S5E13: The Big Bang

I forgot to add that this episode truly helps me define Matt as the Doctor. I could see so much Tennant in him, when he was running around and speaking really, really fast.

He is finally, in my eyes, The Doctor.

Well this is good to see. I just wish I wasn't stuck at work and have to wait 5 more hours to see it!!

Wow, I'm gobsmacked at how entertaining and satisfying this episode was. MUCH more sensible and satisfying than RTD's finales tended to be!

Well done Steven, Matt, Karen, EVERYONE! Well done!



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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

scarywood wrote:

I could see so much Tennant in him

Interesting, as I personally couldn't see Tennant doing near as good a job as Matt with the Manic Energy he puts out. But hey, to each his own!

I found this episode mind blowing. By far one of the best Doctor Who stories I've thus far seen, and by far the best Moffat's ever penned - and that's saying something.

I'm just sad I have to wait till Christmas for more adventures. But hey, rewatching this season ought to tide me over till then.

DacaZ wrote:

I'm not so much interested in what will happen, but more what caused the TARDIS to explode.

Yeah, how'd that work out for you, champ?

I enjoyed the episode a lot, despite the fact that the one thing I wanted an answer to wasn't forthcoming.

You'll get your answer, since this story-arc will bleed over into the next season.

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

Ahem...

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!!!

And if you're reading this and worried about spoilers, too bad!

LOVED the Amy and Rory reunion, and even as an Auton, Rory was still awesome! I really hope he comes back as a companion next year.

And dang! Another year until more Doctor Who episodes. Awesome, awesome, awesome!

If anyone gets spoiled here, its pretty much their own fault *lol*

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

I liked the fact they didn't explain everything right away. For one, it keeps the mystery alive for another year. For another, by not having to do a dramatic "Villain Reveal", it allowed time to resolve the immediate crisis while at the same time give amply time to build up to said Villain Reveal.

Indeed, with thirteen more episodes to work with (fourteen if you count the Christmas Special), it's possible whoever was behind "Silence Will Fall" isn't one of the usual suspects at all.

I don't know how to feel about this latest episode. I enjoyed it, but I'm big time disappointed at the same time. Nothing was explained and it looks like we're dealing with bigger story arcs? I thought all was going to be explained about River by the end? The show feels like it's going to go down the same path the Lost series took where there's question upon question and no satisfactory answers nor a satisfactory ending.

I'm quite torn about DW now and I'm not even sure I'm going to continue watching it any more.

I think the comparison to LOST is way off base. You cannot really compare the endless, myriad, confusing, and constant mind-twisting WTF moments we got on LOST, a series which got about 22 episodes per year, to anything Moffat has given us this 13-episode year on WHO.

One year in which a couple of plot elements lead into the next season does not a LOST-clone make.

You say nothing was explained, but that's not really correct IMHO. It seems that the things you wanted to be explained weren't. The mystery of Amy and why she was so important, the nature of the Pandorica, and the cause of the cracks was explained, and everything was interwoven brilliantly.

And, never was there any indication that the mystery of River would be solved this series. In fact, the opposite was heavily implied because she still suggested that the Doctor would be older when she met him for the first time.

Granted, its your opinion and choice of course, and I'm sorry it so distressed you, but considering dropping the series over this is rather jumping the gun a bit, don't you think?

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

It may not be another year, could be the Christmas special, that we get the final answers. I would say that this episode is about as timey whimey as they get. And for those who spotted the continuity mistake with the jacket in the Angel episode, I guess they don't make such simple mistakes.

I was hooked from the opening, and the 2 Ponds look at each other. (Was that Frobisher, the penguin that Amelia hid behind, LOL)

On first viewing, it made a crazy kind of sense. I hope it holds up after 2 or 3 times and the plot holes become more obvious.

I still am not sure how River got to the wedding?

And the next wedding I go to, I will bust out laughing at Something old...etc.

Ronpur wrote:

I was hocked from the opening, and the 2 Ponds look at each other.

I was confused for a bit because the Ponds were touching each other, and I remember the episode with Eccleston's Doctor where meeting yourself in the Time Stream ended up in the Reapers showing up to eat your face.

Then I remember that technically, for all intents and purposes the Universe was destroyed so the Reapers wouldn't have existed.

On that Earth, in the Eye of the Storm, Paradoxes were possible.

Ronpur wrote:

(Was that Frobisher, the penguin that Amelia hid behind, LOL)

I thought the same thing. I watched this one with a friend who never saw the classic series, let alone read any of the comics. I had to explain to him why the penguins made me laugh so much.

Obviously I'm going to have to watch at least the last two stories if not the whole season again. I'll admit that I might've misread info on here when some one did write that Moff's response about River was that everything would be explained. I guess I should've realized that could mean this year or five years from now.

Granted it was explained how the TARDIS was involved in the Big Bang but nothing was explained about the Pandorica. Nothing was explained about River or the "Nestene" Rory. So Amy is in love with a piece of plastic now? I thought my collecting of DW figures was bad.

I'll admit that I am jumping the gun about not watching the show any more, but frankly I'm not into watching story upon story (whether there's thirteen or twenty two episodes) of questions and no answers. This is why I stopped watching Lost more times than I can count along the way. In the end I would've liked to have seen more resolutions than running around.

