Doctor Who 5x12: The Pandorica Opens
(look, I made a new icon too!)
Well, well, well. That gives us much food for thought, something to sink your teeth into.
I think I'm going to react to this story backwards. Or perhaps backwards and sideways.
I congratulate myself for deducing half of the twist about the Pandorica. When the Doctor was describing what was reputed to be inside the Pandorica - trickster, warrior, if it comes to your planet there will be nothing but destruction - I thought, "Hmmm, but isn't that the way that the Doctor's enemies would describe the Doctor?" And with the remark that Moffat had apparently made about "pushing all the buttons twice" I thought that the Pandorica would open and reveal... the Doctor! I never guessed that the Pandorica would open and that they would put the Doctor into it! The end is the beginning.
"The Pandorica is a myth." Yes and no, Doctor, yes and no.
Bravo for putting a new twist on the Ultimate Showdown: enemies become allies to save the universe from the Doctor!
And it kind of explains why everyone knew about it except the Doctor.
It also is no great surprise that they think him capable of destroying the universe; after all, from his enemies' point of view, they're just looking for a bit of lebensraum and glory, and this blot on the universe keeps on going around and blowing up suns and destroying planets and burning armies; why wouldn't he do a bit of universe-destroying on the side? He's a trickster, and one should never listen to anything a trickster says.
Oh Rory! A fake Rory who didn't want to be an Auton. A plastic Rory-doll who wanted to be a Real Boy. How to have your Rory and kill him too. I'm sad all over again. Waaah!
But it was so sad and funny how the Doctor was talking to Rory without realizing that he should actually be surprised that he was talking to Rory.
As for the all the business at the start with the painting... (sigh) Certainly a very round-about way of getting River Song onto the scene. Half of me wants to roll my eyes, and half of me wants to go "Aw, but it's fun!" I mean, I have to say "Yay!" for Vincent and for Liz Ten, even though I could have done without Winston Churchill ringing up 5124 or River Song putting graffiti on the oldest planet in the universe. Every time she says or writes "Hello sweetie" I wince. (sigh) I think she's supposed to be a sort of cross between Indiana Jones, Han Solo and James Bond. (sigh)
"Silence will fall." Who is it who has taken control of the TARDIS? A raspy male voice.
Okay, the sequence of events is this:
1) Vincent Van Gogh paints a picture of the TARDIS being destroyed, including a time and place. He is in a very bad way after he paints it.
2) The painting gets into the hands of Churchill, who attempts to contact the Doctor.
3) The call is rerouted to River Song, ostensibly by the TARDIS.
4) River Song escapes and steals the painting from Liz Ten's collection.
5) River Song acquires a vortex manipulator, goes to the planet Yob, and leaves graffiti.
6) River Song then goes to Roman Britain; this presumably is the time-and-place left in the painting.
7) The Doctor finds the graffiti and meets up with River Song.
8) Together they find the Pandorica under Stonehenge.
9) The Pandorica starts opening.
10) The Doctor offhandedly asks River to bring the TARDIS to where they are.
11) The TARDIS instead takes River to 2010-06-26, to Amy's house, where she finds evidence of an alien break-in, and enough evidence to deduce that the Doctor is in a trap, but not soon enough for the Doctor to escape before the trap is sprung.
12) Something takes control of the TARDIS, and River can't land it.
13) River attempts an emergency landing, and appears to have succeeded, but can't open the doors.
14) River opens the doors, but they open on stone. She can't get out. We don't know where or when this is. "Silence will fall."
Some theorizing.
A. The alliance of enemies forced Vincent to paint that painting; that's why he was screaming in pain. (Manic-depression doesn't manifest like that). The painting was the bait in the trap, a way of getting the Doctor where and when they wanted him to be.
B. The Pandorica detected the presence of the Doctor; that's why (a) it started opening, and (b) it started transmitting.
C. The TARDIS may not have rerouted the call; it may have been done by the One-who-wants-Silence in order to get River on the scene, so that there would be someone in the TARDIS other than the Doctor, someone who could unintentionally trigger its destruction.
D. The One-who-wants-Silence could have been interfering with the TARDIS in "The Lodger" also. It seems a bit too much of a coincidence.
E. Who is the One-who-wants-Silence? Someone we know, or someone new?
(i) Rassillon, because he wanted to destroy Time and because he's insane and powerful enough.
(ii) Not the Master, because, while he may be insane and powerful enough, he doesn't actually want to destroy the universe.
(iii) Some sort of timey-wimey entity created by the destruction of the TARDIS. Like a sort of anti-Bad-Wolf, it creates itself.
(iv) Something else I haven't thought of. This is the most likely option.
F. Either the Doctor will talk himself out of it, or he will be rescued by River Song. Alas, while I would prefer Amy to be the one doing the awesome rescuing, I don't trust Moffatt not to give all the awesome rescuing duties to River Song.
G. Why did the Doctor say that Amy's life didn't make sense? What was the reason he took her with him in the TARDIS? Why was her house full of empty rooms? If she was an orphan who lived with her Aunt, why did we never see this Aunt? Is Amy herself a trap?
H. Rory is definitely dead. (Boo! Hiss!) Amy will mourn him, and continue travelling with the Doctor indefinitely because she now has nothing to go back for.
It makes me want to go back and re-watch everything from "The Eleventh Hour" onwards and completely fail to find any significant clues. (wry smile)
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/659708.html. (Comments
) Reply using OpenId.
