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Matt Smith
The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
Eleventh Doctor Logo


Synopsis


The Prediction
The Prediction
 A message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe, a puzzle box opening from the inside and a love that lasts thousands of years…

 The fates are drawing close around the TARDIS - is this the day The Doctor falls?

Source: Radio Times


General Information

Season: Thirty One (New Series 5)
Production Code: 5-12/5-13
Story Number: 213 (New Series: 57)
Episode Numbers:768 - 769 (New Series: 72 - 73)
Number of Episodes: 2
Percentage of Episodes Held:100%
Production Dates: 2010 (Block 7)
Broadcast Started: 19 June 2010
Broadcast Finished: 26 June 2010
Colour Status: HD Colour
Studio: BBC Wales (Upper Boat, Pontypridd)
Location: Stonhenge (Wiltshire), Margam Country Park (Neath, Port Talbot, Wales), Brangwyn Hall (Swansea) and Miskin Manor (Cardiff).
Writer:Steven Moffat
Director:Toby Haynes
Producer:Peter Bennett
Executive Producers:Beth Willis, Piers Wenger and Steven Moffat
Script Editor:Lindsey Alford
Editor:Mat Newman
Production Executive:Julie Scott
Production Manager:Steffan Morris
Production Designer:Edward Thomas
Director of Photography:Stephan Pehrsson
Casting Director:Andy Pryor CDG
Line Producer:Patrick Schweitzer
Costume Designer:Ray Holman
Make-Up Designer:Barbara Southcott
Cameramen:Jon Vidgen (Assistant), Tom Hartley (Assistant) and Rob Arrowsmith (Operator)
Visual Effects:Will Cohen (Executive Producer), Jenna Powell (Producer) and Dave Houghton (Supervisor)
Special Effects:Real SFX
Prosthetics:Millennium FX
Stunt Co-ordinator:Crispin Layfield
Incidental Music:Murray Gold
Special Sounds (SFX Editor):Paul Jefferies
Sound Recordist:Bryn Thomas
Sound Supervisor:Paul McFadden
Music Performed By:The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Title Sequence:Frame Store
Title Music:Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold
Cybermen Originally Created By: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
Daleks Originally Created By: Terry Nation
Sontarans Originally Created By: Robert Holmes
Number of Doctors: 1
The Doctor: Matt Smith (The Eleventh Doctor)
Number of Companions: 2The Companions: Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) (Rejoins) Number of Acquaintances: 2The Acquaintances: Alex Kingston (River Song) (Rejoins and Departs) and Ian McNeice (Winston Churchill) (Rejoins and Departs) Guest Cast: Christopher Ryan (Commander Stark), Barnaby Edwards (Dalek and Stone Dalek), Caitlin Blackwood (Amelia) Additional Cast: Tony Curran (Vincent), Bill Paterson (Bracewell), Sophie Okonedo (Liz Ten), Marcus O’Donovan (Claudio), Clive Wood (Commander), Ruari Mears (Cyber Leader), Paul Kasey (Judoon), Howard Lee (Doctor Cachet), Simon Fisher Decker (Dorum), Joe Jacobs (Guard), Chrissie Cotterill (Madame Vernet), David Fynn (Marcellus), Susan Violer (Aunt Sharon), Frances Ashman (Christine), William Prestell (Dave), Marco Jackson (Mr Pond), Karen Westwood (Tabetha), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voice)Setting: Provence, France (1890), London, England (1941), Stormcage Containment Facility (5145), Royal Collection (5145), The Maldovarium (5145), Planet One, Stonehenge, England (102 AD) and Leadworth, England (1996 and 26th June 2010) Villains: Autons, Cybermen, Daleks, Silurians, Sontarans, Sycorax, The Judoon, Time Field and Weevils

The Episodes

No. Episodes Broadcast
(UK)
Duration Viewers
(Millions)
In Archive
768The Pandorica Opens19 June 201048'43"BBC One: 6.9
BBC HD: 0.6
Total: 7.5
Yes
769The Big Bang26 June 201053'41"BBC One: 6.1
BBC HD: 0.6
Total: 6.7
Yes

Total Duration 1 Hour 42 Minutes


Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions) 7.1 (BBC One: 6.5   BBC HD: 0.6)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2010)88.30%  (Position = 1 out of 10)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)80.92% Lower (Position = 42 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023) Position = 4 out of 39


Archives


 Both episodes exist and are held in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library.



