If you could choose between an ordinary but dull life or an exciting and dangerous one which would you choose? This is a dilemma facing Amy Pond in 'Amy's Choice'. A mysterious being known as the Dream Lord is shifting the Doctor, Amy and Rory between two worlds. One of these is in Upper Leadworth where Rory is living as a country Doctor and Amy is expecting a child. It is a stable but very quiet place. The alternative is life on the Tardis with the Doctor.
Things soon get dangerous in both worlds. In Upper Leadworth, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are threatened by a group of old people possessed by aliens. In the Tardis, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are threatened by a cold star. The Doctor and company can only choose one reality. if they die in the wrong one they stay permanently dead.
It is perhaps little surprise that the Upper Leadworth scenario is fake. Amy is unlikely to be leaving the series with a baby this early on. When Rory dies in the dream world, Amy chooses the Tardis but the Doctor deduces that both are dreams and blows up the Tardis.
Amy gets a lot of good character development this week. It is clear she is undecided about the direction in her life. She finds Upper Leadworth boring but still likes the Doctor. She also shows bravery when she stands up to the Dream Lord.
We get a good sense of who Rory is as well. He wants the ordinary life but he is happy to make sacrifices for Amy, including gettng rid of the rat tail haircut he had in Upper Leadworth. It's easy to imagine that we would be Amys but I suspect some people are happy with the quiet life like Rory is.
Matt Smith's Doctor gets to be more serious this week as he faces off against the Dream Lord. Even when he is unsure of reality he still rescues the bystanders in Upper Leadworth before helping Amy and Rory.
The Dream Lord is a brilliant villain played by Toby Jones. His costume is a reflection of the Doctor's. It is a shame he and the dreams are just the result of psychic pollen. He could just as easily have been the Valeyard.
The sleepiness of Upper Leadworth s well conveyed with the bird song and Murray Gold's slow calming music. It's a shame ther wasn't more of a connection to the original Leadworth. Perhaps Mrs Poggitt could have been the Anne Reid character. Maybe Jeff could have made a brief cameo as well.
The Eknodines that possess the old people will probably not be remembered as the most remarakable villina of Doctor WHo. he image of an eye sticking outof an old person's mouth was creepy.
There haven't been many dream episodes in Doctor Who is Amy's Choice is a decent adventure by Simon Nye. A nice small character piece for a decent Tardis team.
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