Top 10 Greatest Pond Moments
Guest contributor K-Ci Williams counts down the top 10 Pond moments.
The story of Amelia Pond began in The Eleventh Hour (2010) and ended under poignant, chilling, and heartbreaking circumstances in The Angels Take Manhattan last Saturday. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have expressed so much of themselves through their characters, and this has resulted in the Ponds growing to be loved, and they will be treasured forever. In commemoration of the legendary Ponds, I have narrowed down a personal list of precious, funny, and everlasting moments down to the Top 10 Greatest Pond Moments that have made me fall in love with Doctor Who.
10. Pond Reconciliation
9. Pond Marriage
At the end of The Big Bang (2010) Amelia Pond marries Rory Williams, and a certain someone decides to give a gift to the newlyweds in the form of a blue diary. This scene concludes the first set of thirteen episodes for Matt Smith’s Doctor, Karen’s Amy and Arthur’s Rory. The moment that certainly stands out for me is when Amy remembers the ‘Raggedy Doctor.’ She wails at her father, telling him to ‘shut up,’ before searching her mind for a scrap of evidence. The Doctor materialises in the TARDIS, dressed in a wedding suit, and joins the wedding. This was a triumphant moment, seeing that eponymous Time Lord return in a way that was inflicted by none other then his companion. The fact that after everything they had been through, the Doctor was reunited with the Ponds, shows Amy’s strength and her love for both the Doctor and Rory. From then on, the surname process was inverted, and to the Doctor, Amy and Rory became Mr and Mrs Pond. As I look back on this moment, I know that the Ponds will always come out on top, and eventually, they’ll find their way into the light.
8. Amy’s Hope/Logic
The stories The Beast Below and Vincent and the Doctor (2010) share this moment, as they both show Amy’s ability to use logic and to give hope to others. In The Beast Below, the Doctor takes Amy on her first trip into outer space, to visit the Starship UK. While on board, Amy encounters the sinister Smilers, but ultimately saves the Starwhale, and stops the Doctor from making the wrong choice. This shows Amy’s logic, and her ability to see parallels between the Starwhale being ‘very old, very kind, and the very last of it’s kind,’ and the Doctor being the same. In this moment, when she presses the ABDICATE button, she seals her place in the TARDIS.
In Vincent and the Doctor, she gives hope to Van Gogh, and presents him with sunflowers to brighten up his garden. Taking Vincent to the future to see his paintings was a stroke of genius. Amy was distraught to find out that he still committed suicide, though his painting of the sunflowers had a small inscription dedicated to Amy. I believe that these moments are very important because they strongly show Amy’s character and the extents she will go to. Ultimately, these moments show the evolution of Amy, and the way that she progresses through time and space.
7. Amy Abandons Her Faith
In The God Complex (2011) the Doctor and the Ponds find themselves stranded in a twisting and turning hotel. After adventures from Leadworth to Apalapucia, the trio solve the mystery of the Minotaur monster and the fearful rooms. The Doctor thinks that his companions can be saved by turning to their faith. Soon though, he starts to realise that the hotel pulls people in that have faith in something, with the likes of Rita’s Muslim faith, and Amy’s faith in him. Her undying faith in him resulted in the TARDIS being pulled into the hotel. To save her, the Doctor attempts to persuade Amy to abandon her faith in him, to stop waiting, and to start living. In Amy, the Doctor sees little Amelia, and in the Doctor, Amy sees the man she had been waiting for as a little girl. This moment, in Amy’s ‘fear’ room, is a sweetly written, directed and performed scene, and shows Amy abandoning her faith in the Doctor. For me, this is very significant, as it reminds me of those first moments of The Eleventh Hour (2010) when we meet Amelia Pond. This moment really is an echoing reminder to the evolving legacy of Amy Pond.
6. River Song heals The Doctor
Lets Kill Hitler (2011) presented us with the Ponds’ childhood friend, Mels, who in a matter of minutes, is shot by Adolf Hitler. As the trio attempt to comfort Mels to her death, she uses her catchphrase “penny in the air… and the penny drops” before an influx of regeneration energy flies from her body, as she changes into River Song. Of this story, what really stood out to me was the moment where the Doctor is near death, but River decides to heal him. She says “Hello sweetie” and kisses him. Hitler’s office is bathed in a bright yellow light, as the Doctor is being healed. This is a very significant moment for me, because it shows the beginning of the metaphorical ‘River’ and ties in the stories of the past and future of the Ponds ever-changing daughter, Melody Pond. When I first watched this, I was bewildered with the themes presented. Especially the performances and character connections portrayed by Smith, Gillan, Darvill and Kingston. This moment, along with the episode, remains one of my all-time favourites of the Pond-era, because it is a brilliantly written story, and kicks off the mid-series of Series 6 perfectly.
