For Amy's first trip in the TARDIS the doctor takes her to starship UK which is our entire union bolted together and flown into space. Things quickly become apparent that something is not right when the Doctor realised the ship has no engines but is still moving.
The truth of how the ship continues to travel is kept secret except when it comes to the peoples chance to vote and this is where I think this episode is awesome. They are individually shown a video which reveals the whole terrible truth about starship UK and then they have the choice between pressing two buttons, one marked "protest" and one marked "forget". If a certain percentage of the population choose to protest then the "procedure" will be stopped with dire consequences for everyone on board. If they choose to forget then their memory of what they have just seen is erased so that they can continue their life unburdened of the knowledge of what has been done to save them. It's such a cool idea and everytime I watch this episode it really makes me wonder what I would do.
As this is Amy's first proper trip in the TARDIS then this is her chance to prove herself to the Doctor and to be honest it looks like she screws it up pretty badly by keeping her knowledge of what is happening on the ship hidden from the Doctor in order to save him from being forced into making a terrible decision. This pisses him off quite badly and he tells her that when they are done on the ship then he is taking her straight back home. This is an awesome scene played out by Matt and Karen and the Doctor's disappointment in her is clear to see. In the end though, Amy ends up saving the day when she recognises similarities between the creature on whom the ship is built and the Doctor himself which allows her to predict how the creature will react when the humans stop torturing it to make it fly. She realises that as the creature is the last of its kind it had volunteered its service to the humans and torturing it had been completely unnecessary. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this but honestly it's an awesome scene.
Another great scene occurs earlier on in the episode when the Doctor and Amy make an escape down what they think is a rubbish shoot only to end up inside the mouth of the creature itself. The Doctor's dawning realisation of where they are is pretty funny and his escape plan (making the creature vomit them up) is hilarious. As the vomit comes swarming towards them like a huge tidal wave the Doctor simply straightens his bow tie and proclaims "this isn't going to be big on dignity"
A lot of people think this is one of the poorer episode of this season but I actually really like it. Amy begins to understand the Doctor more and it's her chance to proof her companion credentials.
Also I must mention that before watching this episode I also watched the "meanwhile in the TARDIS" mini episode which is set between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below. It's only a mini episode so it didn't require its own day to watch it but I still wanted to fit it in somewhere. It's pretty funny couple of minutes where the Doctor is showing of the wonders of the TARDIS to Amy who has just come on board. The highlight for me is when the Doctor is explaining why the TARDIS looks like a police box leading to this amazing quote:
"Every time the TARDIS materialises in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses it's surroundings, calculates a twelve dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius and determines which outer shell will blend in best with the environment.. and then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963."
That just about sums up Doctor Who for me!
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