Amy Pond
Amelia "Amy" Jessica Pond was a young Scottish woman who was the first companion of the Doctor in his eleventh incarnation. She was also the girlfriend (and later wife) of Rory Williams and mother of Melody Pond, who was later revealed to be River Song.
Biography
Early life
Amelia Jessica Pond was born in Scotland in 1989. She was orphaned and moved to England to live with her aunt, Sharon, in Leadworth. It was later revealed that her parents were swallowed by the crack in her room. (DW: The Big Bang)
After the universe was restarted by The Doctor (DW: The Big Bang), events were corrected, and there never were any cracks in time. Consequently, Amy still grew up in Leadworth and was never orphaned, as her parents were never swallowed by the crack in her room. Despite living so long in an English village, Amy did not lose her Scottish accent.
Meeting the Doctor
Amelia first met the Doctor at Easter in 1996 after his TARDIS crashed in her back yard from damage sustained from his regeneration. The Doctor offered to take her travelling with him, but first had to keep the TARDIS' engines from phasing, requiring a quick trip into the future. The Doctor told Amelia he would only be five minutes, but took twelve years. During the interim, Amelia became obsessed with her "Raggedy Doctor", creating dolls, comics and dress-up games around him, convincing her friend Rory into dressing up like him. Her Aunt Sharon sent her to four psychologists, whom she ended up biting when they tried to make her think the Doctor wasn't real. Reaching adulthood, Amelia took on the name "Amy", became Rory's girlfriend, and took a job as a kissogram.
Eventually, Amy met the Doctor again. Although distrustful of him at first, she helped him defeat Prisoner Zero and warn the Atraxi to never come back to Earth. While the Doctor took two years to take the TARDIS to the moon and back to break in the new engines, Amy became engaged to Rory and was due to be wed on the 26th of June, 2010. The night before the wedding, the Doctor returned to keep the promise he had made to Amelia on Easter 1996 and she agreed to join him in the TARDIS as a companion on the condition that she be returned before the following morning. She did not mention her upcoming marriage. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Travels with the Doctor and Rory
Amy's first trip in the TARDIS was to Starship UK in the 33rd century. There, she accidentally discovered the ship's secret--it was actually piloted by a Star Whale. Amy then released it from its torture, having reasoned that it was willing to help without provocation, as it was kind-hearted. (DW: The Beast Below)
Following a call for help, the Doctor and Amy then set off for war-torn London in 1941, where they met Winston Churchill and inadvertently aid the rebirth of the Daleks. Amy also helped to deactivate the detonation of the oblivion continuum inside Bracewell by convincing him that he was human. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
Soon after, Amy and the Doctor met River Song for the first time in Amy's perspective and defeated an army of Weeping Angels. During this time, Amy nearly died under the power of Angel Bob. (DW: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone)
After this trauma, Amy chose to reveal to the Doctor that she was getting married, and, in a fit of conflicting emotions, attempted to seduce him. The Doctor, fearing that Amy was losing sight of the things that had been important to her in her day-to-day life, responded by collecting Rory and taking Amy and him on a trip to Venice, 1580 to repair their relationship. They then stopped a group of Saturnynians from flooding the city. Amy was nearly converted into a half Saturnynian by Rosanna and her son Francesco, but escaped. She later rescued Rory from a violent Francesco, forced to kill for the first time. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
Soon after, the TARDIS crew found themselves trapped between two realities by the malevolent being known as the Dream Lord. The Dream Lord took this opportunity to taunt Amy about her triangular relationship with the Doctor and Rory, prompting her to choose between the two of them. She finally made this choice when Rory was killed in one version of reality, realising that she could not bear to live without him. Amy came to terms with her feelings for Rory after finding him still alive in the real world, and made it clear to him for the first time that his feelings are requited. (DW: Amy's Choice)
In Cwmtaff, Wales, Amy witnessed the resurrection of a group of Silurians. After a failed attempt to create an alliance between Silurians and humans, during which Amy bargined on behalf of the earth, Rory was shot and killed, and then erased from history by another of the cracks in space and time. This caused Amy, after being initially completely devastated by her loss, to lose all her memories of him. (DW: The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood)
The Doctor was exremely guilty over this event and later took Amy to many especialy wonderful places in an attempt to ease this guilt. On one of these ventures, the two of them encountered Vincent Van Gogh, with whom Amy developed a particularly close bond, Vincent even dedeciting a painting to her. She was deeply upset when unable to prevent his later suicide. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor) After that, the TARDIS materialised in a park in Chesterfield and de-materialised leaving the Doctor stuck in Chesterfield and Amy was trapped in the TARDIS. Amy spent a time in the TARDIS helping the Doctor's solve his problems via an earpiece communicator he was wearing. (DW: The Lodger) After the pair were reuinited Amy, while searching for a pen in the Doctor's jacket, discovered her engagement ring. She was unable to attatch any memories to it but felt a strange connection.