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Notes


The story title refers to the Pandorica, first mentioned by Prisoner Zero in "The Eleventh Hour" and later by River Song in "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" in which The Doctor declares he believes the Pandorica to be merely a fairytale. It is also the title of Van Gogh's painting seen in this story.

The name ‘Pandorica’ is derived from the name ‘Pandora’. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. According to the ancient tales, Pandora was given a jar, or a box, by the gods but told never to open it. When curiosity got the better of her she disobeyed and opened the container, discovering too late it held unstoppable evils which escaped into the world.

A number of characters who have appeared in Season Thirty One (New Series 5) returned in this story. They include Rory Williams, Vincent Van Gogh ("Vincent and The Doctor"), Liz 10 ("The Beast Below"), Winston Churchill and Bracewell ("Victory of the Daleks") and River Song ("The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone").

The pre-opening credit sequence for the first episode is 7 minutes and 18 seconds long while the pre-opening credit sequence for the second episode is 7 minutes and 35 seconds - the longest that there has been to date. The previous longest pre-opening credit sequence (at 5 minutes and 48 seconds) was "Amy's Choice ".

River Song announces alien races whose space ships have received the transmission from Stonehenge. They are the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Terileptils, the Slitheen, the Chelonians, the Nestene, the Drahvins, the Sycorax, the Zygons, the Atraxi and the Draconians. Of these, the story visually depicted only the Daleks (in the New Paradigm introduced in "Victory of the Daleks"), the Nestene (previously seen in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Rose"), the revived show's version of the Cybermen and Sontarans, along with the Judoon, Sycorax, Hoix, Silurians and Roboforms (seen in "The Christmas Invasion" and "The Runaway Bride"). Footage from Doctor Who Confidential showed artists dressed as Blowfish, Weevils, Uvodni for the same scene, but they appear only for a split second in the story.

The Weevils, Blowfish and Uvodni are the first aliens originally from a spin-off series to appear in the main show. Whereas the Chelonians, from the novels, get their first mention in a television story.

The Terileptils appeared in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation" and with help from The Doctor, were responsible for the Great Fire of London. The Drahvins appeared in the 1965 First Doctor story "Galaxy 4" and are beautiful, fair-haired female humanoids but who are callous, militaristic and seemingly devoid of compassion. This is the first time both are mentioned since the show was revived in 2005.

A quote from this story was used as reward for completing a puzzle on the BBC Doctor Who website. This quote was ‘Yes, okay, okay, okay, okay. Dalek fleet, minimum twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ahhhh, but we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect three people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships, because we'd be killed instantly, so it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget Surprise’.

In River Song's timeline, this story takes place before the "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone", where she mentions ‘I remember it well’, and also being imprisoned in the Stormcage Facility for killing a man. She is seen to be imprisoned here at the start of this story. This story also marks the second use (in The Doctor's timeline) of River Song’s hallucinogenic lipstick.

It is claimed that Planet One is the oldest planet in the universe. River Song’s message, written on one of its cliff faces, reads "HELLO SWEETIE" with "ΘΣ Φ ΓΥΔϟ" underneath. "HELLO SWEETIE" (was used as her greeting to The Doctor in both "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" and "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone"). The first two characters of the second line are ‘ΘΣ’ which are the Greek characters theta and sigma. ‘Theta Sigma’ was the college nickname Drax called The Doctor in 1979 Fourth Doctor story "The Armageddon Factor", which The Doctor confirms in the 1988 Seventh Doctor story "The Happiness Patrol".

Since the script quite clearly indicates the Greek letters are actually the co-ordinates to River Songs location in 102 AD England, it is possibly more instructive to view this as a sequence of Greek numerals. Translating them non-additively, the numbers would be: "Θ (9) Σ (200) Φ (500) Γ (3) Υ (400) Δ (4) ϟ (90)". An additive translation - the usual way Greek numerals work - would be: "9, 200, 503, 404, 90". This gives co-ordinates in five dimensions, which corresponds to the number of dimensions Susan informed Ian Chesterton, in the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child", were necessary to calculate locations.

Rory initially displays confusion at how he could have been ‘erased from time’, having been absent during "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" when The Doctor and Amy first encountered this phenomenon.

The re-designed time vortex, used in the start and end credit sequences since "The Eleventh Hour", is shown within a story for the first time when the TARDIS is transported to Amy's house.

