Doctor Who 5x12: The Pandorica Opens

[kerravonsen]

(look, I made a new icon too!)

Well, well, well. That gives us much food for thought, something to sink your teeth into.

Comments

[fractured_sun]

I expected the doctor to be in there too... It was just such a Doctor description, the he drops out of the sky and destruction following him. I'm sure I've heard that description for him before - Queen Victoria talking about 10 perhaps or maybe I'm thinking of something earlier.

Anyway I love episodes that make you want to go back and watch the whole series just to see if there are any other clues lying around. One thing I was thinking after the last one is that there do seem to be an awful lot of perception filters and things generally not being what they appear to be in this series. I wonder if this is a deliberate theme (clue perhaps) or just a shiny toy Moffat likes to play with.

Poor robot Rory but if they stop the TARDIS exploding then does that stop the rifts and he'll come back... and what about the angels and how could River Song have been there if the TARDIS blows up but if it doesn't how could the Angels have fallen into a rift caused by the explosion (ahhhh), :0) I love timey wimey stuff.

[kerravonsen]

I suspect that they won't be able to heal the damage caused by the Cracks.

[jaxomsride]

It's definitely a case of "Now get out of that!"

The graty voice puts me in mind of Davros.

The Doctor is pure misdirection, the villains should have been focussing on the TARDIS.

Does Moffat hate happy love stories?
Poor Rory and Amy.

[kerravonsen]

The graty voice puts me in mind of Davros.
Yes, me too, but I deleted him from my list of possibles because it didn't make sense, and also because I would really hate it if it were him.

Does Moffat hate happy love stories?
Well, he said in the Confidential that all the greatest love stories were tragedies, so I guess so.

[eve11]

cruising by from the whodaily flist to add a few suspects to your "something else I haven't thought of" list:

1) The Valeyard (who is the Doctor and who could fly the TARDIS)
2) Omega
3) The Celestial Toymaker (long shot but the whole fantasies coming to life thing suggests it maybe?)

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, yes, Omega did cross my mind too, but I dismissed him because I didn't think he had the motive; like the Master, he doesn't actually want to destroy the universe.

The Valeyard, (aka the Dream Lord) that's a thought. I'm 50/50 on the motives here. On the one hand, what we know of him indicates that he wants more life just as much as he wants to kill the Doctor. On the other hand, "only one person in the universe hates me as much as you do". The Valeyard might consider it a good trade, to destroy the universe with the Doctor in it.

The Celestial Toymaker? Naw, too much of a long shot, I think.

[eve11]

lol, yeah, I meant the master of fiction anyway... the dude who brought all the fictional characters to life with Two, Jamie and Zoe. Still an extremely long shot.

Does the valeyard hate the Doctor enough to kill the whole world just to see the Doctor set up for failure?

Or maybe it's the Black Guardian. He's an agent of chaos, though, so he might like the whole chaotic universe. Maybe it's the White Guardian, then? Nothing says "ultimate order" more like the destruction of everything, void and silence.

[kerravonsen]

Maybe it's the White Guardian, then? Nothing says "ultimate order" more like the destruction of everything, void and silence.
Ouch. That would be nasty twist.

[wendymr]

Every time she says or writes "Hello sweetie" I wince.

Yes. A thousand times yes.

I fear your F also.

There's definitely potential for a lot of clever stuff here - I can look at it in a detached manner despite not liking Eleven, Amy or RS at this point - and I hope that the final episode lives up to the potential and doesn't turn out to be another LotTL. Having said that, whatever else Moffat may do he doesn't tend to go in for deus - or Doctor - ex machina. Just All-Powerful River Saving the Day Yet Again!

[kerravonsen]

I'm a bit less worried about F than I was before, since someone made some spoilery-for-next-week comments in someone else's post. And I do trust Moffat not to try to resolve his cliffhanger with a deus ex machina.

[vilakins]

We guessed the Doctor would be in it too, not that it was a trap for him. Yes, Vincent seemed to be in physical pain; I thought that was odd too.

I still have hopes for real Rory to turn up when the crack is healed. Playing with time creates a lot of possibilities, and Amy can't have died; surely she's in the season finale. Besides, we have to get answers to questions about her, like who is she (River's daughter, perhaps, stored in the past?) and why she doesn't remember Daleks.

I'm not very up on classic DW, but weren't those Roman Autons? I remember them from the first Nine ep.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[kerravonsen]

and why she doesn't remember Daleks
Ah, now that was something I noticed but forgot to comment on: Amy doesn't remember Daleks in "The Eleventh Hour", but she recognised them in "The Pandorica Opens". Oh, duh, of course she did, she met them in "Victory of the Daleks". Just shows how much I want to wipe that episode from my brain (or have it fall through a Crack in the universe so that it never existed).

I'm not very up on classic DW, but weren't those Roman Autons?
Yes, those Romans (including Centurian!Rory) were Autons. Very very sophisticated Autons, since this is the first time we've had Autons who had personalities. Perhaps they were co-designed by the Nestine Consciousness and some of the other Enemies so that they were really androids (a bit like Vinni) but made of plastic so that the Nestine Consciousness could control them at will.

[vilakins]

I agree; that was the worst ep of this season, and it started so promisingly. It was so bad, I was moved to post.

[Edited as my reply crossed your edit.]

I still wonder how they got Rory's memories though. He seemed to remember his death, but I thought they only had the chance to pick up traces of him from Amy's house. The ROman cammonader knew enough to pick River as an impostor.

I'm looking forward to answers next time instead of the usual RTD confused mess with massed Daleks and choirs.

[kerravonsen]

He seemed to remember his death, but I thought they only had the chance to pick up traces of him from Amy's house.
Now, that's a very good point. That's either an error, or a clue.

The ROman cammonader knew enough to pick River as an impostor.
Oh, I think the Roman commander was a real Roman commander. It was only Rory and his cohort that were Autons.