Series 5, Episode 12 - "The Pandorica Opens"

Daemos

In before pixelburp

Well the series is coming to a close (:() but knowing Moffat's reputation and seeing everything that's pre-empted the finale, I think it's fair to say we won't be disappointed.

The Pandorica, explosion big enough to crack the universe, broken piece of the Tardis, all still to come, maybe not this week but damn it's going to be good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsW0Uvi9dhc

pixelburp

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

In before pixelburp

Curse your googly beard sir! I challenge you to fisticuffs! And there was me coming in to start the usual thread :P

Yes, I'm always a bit ho-hum about the finales, they always seem to throw in the kitchen sink and become horribly overblown. If there's a menagerie of the Doctor's enemies involved, I guess this is no different

Also: Zygons! ooh that'd be sweet if they turned up.

Aoifums

Thanks for putting this up!

Do I recognise that box from somewhere? The first thing that popped into my head when I saw the box was "Hey, I know that from somewhere!" So am I just imagining it, or does anyone else recognise it?

Also crap! Because this will be a two parter (it will, won't it?) and I'll miss the second part :mad:

Stark

Daleks, cybermen, nestine, Slitheen, Sontarans...

All it needs is sodding Rose and it'll be a finale RTD could be proud of.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Lets hold back the criticism until we see it... I for one have faith in Moffat - he hasn't led us astray yet this season (with the possible exception of the Daleks episode)...

Stark

40 mins to go, can't wait! (despite my reservations about the kitchen sink).

dancingmonkey08

I have been waiting all week for this! Its gonna be awesome

I want to see if Moffat can do an awesome penultimate episode cliffhanger? I know RTD wrote some silly plots and the second part of the two parters were mostly letdowns, but you cant deny he always wrote awesome cliffhangers

I am also worried about the amount of villains in this episode. I hope there is a point to them being in it.

I understand if the Doctor's enemies are trying to put him in the Pandorica but why would the Weevils or the aliens from Warriors of Kudlak be in it, they have no beef with the Doctor. We shall see in the next hour anyway!

Bring on the awesomeness!

MrVestek

I thought there was a mistake when I saw Van Gogh in the opening scene.

OMG It's linking all of the previous eps together!

Was that just a reference to Captain Jack?

This... is going to be awesome!

MrVestek

Ok... what.... WHAT?!...


WHAAAATTT???!!!!

shoxter

what the.........

Gunmonkey

Achilles wrote: »

Ok... what.... WHAT?!...


WHAAAATTT???!!!!

Thats what I said too......

Stark

It's was brilliant up right up to the point where the Mighty Morphin' Power Daleks showed up.

Cows Go µ

Thats what I said too......

Frankly, I think everyone probably did. I really need to rewatch all the previous episodes and remember everything that happened before

:eek:!!!! I can't watch part 2 when it airs next week, I think I may die of anticipation!

dancingmonkey08

I share everybody elses opinion: WTF?!!!

That episode, right there, is the reason I love Doctor Who

The Doctor locked away by his enemies, because they are trying to save the universe! Wow, ironic is an understatement. I am so happy with this episode!

MrVestek

See? This is what happens when sci fi lets the woman drive... first the Enterprise D (damn you Deana) and now River Song and the tardis....

Bloody woman drivers!

Hedman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw

Check out the headline :eek:

Surely has to be a red herring

ixoy

Great stuff - most promising finale of the new season so far (then again I've never really liked any of the others).

Despite there being a "Who's Who" of villains in it (and many shoutouts to the likes of the Zygons and Draconians for the older fan), it didn't feel too OTT until, perhaps, the end when they all turned up. However, what a lovely ironic spin on it! The Doctor being cast as the villain. Nice touch.

Stuff with Rory was done well too. I loved the Doctor's belated reaction to him and his "How have you been?" I reckon a previous season would have had him shouting and dancing and prancing at that point. The Roman Autons was good stuff (especially as I only recently watched "Spearhead From Space").