Christopher Ryan plays a Sontaran called Commander Stark in this story; he previously played the Sontaran General Staal in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky", in which Staal was apparently killed in the explosion of the Sontaran ship.

The Pandorica is located under Stonehenge on Earth. Which The Doctor called ‘Underhenge’. The first episode was broadcast just a few days before the Summer Solstice.

This story deliberately evoked the feel of the Indiana Jones franchise. River’ Song’s scene at The Maldovarium is a gag drawn directly from the teaser sequence of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The use of flambeaux in the cavernous ‘Underhenge’ was directly inspired by the teaser to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Finally director Toby Haynes played back a cue from Raiders while filming the sequence of The Doctor, River Song and Amy Pond entering the ‘Underhenge’ in order to give the sequence appropriate tempo.

Similarly, the sequence with the disembodied Cyberman head contains elements of John Carpenter's The Thing, in which one character is revealed to secretly be an alien being which other characters call ‘The Thing’, and after attempts to kill him it manifests legs and antenna in his head, detaches itself and crawls away. The head in The Thing is quickly dispatched in the film; however, the Cyber-Head also emulates the whipping tendrils and eerie sound manifested by ‘The Thing’ in its other incarnations in the movie. Additionally, like The Thing the sentinel Cyberman is seeking a new host body to sustain it.

Additionally, the disembodied Cyberman head tells Amy ‘You will be assimilated’. This is a line more associated with the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation, a cybernetic species similar to Cybermen whose intent was to integrate other species into their collective and assimilate their technology and knowledge to improve their own.

Amy Pond is heard to mention her deep interest in Roman culture. Interestingly Karen Gillan's original appearance in the show was that of a soothsayer in the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Fires of Pompeii".

When River begins having problems flying the TARDIS, The Doctor tells her she's not flying it right, to which she promptly quips, ‘I'm flying it PERFECTLY. You taught me!. In their previous meeting (in The Doctor's timeline), River Song mocked The Doctor for not being able to properly fly the TARDIS, namely, always leaving the brakes on when it lands.

This story marks at least the third time in the revised show that the fate of every universe is at stake (see "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" and "The End of Time").

This second episode of this story revisits several scenes from earlier stories in the season. The first scene in the second episode, following the recap of events from "The Pandorica Opens", is taken from the start of "The Eleventh Hour" and the shots of young Amelia's garden mirror early scenes from the earlier story. However, unlike in the earlier story, this time The Doctor does not crash into Amelia’s garden and only appears later to direct her to the National Museum.

As The Doctor rewinds through his life, he sees events which relate to "The Lodger", but which were not shown in that story. Next he visits the events during "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone", revealing the truth of what happened in the forest between The Doctor and Amy and that his message to Amy was given by a future Doctor. Also briefly seen are Vincent Van Gogh ("Vincent and The Doctor"), Weeping Angels ("The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone"), Silurians ("Cold Blood/The Hungry Earth"), Saturnynians ("Vampires of Venice"), Daleks ("Victory of the Daleks"), Smilers and Star Whales ("The Beast Below"). Finally, he arrives in seven-year-old Amelia's house after she waited for him in "The Eleventh Hour". After carrying her up to her bedroom The Doctor is heard telling the young Amy, while she is asleep, of how he got his TARDIS.

Look out for the scenes in the museum. It included a number of anomalies as a result of the altered timeline, including penguins in the Nile and Egyptians in the Himalayas.

The Blinovitch Limitation Effect occurs in a very small way when The Doctor taps the sonic screwdriver iterations together. It does not occur, however, when Amy and her past/alternate universe selves touch, or when the two iterations of the Eleventh Doctor physically touch. This may be because there is some form of electrical energy inside the screwdriver, but not in Amy or The Doctor. The Doctor has previously interacted with himself and Rose also touched a past version of herself. Neither occurrences invoking the effect.

This is the second time, since the show was revived in 2005, that The Doctor has been shot by a Dalek. This previously occurred during "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End".

The Doctor is heard to state that Fezs are cool, much in the same way he has said bow ties are cool throughout this season. It seems that The Doctor likes his hats. The First Doctor occasionally wore one and in his first adventure, the Third Doctor donned a wide brimmed hat although he later abandoned it. The Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Doctors were seldom without hats whilst the Second Doctor favoured elaborate headgear and on more than one occasion was known to admire other people's, saying ‘I should like a hat like that!’.

