Doctor Who: The Big Bang

[eve11]

Well now, that was... fun! Like, way more fun than I thought it would be. And made up for the lack of funny lines last week and it was clever and entertaining and not quite as tightly plotted as I'd have liked (ETA: Or do I just need to re-watch it a few times?) but did I mention it was still clever and fun and amazing and yet at the same time had some absolutely lovely emotional and grave moments too? Oh my, my first reaction after the credits rolled was, "That was awesome." And then I wanted to watch it again.

Play by play is loooooong:

In Amelia's bedroom as she's listening in on the psychiatrist talking with Aunt Sharon, we pan past a painting of what looks like a VanGogh-esque vase with sunflowers in it, as painted by a seven-year-old. Aw.

"I don't trust that Richard Dawkins." *snerk*

The note! Come along, Pond! Ahaaaa! Can I just say that I love Matt Smith in this? This really has shades of Eleven from The Eleventh Hour and oh I just love it. And he calls her Pond! Moffat, tell your other writers they need to be more on the ball with this. He definitely has the clearest picture of the Eleventh Doctor in his head. He needs to be more hands-on with the rest of his team though.

In the confidential they explain the exhibits in more detail and it's quite funny. I totally missed the craziness of them on first watch: Penguins of the Nile, Dinosaurs on ice, heh.

The first thing they do after making Skittle rainbow-colored Daleks is turn them stone gray instead. Good move, gotta say.

"Okay kid, this is where it gets complicated." ASDASDASDSHFJKSDGFHl I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! I was absolutely certain that the Pandorica would open to reveal the Doctor. As soon as it opened up on Amy Pond, I was like, OMG! Time to throw all my theories out the window and just strap in for the ride!

Rory and Amy at the end of the universe: I knew from watching this clip and hearing on the music at the end that something was going to happen. I thought it was going to be Amy waking up somehow. Did not expect to see the Doctor pop in wearing a fez and holding a mop. OMG Doctor! And I said that the finale would be Fail! if the Doctor got right out of the Pandorica in the first five minutes but (a) it's about nine minutes and (b) it's too hilarious and (c) yes sonic-screwdriver-opens-the-pandorica is FAIL but hell the whole universe has collapsed and I did NOT expect they would keep that around. And we still get a timey-wimey story, and it is NOT what you'd expect now, is it?

"Me from the future. I've got a future, that's nice."

"Echoes. Fossils in time, the footprints of the never-were." Oh, the universe does NOT get a re-wind. And the TARDIS is still exploded.

"That's software talking." Doctor has to be cruel to be kind. And I like the reasoning for really bringing Rory back, that eg the Nestene got a bit more than they bargained for after mucking around in Amy's head. I love this clever, bouncy, crazy Doctor!

Amy and Amelia are awesome. And that sentence is entirely composed of words starting with "a", isn't it? I was going to write more in that sentence but that would ruin it. Love Amelia's faces, she is so cute!

"Rubbish way to travel. But the universe is tiny now, so we'll be fine."

"Why do you have to be so . . . human?" So, instead of the Doctor spending 2000 years in the Pandorica, it's Amy Pond. With Plastic Centurion Rory as her guardian. Rory waits by her side for 2000 years. Oh, Rory. As Moffat says in the Confidential "You've just killed your fiance and you need to make amends. There's some things that just mowing the lawn won't cut it." (Did I mention this was the Best Confidential Ever? Because it was).

Nick Briggs is the Pandorica narrator.

Eleven, ILU! "Come along, Ponds!"

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" Eleven, never change.

LOL, the universe is collapsing and Eleven is the kind of Doctor who will cheat unabashedly. And steal a drink from Past!Amelia to give to Present!Amelia.

All that silliness and then all of a sudden you get Eleven from 12 minutes in the future, suddenly changing the tone. "12 minutes to live? How is that good?"

Good question for another day... the TARDIS exploding. Oh, I actually really like the fact that they're only tackling part of the problem here. Because seriously, 55 minutes is not enough time to answer all the questions. And oh, so sad... and later on when he's by Amy's bedside and you can see the toll that the TARDIS' death takes on him, breaks my heart.

"What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?"
"It's a fez, I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool."
Seriously I have been remembering this line at inappropriate times throughout last night and today and it keeps making me grin like a freaking idiot.
*death of the fez* Really, Doctor, it did nothing for your ears. Also, someone at DragonCon needs to dress as Eleven with fez and mop PLEASE!

River and the Doctor do argue like a married couple, don't they?
"Well that would be lovely dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible."
"Ah you see, no, it's not. It's almost completely impossible."

Rule number one: The Doctor lies. Rule 2 is probably The Doctor cheats then, yeah?