Tying a lot of it into Amy's story was good. I want to see more of this. Also more of River Song - it'd be interesting to see her chronology worked out.

Stark wrote: »

It's was brilliant up right up to the point where the Mighty Morphin' Power Daleks showed up.

I actually groaned aloud when I saw them. However, they weren't of much importance in the end.

pixelburp

OH. WOW.

Russell T. who? Now that's how you do a finale - epic yet personal at the same time. Our heroes are in a genuinely threatening situation that isn't diluted by being too incomprehensible (eg. a world full of Masters) by its scale. Also, it isn't a big mcGuffin like "Bad Wolf" that had a weak and terrible pay-off.

I guessed the twist of the Pandorica as soon as the Doctor started to describe it, but the moment where he himself realises what is happening, surrounded by his enemies, was sublime.

Also: Commander Styke(sp), yay! Ok, it's a clone of him, but still, same difference it's great to see him back. And the Autons were back too, it was great to see them used properly & finally we can banish the horrible memories of that plastic rubbish-bin to history.

Also also, we finally get a look at the horror of the cybermen - the horribly rotting skull popping out of the cyberhead was just gross

Also also also, you really see how terrible those dalek design are, standing beside all the other Dr. Who creatures from the new series - they really are dreadful against the Sontarans or Judoon


Also also also also - Rory! Amy! No "Next Time" trailer. It's going to be a long week.

mach1982

Brilliant episode , can wait for next week. Think I'll all the episodes again .

mach1982

anyone else annoyed about the "not available in you area" .( yes I know could user a proxy a stuff) I want to see this and I can't.

I definitely remember hearing that

Karen Gillan's signed for another series.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

That was awesome... Can't wait for next week...
I was so glad to see Rory back, but had been thinking it was a bit of a cop out, and then they explained it really well and then Amy remembering was great...
WOW!!!
I really want it to be next Saturday already... If only I had my own TARDIS...

qwertplaywert

Deleted User wrote: »

I definitely remember hearing that

Karen Gillan's signed for another series.

Just because shes signed on does not mean she is going to appear, just that she has to if the bbc wants her to. Although, they have annouced she will be back, but they need not specify whether that would be 1 or 2 appearances or as a full time companion;plus, that could be red herring.

qwertplaywert

A part of me wishes after seeing that, that this was the end of Doctor Who. Would be an outstanding ending- it would certainly fit in with theme that the Doctor is both the universes greatest saviour , and its greatest threat. But as it is obviously not the last ever episode...
A[very small] part of me is doubtful about wanting to see next weeks episode. I just can't imagine any way to top this episode, and fear a giant deus-ex to wrap it up, but if anyone can pull it off properly, its Moffat!
But even if a deas-ex neccessary to continue on the story , I hope at least the finales events have consequences,unlike RTD finales, which were hyped to death, and once over were of little to no importance on the characters afterwards. That could be the way Moffat truely stamps his mark on the shows legacy, although he arguably already has, considering how superior this season has been by miles to any RTD seasons.Sorry for the rambling!

qwertplaywert

Also, for a split second, when the music was just drums at one stage, I thought John Simm was about to jump out from behind a rock, I was shaking in horror for that second :P

Daemos

Oh. My. God.

Thank you Steven Moffat, you are a genius. I seriously need to watch that again, that was brilliant.

Sooo can't wait for next week now.

Daemos

qwertplaywert wrote: »

A part of me wishes after seeing that, that this was the end of Doctor Who. Would be an outstanding ending- it would certainly fit in with theme that the Doctor is both the universes greatest saviour , and its greatest threat. But as it is obviously not the last ever episode...

I was thinking that as well. If they were ever going to finish Dr Who for good, that would have been the way to do it

qwertplaywert

qwertplaywert wrote: »

Just because shes signed on does not mean she is going to appear, just that she has to if the bbc wants her to. Although, they have annouced she will be back, but they need not specify whether that would be 1 or 2 appearances or as a full time companion;plus, that could be red herring.