The message that The Doctor sends to River Song contained just the word, ‘Geronimo’. This is a saying said a lot by the Eleventh Doctor and was first heard by him shortly after the regeneration scene in "The End of Time".

The line ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’ spoken by Amy, is also said by Doctor Ruth Winters in the episode of Casualty which was broadcast, also on BBC One, a few hours after Doctor Who. Both were spoken on or just before a wedding (on in Amy's case, before in Ruth's case). Whereas Ruth was referring to a number of items to give her good luck, Amy was referring to the TARDIS and it was this that enabled the TARDIS to materialise during her wedding reception.

This is the third time that The Doctor has got involved in a companion’s wedding. Unlike the previous two weddings The Doctor finally gets to hit the dance floor and celebrate in style! In "The Runaway Bride", the reception for a cancelled wedding was interrupted by alien intruders and in "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith" (from The Sarah Jane Adventures), when The Doctor crashed the nuptials of Sarah Jane Smith, it ended in death.

With Rory and Amy getting married, and then continuing their travels in the TARDIS, makes this the first occasion a married couple have been companions of The Doctor.

This is the first time in the revived show that a finale has a happy ending. This story is also the first time, since the show returned in 2005, that a season does not end with either a change of Doctor or a companion departing. "Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways" concluded with the Ninth Doctor regenerating, "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday" culminated with Rose Tyler trapped in another universe and "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords" saw Martha Jones leave the TARDIS. "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" finished with Donna’s travels coming to a heartbreaking halt and The Doctor was travelling alone in "The End of Time". But "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" sees The Doctor, Amy and Rory, this season’s companions, staying on at the end. Amy is also the first companion since Rose to travel with The Doctor through a whole season, and to continue doing so after the finale.

It is possible that time may have been rewritten for River Song, as the story "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" involved a crack in the universe, and since this earlier story is set after "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" for her, the crack should no longer be there, meaning there may now be a new way the Weeping Angels were defeated. Things still end the same way for River Song, as she is heard to tell The Doctor in "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" that she will be there when the Pandorica Opens.

Following on immediately after each episode of this story, on BBC3, were the twelth and thirteenth chapters of the fifth series of Doctor Who Confidential. These being "Alien Abduction" and "Out of Time". Both looked into the making of this story. They were presented by Alex Price.

This story won the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.



First and Last

The Firsts:

 The first time that the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond encounter the Cybermen.

 The first time that the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond encounter the Sontarans.

 The first time that the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond encounter the Judoon.

 The first time that Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Caitlin Blackwood (Amelia) appear in the same scene.

 The first appearance of Weevils (from the spin-off series Torchwood) in Doctor Who.

 The first time in the revised series that the time vortex sequence, used in the start and end credits, is shown within a story.

 The first time a married couple have been companions of The Doctor.

 The first time in the revised series that the final story of a season has a happy ending.

 The first time in the revised series that the final story of a season does not end with either a change of Doctor or a companion departing.

 The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Toby Haynes.


The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

 The last story of Season Thirty One (New Series 5).

 Lindsey Alford's last involvement in the show as Script Editor.

 Edward Thomas' last involvement in the show as Production Designer.

 Ray Holman's last involvement in the show as Costume Designer.


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The Plot

WARNING: May Contain SpoilersHide Text
The Pandorica
The Pandorica

In Provence, France in 1890 Vincent Van Gogh has horrific visions of a coming explosion. He has painted a picture showing the TARDIS being destroyed in a giant explosion. The picture also includes co-ordinates inscribed for The Doctor. In 1941 London, Edwin Bracewell shows the picture to Winston Churchill, advising him to warn The Doctor. Winston Churchill tries to do so but instead of reaching The Doctor, his intergalactic phone call reaches the Stormcage Containment Facility in the 50th Century, where he gets to speak to an imprisoned River Song. This call prompts her to escape and she is next seen in the Royal Art Collection, stealing Vincent Van Gogh’s picture. River Song then procures a Vortex Manipulator from a crooked dealer so that she can reach The Doctor.

Meanwhile, unaware of these events, The Doctor decides to travel to the oldest planet in the universe so that he can use the TARDIS to decipher a message that is reported to be the oldest writing in the whole universe. To The Doctor’s surprise the legendary message says ‘Hello, Sweetie’ and so is another calling card from River Song. The message also contains coordinates which takes The Doctor, and his travelling companion Amy Pond, to Roman Britain in 102 AD. There they meet River Song posing as Cleopatra. River Song explains about the Vincent Van Gogh painting warning of the destruction of the TARDIS.