Man, the idea of being trapped in a museum with disappearing exhibits at the tail end of an eddy in a collapsing universe, at that moment, when River points out that the exhibits are disappearing, it just has a really cool Classic Who feeling to it. Like, we don't need lots of special effects to show that the universe is collapsing; all we need is to start with a museum and gradually let it fade. Very Fourth Doctor, I think. And then we get some old-fashioned straight-up heroics from the Doctor, who's already taken a Dalek bullet for the team, kind of reminds me of Five at the end of part 3 of Caves of Androzani. Except the stakes for that one was "just" saving his friend, who'd he'd gotten into this mess.

People are asking, why didn't the Doctor get killed by the Dalek? One, although the Doctor said the Dalek was powering up to lethal, well, perhaps he exaggerated. And if it wasn't quite lethal power than he wouldn't be killed instantly. Even in Journey's End when he took a glancing blow from the Dalek, it took a while before he started regenerating. And in this one he headed straight for the Pandorica, which (conveniently) doesn't let someone die when they're inside it.

So sad that the TARDIS is still exploding. Must be part of the reason why he suddenly seems so tired. His best friend, his only lifetime companion, in agony in the sky and still giving them all hope in her death throes. If I think too much about it I'll just cry.

"Now please, he wants to talk to you before he goes."
"Not to you?"
"He doesn't really know me yet. Now he never will."

And that whole scene is just... oh hell I'm going to have to quote it all, aren't I? I love the light-- the fire red behind Amy and the blue and green of the Doctor, and I love the emotion and the feel of it; Tennant could never do this scene in this way, he could never make it feel gentle and kind in that way, like a parent comforting a scared little girl who needed him. Needs him still, but he can't stay. Just... oh, here it is

"Hi."
"Amy Pond. The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"
"Shut up, of course it was."
"You asked me why I was taking you with me, and I said, no reason. I was lying."
"It's not important."
"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house is too big. That big, empty house, and just you."
"And aunt Sharon--"
"Where were your mom and dad? Where was everybody who lived in that big house?"
"...I lost my mom and dad."
"How? what happened to them?" (whispers) "Where did they go?"
"I... I don't--"
"It's okay, it's okay, don't panic. It's not your fault." (me: Oh Eleven, there you are. Break my heart why don't you?)
"I don't even remember."
"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom, aaand it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond. All alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"
"But how could I just forget?"
"Nothing is ever forgotten. Not really, but you have to try."
(River, offscreen) "Doctor, it's speeding up!"
"There's going to be a very big bang, Big Bang Two. Try to remember your family and they'll be there."
"How can I remember them if they never existed?"
"Because you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back, you can bring them back too. Just remember, and they'll be there."
"You won't."
"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend anymore. Amy Pond, crying over me, eh? Guess what?"
"What?"
"Gotcha."

The CGI of the Pandorica flying up into the sun was fantastic, all of it, just absolutely gorgeous. And then we get the Doctor's full theme music again for the first time in a long while and I love it.

And then bang! "Oh! Okay, I escaped then, brilliant! I love it when I do that. Legs, yes! Bow tie? Cool." *checks head* "...I can buy a fez."

Space Florida! Moffat ILU. And the look on the Doctor's face when he realizes what's happening. Hello Universe. Good-bye Doctor.

But okay, I still don't understand the context of the conversation in Flesh and Stone, which is annoying because it had such a loooong build-up. He needs to tell Amy something... he hasn't told her yet at this point though. Why does he tell her to remember instead of just telling her what he wants her to know? In the next scene he seems surprised to find himself in Amy's house on the night she waited. And the stakes in that forest scene still seem wrong to me. He's working out the cracks but we never do figure out why they were "following" Amy, do we? And it's just him now that he needs her to remember. The universe will be fine, he just needs her to save him. Which, okay, I get that it's still important, but the way he was acting in that scene it seems like the stakes should have been HER, not him. Or at least the universe again. So, kinda miffed at the lack of payoff for that one, unless someone wants to give me a better explanation.

Then again, there's the line "but if she can hear me..." in the Lodger scene, which I didn't quite get... was it that he was formulating a plan and had to implement it backwards? Hm, that was probably it, wasn't it? Clever old Doctor. But too clever Steven Moffat... even just another line or two at that point would have made it clearer. At that moment, he said "but if she can hear me..." and then he turned around and there was the crack and I thought, "then the cracks will show up?" My betas will tell you, sometimes I don't put *quite* enough words onto the page when I'm writing a story, to convey what I want. I think that's what happened here.

And um, again, I'm gonna have to put in a whole transcript aren't I? How he manages to look old and young at the same time, like a grandfather telling a story to a little girl, and an old renegade missing his destroyed TARDIS and reaching the end of the line, and still... still being just a bit clever.

"It's funny. I thought if you could hear me I could hang on somehow. Silly me. Silly old Doctor. When you wake up, you'll have a mum and dad, and you won't even remember me. Well you'll remember me a little. I'll be a story in your head. That's okay, we're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? 'Cause it was ,you know. It was the best. A daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away. Did I ever tell you that I stole it? Well, I borrowed it; I was always gonna take it back. Oh, that box. Amy, you'll dream about that box. It'll never leave you. Big and little at the same time. Brand new and ancient, and the bluest blue ever. And the times we had, eh? Woulda had. Never had. In your dreams, they'll still be there. The Doctor and Amy Pond. And the days that never came.