Amy and The Doctor paid a visit to Space Florida a week prior to the events of the Doctor's erasure . (DW: The Big Bang)
Restarting the universe
Amy and the Doctor met River Song again and became involved in a trap for the Doctor involving an Alliance of the Doctor's enemies. There, she was reunited with Rory, who, unbeknownst to her had been recreated as an Auton. Eventually regaining her memories of him, she was thrilled to see him again only for her to be shot by Rory himself as, his Auton instincts coming into play, he could not control his actions. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
The Doctor placed Amy in the Pandorica to keep her alive. Rory watched over her for two-thousand years until, in 1996, she was completely resurrected by her younger self. The TARDIS had exploded and caused the cracks in time. In order to repair this damage, the Doctor sacrificed himself into the cracks. Amy suceeded in restoring the family she had lost to the cracks, as well as a human again Rory. But the Doctor remained erased from time.
At long last, Amy had her wedding with Rory. At the reception she caught sight of River Song passing by the window, and found River's diary on the table. It was now that Amy began to recall detales of the Doctor. She soon remembered him entirely and managed to bring him back into reality using only the raw power of her time-altered mind. Then she, the Doctor and Rory, bid goodbye to the rest of the guests and depart on another adventure - this time, an Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express, in space.
Honeymoon
The Doctor gave Amy and Rory some time on a honeymoon planet (a planet on a honeymoon with an asteroid) shortly before his TARDIS was stolen by the Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet, temporarily stranding him until he retrieved it with the help of old companions. (SJA: Death of the Doctor)
Some time later, Amy and Rory were still on their honeymoon when they got caught in a cloud shell above a planet. Amy donned her policewoman outfit again, and helped the Doctor in his Christmas Carol-like story as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Eventually, all ended well, and she and Rory continued on their honeymoon.
At this point, The Doctor suggested a Moon that was actually made of Honey (although it was neither real honey nor really a moon) as a prospective honeymoon destination. He further commented that although there were some lovely views, it was however, technically alive and slightly carnivorous. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
At one point, nearing the end of their honeymoon, the Doctor's TARDIS materialized inside itself after Rory unintentionally caused it to do so while helping the Doctor conduct routine maintenance. Amy encountered a future version of herself, with whom she chose to flirt. The Doctor was able to dissolve the resulting space loop by using it to their advantage. (DW: Space / Time)
As a Ganger
After their honeymoon, Amy and Rory returned to Earth. During this time, they acquired their own house. An unknowingly pregnant Amy was kidnapped by Madame Kovarian and the Church at a time shortly before their departure to the United States. Amy was replaced with a Ganger synchronized to her senses so that she was unaware she had been removed from her time. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
Amy joined the Doctor again and helped him cause a human revolution against the Silence. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon)
Landing in the 17th century, Amy helped the Doctor stop a Siren from kidnapping the entire crew of a pirate ship. It was later revealed that the Siren was really a virtual doctor from an invisible spaceship that took up the same space as the Fancy and its crew decided to commandeer the ship for themselves to see the stars. During this time, Amy proved herself capable with a sword in a fight with pirates when she fought them to keep the Doctor and Rory from walking the plank, and later saved a drowning Rory's life via CPR. However, while she slept on the Fancy, Amy awoke to notice the woman once again looking through a hatch, but this time directly at her. (DW The Curse of the Black Spot)
Amy was later trapped inside the TARDIS along with Rory by House, who planned to use the TARDIS to escape the bubble-universe. During this time, Amy's love for Rory was toyed with by House, using the TARDIS's temporal nature to put on illusions to cause anguish as she was falsely lead to believe Rory had been left alone to die of old age. Amy was saved by the Doctor, who used the soul of the TARDIS to expel/kill House. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
In the 22nd century, Amy became involved in the revolution of the Gangers, helping them to achieve equality despite being initially distasteful of the Ganger Doctor after he physicaly assulted her while experiencing the pain of all the past Gangers. Twice during this time, she saw the Eye Patch Lady, but the Doctor dismissed her worrying about it as a "time memory." After the Ganger Doctor prevented the revolution, Amy learned she was a Ganger herself. The Doctor then destroyed her Ganger body after promising to find her and Amy awoke in her real body on Demons Run to find herself full-term pregnant with Madame Kovarian, the Eye Patch Lady, (literally) watching over her. Being instructed to push, Amy entered labour. (DW: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People)
Becoming a mother
She named her daughter Melody Pond, who was (unknown to Amy) kidnapped by Madame Kovarian and replaced by a "flesh" version. The Doctor and Rory then appeared with an army, took Demons Run and rescued Amy. After the Battle of Demons Run, Amy discovered Kovarian's trick and was heart-broken at the loss of her child. River then appeared and revealed to them that she was, in fact, Melody. The Doctor left in search of the baby. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
Berlin, 1938
After an entire month had passed, Amy grew tired of waiting for the Doctor. She had Rory drive through a field in Leadworth to make a crop circle saying "Doctor". The Doctor arrived to find himself hijacked at gunpoint by Amy's childhood friend Mels, who was on the run from the police after stealing a car. After crash-landing in Berlin during the Third Reich and being shot by Hitler, Mels - short for "Melody" - regenerated into River Song. The Doctor announced that Amy had named her daughter after her daughter. After repeatedly trying (and failing) to shoot the Doctor, Melody resorted to fatally poisoning the Doctor with a kiss. When she fled, Amy chased after her in the hopes preventing her becoming worse. Amy and Rory were caught and miniaturized inside a robot called the Teselecta that took her form to get close to River. While inside, Amy learned that Melody was inside the astronaut suit that killed the Doctor. After saving Melody's life by having the Teselecta's antibodies go after the crew, Amy was saved by her daughter in the TARDIS. It was too late for the Doctor. Convincing Melody that the Doctor was worth saving because of the great things he is capable of, Amy watched as her daughter sacrificed her remaining regenerations to revive the Doctor. Amy left River in a hospital to follow her own path, and once again rejoined the Doctor for adventures. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
Further adventures
The TARDIS landed on Earth in 2011, after tracing a distress signal from a Tenza known as George. George lived in a huge block of flats. Amy and Rory knocked on nearly every door to find him. They entered a lift and were dropped into a giant doll house. Running from the Peg Dolls, George unwittingly transformed Amy into one of them. She even joined the dolls in harrassing Rory and the Doctor. When George overcame his fear, Amy was returned to normal, and said she was completely unharmed. (DW: Night Terrors)
When the TARDIS landed on Apalapucia, the Doctor and Rory entered one room, whilst Amy, following, walked into another. The chambers were visually linked by a glass ring but time moved faster on Amy's side of the glass. And in the moments it took Rory to reach her, she lived for 36 years. With no humans to share the passing decades, she acquired a pet Handbot called Rory to keep her company. She grew tougher and in time, began to blame the Doctor for her plight. But seeing Rory again reminded her of how much she had loved being with him in the TARDIS... she sacrificed her escape to ensure 'young Amy' and her husband could share their lives. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
Personality
Amy Pond possesed an adventurous and compulsive personality with a dry sense of humour and strong will. Thanks to her difficult childhood and early abandonment by the Doctor, she was rarely open with her own feelings and occasionly mistrustful and wary of people which sometimes caused her to hold the people she cared about at arms length, the best example of which being her early relationship with Rory (DW: Let's Kill Hitler, The Eleventh Hour, The Vampires of Venice) and her attitude towards the Doctor upon his return. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Even as a child, Amelia was brave and already capable of cooking for herself. She prayed to Santa Claus to help her with the crack in her wall, and so was not surprised to meet the Doctor when he first arrived. She also seemed to have a lust for adventure, wishing to travel with him shortly after their meeting. After he did not return for her she developed into a cynical and occasionally slightly aggressive young woman but deep down, she was still the Amelia Pond she had been in her first meeting with the Doctor. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Amy was often flippant in the face of danger, with the exeption her traumatic ordeal in the forest aboard the Byzantium. She exchanged barbs with Rosanna Calvierri even when facing a forcible blood replacement and cracked jokes while confronting apparent doom on the TARDIS. (DW: Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice)
Amy could be flirtatious at times. In Leadworth, she made a living as a kissogram and showed sexual attraction to the Doctor (DW: The Eleventh Hour), Vincent Van Gogh (DW: Vincent and the Doctor) and the Roman soldiers they met at Stonehenge (DW: The Pandorica Opens). Amy tried to seduce the Doctor on one occasion while confused about her own feelings. (DW Flesh and Stone) Rory once claimed that she only passed her driving test on her first attempt because she was wearing a revealing skirt at the time. (DW: Space)
Amy was shown to be inwardly troubled, and at times in life lonely. She was often left alone in the house by her aunt Sharon, who had refused to tend to her fear surrounding the crack in her bedroom wall. After meeting the Doctor as a child, Amelia was obsessed with her "Raggedy Doctor" and refused to believe that he was simply an imaginary friend, even going so far as to bite the psychiatrists her aunt sent her to when they tried to convince her otherwise. Mels, a school troublemaker and a close friend of Amy's, once pointed out that Amelia often misbehaved in school. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler) Despite this, Amy also managed to act as a protective maternal figure towards Mels, leading Mels - while regenerating into River Song after being revealed as Amy's actual daughter Melody Pond - to remark "You sort of raised me after all."