The Doctor realises the painting, and destruction of the TARDIS, may be connected to the Pandorica, a fabled prison for the universe’s deadliest being, and rationalises that it must be stored in a memorable location - like the site of Stonehenge. There they discover a passage that leads to an underground area, which The Doctor terms as an ‘Underhenge’. Inside, they find the Pandorica, a large metal box outfitted with every type of lock imaginable. It also seems to be opening from the inside and transmitting a message across time and space, drawing many of The Doctor’s foes to Earth. Enemies which include Sontarans, The Judoon, Cybermen and Daleks.

Amy is Attacked
Amy is Attacked

Refusing to flee The Doctor gets River Song to seek help from the nearby Roman legion while he remains with the Pandorica. But The Doctor and Amy are attacked by the debris of a Cyberman’s suit which is trying to find a new host. Thinking that he has managed to disable the head of the Cyberman The Doctor is stunned. The rest of the Cyberman then appears forcing Amy to find a place to hide. She is rescued by a mysterious centurion, who turns out to be Rory Williams. The revived Doctor is baffled to find Rory alive, since he is supposed to have been erased from history by a crack in the universe (see "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood"). Rory is even more confused. He claims he simply remembers dying one second and being a Roman soldier the next.

With the Romans guarding Stonehenge and with the Pandorica continuing to open from the inside The Doctor instructs River Song to pilot the TARDIS to Stonehenge. But despite being an expert TARDIS pilot the time machine takes River Song to Amy’s house on the 26th June 2010 - the very date of the time energy explosion that caused the cracks in the universe. But River Song is not aware of this. Nor is she aware of the scanner screen suddenly cracking into the same shape as the other cracks in the universe as an ominous voice declares ‘silence will fall’. Outside River Song discovers burn-marks on the lawn and, when she begins to explore Amy’s bedroom, she discovers representations of The Doctor and the TARDIS. She also finds elements such as Pandora’s Box and the Roman soldiers within Amy’s drawings and books. When she relays this to The Doctor he deduces that they might all be imaginary constructs taken from Amy’s mind to entrap him. Then as the TARDIS begins to malfunction dangerously, The Doctor, upon discovering the date that River Song has been taken to, orders her to get out of that timezone. But the TARDIS is now being controlled remotely by some unknown force and despite all her efforts to escape River Song finds herself locked in.

The Daleks
The Daleks

Back at Stonehenge, in 102 AD, Rory tries to connect with Amy by using the engagement ring that he had left aboard the TARDIS. But Amy is unable to remember him. It is then that The Doctor discovers that the Romans and Rory are in fact Autons. As they are activated Rory struggles to retain his human consciousness and stop himself from killing Amy. Then, just as Amy at last remembers who Rory is, the Auton Rory loses control and shoots her. Meanwhile, belowground the other Autons capture The Doctor and take him to the now-open Pandorica, which proves to be empty. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Judoon and other enemies arrive and reveal that they have formed an alliance and built the Pandorica as a prison for The Doctor, as they believe he is about to destroy the Universe, owing to the cracks in the universe. Against his will, The Doctor is secured inside, screaming that he is the only one who can stop the explosion. Despite his pleading that they have made a huge mistake and that the TARDIS, not him, is about to destroy the universe, they refuse to believe him as they believe that only he can pilot the TARDIS. A distraught Rory is left cradling the lifeless Amy. As the Pandorica closes, with The Doctor trapped inside, and with River Song still unable to get out of the TARDIS the time machine goes critical and explodes. This results in all the galaxies surrounding the Earth exploding leaving nothing but blackness as silence falls…

In 1996 a young Amelia Pond discovers a museum pamphlet that has been posted through the letterbox of her house. It contains a message to visit the Pandorica which is one of the museum’s exhibits, along with a display of what appears to be Stone Daleks. At the museum she discovers another message, stuck on the Pandorica itself, that tells her to stick around. After the museum closes she approaches the Pandorica, which opens upon her touching it, and inside is her adult self. Non-other than Amy Pond…

