Doctor Who S05E07: "Amy's Choice" [Spoilers]

[Gramzamber]

I like to think the Dream Lord is the Valeyard, or at least the beginnings of him.
He doesn't have to be outright evil here. He's simply making himself known as a side of the Doctor that's come out from his personal traumas, but that doesn't mean he won't become more malevolent later.

[PREDATOR490]

5

Pretty good episode and a nice change of pace.

Incidentally, Amy's line is exactly the same as Gwen Cooper's in Torchwood.

'Whats the point of you'

The Dreamlord's comments on the Doctor did do a good job of summing him up but it would be nice if they actually try to address this otherwise it just gets annoying to point something out which will never change. We have had similar 'reflections' before from Davros, the Emperor Dalek and his own companions. It would be nice to actually see the Doctor at least acknowledge whats being said and act on it.

[Shroom Man 777]

Woah, this is the first time EVER I've seen you rate something positively, Pred. And this is, what, ever since we've been watching TSCC and I was going on about ROBOT RIVERS while you were always all blah blah blah strakstrakstrak and stuff.

But that said, this was a beautiful episode. Just, damn, beautiful! The character interactions, the Dream Lord himself, and how all these painful gutwrenching choices affected all characters, that was great. Man, Rory. What a guy.

Seriously, this episode just made the season for me. The emotional resonance? Yeah, that was great stuff. Mang. Oh mang.

(Still, man, I loved season 1. The emotionality Doctor Destro managed to convey, like in that episode The End of the World, and other bits where he emotes about being the last of the time lords, it was good stuff and they managed to do it well. I guess this season is also great, but suffers from high expectations. Still, the cast are great! And the stories are really no worse than, say, farting aliens in London or Rose's Totally Chav Mum )

Man, what a great episode!

[Gramzamber]

You know the more I think about this, the more it rubs me the wrong way.
When Rory dies in the dream, Amy decides to die too. Not because she's sure it's now a dream, but because she doesn't want to live without Rory.
Okay, fine, but... she has a baby on the way!! As in, soon to be born, and she casually throws it's life away? What is this, Padme Amidala logic? "I can't live without my man! To hell with my children!"

I mean it's one thing if she decided that this world had to be a dream but she makes it clear multiple times she didn't know.

[Srelex]

You know the more I think about this, the more it rubs me the wrong way.
When Rory dies in the dream, Amy decides to die too. Not because she's sure it's now a dream, but because she doesn't want to live without Rory.
Okay, fine, but... she has a baby on the way!! As in, soon to be born, and she casually throws it's life away? What is this, Padme Amidala logic? "I can't live without my man! To hell with my children!"

I mean it's one thing if she decided that this world had to be a dream but she makes it clear multiple times she didn't know.

Yeah, seeing your loved one die in front of your eyes--crumbling into dust, no less--doesn't tend to make you think rationally.

[Darth Lucifer]

I liked this episode, but the spoiler for next week looks the least interesting so far this season.

Worth remembering that next week is part one of a two parter, there's probably lots we're not seeing.

Was that a Silurian? They haven't been around for ages.

[Stark]

Why do people even TALK about the Valeyard. Honestly.

[Srelex]

Was that a Silurian? They haven't been around for ages.

According to official releases, yes.

[DarkSilver]

Gave it a 5....

Awesome episode, excellently shot, bit Shaun of the Dead with the old people, but otherwise, just awesome.

The interactions between Amy and Rory, and the Doctor and the Dream Lord (I agree this may be the Valeyard forming here).

Salurians come back next week.....should be interesting.

[Stark]

The Valeyard 'forming'? You mean that guy created by a paradox and a line of bullshit? He's 'forming' now? Next we'll hear how he is 'forming' because the 7th Doctor killed the 6th Doctor!

Why does the (fucking stupid) idea of the Valeyard have such a hold on people. It's not like Trial of a Time Lord was good, well-thought-out, well-regarded, dramatic or anything.

[mr friendly guy]

I would give it 4.5 out of 5. One of the nicer episodes.

[Gemini-Preserver]

A very good episode. I enjoyed the interaction between The doctor and the dream lord.

Couple of things though. Your stuck in a village with killer alien old people around..and there's a TARDIS just sitting in your flower bed...You run into the difficult to defend house.. okay.