Well, well, well. That gives us much food for thought, something to sink your teeth into.
I think I'm going to react to this story backwards. Or perhaps backwards and sideways.
I congratulate myself for deducing half of the twist about the Pandorica. When the Doctor was describing what was reputed to be inside the Pandorica - trickster, warrior, if it comes to your planet there will be nothing but destruction - I thought, "Hmmm, but isn't that the way that the Doctor's enemies would describe the Doctor?" And with the remark that Moffat had apparently made about "pushing all the buttons twice" I thought that the Pandorica would open and reveal... the Doctor! I never guessed that the Pandorica would open and that they would put the Doctor into it! The end is the beginning.
"The Pandorica is a myth." Yes and no, Doctor, yes and no.
Bravo for putting a new twist on the Ultimate Showdown: enemies become allies to save the universe from the Doctor!
And it kind of explains why everyone knew about it except the Doctor.
It also is no great surprise that they think him capable of destroying the universe; after all, from his enemies' point of view, they're just looking for a bit of lebensraum and glory, and this blot on the universe keeps on going around and blowing up suns and destroying planets and burning armies; why wouldn't he do a bit of universe-destroying on the side? He's a trickster, and one should never listen to anything a trickster says.
Oh Rory! A fake Rory who didn't want to be an Auton. A plastic Rory-doll who wanted to be a Real Boy. How to have your Rory and kill him too. I'm sad all over again. Waaah!
But it was so sad and funny how the Doctor was talking to Rory without realizing that he should actually be surprised that he was talking to Rory.
As for the all the business at the start with the painting... (sigh) Certainly a very round-about way of getting River Song onto the scene. Half of me wants to roll my eyes, and half of me wants to go "Aw, but it's fun!" I mean, I have to say "Yay!" for Vincent and for Liz Ten, even though I could have done without Winston Churchill ringing up 5124 or River Song putting graffiti on the oldest planet in the universe. Every time she says or writes "Hello sweetie" I wince. (sigh) I think she's supposed to be a sort of cross between Indiana Jones, Han Solo and James Bond. (sigh)
"Silence will fall." Who is it who has taken control of the TARDIS? A raspy male voice.
Okay, the sequence of events is this:
1) Vincent Van Gogh paints a picture of the TARDIS being destroyed, including a time and place. He is in a very bad way after he paints it.
2) The painting gets into the hands of Churchill, who attempts to contact the Doctor.
3) The call is rerouted to River Song, ostensibly by the TARDIS.
4) River Song escapes and steals the painting from Liz Ten's collection.
5) River Song acquires a vortex manipulator, goes to the planet Yob, and leaves graffiti.
6) River Song then goes to Roman Britain; this presumably is the time-and-place left in the painting.
7) The Doctor finds the graffiti and meets up with River Song.
8) Together they find the Pandorica under Stonehenge.
9) The Pandorica starts opening.
10) The Doctor offhandedly asks River to bring the TARDIS to where they are.
11) The TARDIS instead takes River to 2010-06-26, to Amy's house, where she finds evidence of an alien break-in, and enough evidence to deduce that the Doctor is in a trap, but not soon enough for the Doctor to escape before the trap is sprung.
12) Something takes control of the TARDIS, and River can't land it.
13) River attempts an emergency landing, and appears to have succeeded, but can't open the doors.
14) River opens the doors, but they open on stone. She can't get out. We don't know where or when this is. "Silence will fall."
Some theorizing.
A. The alliance of enemies forced Vincent to paint that painting; that's why he was screaming in pain. (Manic-depression doesn't manifest like that). The painting was the bait in the trap, a way of getting the Doctor where and when they wanted him to be.
B. The Pandorica detected the presence of the Doctor; that's why (a) it started opening, and (b) it started transmitting.
C. The TARDIS may not have rerouted the call; it may have been done by the One-who-wants-Silence in order to get River on the scene, so that there would be someone in the TARDIS other than the Doctor, someone who could unintentionally trigger its destruction.
D. The One-who-wants-Silence could have been interfering with the TARDIS in "The Lodger" also. It seems a bit too much of a coincidence.
E. Who is the One-who-wants-Silence? Someone we know, or someone new?
(i) Rassillon, because he wanted to destroy Time and because he's insane and powerful enough.
(ii) Not the Master, because, while he may be insane and powerful enough, he doesn't actually want to destroy the universe.
(iii) Some sort of timey-wimey entity created by the destruction of the TARDIS. Like a sort of anti-Bad-Wolf, it creates itself.
(iv) Something else I haven't thought of. This is the most likely option.
F. Either the Doctor will talk himself out of it, or he will be rescued by River Song. Alas, while I would prefer Amy to be the one doing the awesome rescuing, I don't trust Moffatt not to give all the awesome rescuing duties to River Song.
G. Why did the Doctor say that Amy's life didn't make sense? What was the reason he took her with him in the TARDIS? Why was her house full of empty rooms? If she was an orphan who lived with her Aunt, why did we never see this Aunt? Is Amy herself a trap?
H. Rory is definitely dead. (Boo! Hiss!) Amy will mourn him, and continue travelling with the Doctor indefinitely because she now has nothing to go back for.
It makes me want to go back and re-watch everything from "The Eleventh Hour" onwards and completely fail to find any significant clues. (wry smile)
This entry was originally posted at http://kerravonsen.dreamwidth.org/659708.html. (Comments
) Reply using OpenId.