Back in 102 AD, The Doctor, wearing using the Vortex Manipulator, visits the Auton Rory who is still cradling the dead Amy Pond in his arms. The Doctor hands over his sonic screwdriver while quickly explaining that he needs Rory to release him from the Pandorica before he disappears again. Rory does as The Doctor instructed. The Doctor is at first confused as to how Rory managed to free him from the Pandorica until he realises that it must have been him in the future that returned to the past. As he looks around all of The Doctor’s enemies appear to have been turned to stone and aged a few thousand years. The Doctor realises that the universe is ceasing to exist, and these are just echoes of what one was. The Doctor then places Amy into the Pandorioca – explaining to Rory that being such a secure prison the Pandorioca will not even allow death to be used as a means of escape. This means that Amy will be kept just alive and will only brought fully back to life when she comes into contact with a living part of her DNA – which can occur in 1884 years time when the young Amelia Pond visits the museum. The Doctor then prepares to leave but Rory refuses to accompany him. He is unwilling to leave Amy unprotected and decides to stay with the Pandorica.

The Cybermen
The Cybermen

The Doctor then uses the Vortex Manipulator to travel to 1996 so as to be reunited with Amy and Rory (who has followed and protected the Pandorica with Amy inside for nearly 2000 years). There The Doctor discovers that the opening of the Pandorica, that allowed Amy to live again, also revived one of the other exhibits in the museum – a stone Dalek. It chases after them, only to become deactivated when Rory uses his Auton gun on it. Then, after questioning Rory, The Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to travel back to 102 AD, to get Rory to free him from the Pandorica, and 1996 to leave the messages for the seven year old Amelia Pond to free her adult self from the Pandorica.

They then realise that the young Amelia Pond is no longer with them as her part of the universe has now ceased to exist meaning that they have very little time to find the source of the collapse and to find a way to reverse its effects. Moments later The Doctor from twelve minutes into the future arrives, appearing badly hurt. The future Doctor urgently whispers something to the present Doctor before dropping to the floor. The Doctor has in fact been shot at by the Stone Dalek. Before this though The Doctor and his companions arrive on the roof of the museum, so as to escape from the reactivated Stone Dalek. There The Doctor discovers that the only astral body in the sky is the sun. But he deduces that it cannot be the sun as every single star in the universe has collapsed and so what they are witnessing is actually the explosion of his TARDIS, which is exploding at every moment in history. Inside the TARDIS, River Song is stuck in a time loop - the TARDIS’s way of keeping her alive. The Doctor, hearing her through a transmission, uses the Vortex Manipulator to rescue her.

They are immediately discovered by the Stone Dalek, who begins to attack. Back inside the museum The Doctor realises that the Pandorica still holds a memory of the old universe. He begins a plan to create a second Big Bang, where the atoms in the Pandorica can bring back the universe as it was before. However, before he can carry out his plan the Stone Dalek catches up with them and before River Song can kill it, The Doctor is shot. To escape from the Dalek Amy and Rory find themselves back in the area of the museum where they left The Doctor, who had arrived from the future, only to discover him missing. It is only when River Song catches up with them that they realise that The Doctor is not dead.

River Song
River Song

They find him sitting inside the Pandorica having used the time they spent distracting the Stone Dalek to rig the machinery of the Pandorica with the Vortex Manipulator so that he can fly it into the heart of the exploding TARDIS so as to allow the contents of the Pandorica touch every part of the universe through the cracks so returning everything to normal. Further more he tells Amy that she will have the power to bring her parents back, who the crack took when she was a child. He then flies the Pandorica into the burning TARDIS and the universe is restored. The Doctor’s act though means that he will become trapped, in an alternative universe, once all the cracks in the universe are sealed. But he is content knowing that Amy can live her life with both of her parents and can at last have the opportunity to marry Rory.

And so in 2010, Amy wakes up to her mother bringing in breakfast which her father made for her. Even though it is her wedding day, and so should be the happiest day of her life, she realise that there is something missing in her life. Something important, that she should remember but can’t. It is not until during the reception, when she sees various things that remind her of The Doctor that she starts to remember. When she realises that a blue book, that had been given to her by River Song, has an eight-square grid design on the front, similar to the TARDIS door, it dawns on her that her ‘raggedy Doctor’ is real. A strange wind picks up in the room and the TARDIS materialises in the middle of the floor. The Doctor, wearing a tuxedo, exits and introduces himself as Amy’s imaginary friend and tells them that he has come for the dancing. Afterwards he returns to his TARDIS and lands his time machine outside Amy’s home. There says his good-byes to River Song and gives her back the Vortex Manipulator which she uses to teleport away.

