10 Best Doctor Who Minisodes That You Need To See

Released online in the lead up to the series 7 opener Asylum of the Daleks, Pond Life is a series of five short minisodes that explore Amy and Rory’s domestic life over the course of five months whilst The Doctor is travelling by himself.

Pond Life starts with the Doctor recounting his chaotic solo adventures via an answerphone message whilst the Ponds relax and sip wine. The next month, he appears in their bedroom in the middle of the night, frantically warning them that the fate of the world is at stake, only to realise he has his timings wrong. Backing away slowly, he unconvincingly tells the shaken Ponds that the future is really, really safe.

The next two episodes focus on a stray Ood that manages to escape the TARDIS, giving Rory the fright of his life when he finds it perched on their loo whilst attempting to brush his teeth. The Ood declares itself their butler, making them each a packed lunch to take to work and completing household chores. Rory feels very guilty about this, but The Doctor, again via answerphone message, tells Rory to just let the Ood do its thing until he is able to come and pick it up.

The final episode is really the only one of the five where anything of substance happens. The Doctor leaves yet another answerphone message, missing the Ponds for a third time. He even tries to swing by their house but nobody is home. Apologising for the gap in communication, The Doctor starts to worry something is wrong, and tells them to call him. Something is indeed wrong, as this is overcut with footage of Amy and Rory arguing, with Rory being thrown out of the house.

Visibly unsure, the Doctor starts to doubt himself, perhaps thinking that the Ponds are happy without him, and deletes the answerphone message. Amy arrives back home, finding the answerphone message, but it is deleted seconds before she can listen to it. Tearfully, she remarks “Raggedy man, we need you”.

Now, elephant in the room. I, like many people, don’t like the Amy and Rory divorce subplot - it’s not believable in the slightest and is resolved way too easily during Asylum of the Daleks to have any significant impact. Regardless, these episodes do a good job of seeding the Ponds settling into their new domestic life, which would be a big theme of their final half season.