Oooh it's all so nerve wrecking! I should be studying for my last LC exam, not thinking about this... >.>

qwertplaywert

Deleted User wrote: »

Oooh it's all so nerve wrecking! I should be studying for my last LC exam, not thinking about this... >.>

Same, still have 2 exams left and not done until Weds, Who has been one of the few things keeping me sane this weekend

doctorwhogirl

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!!!


*jaw drops*

Best Who episode in a looonnnnnng time!

WOwza.

That's how you do every alien but the kitchen sink Russel. WOW!

And great performance by Smith. What a Doctor like. Amazing. Cannot contain myself until next week.

Sleepy

I am feeling so smug right now: I wasn't far off at all!

Who the hell's gonna save the doctor now?

Amy seems to be dead.
Rory's an automaton so is actually dead...
and if the exploding stars are supposed to represent the tardis blowing up, River's just bought it too...

Be glad I'm not Steven Moffat cos the only way out I can think of is for Jenny to re-appear in the tardis that Captain Jack has been growing on his desk in Torchwood...

Busi_Girl08

That was, in my humble yet very confident opinion, THE best New Who episode.

The ending, both

The Doctor screaming as he is being locked in the Pandorica

and

Rory screaming with a lifeless Amy in his arms

was so chilling.

My only complaint was that

the credits should have rolled in complete silence.

Next Saturday cannot come fast enough!! :eek:

pixelburp

I'm guessing btw we're going to get almost zero promotional material for next week - after refusing to screen a "Next Time" trailer, it would be a shame if promotional clips or images from the next episode appeared.

It's easy to forget that before the internet came along it was entirely possible to know next-to-nothing about an upcoming show / movie. After tonight, I remember what that felt like. Am genuinely excited

Busi_Girl08

pixelburp wrote: »

It's easy to forget that before the internet came along it was entirely possible to know next-to-nothing about an upcoming show / movie. After tonight, I remember what that felt like. Am genuinely excited

I knew nothing about

Rory being an Auton or all the Big Bads uniting to put the Doctor in the Pandorica

.

It made it all the better when watching it, and I got to be genuinely surprised.

See Ye

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

I was thinking that as well. If they were ever going to finish Dr Who for good, that would have been the way to do it

Me too.

Ponster just said wouldn't it be great if the next episode started with someone at Torchwood noticing a disturbance in the rift ! The rift of course being one of the cracks ....

BlitzKrieg

hmmm.

Ok so we know

everything with the pandorica and the romans and links with amy pond was an extensive trap for the doctor to stop him causing the cracks. But he doesnt cause it because he was not driving the tardis, river song is... So is she the villian? Most likely no, because there is still one unseen entity playing things from the sidelines, who's hijacking the tardis, unless it is the villians just trying to seperate everyone, in which case they are still the cause and not the doctor because their attempt to keep the tardis away from the doctor cuases the explosion. there's that voice that sounds sort of like Davros saying 'Silence is coming' inside the tardis all the time, is that the villians trying to stop the silence or the final unseen element to the finale pushing events to their climax? Time for bets on it being an oldie or someone new? The whole tardis malfunctioning thing, if you were to link it to events in the series is very similar to its weirdness in the prior episode with their being another tardis like device near by.

on the reveal

when they started going on about trapped goblin/trickster/warrior, i thought Doctor straight away and assumed it was either the tardis or the doctor in there (be quite funny if the 8th doctor stepped out) so the reveal of it being empty for him wasnt a huge shock for me as I was thinking the right way for the whole episode.

8mv

That episode was excellent. My kids missed it and I couldn't even begin to explain to them what it was about. Had to be seen. Repeated on bbc three tomorrow.

nicowa

Is it possible that we can stop writing stuff about the latest episode in spoiler tags. Cos that shouldn't be spoilers. One would think people have watched the episode if they're here. At least after the episode has screened! Cos I'm pretty sure there's actual spoilers on one of two of them! And how can I differentiate between them?

