The Lord of the Dream: Amy’s Choice in Perspective
Guest contributor Jack Bowden revisits the 2010 episode.
With the advent of Last Christmas and its dream-centred narrative, I will confess to a lot of reflection on dreams and their place within the world of Doctor Who. From the surreal (Troughton’s superb The Mind Robber, to an extent Hartnell’s The Edge of Destruction; a facet I wish had been explored further in Last Christmas) to the more realistic, lucid dreams – say Clara’s vision of Courtney in Deep Breath or the trio of nightmares presented in Listen – dreams have over the years sometimes popped up as important plot elements or devices. Yet only once, at least in this author’s opinion, have dreams been used to their full potential to give the audience an intimate glimpse into the psyche of our favourite main characters. This would be in Simon Nye’s masterful Amy’s Choice.
In this article I will attempt to explain not only why Amy’s Choice is one of my favourite episodes of all time, but also for its being one of the most important in terms of character development and exploration. From a glimpse into the dark side of the Doctor to some questionable monsters to the first major developments of Amy and Rory, ladies and gentlemen: this is going to be a tricky one.
The Ending
The plot twist of both worlds being a dream and the entire episode having never really taken place at all was certainly a clever one, and unexpected by the majority of the fanbase. Yet while most are happy to accept it as a smart twist and move on, I can’t help feeling that most have failed to take into account what the ending means for the rest of the episode and how it affects the Eleventh Doctor and the Ponds. So without further ado, let’s investigate what Amy’s Choice means with the hindsight of knowing how it ends.
The Leadworth Dream
“They’re not gonna be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?”
Amy’s Choice probably has the stupidest villains ever. I mean, eyeballs peeping out of super-strong old people? They’re just really bad, and often a focal point of criticism against the episode. But you see – that’s the point. They’re supposed to be completely silly because, subtle as it may be, Nye is actually offering a satire of Doctor Who’s conventions.
Look at this way. Most of the episode takes place in a dream(s), right? And those dreams are culled from the minds of our heroic trio. So those dreams therefore represent the state of mind of those characters. With the Leadworth Dream being Rory’s, Nye is giving us his clever take on the character – maybe not the sharpest tool in the shed but kind, funny, and most importantly, desperate to prove his love to Amy. Not only that, but it is made quite clear how totally different Rory and the Doctor are at heart no matter how well they get on – a saddening revelation even if it is given through some brilliant comedic lines:
“So, what do you do around here to stave off the, you know…”
“boredom?”
“… self-harm?”
Returning to the weird eyeball-people-monsters, I’d actually go so far to suggest they are additionally a clever little dig at Moffat and his penchant for monsters who take something that should be harmless and make it terrifying. Old people are about as harmless as can be – what better to use for parody? There is even direct dialogue in the episode suggesting Nye’s satirical purpose, as the Dream Lord (a stupendously clever device for commentary on Doctor Who cliches – more on that later) sarcastically remarking “What’s this? Attack of the old people? Oh, that’s ridiculous.”
The TARDIS Dream
“Ice can burn, sofas can read – it’s a big universe!”
So, we’ve established that on top of creating a cracking story, Nye had the dual purpose of making some meta-observations about the Doctor Who universes and its lovely ridiculousness. With the Leadworth Dream serving as a parody of our favourite show’s monsters and invasions, let’s now turn our attention to the TARDIS Dream and what it serves to critique – in essence, the science (or sometimes, lack of) in the Whoniverse.
The TARDIS Dream is obviously the Doctor’s, a fact that is made quite clear when Rory snidely remarks “This is so you, isn’t it? A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live and only one man to save the day?” Characters in the Doctor Who mythos are quite often confronted by more-than-questionable scientific logic – Kill the Moon, I’m looking at you – but rather than just take it for granted as usual, the whole trio in Amy’s Choice is quick to point out the ridiculousness and implausibility of the star burning cold – see the quote above. Science isn’t even the only thing Nye chooses to poke fun at in the TARDIS Dream, with other victims including the Doctor’s questionable piloting abilities – he threw the manual in a supernova, you know – and the idea of space being brimming with life – “Yeah, because the universe is really quite small and there’s bound to be someone nearby!”
The Dream Lord
Now we know that Toby Jones’ superb Dream Lord is an amalgamation of the Doctor’s darker tendencies. This is a fascinating idea explored several times throughout the 50 years of Doctor Who – from Michael Jayston’s haughty Valeyard, to the nasty Doctor (for lack of a better phrase) in Big Finish’s Caerdroia, to Tennant’s chilling turn as the Time Lord Victorious.
However, for the excellence of all these different interpretations of the darker side of our favourite hero, none have quite hit as close to home as Toby Jones’ adaptation. The reason his works so well is that it is so close to Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, like a reflection in a distorted mirror (or a scanner darkly). He dresses the same way, making sure to get in a few good cracks about the Doc’s bowtie, “cockamamie hair” and “clothes designed by a first-year fashion student” in the process; he has a palpable sense of humour that is twisted to be at the Doctor’s expense – “Lots at steak? Get it? Are these jokes wasted on you?” – and most importantly of all, there is a palpable malice, even malevolence under his veneer of humour.
There is a brief reference to the omnipresent mystery of the Doctor’s name during the Dream Lord’s one-on-one with Amy – itself an encounter charged with a lurking, almost sexual tension that is quite unlike anything else on the show – but otherwise Nye steers clear of references to the Valeyard or any other major event of the Doctor’s past, choosing instead to use the Dream Lord’s unique perspective to make observations about the Doctor’s general behaviour. I may be over-selling the Dream Lord a bit, and if so I apologise, but there are few villain encounters in Doctor Who as utterly chilling as the face-off between Smith and Jones (heh, pun intended) in the van as the Doctor drives to the house where Amy and Rory are trapped.
“Bye! I need to find my friends.”
“Friends… Is that the right word for the people you ‘acquire’? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they’ve grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?”
The Doctor has no reply to this, no witty comeback or remark: he merely stares sadly at the Dream Lord as he disappears back into the Doctor’s subconscious once again.
Conclusion
As you can see, the more you examine it, the more Nye’s use of dreams seems a totally brilliant concept. Its potential for examining character traits is endless, especially with a character as snide and darkly witty as the Dream Lord hanging around. Even when he’s not there we get the opportunity for some brilliant interplay with the three characters which still serves as a subtle poke at Doctor Who‘s crazy ideas:
“Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don’t ring true.”
“Okay, well we’re in a spaceship that’s bigger on the inside than the outside.”
“With a bowtie-wearing idiot.”
“So maybe “what rings true” isn’t so simple?”
“Valid point.”
Now I’d like to make clear that I’m not at all suggesting Nye wished to seriously criticise the show, or make unkind observations about it. I always thought of Amy’s Choice as sort of a playful tease, a poke here and there at some of the sillier parts of DW but also a serious character piece. Some may disagree, and the fact that it works on so many layers is ultimately the source of my endless love for it and the reason for this article’s existence. With all my rambling firmly out of the way, please feel free to discuss!
