The relationship between The Time Lord, The Doctor, and his Companion, Amy Pond is a beautiful and ever heartwarming relationship. The bittersweet and melancholy moments between the two have given Whovian fans some of the most emotional depth of storyline and character that the show has ever produced. ‘Bittersweet and melancholy’? Yes. Some of the sweetest and happiest of memories come from the appreciation and love we feel due to the sacrifice and loss that our loved ones do for us.
The Doctor and Amy Pond are best friends and family, and undoubtedly bound for the rest of their lives regardless of space and time. After all, Amy is seared onto the doctors hearts, and Amy dreams of her Raggedy Man and writes books based on their adventures. The relationship is simple and complicated—its life.
The Beginning…a newly regenerating eleventh Doctor looking raggedy due to a burning crashing TARDIS fire and a badly damaged Tenth Doctor wardrobe meets the lonely Amelia Pond. Whose name to him is like a fairytale, and who herself doesn’t make sense to him. Amelia’s new friend, the one person who is different and unlike anyone around her or anyone she’s ever met leaves due to his TARDIS dangerously malfunctioning. Unknown to The Doctor, leaving Amelia for twelve years instead of a promised five minutes; and in that time Amelia waited for her Raggedy Doctor to return to her, her Raggedy Doctor as she was quite insistent. She wasn’t believed when she shared her meeting of The Doctor and continued waiting for him as her family and her physiatrists’ insisted he wasn’t real. Angry—and where does anger come from? Pain. Sensitive to the hurt of her childhood Amelia believed that men are liars, who promise to come back to you and take you on adventures and never do. And to spite The Doctor she began calling herself Amy Pond instead of The Doctor’s Amelia Pond. From The Doctor’s prospective Amelia has gone in five minutes from a seven year old girl to a nineteen year old girl with a challenging doubting spiteful demeanor toward him. Amy’s belief in him tested, her own memories and previous opinions of him challenged by his departure from her life and the impact it left upon her.
During this period Amy’s feelings of anger, betrayal and excitement and adventure from seeing The Doctor again affect the life she’s come to know. Her job as a kissogram; her rebellion against her only family, her Aunt Sharon; and The Doctor who views this as a horrid image to the fairytale wonder that he and she shared. Amy’s relationship with her boyfriend (later fiancé and husband) Rory affected by her connection to The Doctor. And as The Doctor leaves again—temporarily to test the condition of his readjusted TARDIS —accidentally leaving Amy for another two years. Fourteen years since there first meeting. Their bond; his fascination with this girl due to a crack in the universe on her bedroom wall, as we came to know one of the Doctor’s titles for her, ‘The Girl Who Didn’t Make Sense’ (second to ‘The Girl Who Waited’); his desire to ‘fix’ the doubt that she has about the world that he unintentionally caused; and the restlessness in the town she’s been living in and her desire for escape from her doubts, responsibilities, life, and want of adventure draws her to him again—that and attraction.
The Effect of Twelve Years, another two year gap—Fourteen years, Attraction, Adventure and Escape…
As seen when The Doctor returns to Amy after twelve years, there is a sexual attraction to him. And the feeling is reciprocated by The Doctor, he is attracted to her. However he
sometimes still sees her as the little girl from when they first met and wants an innocent Amelia healed and unhurt from the pain she’s been through, and for her to see him as a hero. And Amy’s first near-death experience leaves her with a natural bodily coping skill as she attempts to have sexual intercourse with The Doctor. This is not the emotional connection and attraction between the two of them, but does show The Doctor’s reaction and desire as Amy kisses him before he stops them from pursuing further The Doctor and Amy’s kiss. And The Doctor’s insistence of her aging and his inability to, changing physical bodies instead, cannot work for them to be in a romantic relationship. Despite this The Doctor’s darker entity The Dream Lord, a mind parasite brought on upon psychic pollen, tests the trust between The Doctor and Amy. Taunting Amy, embarrassing her with her sexual desires and attacking her relationship with Rory, whilst trying to seduce her. Despite this alternate version of The Doctor, The Dream Lord is a part of him, his feelings of confliction with Amy are shown as is his jealousy of Rory.