Other than that, brilliante episode. Apart from the whole, I really want Rory back, I was hoping it wouldn't be him... for pretty much the same reason as everyone else.

Really can't wait til next episode. And for once I'm not going to be guessing...

Penn

Anyone else thinking when the Pandorica was opening and the camera kept cutting to River trying to open the Tardis doors that River and the Tardis somehow ended up in the Pandorica? Glad I was wrong though. Loved the way things went. Outstanding episode

pixelburp

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

[...]because there is still one unseen entity playing things from the sidelines, who's hijacking the tardis, unless it is the villians just trying to seperate everyone, in which case they are still the cause and not the doctor because their attempt to keep the tardis away from the doctor cuases the explosion. there's that voice that sounds sort of like Davros saying 'Silence is coming' inside the tardis all the time, is that the villians trying to stop the silence or the final unseen element to the finale pushing events to their climax? Time for bets on it being an oldie or someone new? The whole tardis malfunctioning thing, if you were to link it to events in the series is very similar to its weirdness in the prior episode with their being another tardis like device near by [...]

Sorry, don't think there's a need for spoiler tags as it's a thread devoted to an aired episode, surely?

Yes, this is the one definitive mystery from the first episode - who was that disembodied voice talking about "Silence is Coming" and how could he / she/ it control the TARDIS? Ok we're linking the two points into one assumption here but it seems logical. My guess is that it's either
- The Master (not likely, he has outstayed his welcome)
- Davros (perhaps, he was shortchanged in his brief appearance, so it'd be nice for him to come back)
- The Dreamlord

It's possible that Toby Jones' character was more than just a shared hallucination. If they're linking up previous stories and characters than the one obvious one that hasn't been was the dreamlord. He came from a TARDIS malfunction, so it links with the TARDIS being hijacked, and he's a manifestation of the "evil" within the Doctor so it links up with the idea of the Doctor being the enemy.

Edit: In fact, doesn't the Dalek say something like "only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS"? That to me screams out the suggestion that it's the Dreamlord, or something like him

Pittens

Oh yeah, right. The DreamLord. Could be.

And didn't River Song say she learned from the "best" in a previous episode ( her future) and that the Doctor was incapacitated that day. Well he is now.

The Doctor seems to think that River can pilot the Tardis, but she may not have learned yet.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

pixelburp wrote: »

Sorry, don't think there's a need for spoiler tags as it's a thread devoted to an aired episode, surely?

Yes, this is the one definitive mystery from the first episode - who was that disembodied voice talking about "Silence is Coming" and how could he / she/ it control the TARDIS? Ok we're linking the two points into one assumption here but it seems logical. My guess is that it's either
- The Master (not likely, he has outstayed his welcome)
- Davros (perhaps, he was shortchanged in his brief appearance, so it'd be nice for him to come back)
- The Dreamlord

It's possible that Toby Jones' character was more than just a shared hallucination. If they're linking up previous stories and characters than the one obvious one that hasn't been was the dreamlord. He came from a TARDIS malfunction, so it links with the TARDIS being hijacked, and he's a manifestation of the "evil" within the Doctor so it links up with the idea of the Doctor being the enemy.

Edit: In fact, doesn't the Dalek say something like "only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS"? That to me screams out the suggestion that it's the Dreamlord, or something like him

Interesting theory - I like it...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

jesus, am I the only one who didn't like this?

I had to force myself every five minutes not to turn it off


few good bits in it, I also thought the tardis would be in the pandoricum so the empty chair was a nice touch. thought the 'this is your life' of the doctors enemies was incredibly naff


has river song ever called the doctor 'my love' before? pretty strong clue to their once and future marriage?

