOL

I did like the part about the Doctor being the only one to hate himself that much. That was an extremely insightful note in and amongst all the broohaha. Another person on my f-list cited the Valyard as an example, too.

It does feel like this episode came too soon. Like, how can Amy be all that invested in the Doctor when she really hasn't known him for that long (brief childhood encounter aside). I didn't for one second feel like it was a real contest between him and Rory. So...meh. That pretty much sums up my feelings about the whole thing.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It does feel like this episode came too soon. Like, how can Amy be all that invested in the Doctor when she really hasn't known him for that long (brief childhood encounter aside). I didn't for one second feel like it was a real contest between him and Rory. So...meh. That pretty much sums up my feelings about the whole thing.

This takes us straight back to my whole problem with Moff. His emotional IQ is almost nil, apparently. This means he really can't give us anything like substance in his characters. He wants us to believe Amy is the perfect companion. Loyal, fun, fun, fun and up for anything...but she's a muppet. I have no idea what she would do if the writers weren't just having her do things.

Rose had a life, before she met the Doctor...and when the Doctor wasn't there. Even when she was living for him...you understood this was a choice she made. Only I don't think Moff understood that. I think he just thought that Rose was a limpet or something, because she cared so deeply. Moff is comfortable with women as decorations. And Amy is that...decorative. But we can't care about her...or her choices...because we have no idea who she is or what she's thinking. He never bothered to tell us about any of that.

Rae

[(Anonymous)]

I liked the way it ended up with the Doctor and a happy human couple travelling together and I think it would be nice to go with that dynamic for a while. And the Dream Lord was a well-written character. Eleven came alive for me a bit more in this episode - I felt it was an opportunity to show he could handle a situation that would have had Ten curl up into an angst-filled ball.

What bothers me most about the whole "growing up" routine is that Ten, as written by RTD, proved himself in the end to be incapable of growing up. The mature thing for Ten to have done would have been to go with Rose, or move on without regrets. In fact he did neither, which left his character with no scope for development at all throughout the Specials year.

And now we have Eleven who is, apparently, all grown-up and able to detach himself, etc, but we've had no story about how Ten became Eleven. The old line that regeneration means personality change no longer seems adequate after the emotional depth of New Who. We're being asked to withdraw our identification with the main character's emotional journey and accept its destination as a done deal - and for me that makes it very difficult to really care about anybody, though Rory invites more empathy than most.

We keep on getting the same old stories - aliens who take over human bodies two weeks running, beautiful scenery with very little real drama going on (give me the Powell Estate any day) and the questionable equation that growing up equals not fancying the Doctor. It's a horrible thing to say but the story has ended, and what we're seeing now is a corpse going through the tremors of rigor mortis.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

What bothers me most about the whole "growing up" routine is that Ten, as written by RTD, proved himself in the end to be incapable of growing up. The mature thing for Ten to have done would have been to go with Rose, or move on without regrets. In fact he did neither, which left his character with no scope for development at all throughout the Specials year.

Oh, absolutely, oh, anonymous one!

Hence, my insistence on the idea of Ten going to Rose. I wasn't in favor of him moving on, but that option would have been possible in S4 if he'd been written that way. Unfortunately, you can't have your "She's all you want in the universe" run to Rose's arms...and then have him give her up for some idiotic reason like, "It's impossible" or "The Doctor Just Can't Love" or worst of all, "She'll like Ten 2 better."

Eleven doesn't strike me as "all grown-up" but rather as "a child pretending to be grown-up" simply because I can't divorce myself from the emotional depth of the show that we had before this time. So, while I can like Eleven, and I do like him, I can't readily connect with him as a REAL character.

Rae

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

Sorry - the above was me, as you probably guessed.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Ah, actually I did not guess as I am answering from my e-mail. But I can now tell why I seemed to agree with the anonymous one!

:hee:

The real time ratings on Amy's Choice were 5.75. That's the second lowest in the history of the show.