Amy Pond
- For the companion of the Fifth Doctor, see Amy.
Amelia "Amy" Jessica Pond was a young Scottish woman who was the first companion of the Eleventh Doctor. When she met the Doctor for the second time, she was working as a kiss-o-gram.
Profile
Early Life
Amelia Jessica Pond was born in Scotland in the year 1989. She was later orphaned and moved to England with her aunt Sharon in Leadworth
Meeting the Doctor
Amelia first met the Doctor on Easter when she was seven. He crash landed in her backyard and accompanied her into the house. She made him a great deal of food in order to assuage his cravings, but he hated everything except custard-dipped fish fingers. Amy was avoiding a crack in her room that she heard voices from. The Doctor went up with her and opened the crack. Behind it was an Atraxi, who was looking for the escaped Prisoner Zero.
The Cloister Bell rang and the Doctor ran back to the TARDIS, promising to just make a five minute jump to the future and pick Amy up. She waited for him, but he did not return. Over the next twelve years, Amy became obsessed with her "imaginary friend";
she made dolls and drawings of him and went through four psychiatrists, who all tried to convince her there was no Doctor. Her response, so she later told the Doctor, was to bite them.
The Doctor returned twelve years later. Amelia, now a kissogram dressed as a police officer going by the name Amy, hit him with a cricket bat as he attempted to enter her home. She handcuffed him to a radiator. The Doctor showed her a room in her house she had never seen. She entered it to find his sonic screwdriver and there encountered Prisoner Zero.
Amy and her boyfriend Rory Williams helped the Doctor defeat Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi. The Doctor then vanished for a short trip to the moon, which actually lasted two more years. He came back for Amy, who joined him as his new companion on the day before her wedding (though she kept this fact from the Doctor). (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Travels
- "Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just... just because you could?" - Amy Pond
Amy's first trip in the TARDIS was to Starship UK in the late 32nd century. There, she and the Doctor discovered a Star Whale being tortured in order to force it to propel the enormous ship. Amy had previously learned of the Star Whale's predicament through one of Starship UK's voting booths, but had voluntarily erased her memory of it, leaving herself a message telling her to get the Doctor to leave. The Doctor intended to destroy the whale's higher brain functions, leaving it in a vegetative state so it could not feel pain, but Amy sensed that the creature would willingly save the ship for the sake of the children of Britain if given the chance. She took the situation into her own hands and freed the whale. Her theory was proved correct in the end. Immediately after this, Amy answered a phone call in the TARDIS from Winston Churchill, asking the Doctor for help. (DW: The Beast Below)
The Doctor and Amy then set of for war-torn London, only to find the Doctor's old enemies, the Daleks, serving the Prime Minister and his army as their 'soldiers', having been "created" by Edwin Bracewell. The Doctor tries to employ Amy to convince Churchill that the Daleks are evil, because she should remember them after their previous attack over London and the Medusa Cascade incident. Amy apologises and tells the Doctor that she remembers nothing about them, to which the Doctor replies that it's impossible. Once the Doctor supplies the Daleks with a "testimony" the Daleks reveal their true nature and depart to recreate their race.The Doctor goes to find the Daleks, leaving Amy behind. When the Daleks light up London, Amy comes up with the idea to send Spitfires with advanced technology supplied by Bracewell into space to combat the Dalek ship, eventually destroying the dish lighting up London. When the Doctor returns and reveals that Edwin is actually a Dalek-created android, with a Oblivion Continuum bomb inside, Amy convinces him that he is human by asking him "Have you ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?", successfully canceling the detonation. She later convinces the Doctor not to worry about the Daleks despite them escaping, and helps encourage Edwin to live a human life. In a conversation with the Doctor, Amy realises that travelling with the Doctor is dangerous, but continues to go with him regardless. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
Personality
As a child, Amelia was seen to be brave and not frightened easily even when alone. She prayed to Santa Claus to help her with the crack in her wall, and thus was not surprised to meet the Doctor when he first arrived. She was both repulsed and amused by the Doctor's immediate demand for food, and wished to travel with him shortly after their meeting. In her later life, she was a somewhat fiesty companion with a wicked sense of humour and occasionally a short temper, but she showed signs that deep down, she was still the young Amelia Pond that she was upon her first meeting the the Eleventh Doctor. She was very cynical and skeptical due to him breaking his promise to be "back in five minutes" and returning 12 years later.
Amy was able to switch easily between Scottish and received pronunciation English accents. When she met the Doctor for the first time as an adult, she easily maintained an English accent so as to keep her identity hidden from the Doctor. She immediately returned to her Scottish accent once the Doctor figured out that she was Amelia. Later, the Doctor said that her stubborn maintenance of the Scottish accent in an English village was proof that she would come traveling with him. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Key Life Events
- Born in Scotland, and raised there for long enough to have positive memories of it.
- At some point in her early youth, she went to live with her aunt Sharon in Leadworth, England. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Met the the Doctor at the age of 7. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Met Rory Williams at some point in her youth. Over time the relationship became romantic.
- Re-encountered the Doctor 12 years later and helped him save the world from Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Got left behind by the Doctor for a second time. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Got engaged.
- The Doctor returned after two years and Amy joined him in the TARDIS, a day before her wedding. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Journeyed to the far future, and saved the Star Whale from death at the hands of the Doctor. (DW: The Beast Below)
- Travelled to World War II during the Blitz, meeting Winston Churchill, and encountering the Daleks (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
Behind the Scenes
- Amy is the second consecutive TV companion to have red hair. This fact was noted by the BBC when it issued a statement in response to the so-called 'Ginger controversy' that erupted in early January 2010 due to misinterpretation of a statement made by the Eleventh Doctor after his regeneration.[1]
- Amy Pond is the second character with an aquatic-themed name to be created by show-runner Steven Moffat following River Song.
- Amy is the second televised companion to have a Scottish accent, and only the third regularly-appearing Scots character in series history, behind both Jamie McCrimmon and the Brigadier. Since neither Frazer Hines nor Nicholas Courtney are themselves Scottish, Gillan is the first Scottish actor to play a recurring Scot in the history of the programme.
- Following the premiere of The Eleventh Hour, the character of Amy Pond was criticized by a number of viewers for being "too sexy" for a family program such as Doctor Who. In response, Piers Wenger, the executive producer for Series 5, stated, “The whole kissogram thing played into Steven’s desire for the companion to be feisty and outspoken and a bit of a number. Amy is probably the wildest companion that the Doctor has travelled with, but she isn’t promiscuous. She is really a two-man woman and that will become clear over the course of the episodes." [1]
- Amy Pond is the first main companion since the series revival who does not live in London.
- It was revealed in Victory of the Daleks that Amy Pond had never seen or heard of the Daleks, nor had did she remember planets in the sky, much to the Doctor's serious concern.
Footnotes
- ↑ BBC Complaint response, 6 January 2010
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