New Who Review #67

Amy's Choice

This story was ok. It was about 2 different worlds. Which is real which is not. I will go into detail about each world in a minute. The dream lord was a unique enemy being able to create a dream reality and make it seem realistic. Doctor who hasn't really done dreams up to this and it's an ok attempt at doing it.

World 1 - The Village of Old

The village world was pretty good. The most unbelievable one out the 2 but still had some good scenes. The idea that there's old people that have lived way beyond they should have is weird just like a dream. They are being kept alive by the Echnodines which are a creepy alien that has an eye peeping out of your mouth. The idea of Amy being pregnant is nicely foreshadowing series 6's arc. This world had some funny commentary and was a blast to watch. The part where Rory dies is so good because it gives Amy a chance to shine and she shines so well. We haven't really seen the relationship between Rory and Amy this series but in that scene it was the first time I was like "yea they're so in love" which is what I should be feeling which was great. I think I've covered everything about world one so let's head to

World 2 - The Dead time machine

This world was the most believable one out of them. It had the tardis die and drift off near a burning cold star. A cold star isn't a thing and is made up like something out of a dream...right? This is the world the Dreamlord shines the most and has the best scenes. We haven't seen the tardis frozen in this revival yet but it's cool to see. There's lots of snow on this one and I bet that was a nightmare for the team to clear up after filming lol. The scene between the dreamlord and Amy gave off creepy Vibes like I shouldn't trust him but I kind of do just like a dream. Nothing much happens in this world so I can't think of anything else except the scenes at the end when they choose this world we see Amy and Rory talk about how Amy would rather die than live without Rory which is actually heartbreaking once you know their fate. This is the world they choose but it's not the real world even though the dreamlord says it is.

The ending where we see the dreamlord is the doctor is a reveal sure. I don't know if I like that idea but I guess I have to just accept it. Overall a weird story that will play with your mind and have you question which is the right choice until you find out there is no choice. 6/10

decent

Bring back The Dream Lord!

So maybe it is meta and Inception-esque but I understood the plot just fine.

Rory's stupid ponytail.

"Ah! You've swallowed a planet!" XD

This genuinely confused me and was definitely too smart for my brain to understand.

Embarrassed to admit that I thought that the Dream Lord was the Master.

I like how it fleshed out more of Amy and Rory's relationship because Vampires in Venice had me kind of doubting them. I'm happy that I (hopefully) won't have to deal with more of that.

A gorgeous and funny episode with real emotional weight. Its a shame Simon Nye never returned because I think he proves himself as highly capable (assuming this didn't get a healthy Moffat script edit) at reflecting realistic relationship dynamics in dialog as well as realising pleasing, tight, sci-fi concepts.

90% of the jokes here hold up to modern day scrutiny, which is an impressive hit rate for an aging piece of comedy. The only drawback is that one of the worlds (Rory's world) is a lot more interesting than the other (The Doctor's world). There are also far more reasons to believe that The Doctor's world is the real one. I know they both turn out to be a dream but I think there would have been a more satisfying tension if both worlds were more equally unbelievable.

The idea of the Dream Lord being a malevolent aspect of The Doctor's psyche is genius. I hope we see this again one day. It suits The Toymaker vibe we've seen more recently - a tone which is rarely visited in Doctor Who.