“Love’s a redhead doctor” The Dream Lord to The Doctor (series 5 episode 7, Amy’s Choice)
“I’ve seen your dreams” The Dream Lord to Amy (series 5 episode 7, Amy’s Choice)
And Rory, the kind, loving, supportive husband to Amy and friend to The Doctor. Amy loves her husband, and despite her attraction to The Doctor both emotionally, mentally, and physically, the gap between them in the time of twelve years (then another accidental two, fourteen years) has left them in a position where the feelings are there but there is a line that cannot be crossed. Actress Karen Gillan who plays Amy Pond said when questioned if Amy is in love with The Doctor, “As far as I see it, Rory is the one that she loves in that way. The Doctor she loves in a completely different way” (Doctor Who-The Brilliant Book 2012, 39). And when asked who was more important to Amy, Gillan said of her character, “That’s harder. The Doctor is her childhood hero, and she idolizes him. She hates that she idolizes him, and she hides it well, but she probably idolizes him a lot more than she does anyone else. Even Rory”(Gillan, 39).
This is where though fiction, the relationship is understandable and relatable. Viewers and non-viewers can emphasize with loving someone in different ways, and not allowing yourself to pursue further for moral reasons. The Doctor though kisses Amy’s forehead and she his, often asks Rory’s permission before hugging her. And despite teasing and flirting and nicknames such as ‘The Legs’ as The Doctor has called Amy, he supports Amy and Rory’s marriage. The Doctor will not kiss Amy’s mouth once she is married even with her yearning for him to do so (series 5 episode 13, The Big Bang), and he wants Amy and Rory’s fights and feuds settled for the happiness of their marriage.
The Good Things, The Bad Things, and Endings…
The Doctor does not like change, he fears it. And in the beginning of series seven, where The Doctor loses the Ponds, The Doctor and Amy’s relationship was as strong as ever, and so bittersweet. In series five The Doctor told Amy that “…The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. Hey. The good things don’t always soften the bad things. But vice-versa…the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant” (series 5 episode 10, Vincent and The Doctor) Good Things and Bad Things. Sometimes the painful memories can make the happy memories more beautiful, and the happy memories can make the painful memories more bearable.
The Doctor is forever connected To Amy Pond: “Because You were the first. The first face this face saw. And you were seared onto my hearts. Amelia Pond. You always will be.” (series 7 episode 4, The Power of Three). Despite Amy’s life in The United States of America, in New York City in the 1930s, unable to see her beloved friend, she still writes to him through an afterword of her daughter’s story (The Angel’s Kiss by Melody Malone a.k.a. River Song) and later in her own stories (Summer Falls…etc.) where she leaves him messages. And ending doesn’t have to be an ending, The Doctor himself says that “We’re all stories in the end” (series 5 episode 13, The Big Bang). There is a choice to continue the adventure. Amy continues to write to The Doctor, to help him in his adventures and to keep him informed on Rory and her life.
The Doctor and Amy refer to one another as each others best friend. They’re family, they’ve admitted love for the other and are extremely protective of each other.
This is what makes The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond as series favorites. Their characters and how they affect the plotlines and stories of the show. From the moments of humor to moments of loss. Sweet and melancholy.
Works Cited
Hickman, Clayton, and Paul Lang. “Doctor Who-The Brilliant Book 2012.” Ebury Pub. 2011. Print.
Williams, Amelia, and Justin Richards. “Summer Falls and Other Stories.”BBC Books. 2013. Print.
“The Eleventh Hour.” Doctor Who. BBC One. United Kingdom. 3 April. 2010. Television.
“Flesh and Stone.” Doctor Who. BBC One. United Kingdom. 1 May. 2010. Television.
“Amy’s Choice.” Doctor Who. BBC One. United Kingdom. 15 May. 2010. Television.
“Vincent and The Doctor.” Doctor Who. BBC One. United Kingdom. 5 June. 2010. Television.
“The Power of Three.” Doctor Who. BBC One. United Kingdom. 22 Sept. 2012. Television.
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