5. The Lone Centurion
In The Big Bang (2010) Rory Williams, as a plastic centurion, waits two thousand years to keep Amy safe in the Pandorica. Throughout the Pond-era, there are references to this moment, and I highly regard it as a moment of pure love. It is rare in New Who to see a companion love someone who is not the Doctor, and this shows that Rory has undying love for Amelia. I cannot expand further on this moment because it is all there, in black and white, clear as crystal, Rory waited two thousand years to be reunited with Amy. This acts as a testament to the largely reciprocated love between Amy and Rory, and shows Rory’s determination to stay with his beloved. This is one of the greatest moments of the Pond-era, where Rory the Roman proclaims his everlasting love for Amy, though not through words, but by his valiant efforts. I look back on this moment with great happiness, as I know it seals the relationship between the Ponds.
4. River is Revealed
Demons Run, the asteroid where Amy gives birth to Melody Pond in A Good Man Goes To War (2011). The Doctor takes control of Demons Run and finds Amy and her baby. After the climax of this story, where Melody is revealed as a Flesh Avatar, and the real one is gone with Kovarian, a certain somebody decides to pop in via Vortex Manipulator and finally reveal who she is. The moment where River Song stands by the Doctor’s cot, and the Ponds walk up to her, demanding to know what she told the Doctor is a highlight of the Pond-era. She reveals, “I’m Melody…I’m your daughter!” I love this moment to my death, because it is finally connecting the Ponds with River Song, and she becomes a known Pond. The sentiment created by Murray Gold’s music and Kingston’s performance make this moment a scene that I will treasure forever. As I look back upon the Ponds previous stories, I look at the expression on Kingston’s face to detect any sense of her knowing she is with her parents. This was a thrill and this came as a huge shock!
3. Amelia’s Last Farewell
As printed in Chapter 12 of the Melody Malone book, the third greatest moment is Amelia’s Last Farewell, in The Angels Take Manhattan (2012) I was utterly gobsmacked by this moment. With her husband zapped back in time, of course all Amy wanted to do was join him. Her final words “Raggedy Man…Goodbye!” sent me on another nostalgic tour all the way back to The Eleventh Hour (2010) and then came the final realisation for me that she was gone. The camera zoomed into the gravestone, and I saw my favourite companion’s name engraved. Once it’s written in stone, that’s it! I couldn’t believe it! I was torn, distraught, and inconsolable. This scene left me teary, and for a moment I was uncertain of the future. For me, this moment deserves this spot, because it is the final farewell of my first companion, Amy Pond, the girl who I met in 2010, when I watched Who for the first time. Amelia, I thank you for guiding me into the Whoniverse, I will miss you greatly.
2. Falling from Winter Quay
It goes without saying, this next moment, again from The Angels Take Manhattan, made me cry. The Ponds falling from Winter Quay, in slow motion, accompanied by a signature tune by Murray Gold. This gave me cause to cry, which I was not planning to do. But while watching these two characters who I have come to love, pitching themselves from the rooftop, I was again, inconsolable. I had no idea what was about to happen. Moffat certainly had a brilliantly written ending in store for the Ponds. I have to say that, without a doubt, the combination of audio and visual made this moment perfect. The Ponds falling in slow motion, accompanied by a chilling tune, made this moment very memorable, and showed me just how great Who can be. This is one of the moments that I will remember forever. As I am writing this, I have this very tune playing on loop because it is the greatest and most emotional Whotune I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. Yes, this is a moment to treasure forever.
1. The Afterword
After the tragic events of The Angels Take Manhattan I think this moment deserves the top spot on my list. It is the depiction of Amelia’s story coming full circle. And now I know, ever since I first watched Who in 2010, that my little Amelia was always destined to become a great woman, a wonderful wife, a loving mother, and a stand-out companion. The moment where we flashback to Amelia waiting in the garden for the Doctor to return is really the final point for me. And when the picture turns sepia to end the story, I know that my Amelia is gone, and will never be coming back. Although, I think that rather than explaining the Afterword, you can read it yourself, and be dazzled by the cyclic-like story that is Amelia Pond’s:
“Hello old friend, and here we are. You and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well, and we’re very happy. And above all else, know that we will love you, always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think, once we’re gone, you won’t be coming back here for a while, and you might be alone, which you should never be. Don’t be alone, Doctor. And do one more thing for me. There’s a little girl waiting in a garden. She’s going to wait a long while, so she’s going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she’s patient, the days are coming that she’ll never forget. Tell her she’ll go to sea and fight pirates. She’ll fall in love with a man who’ll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she’ll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived, and save a whale in outer space. Tell her, this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends.”
Thank-you Amelia Pond and Rory Williams, for introducing me to the Whoniverse and being the greatest companions the Doctor and I could wish for. I will miss you forever, and I promise that no matter how great the new companion will be, you will always be MY companions. Thank you Mr and Mrs Pond, and thank you Moffat, for delivering the truth and giving my companions a heartbreaking send-off, and “A Pond Farewell”