Amy's Choice

Choices are the theme for this week’s episode. When I first heard about the concept for this episode I was sceptical. How could they pull this off without it falling flat on its face and to my surprise they have. It is this humble reviews opinion that the seventh episode of the last four series of the revamped Who have fallen flat on their face.

The Long Game was fine for a single showing but it had two main stories that muddled and overlapped each other poorly. Mark Gatis’s Idiot Lantern had a lot of interesting concepts but I found it dull due to the central plot revolving around Tommy’s family.
42 was rubbish. I’ve seen it once and that’s how I am going to keep it. I am not usre what I don’t like about it. Chris Chibnal scrip was weak. The concept of being in real time does not work with Doctor Who. It all felt very rushed and undeserving of being a Doctor Who story. Which means were left with The Unicorn and the Wasp which after Gareth Robert’s brilliant debut story, The Shakespeare Code, I was sorely disappointed with an attempt at a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. I love a good murder mystery; regally watching NCIS, CSI, Marpe, Morse, Lewis and so on. But this is was more of a Carry On film romp than a Doctor Who story or murder mystery.

So did Amy’s Choice fall flat on it face. Not even once. From the opening moment to the closing scenes this story did not disappoint. The plot is simple, the Doctor and his two companions Amy and Rory have to decide on which reality is real; the Tardis or Upper Ledworth.

Simon Nye, a writer who I’ve not really read or seen, has taken this simple plot and produced a wonderful little story. We are faced with two disasters. On one hand we have the Tardis slowly getting colder. On the other we have the elderly members of Upper Ledworth hosting an alien invasion force.

The story was so well crafted that the jumping between the two realties was not even a problem and I find myself eagerly wanting to get back to the other reality to find out what had happened to them.

The Dream Lord was a brilliant creation. An omnipotent being who likes to play games. He was played superbly with hints of not only the Master but the Celestial Toymaker as well.

The only negative point to the story is that it was all wrapped up very quickly again. I find that after spending forty minutes of the story, sitting on the edge of my seat to have it resolved in a few minutes, instead of gradually over the last ten minutes or so highly disappointing.

I enjoyed this story. It had a lot of potential to being dull and falling flat on its face. However it rose to the challenge and stood up proudly. I even joyed the quick reference to William Hartnall story, the Space Museum. All in a very well made story where special effect and fancy graphics took second fiddle to the story.

9/10