Back in the TARDIS, The Doctor is still concerned as to why the TARDIS exploded and who manipulated it to that date and then purposefully destroyed it. He is soon joined by Amy and Rory just as he receives a phone call about an Egyptian goddess who seems to have escaped onto the Orient Express - in outer space. The Doctor says his goodbyes to Amy and Rory but instead of leaving The Doctor and the TARDIS they both elect to stay and so all three of them are sent spinning through the Time Vortex in the TARDIS.

 
Rory Cradling a Dying Amy
Rory Cradling a Dying Amy
Enemies United
Enemies United
The Trap Is Set
The Trap Is Set
Amelia Pond
Amelia Pond
 
The Stone Dalek
The Stone Dalek
The Doctor is Shot
The Doctor is Shot
The Married Couple
The Married Couple
Back in the TARDIS
Back in the TARDIS




Quote of the Story


 'Yes, okay, okay, okay, okay. Dalek fleet, minimum twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ahhhh, but we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect three people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships, because we'd be killed instantly, so it would be a fairly short surprise. Forget Surprise.'

The Doctor



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Release Information

FormatTitleRelease Date (UK)Code NumberCover ArtRemarks
Video
DVD
The Lodger - The Pandorica Opens - The Big BangSeptember 2010BBCDVD 3216Photo-montage
Video
Blu-Ray
The Lodger - The Pandorica Opens - The Big BangSeptember 2010BBCBD 0085Photo-montage
Video
DVD
The Complete Fifth Series Box SetNovember 2010BBCDVD 3285Photo-montageDVD boxed set containing all 10 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Fifth Series Box SetNovember 2010BBCBD 0115Photo-montageBlu-Ray boxed set containing all 10 stories
Video
DVD
The Complete Fifth Series Box Set (Limited Edition)November 2010BBCDVD 3344Photo-montageLimited Edition DVD boxed set containing all 10 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Fifth Series Box Set (Limited Edition)November 2010BBCBD 0130Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all 10 stories
Audio
CD
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 5November 2010Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold
Audio
CD
The Essential CompanionNovember 2010Photo-montageDocumentary
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Series 1-7 Box Set (Limited Edition)December 2013BBCBD 0242Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray boxed set containing all Series 1-7 stories at full 1080p high definition
Video
DVD
The Complete Fifth Series (2014 Re-release)August 2014BBCDVD 3969Photo-montageBoxed set containing all 10 stories
Video
Blu-Ray
The Complete Fifth Series Box Set (Limited Edition Steelbook)February 2020BBCBD 0487Photo-montageLimited Edition Blu-Ray Steelbook boxed set containing 10 stories
Audio
LP
Original Television Soundtrack - Series 5July 2023Photo-montageMusic by Murray Gold


In Print

No Book Release
Doctor Who Magazine - PreviewIssue 422 (Released: June 2010)
Doctor Who Magazine - ReviewIssue 424 (Released: August 2010)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time TeamIssue 506 (Released: Winter 2016/17)
Doctor Who Magazine - ArticleIssue 549 (Released: April 2020)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 79 (Released: January 2012)
Doctor Who DVD FilesVolume 80 (Released: January 2012)

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The Doctor and Companions/Acquaintances

 
Matt Smith
The Eleventh Doctor

   

Alex Kingston
River Song
Karen Gillan
Amy Pond
Arthur Darvill
Rory Williams
   
Ian McNeice
Winston Churchill





On Release

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Blu-Ray Cover
Blu-Ray Cover

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series DVD Box Set
Complete Series DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
   
Ltd Edition DVD Box Set
Ltd Edition DVD Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set
Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Original Television Soundtrack Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Cover

BBC
AUDIO
The Essential Companion Cover
The Essential Companion Cover

BBC
AUDIO
   
Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set
Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series DVD Box Set<BR>(2014 Re-release)
Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release)

BBC
VIDEO
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set
Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set

BBC
VIDEO
Original Television Soundtrack Vinyl Cover
Original Television Soundtrack Vinyl Cover

Silva Screen
AUDIO
   



Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 422
Doctor Who Magazine - Preview: Issue 422

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 424
Doctor Who Magazine - Review: Issue 424

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 506
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 506

Marvel Comics
   
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 549
Doctor Who Magazine - Article: Issue 549

Marvel Comics
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 79
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 79

GE Fabbri
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 80
Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 80

GE Fabbri
   

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