Patience is for Wimps!

Well . . . . now we now what Moffat and Company were setting us up for with their “Pond Life Omnibus” and its flappy month changes – showing snippets of the Ponds' life while The Doctor was away – we were treated to even more extended views of Any and Rory's lives both with and without The Doctor, a very interesting concept for an episode. I did more or less enjoy the story being told from Amy's perspective.

It's going to take me a while to get through all of the mess I scribbled down while watching this episode I find myself longing for the simplicity of cyborgs roaming the American West . . . anyway . . . on to . . . .

WHAT I LOVED

Brian Williams is back – what can I say – I just like the guy – he kind of finishes off the “family” of the Ponds-Williams and probably should have been introduced long ago, it's a shame we only got to see him for 2 episodes. In the 3 seasons we have seen the Ponds' the character of Brian Williams should have been brought in long ago, kind of like Wilf with Donna Noble or Rose's Mom or Martha's family. Who were all there at the beginning of each companion's time with The Doctor, but maybe that was just a Russell T. Davies concept, though I guess you could argue that the Amy/Rory/River episodes were "family" episodes.  

THE PONDS' - WILLIAMS

WHAT I LIKED

Kate Stewart – daughter of The Brig – in a very nice introduction. I do hope that she shows up occasionally – as her father did – it would be nice to keep that little bit of family continuity going and it's a nice reference to the old days. Could be a harbinger of what's to come in the 50^th Anniversary season – I hope - bu I hope they work on her wardrobe (sheesh!  those pants!).

THE BRIG'S DAUGHTER

The juxtaposition of Amy and Rory's totally mundane home life (cleaning out the fridge and doing laundry – is it really common in England for the washing machine to be in the kitchen?  I'm not sure what "washing tablets" are, don't they trust you Brits to measure out laundry detergent by yourselves???) and their life with The Doctor. The Doctor's time with the Ponds' after he got them their house was a real departure from the standard Doctor/Companion(s) dynamic where he would drop them off at home and go off on his own, could have been somewhat interesting to see him do that at some time other than Christmas – but hey, what can I say.

Brian Williams interrogating The Doctor on the fates of his traveling companions, I actually perked up at that to see how they would handle that and they handled it well.  Most have left on their own, for whatever reason, some were left behind and some did die.  I remember being in total shock when I saw the end of “Earthshock” when Adric was killed while trying to stop the spaceship of the Cybermen from crashing into Earth – The Doctor knew that the crash was the catalyst for the death of the dinosaurs on Earth, but Adric just had to try to stop it – to the best of my knowledge it's the only story to end with no music – here's a link to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idEcvdL_zHA).  You'll notice one interesting thing about The Doctor in this clip.

A nice reference to The Doctor's first sppearance in Amelia Pond's kitchen and his eating Fish Fingers and Custard, doing the same twith Amy and Rory on their couch - very cool.

And evidently The Doctor invented Yorkshire Pudding!

Another old school shout out with a mention of the Zygons and their ship being under the Savoy hotel – not exactly sure why The Doctor, Amy and Rory were sitting in the snow – unless that was ash from a recently exploded Zygon spaceship – but they would never go for that twice – would they???

Using the Tower of London as a UNIT base – very cool - it was mentioned in "The Christmas Invasion".

The scene with The Doctor and Amy outside of the Tower – talking about her life and her life with him.

Brian calling out Amy and Rory for being hooked on The Doctor, it's been hinted at in the last couple of episodes, but it's true, they are hooked on their times with him, I mean who wouldn't, but they still needed down time to recuperate and act like actual himans.

The mention that they had been traveling with him, in Earth years, for 10 of them and that Amy was now writing for travel magazines, having given up her modeling career.

Introduction of the Shakri as a newvillain, since they have a place in Time Lord folklore, perhaps a replacement for the Daleks?  or the Cybermen?? Could be interesting to see them pop up from time to time in their mission to serve The Tally as intergalactic Pest Control.  Hey, there are 6 more ships out there that weren't destroyed, that we know of and the Shakri seem to move between dimensions, so they have a future. 

PRETTY SURE I DON'T LIKE THIS GUY

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

OK - I live not too far from a very busy hospital and all of my various doctors (general, ob/gyn, dermotologist) are all  there too - and I am sure that someone would have noticed a little girl having been sitting in the Emergency Room waiting room for over a month - no matter how busy it was.

OK - IF SHE LOOKED LIKE THIS SHE WOULD STAND OUT

The sappy ending, that whole part about the cubed being the power of three and all that with the soaring music and close-up of The Doctor, Rory and Amy after Brian sends them off - a little too sweet for me.

WHAT'S NEXT

Another trip to America and the end of an era . . . . . . . . . . . . 

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS