6. Mels
"Let's Kill Hitler" Mels appears in exactly one episode and is unforgettable. Maybe it's a result of the montage, but Mels seems to represent Leadworth's rebel faction. Most of the residents go quietly about their lives, as Mels' mother/best friend explains in "Amy's Choice": "I mean would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad amateur dramatic society? That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing Oklahoma." The Doctor scoffs at the Ponds' hometown in his first episode of the Eleventh incarnation: "Well that's good. Fantastic. That gives us 20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut!" Essentially, we all took it for granted that anyone who's not a homebody leads a life of quiet desperation in the pathetically boring Leadworth. It was not until "Let's Kill Hitler" that we saw a slightly seedier version of Leadworth. We suddenly realized that for all of its doldrums and amateur theater, Leadworth played host to a young woman who blamed her best friend's imaginary friend for the rise of the Third Reich, drove a bus through the botanical gardens and carried out a TARDISjacking to avoid arrest for grand theft auto. I don't know about you, but I started to wonder who had a bad influence on whom in the Amy/Mels friendship. Yes, Amy is the one constantly mothering Mels and trying to keep her out of trouble, but Mels was undoubtedly egging her friend on when young Amelia Pond took dental exception to the four psychiatrists who claimed that the Doctor wasn't real. And then we find out that Mels is actually Melody Pond, the baby of her best friend who was her own namesake. She eventually becomes River Song, the Doctor's "bespoke psychopath." That was, I will admit, something I NEVER saw coming when Amy's best friend whipped out a gun and took the Doctor hostage. The fact remains, however, that we have roughly 15-20 years in which we know very little about Mels. Did she befriend Amy or Rory first? Did Amy ever wonder why her friend was just as ardent a believer in the Raggedy Doctor as she was? How many times did Amy get hauled off to see the headmaster with Mels? Did Rory ever have a passing thing for Mels?