Rust wrote:

I was confused for a bit because the Ponds were touching each other, and I remember the episode with Eccleston's Doctor where meeting yourself in the Time Stream ended up in the Reapers showing up to eat your face.

This threw me off as well because I remember what happened with the two Brigadiers in Mawdryn Undead.

Oh, love the fez bit too!!

"What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool."

Grab and shoot it!!

jfh1970 wrote:

Obviously I'm going to have to watch at least the last two stories if not the whole season again. I'll admit that I might've misread info on here when some one did write that Moff's response about River was that everything would be explained. I guess I should've realized that could mean this year or five years from now.

Seriously, what is River that she could strike more fear into the heart of a Dalek than even the Doctor?

jfh1970 wrote:

Granted it was explained how the TARDIS was involved in the Big Bang but nothing was explained about the Pandorica. Nothing was explained about River or the "Nestene" Rory. So Amy is in love with a piece of plastic now? I thought my collecting of DW figures was bad.

I had assumed he was restored when the pandorica rebooted the universe.

jfh1970 wrote:

I'll admit that I am jumping the gun about not watching the show any more, but frankly I'm not into watching story upon story (whether there's thirteen or twenty two episodes) of questions and no answers. This is why I stopped watching Lost more times than I can count along the way. In the end I would've liked to have seen more resolutions than running around.

This is why I like watching shows like Lost on DVD after the run on TV. Goes by much faster, lol.
Yes, don't give up yet, I am hope the excitement is just beginning.

jfh1970 wrote:

Granted it was explained how the TARDIS was involved in the Big Bang but nothing was explained about the Pandorica.

It was the perfect Prison. Built to maintain the occupant throughout eternity to the point it negated age and death. It was that specific ability (The Restoration Field) that made it possible to reboot the Universe.

Quote :

Nothing was explained about River or the "Nestene" Rory. So Amy is in love with a piece of plastic now? I thought my collecting of DW figures was bad.

River Song is Moffat's pet project. We likely won't get anything concrete on her until next season. I'm content to wait for that. While I enjoy River's character, she's hardly "important" to me in the scheme of things.

As for Auton Rory and Amy being in love with Plastic. It was Amy remember Rory that "brought him back" in the first place. Amy spent however long as a little girl with a crack in her wall, a crack that was effectively a "wound" in time, bleeding out creation. Bleeding it out into Amy's head.

It didn't make her eyes glow or give her unstoppable Godlike powers, but it just meant that if she remembered something, it wouldn't really be gone.

Who built the Pandorica in the first place? Was the TARDIS just involved in the Big Bang II or another explosion that caused the crack in the wall? How did River go from walking free at end and back to a prison cell in the beginning earlier in the series? Thanks for explanations because it now makes a little more sense.

jfh1970 wrote:

Who built the Pandorica in the first place?

It's assumed to be The Alliance (Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Autons, etc). They certainly acted like they'd built it anyway.

Quote :

Was the TARDIS just involved in the Big Bang II or another explosion that caused the crack in the wall?

The TARDIS exploding was causing the Cracks. The TARDIS was exploding in every instant of every time in all of creation. The Pandorica flew into the heart of that explosion and used its Restoration Field to hit every instant of every time in all of creation in order to "reboot" the Universe.

Quote :

How did River go from walking free at end and back to a prison cell in the beginning earlier in the series?

This is River Song we're talking about. For all we know, she busted out of Prison again got access to a Vortex Manipulator (again) and was there to help Amy remember the Doctor.

Then again, we could be totally wrong about her. We just don't know who she is yet.

I thought the Pandorica was built by the alliance to trap the Doctor. The TARDIS caused the cracks when it exploded, throwing the pandorica into the exploding TARDIS was BB2. Yes, River being in prison is still a mystery, as is where she went at the end of this episode. Remember, this episode takes place before Byzantium from River's POV, she was a prisoner then. But, I am confused as to where the River at the end came from.


OK, Rust, we are racing to type now, lol

Oh, something new I see, Amy's father's name, Augustus. A very Roman name!! Is this why, or because Amy likes Roman history!?

jfh1970 wrote:

Who built the Pandorica in the first place? Was the TARDIS just involved in the Big Bang II or another explosion that caused the crack in the wall? How did River go from walking free at end and back to a prison cell in the beginning earlier in the series? Thanks for explanations because it now makes a little more sense.

I'm assuming the Alliance built the Pandorica, a conglomeration of all their technologies.

There was one explosion, but it was either happening slowly or over and over in the loop it created to keep River alive.

As for River, I assume she remembers the Doctor, being somewhat complicated in time/space travel. She went back to the future at the end of the episode (oh, dear, I just said it), and turned herself in, I guess.

Ronpur wrote:

Oh, love the fez bit too!!

"What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool."

Grab and shoot it!!

That bit had me howling too! So does that mean sales of Fezes are going to go up in the UK like the bow ties?

Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this one. Exciting, sad, funny and satisfying. Turns out my faith in Moffat was justified.

However, am I wrong or did Stephen Moffat just pull a "JJ Abrams" on the Doctor Who universe?

(It would be kind of cool if the concept of "Jump Starting the Second Big Bang" was a sly homage to the classic Red Dwarf Episode "Back To Reality")

And maybe I missed something, but was the Rory that Amy finally married still an Auton or was he restored to human when the universe was rebooted?

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" - LOVED THAT!!

"She was mostly dead" - AWESOME (Quite possibly a Princess Bride reference)