"The cracks are closing, but they can't close properly 'til I'm on the other side. I don't belong here anymore. I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats. Live well, love Rory. Bye-bye Pond."

And then it's the morning of Amy's wedding. "You're my tiny little dad!" HA!

"Are you just saying yes 'cause you're scared of me?"
"yep."
Rory, you are awesome.

And, and I really want to know how the timelines mesh here. Time has been re-written; how far back? The TARDIS didn't explode because it comes back, but it did because Amy was waiting outside in her garden and had an imaginary friend. The Doctor has never been born but he's still Amelia's imaginary friend. Rory didn't die because he's there and human (not plastic anymore) but he did die when the Doctor went to inspect the crack that was or was not there. River Song is in 2010 and remembers the Doctor because the TARDIS exploded in 2010 and that's where she ended up only the TARDIS never existed and didn't explode in 2010. Are the Silurians still waking up in 1000 years? SOMEONE TELL ME THE MERGE THAT EXPLAINS THIS. I NEED UNIVERSE SVN VERSION CONTROL.

Perhaps, the idea here is that it's the memories that have been affected, that make a bridge from the void or that have the right "restoration" field to them. It's less about what happened or not, but about how we remember what happened. That... kinda makes sense. But my head hurts.

"Raggedy man, I remember you and you are late for my wedding!" Heh, that last bit of the line did it for me, made it cool instead of just really really silly. Overall though, I think that scene was a bit less thrilling than it could have been. Amy staring at bow ties and braces was a bit over the top wasn't it? So cheesy, but so Moffat-- of course the TARDIS is something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. Very seven-ish, yeah? And you know, I think I'm liking this finale more the more I watch it.

Guys did you catch Rory's line as Amy vaulted the table? "It's the Doctor. How did we forget the Doctor? I was plastic! He was the stripper at my stag party!" LOL!

"Hello everyone! I'm Amy's imaginary friend! But I came anyway."

And I was a bit worried at this point because there wasn't much time left and I still thought they were going to have a big cliffhangery thing, but no! Instead, we get a bona fide four-odd minute freaking happy ending! And a wedding to boot and silly dancing and the Doctor maybe kinda sorta asking River Song to marry him. And Amy and Rory, honeymooning at an Osiran jailbreak on the Orient Express. In space. Oh, I am ridiculously excited for this!

"This looks like good-bye."
"Yeah, I think so."
*waves out the door*
"Good-bye!"

I'm still full of glee. Flat-out glee, and I want to watch the whole series over again. See y'all at Christmas. And beyond, when we get to find out more about River and the Silence.




Speculation Ahead....
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And of course despite getting a few answers about Amy's beginning, we still are left with a lot more questions. Some were miscues, I think, like "why didn't Amy remember the Daleks?" and some are obviously going to be tackled next season, like "who is Sinister Voiceover Man?"

For what it's worth, my guess is Omega. I'd seen that bandied about a bit in some quasi-spoiler threads. And then I remembered one very important fact, and things kind of slotted into place rather scarily. This is the fact:

1) Only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS.
1b) Omega reconstituted himself using the Fifth Doctor's bio-data.

What does this mean, kiddies? WELL, it means that as far as the TARDIS is concerned, Omega IS the Doctor, isn't he? If he's still mucking about in the 5th Doctor's body--and there's nothing to suggest he isn't... he was apparently killed in the Three Doctors, but he escaped to show up again in Arc of Infinity and he escaped then as well, and showed up AGAIN tied to Five in the Big Finish audio Omega--then he would most likely be able to pilot the TARDIS, him being a Time Lord and all.

Do you know what that means, guys? That means, that the big bad for the upcoming series is none other than Peter Davison.

I have been playing the "Silence will fall!" lines over and over, and trying to compare them with Peter Davison's voice from the audios (when he turns into the Evil Lord of Stockbridge in The Eternal Summer), and it's not inconceivable that the voice could belong to him. The way he says "fall" particularly has just a teensy shade of recognition of Davison-esque nuance. Add to that the fact that he would be able to pilot the TARDIS, AND, being a being of anti-matter and also insane, he would probably relish the idea of wiping the universe clear of everything to descend into silence and then build everything up again as an antimatter universe. Add to that the fact that "Omega" has long been a symbol of the end of all things. Add to that that Omega's myth is steeped in greek myths; His name of course, and his ship was even named Eurydice, and this time around we have the myth of Pandora's box. It starts to make a stupid amount of sense! And already this time around we have been getting lots of clues about evil versions of the Doctor and past Doctors and all that stuff... So anyway, throwing my hat into the ring for that one.

I was worried they were going to try to tackle that at the end of this series... too much info to squeeze into one episode. Glad they left that for later.