Doctor Who – Amy’s Choice

Sorry about the late posting here. I wish I could say I have lots for you, but this one had so many twists and turns I tried to just keep it simple. So, without further ado, I present – Amy’s Choice.

The opening scene showed Amy pregnant (which made me think – This can’t be real!). Then The Doctor shows up and says something about it being 5 years later. I barely had enough time to owner if maybe this was real before they fall asleep and wake up in the TARDIS. Confused yet? Yeah, I was too.

Eventually I figured out that they’re switching between the real world and a dream world. And it’s all thanks to some Dream Lord character. One world’s real, one world’s not, and they have to figure out which one’s which. It was loads of fun trying to follow both worlds and guessing which one was the real one. Both worlds have a danger in them – in one they are in danger of freezing to death and the other they are being chased by a dangerous alien species that has hidden itself in the bodies of the elderly. At first it seems like the episode won’t have anything to do with the overall story arc, but by about midway point I realized this is all about Amy and how she is split between these two worlds. She loves Rory but knows life with him will probably be quite boring in comparison to her life with The Doctor. So even though there is no romantic attachment to The Doctor there still is conflict in terms of where she wants to be. I know, I should have seen this a lot sooner given the title of the episode, but your Blogger can be a bit slow at times. Which is ok, because Amy can be a bit slow too and takes forever to finally commit to something and make her choice. Of course it takes Rory “dying” for her to realize that is who she wants to be with.

Shocking twist: BOTH WORLDS WERE A DREAM. So people guessing which one was the dream world – you were right and wrong at the same time. And those guessing which world was real, well, you were all wrong. Also, The Doctor says the Dream Lord was really him. I guess the purpose was a life lesson for all of them.

As always, there was a Doctor Who Confidential that went with the episode. This week we got some behind-the-scenes stuff that kinda made me wish I was there (mostly because they seem to be having loads of fun together). Much love especially to Arthur Darvill (Rory), who has been a great addition to the cast.

Doctor Who will be on again next week at 9pm. The next episode is Hungry Earth.

Doctor Who – Vampires of Venice

Last week The Doctor took Amy back home after their adventure with the Weeping Angels. This week brings us to that same night before her wedding. The Doctor gets Amy’s future husband, Rory, to try to sort them out. He sends them both to Venice for the biggest date ever. Little does he know that there are Vampires in Venice.

I loved the giddy reaction Amy and The Doctor had upon discovering the vampires. And poor Rory totally doesn’t know how to handle the situation. The scenario kinda reminded me of Torchwood and the dynamic with Jack, Gwen, and Rhys. Jack and Gwen had a working relationship that Rhys never really understood and at times was jealous of because of the fact that they shared things he was not a part of. The same seems to be the case here with Amy and The Doctor. It’s nothing that threatens the engaged couple, but Rory (like Rhys) is still somewhat jealous of what they share and the fact he is not a part of it. Yes, there were moments in both cases where it looked like there might be something to be jealous of but that was never the case.

The speech Rory gives about The Doctor not knowing how dangerous he is to the people who are with him hurt more than he could possibly realize. The Doctor most certainly does have an idea how dangerous he can be, which is why he traveled without a companion for awhile. After what happened with Rose and Donna he did not want that to happen to anyone else. I’m not sure what changed his mind and made him decide to take Amy along. He probably just got lonely and convinced himself it would be alright this time.

Going back to the actually story though – turns out the “vampires” are really fish from space. More specifically, they are aliens from Saturn 9. They were running from the cracks that have been popping up everywhere this season. Rosanna asks for a partnership with The Doctor. Reasons why I love The Doctor – this answer: “I’m a Time Lord. You’re a big fish. Think of the children”

So now The Doctor and company have to stop the fish from space before they take over Venice. Super! Yet again The Doctor sends Amy off to the TARDIS when things get too dangerous. I know part of this was b/c of what Rory said but he’s been doing a similar thing all season. And just like in the past, Amy doesn’t listen to a word The Doctor says. Amy picked an equally foolish fellow to marry when she got engaged to Rory though. I get he wants to protect his girl but some of the stuff he tried was just plain stupid. He’s lucky he didn’t get himself killed. It kinda reminded me of when Mickey was on the show in the Rose years. He would eventually become quite brave and clever though, so maybe there is hope for Rory too.

Back to the vampires, I mean, space fish – The Doctor is his usual amazing self and does the thing where he saves the day yet again. The sun shines, the birds sing, and everyone cheers – yippee! Well, not everyone is happy. Rosanna gives The Doctor some guilt trip about another dead race being on his hands that kinda puts a damper on things. We also get a preview for what looks to be an amazing second half of the season.

This week’s Doctor Who Confidential gave us a look at the location where they shot most of the episode. It also showed us some of the research they used to get the story just right. If you enjoy all that behind-the-scenes stuff then this is something you’re definitely going to want to check out.

Doctor Who won’t be on next week, but it will return June 5th with a seemingly super tense episode. So hold onto your sonic screwdrivers, kids. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Doctor Who: Confidential

Usually I write a little something about Doctor: Who Confidential for the week after I finish my recap. Due to some technical difficulties I didn’t do that with the last two episodes involving the Weeping Angels, so I thought I would take a few minutes to mention them now. (And if you want to see them, they have been linked above).

I love behind-the-scenes stuff on occasion, but never as much as when watching DW: Confidential every week. It is fascinating to me to see how some of the scenes work and where the ideas come from. A few especially cool things from the Weeping Angels episodes included seeing the make-up work and some of the stunts. Also pretty cool was hearing where Steven Moffat got the idea for the crack in the wall. (No spoilers. You’ll just have to watch for yourself.) My favorite though might have been seeing Matt Smith and Karen Gillan interact (especially when they talk about *slight spoilers* the smooching that happens at the end of part 2). It was a lot of fun watching them tease each other and such. Don’t take my word for it though. Go watch and judge for yourself.