As my friend Dartzap has mentioned he believes there are parallel journeys going on with regards of he cracks which is presented by the doctors bow tie changing colour for certain episodes and in this one the Doctor himself notices his changes from red tie to blue tie and braces. I was thinking when the Doctor was looking at the console at the end and see's the dreamlords reflection and looks round...What if here still in a dream?

best line 'Something doesn't make sense, lets go prod it with a stick'

[Gramzamber]

A very good episode. I enjoyed the interaction between The doctor and the dream lord.

Couple of things though. Your stuck in a village with killer alien old people around..and there's a TARDIS just sitting in your flower bed...You run into the difficult to defend house.. okay.

They presumably don't have a key.
Do ex-companions keep their TARDIS keys? I forget.

[hongi]

Excellent episode, a definite 5. Matt Smith is, to me, really filling the role well.

I completely agree. I can see bits of the previous Doctors in this incarnation, but he doesn't seem to be a complete rehash at the same time. I was willing to give him more time to grow on me, but he's done that from the first episode in. Good actor. I'm interested to see how this Doctor becomes his 'own' unique individual and stakes his own place as the season goes on. Cause it'd be a bit boring to have a cookie-cutter Doctor.

[Drooling Iguana]

They presumably don't have a key.
Do ex-companions keep their TARDIS keys? I forget.

I don't think Amy's been given a key yet.

[Big Orange]

I'm with Stark; why bring back the actual Valeyard, a villain with a stupidly convoluted backstory from a set of Time Lord orientated episodes that are either long-forgotten or unheard of amongst most Doctor Who viewers today, not fondly remembered amongst hardcore fans, and back in the day were (generally) less successful than "The End of Time"?

Anyway I really liked this episode; it reminded me of Star Trek: Voyager's "Projections" and Father Ted's "Night of the Nearly Dead", what with a doctor suffering from hyper-realistic illusions and the cast being menaced by elderly folk acting like Romeo zombies.

[Stark]

I'm seriously surprised anyone cares about the character's place in the continuity. Due to my age and colonial nature, I missed the 6th Doctor entirely so I only know what I've read in reference books (and a brief bit from Twin Dilemna where he spent the whole time staring down Peris shirt) but the whole Trial of a Time Lord thing was complete balls and basically ignored by everything (even the horrid books) afterward. Do people REALLY think there's some semi-mystical EVIL WATCHER out there?

[NecronLord]

The idea of Evil Doctor is compelling in a fannish kind of way. The Valeyard can be well-handed, there's a Big Finish audio featuring an alternate timeline where he took over the Doctor's existance and ended up ruined hilariously because of his hubris and greed, for instance. But yeah, on the whole, it's just better as a personality construct induced by space pollen.

[Patrick Degan]

The Valeyard 'forming'? You mean that guy created by a paradox and a line of bullshit? He's 'forming' now? Next we'll hear how he is 'forming' because the 7th Doctor killed the 6th Doctor!

Why does the (fucking stupid) idea of the Valeyard have such a hold on people. It's not like Trial of a Time Lord was good, well-thought-out, well-regarded, dramatic or anything.

I never thought the Valeyard was anything more than a Doctor clone with a reprogrammed personality, but that's trivia. Personally, I also wouldn't see the point in reviving a character who has been largely forgotten and never had any impact on DW after the Trial season. Besides, we don't need another tedious revival-villain. The Daleks are already being overused, as have the Cybermen, and bringing back the Master was a huge mistake given how RTD turned him into a psychotic twinkie who made you long for the rationality of the Ainley Master. The programme had gotten a chance to start with a clean slate and it's been cluttered with revival and repeat characters in just five short years. The last thing the programme needs now is even more excess baggage from its past given how much from its present is already piling up.

[Stark]

The idea of Evil Doctor is compelling in a fannish kind of way. The Valeyard can be well-handed, there's a Big Finish audio featuring an alternate timeline where he took over the Doctor's existance and ended up ruined hilariously because of his hubris and greed, for instance. But yeah, on the whole, it's just better as a personality construct induced by space pollen.

The Valeyard isn't 'evil Doctor'; he's just an evil guy (well, really just desperate given his situation) that we're told is the Doctor. He could be a Time Janitor for all we know; nothing he does or says gains resonance from his personal relationship. The Time Lords using him are far worse (since they basically broke the laws of time to create a suicide bomber).

[Crazedwraith]

The idea of a future evil doctor might be decent if one wanted a Time Lord villian with out resurrecting the Time Lords again. It's explain why The Doctor's super 'is there another time lord out there sense' doesn't go off with this guy dicking around.