Sunday 30 September 2012

I Will Miss The Ponds: Doctor Who

When David Tennant left Doctor Who, I went through a bit of a sulk. He had been a superb Doctor, one of the finest performances of the lot. So I admit that when Matt Smith took over, I wasn't completely fair in my assessment of the 5th series. And Amy, the Doctor's new companion, irritated me.

She was too cocky, too pretty and, later in that series, when she tried to get off with the Doctor the night before her wedding, too cruel. I'll admit to feeling more like a casual viewer through much of the 5th and 6th series than a Doctor Who fan. I just wasn't getting it. But the gap between series 6 and 7 was filled with me revisiting the episodes. I grew to like Amy, her confidence and her loyalty. And I grew to believe that her husband Rory was one of the best companions of all time.

Their banter, their love affair, their crazy acts of devotion to each other. How could you not, ultimately, end up falling in love with the Ponds?

Now sure, there are still some things I find annoying about Amy's characterisation. Her actions in dumping a man who waited 2000 years for her just because she thought he might want more children which she could not give him seemed truly heartless. But these things are forgivable.

They spent a long time in the TARDIS (on screen that is, by the sounds of things they spent years travelling in it off screen!) and feel like such an integral part of Doctor Who that it's going to take a while to get used to it without them.

But what a way to go, eh? Brilliant stuff. Fare ye well Ponds!