'Amy's Choice' (Story Code 5.07) by Simon Nye

“Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel.” – The Doctor

Five years in the future, a heavily pregnant Amy and a pony-tailed Rory are happily married and living in a picturesque cottage in Upper Leadworth. One day they receive a visit from their old friend the Doctor: after a happy reunion the trio head outside for a walk, only to fall asleep on a nearby bench… and then wake up inside the TARDIS, back in the present. The Doctor, Amy and Rory are disturbed to learn that they all shared the same dream, but before they can discuss this further the ship’s console displays a red warning light, birdsong sounds from nowhere, and the three friends fall asleep once more… Waking up back on the bench in Upper Leadworth, the Doctor is extremely concerned and tells his friends to trust nothing: he is no longer certain of what is real and what is imaginary… Once again the time travellers wake up inside the TARDIS, just as the ship’s power dies; but as the lights go out the trio fall unconscious again, waking up once more in the village. Noticing that they are being watched by the residents of a nearby retirement home, the Doctor decides to pay the elderly folk a visit; but as he and his friends chat with the OAPs, they hear birdsong again and fall asleep once more… waking up in the freezing cold console room of the dead TARDIS. However, the trio are not alone: they are joined by the image of a short, sinister man, who introduces himself as ‘The Dream Lord’. After taunting Amy that she must make a choice between the Doctor and Rory, this odd little man gives the time travellers a challenge: they must work out which of their experiences is real and which is imaginary – both have a deadly danger, but whereas dying in a dream is not fatal, dying in reality is… Waking up in the old folks’ home, the Doctor, Amy and Rory find the place empty; heading outside they find one of the residents, Mrs Poggit, watching them from the ruins of an ancient church… and then they wake up again back inside the TARDIS. While Amy and Rory search for blankets, the Doctor jury-rigs a generator out of odds and ends so that he can power the scanner; looking at the view outside, the trio learn they are about to crash into a ‘cold star’: an icy sun that will freeze them to death in just forty minutes. Returning to Leadworth, the Doctor, Rory and Amy find piles of dust scattered everywhere – all that remains of a party of schoolchildren. At that moment a party of zombie-like pensioners shambles into view, each with a hideous, alien eye staring out from inside their mouths. Realising that each pensioner is inhabited by an alien parasite known as an Eknodine, the Doctor sends Amy and Rory to the safety of their cottage while he attempts to speak to the creatures; but when the alien worms inhabiting the pensioners kill a postman with their deadly breath, the Doctor beats a hasty retreat. Arriving at the cottage, Rory and Amy avoid an attacking pensioner and barricade themselves inside. Meanwhile, a heavily fatigued Doctor stumbles up the high street with several OAPs in pursuit. Seeking refuge in the butcher’s shop, the Doctor encounters the mocking Dream Lord, who tries to make him fall asleep; fighting to stay awake, and with pensioners closing in, the Doctor only just manages to lock himself inside a meat locker in time… and then finds himself back inside the TARDIS with Amy and Rory. As the three friends argue over which world is the dream, the Dream Lord reappears and sends the Doctor and Rory to sleep – keeping Amy awake for his own pleasure. Waking up in his cottage, Rory drags the sleeping Amy upstairs as the pensioners start to break in through a window. Coming to inside the meat locker, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to distract the deadly OAPs, and then rushes outside to commandeer a camper van; the Time Lord speeds off to his friends’ cottage, rescuing several townsfolk from zombie pensioners on the way. Back inside the frosty TARDIS, the creepy Dream Lord tells Amy that she must choose between the two men in her life. Leaving the rescued villagers in the safety of the church, the Doctor speeds off to the Ponds’ cottage, the Dream Lord taunting him from back seat over how he treats his friends. Arriving at the besieged cottage, the Doctor climbs up to the first floor bedroom and joins his friends, arriving just as the now-conscious Amy goes into labour. However, at that moment a pensioner appears outside the window and blasts Rory with her deadly breath: Rory collapses, and as a horror-struck Amy looks on, he crumbles into dust. Now convinced that her Leadworth life is a dream, Amy storms outside to the camper van. As the smug Dream Lord looks on, the Doctor climbs in beside Amy, who slams her foot on the accelerator and drives the van straight into the front of the cottage… Waking up on the ice-covered floor of the TARDIS, Amy finds herself lying next to the Doctor – and also Rory, who is still very much alive. Then the Dream Lord reappears: congratulating his victims on making the correct choice, the sinister little man concedes his defeat, pilots the TARDIS out of danger, and then vanishes. But as Amy and Rory share a relieved hug, the Doctor informs them that he is about to blow up the TARDIS – the Time Lord has deduced that they have been experiencing two dreams, and have yet to wake up in the real world. The ship explodes – and the trio awake inside the real TARDIS at last. A little while later, the Doctor shows Amy and Rory the real culprit: some tiny specks of psychic pollen that had become trapped inside the time rotor; the spores are a mind parasite, and when they heated up they induced a dream state shared by the time travellers; furthermore, the Dream Lord was in fact a manifestation of the dark aspects of the Doctor’s subconscious. After blowing the troublesome specks out into space, the Doctor offers Amy another choice: where should they go to next..?

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Toby Jones (The Dream Lord), Nick Hobbs (Mr Nainby), Joan Linder (Mrs Hamill), Audrey Ardington (Mrs Poggit)

Directed by Catherine Morshead
Produced by Peter Bennett
Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC HD):
15th May 2010 @ 6.25 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory

*Working title: 'The Dream Lord'