Amy's Choice (TV story)

Amy's Choice is the seventh episode of Series 5.

Synopsis
It has been five years since Amy Pond last travelled with the Doctor, and when he lands in her garden again, on the eve of the birth of her first child, she finds herself facing a heartbreaking choice – one that will change her life forever. They will have to choose which is the dream world and which is reality.

Plot
Upper Leadworth, 2015. Amy Pond is stirring some custard in a bowl but starts to feel pain in her pregnant body. Rory immediately arrives on his bike (with a pony tail on his head) and Amy screams Rory's name so he can get inside thinking the baby is coming. Amy's pain then subsides and both of them are about to resume their daily lives, when the TARDIS materializes outside their kitchen window. The Doctor exits the TARDIS whilst Rory and Amy hurry to him and the TARDIS before hugs are exchanged and the Doctor stating how happy they look five years after they last travelled with him. Rory and Amy take the Doctor on a walk through their new hometown, explaining that most of the village's population are quite elderly. The trio sits down on a bench and discuss life in Upper Leadworth, the Doctor desperately trying to hide his exasperation with the dull tedium of it all. They fall asleep to the sound of birdsong, and suddenly wake up in the TARDIS, five years previously. Rory describes a dream he had, (consisting of the above events) and it becomes apparent that Amy and the Doctor shared the dream. They all figure out that something is wrong, but before they can decide what they are transported back to Leadworth again

The Doctor then goes to a retirement home, stating "Theres something out of place, we poke it with a stick." Inside, the Doctor notices something odd about all of the residents, especially an old woman named Mrs Poggit, who gives the Doctor a jumper. The three then fall asleep again, waking in a powerless TARDIS. Soon after a strange man who refers to himself as the 'Dream Lord', who has shut off the power, appears. The Dream Lord gives them a test: One of the worlds they are drifting between is fake, the other is real. In each world, they will be in deadly danger. The catch is that if they are killed in the dream world, they will wake up in the real one. However, death in the real world is just that, death. The Doctor, Amy and Rory then fall asleep again.

Waking up in Leadworth, the Doctor notices that all of the old people have gone. The three venture outside, noticing Mrs Poggit watching a group of school children. Before they can get close, the three again fall asleep to the birdsong. Back in the TARDIS, they find out the first deadly danger: they are drifting towards a cold star, and they only 40 minutes till impact. Waking up in Leadworth, they find the children missing, with piles of dust in their place. The Doctor and Amy soon deduce what has happened. When they turn, a large group of old people are walking towards them. The old people reveal they are aliens called the Eknodine, eye stalks which use humans as bodies, poking out of their mouths. the Alien in Mrs Poggit reveals that their race was killed off, and that they will do the same to Earth. The Eknodine try to kill the three, but The Doctor, Amy and Rory split up and manage to escape.

Cast

 * Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Dream Lord - Toby Jones
 * Mr Nainby - Nick Hobbs
 * Mrs Poggit - Audrey Ardington
 * Mrs Hamil - Joan Linder

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * The enemies the old folks play are a race known as the Eknodine.
 * The Dream Lord traps the Doctor, Rory and Amy in an alternative world and Amy has to decide what is the real world.
 * Technically, the entire episode took place in the TARDIS.
 * The box under the TARDIS console the Doctor opens has the words: "TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Build Site: Gallifrey Blackhole Shipyard. Type 40. Build date: 1963. Authorised for use by qualified Time Lords only by the Shadow Proclamation. Misuse or theft of any TARDIS will result in extreme penalties and permanent exile." written on it.
 * There is no indication of how much time has passed since DW: The Vampires of Venice.
 * The sign outside the old peoples' home reads "SARN Residential Care Home". Sarn was the setting for DW: Planet of Fire and is also the name of a character in DW:Time and the Rani.

Ratings
to be added

Rumours

 * The 'Dream Lord' was rumoured to pretend to be the Doctor because of a shot of him inside the TARDIS wearing the Eleventh Doctor's costume in the trailer. He was, in fact, the Doctor himself - at least, his dark side.
 * Aunt Sharon will appear. This was false

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * When Rory and Amy are running from the Eknodine you can clearly see no mud on his back, but he was thrown on his back, into mud, a minute before.

Continuity

 * The Doctor says he is 907


 * The Doctor mentions again that bow ties are cool. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
 * The Dream Lord refers to what happened between the Doctor and Queen Elizabeth I. (DW: The Shakespeare Code, The End of Time, The Beast Below)
 * The Doctor initially assumes that the TARDIS has jumped a time track (DW: The Space Museum)
 * The Dream Lord says "I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog", clearly an oblique reference to K9.
 * The Doctor tries to jump start the TARDIS by kicking it. (DW: Rise of the Cybermen)
 * The Dream Lord accuses the Doctor of abandoning his companions in favour of younger friends, echoing remarks by Sarah Jane Smith about the Tenth Doctor and his relationship with Rose Tyler. (DW: School Reunion)
 * The Dream Lord, once alone with Amy, echoes a conversation Jackie Tyler had with the Ninth Doctor about how 'anything could happen'. (DW: Rose)
 * After Rory dies in the dream, Amy asks the Doctor "What is the point of you?", similar to how Gwen asks the same to Jack after Rhys dies. (TW: End of Days)
 * The swimming pool has turned up; the Doctor said that "it'll turn up" in DW: The Eleventh Hour. Leela swam in the pool in the The Invasion of Time
 * Amy says "Can we not do the running thing?", which seems to be a running gag in Season 4 and 5.
 * The Dream Lord taunts the Doctor, "I bet you're a vegetarian!", in a butcher's shop and then by calling him "veggie", referring to his failed vegetarianism. This originated at the end of The Two Doctors but he has since been seen many times to have lapsed (even ordering steak in Boom Town).

DVD and Blu-ray release
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Three will feature Amy's Choice, The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood and Vincent and the Doctor. It will be released on Monday 2nd August 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.