Amy loved her husband, Rory, with a passion and shared an incredably close bond with the Doctor. She once referred to the Doctor as her best friend. (DW: Day of the Moon) Despite her tough exterior, Amy could not always hide her emotions and was devastated when faced with the losses of loved ones such as Rory, Melody, the Doctor, Vincent and Mels.
In her time on the TARDIS, Amy proved herself to be a person capable of heriocs, saving the lives of the Doctor, Rory, River and others countless times. She was willing to remain in the clutches of the Silence so that the Doctor, Rory and River could escape (DW: Day of the Moon). As her mind was altered by her growing up with a crack in space and time in her bedroom wall, she also succeeded in restoring erased beings back to the universe (DW: The Big Bang) with only her memories at hand. She also knew enough about time to know that it could be rewritten and hoped that there was some way to rewrite time in order to avoid the Doctor's death. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
Appearance
Amy Pond was tall and long-legged (inspiring the Doctor to introduce her to the President of the United States with the code name "the Legs"), and had bright red hair, minor freckles and green eyes. She possesses a great sense of fashion and loves to experiment with the TARDIS wardrobe clothes.
Behind the scenes
- Amy is the second consecutive main TV companion to have red hair after Donna Noble. 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 first televised companion with whose adolescent self the Doctor has had significant onscreen experience. Nevertheless, she is far from unique in having been portrayed onscreen in her youth.
- Amy Pond is the second character with an aquatic-themed name to be created by show-runner Steven Moffat, following River Song. This is not a coincidence, however, as it is later revealed that River is Amy's daughter, and that "River" is translated from "Pond". Other writers, however, have employed "liquid" names; non-Moffat characters like Ocean Waters, Jackson Lake, and Adelaide Brooke have also appeared in the televised Doctor Who universe.
- Amy is the second televised companion to have a Scottish accent, and only the third regularly-appearing Scots character in series history, after both Jamie McCrimmon and the Brigadier. Since neither Frazer Hines nor Nicholas Courtney are themselves Scottish, Gillan is the first Scottish actor/actress 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."[2]
- Amy Pond is the first series-long BBC Wales companion who wouldn't consider London their hometown. That said, Jack Harkness, who has nearly been in as many episodes as a full series, isn't from Earth at all. However, she is only the second BBC Wales companion, after the short-lived Adam Mitchell, to have met the Doctor in a place other than London. This is debatable, as Donna Noble met the Doctor inside the TARDIS before taking her back to London.
- Amy is the second companion in the new series who has been pursued romantically by a real historical figure, she was proposed to by Vincent van Gogh. Previously, William Shakespeare made romantic advances towards Martha Jones.
- Steven Moffat has dismissed the fan theory that River Song is a future version of Amy. (DCOM: The Time of Angels) River was later revealed to be Amy's daughter.
- Amy has a fondness for Romans. Karen Gillan, who plays Amy, also played a Roman priestess in the episode The Fires of Pompeii.
- Caitlin Blackwood who plays the younger version of Amy is the cousin of Karen Gillan, although the two did not meet until the readthrough of DW: The Eleventh Hour.
- The Series 6 episode DW: Night Terrors was originally filmed for broadcast during the first half of the season, prior to the events of DW: The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. Karen Gillan, therefore, is actually portraying the Ganger version of Amy in this episode. However, the later decision to reschedule the episode into the post-A Good Man Goes to War continuity resulted in all overt references to this (specifically another vision by Amy of Madame Kovarian) were deleted.
Footnotes
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