Killer_banana

Brilliant episode. Seemed to be too many plots going on at the same time first but then they all tied together at the end and it worked perfectly. I know this season is way darker than previous ones but Jesus the end was chilling. Matt Smith's screaming and getting locked away. I know a lot of people saw it coming but I sure as hell didn't, like River I assumed the good wizard was the Doctor (well actually my first thought was Gandalf but that's probably 'cause I'm re-reading the Hobbit).

I was thinking it could be the Dreamlord speaking also, ties in with the Doctor being the bad guy and with the references to previous episodes. Could also be the reintroduction of

the Valeyard. He was meant to be created around the twelfth incarnation wasn't he? Eleven's close enough. Then again my theories are usually ridiculously far off.

As for Amy, Karen is contracted for three years but that's simply 'cause BBC have been wary of people leaving after Chris Eccleston left after one season. They could still kill her off if they wanted. The official site has a best moments video posted as well but it could be red herring, who knows. I hope she's back next season, she's my favourite companion of the new series.

I like what they did with Rory's return. I love him as a character but I'd be seriously pissed if it really was that easy. The scene with Amy was heartbreaking.

All this stuff about her life not making sense kinda does make it feel like she's going to turn out not to be real or something now...

And yes, this is the first time River's said 'My love.'

Torchwood or someone we haven't seen yet must be involved next week. I can't see how else the Doctor would get out of this. I think this is the must ****ed he's ever been (well in the newer episodes anyway).

doctorwhogirl

To be honest when I was considering who was behind the voice etc... all I could think of was the Valeyard or the Dreamlord.

Really don't think it will be the Master.
And as for Davros, the whole "Silence will fall" is too akin to the season 4 finale.

I can't believe it's only Sunday... 6 more days to go

shinzon

Quite simply that is how you do Doctor who, it was brilliant from beginning to end just loved it

To lock the Doctor away so his enemies could save the universe was just a stroke of genius by moffat, im hoping the pay off is even better then the setup roll on next saturday

Shin

norrie rugger

Achilles wrote: »

See? This is what happens when sci fi lets the woman drive... first the Enterprise D (damn you Deana) and now River Song and the tardis....

Bloody woman drivers!

Was Deana not driving in Nemesis also, when it crashes into the Simitar?


Oh and the obligatory


WTF!!?!?!?!?!?

Motley Crue

After last night's episode I'm really going to be watching it next week. That's all I can say really. I'd like to think the Doctor can save the day, but maybe that's not the point, maybe something else will happen and that's the beauty of Moffat's dark writing.

norrie rugger

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

hmmm.

Ok so we know

everything with the pandorica and the romans and links with amy pond was an extensive trap for the doctor to stop him causing the cracks. But he doesnt cause it because he was not driving the tardis, river song is... So is she the villian? Most likely no, because there is still one unseen entity playing things from the sidelines, who's hijacking the tardis, unless it is the villians just trying to seperate everyone, in which case they are still the cause and not the doctor because their attempt to keep the tardis away from the doctor cuases the explosion. there's that voice that sounds sort of like Davros saying 'Silence is coming' inside the tardis all the time, is that the villians trying to stop the silence or the final unseen element to the finale pushing events to their climax? Time for bets on it being an oldie or someone new? The whole tardis malfunctioning thing, if you were to link it to events in the series is very similar to its weirdness in the prior episode with their being another tardis like device near by.

on the reveal

when they started going on about trapped goblin/trickster/warrior, i thought Doctor straight away and assumed it was either the tardis or the doctor in there (be quite funny if the 8th doctor stepped out) so the reveal of it being empty for him wasnt a huge shock for me as I was thinking the right way for the whole episode.

Remeber last week also, someone was trying to BUILD a tardis. What if they decided on trying to steal the last one, instead

Doctor DooM

This is how I want my new who.

I don't think I can say any more than that.

At very least, the Doctor finally achieving universal peace of a sort by being a big enough threat to all his enemies?

Come on, thats fantasti...er... brillia... er, I mean humans, they came up with this plotline, aren't they grea... er...

THIS ROCKED!