Pond Life (webcast)

Pond Life
Doctor:	Eleventh Doctor
Featuring:	Amy, Rory
Main setting:	London, 21st century
Key crew
Writer:	Chris Chibnall
Director:	Saul Metzstein
Producer:	Denise Paul
Release details
Premiere network:	BBC Red Button
Release date:	27 August-31 August 2012
Format:	5 mini episodes
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Doctor Who television stories
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Pond Life was a series of five short Doctor Who webisodes leading up to the series 7 premiere. Each one was said to take place in a consecutive month leading up to September, the launch month of the series. It depicted a fiercely damaging argument between Amy Pond and Rory Williams for an unspecified reason that set them on the path to divorce, leading into the events of TV: Asylum of the Daleks.

Synopsis

The Eleventh Doctor checks in on Amy Pond and Rory Williams after leaving them.

Plot

Part 1

April: The Eleventh Doctor phones Amy and Rory on their answering machine about his adventures: fleeing Sontarans by surfing the firefalls on Florinall 9, meeting Mata Hari in Paris, singing the backups for an album and crashing into ancient Greece.

Part 2

May: The Doctor bursts into the Ponds' house while they sleep, trying to tell them that the world is endangered and that they are to save the planet. Realising it's the wrong time for them, he decides to collect their future selves. The Doctor tells them they'll be safe, wishes them a good night and leaves. Rory says he hates it when the Doctor does that.

Part 3

June: Rory steps into the bathroom, and is startled by what he sees. Whilst collecting himself, Amy goes into the bathroom. Revealed is an Ood on the loo asking, "May I be of any assistance?"

Part 4

July: The Ood is still living in the Pond household, acting as a butler for Amy and Rory - cleaning their windows, making food, hanging their washing outside. The Doctor explains that he rescued the Ood from the Androvax conflict, planning on returning it to the Ood Sphere, and misplaced the Ood when he last visited. He tells Rory that he will pick the Ood up "tonight" and then starts wondering when tonight will actually be?

Part 5

August: The Doctor, having returned the Ood to the Ood Sphere, leaves another message on the Ponds' answering machine, talking about more of his adventures, such as having invented pasta. He attempted to visit Amy and Rory's home, but they were out. He's sure everything's alright with them, but as he speaks footage is shown of Rory storming out of the house and Amy shouting. He then says to call them if they need him and hangs up. He then gets a nervous look on his face and deletes the message. Soon, Amy arrives home and checks the answering machine. Finding no message, she says to herself, "We need you, raggedy man. I need you."

Cast

• The Doctor – Matt Smith
• Amy Pond – Karen Gillan
• Rory Williams – Arthur Darvill
• Voice of the Ood - Silas Carson

References

Foods and beverages

• The Doctor claims to have invented pasta.
• Amy steals a sausage from Rory.

Story notes

• Pond Life uses a unique opening sequence that does not feature the Doctor Who logo. It introduces the new credits typeface which continues into Series 7.
• Karen Gillan had to wear a wig during filming of Pond Life because she had changed her hairstyle before production began. Tweet

Continuity

• The Doctor blames a malfunction on the Helmic regulator being hit by an arrow at the Battle of Hastings. The TARDIS was previously hit with an arrow by Lady Peinforte in Windsor, and by a member of Queen Elizabeth I's royal guard at the Globe Theatre. (TV: Silver Nemesis, The Shakespeare Code)
• Weeks before the Battle of Hastings and the damage to the Helmic regulator, the First Doctor had defeated the Monk's attempt to reverse the battle's outcome. (TV: The Time Meddler)
• The Doctor claims to have invented pasta. He had earlier claimed, in his previous incarnation, that he invented the banana daiquiri. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace) He subsequently claimed to Amy and Rory that he invented Yorkshire pudding. (TV: The Power of Three)
• In part 5, the Doctor is seen changing the lightbulb atop the TARDIS, whilst parked on Amy's & Rory's street. On her first trip in the TARDIS, Amy asked the Doctor whether the bulb required changing. (HOMEVID: Meanwhile in the TARDIS 1) In his, Amy's, and Rory's personal future (albeit a few years into Earth's past), River Song asked him if the bulb needed changing. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) Sometime during Amy and Rory's travels with him, he distracted River (still later in her timeline) out of the TARDIS by asking her to check the light. (TV: Last Night)
  • The act of the Doctor changing the bulb on his TARDIS may also have a deeper context by foreshadowing the events of TV: The Angels Take Manhattan.
• Part 2 takes place before TV: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, at least for the Ponds.
• At the beginning of May, Amy's childhood suitcase is seen sitting behind the door in her and Rory's bedroom. It had previously only appeared in scenes with Young Amelia. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, The God Complex)