Rate and Discuss: The Big Bang

[Awesome Wells]

Speaking of spoilers...

I think a great cliffhanger would be for a companion to open River's diary - only to find it completely empty.

If this had been anybody but Andrew, I'ds have said it was a clever way of injecting a spoiler into a thread without anyone else knowing. But as it is - and he never would - I must ask him: What are next week's lottery numbers?

[Andrew Curnow]

You're too kind - although when I typed that I was thinking it would be a sign that the infuriating River is a bit of a fraud, I have to admit that Moffat's use of it was probably far better.

But anyway, 9 - 22 - 31 - 41 - 43 - 48. Bonus ball 3.

And Rory staying with Amy all that time, was just... perfectly Rory. Very touching.

[Larry]

I'musing the Pandorica as a magic box that can not only bring people back to life, d.

I don't have a problem with that the pandorica was designed to keep the Doctor, imprissoned for all eternity rather than let him die so it wasbound to have some kind of life sustaining system.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I'm quite glad that the dream sequence from Eleventh Hour didn't turn out to be anything other than the dream sequence it seemed to be all along

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Oh if anyone catches Lawrence Miles posting an epic rant on his blog could they please cut and paste it before he deletes it as usual.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Does anyone know why Ian Collier is on IMDB.com as Omega (Uncredited) for this episode?

Well John Simm is credited (as uncredited anyway) for last week's episode. Plus a load of people who only featured in the reprise of last week were credited again this time. Maybe it's written by berks?

[Dino]

Oh if anyone catches Lawrence Miles posting an epic rant on his blog could they please cut and paste it before he deletes it as usual.

Ooh! I wanna read! Me too!

[Larry]

just an after thought now that the universe has been "re created" dose that now give Moffatt, the perfect excuse to bring back the Time Lords.

[Captain Tancredi]

Overall I liked it, but they didn't do enough with the most interesting idea- the world without stars and how they rationalised things like the empty space surrounding the world and what they thought the Dalek casings were.

[egdcltd]

I've thought all through this series that the Time Lords are going to be brought back somehow. I've even sort of come up with a way that could happen.

[The456]

Nice to have a different ending than usual however for me it all falls down because there are two unanswereds or paradoxes. The cracks in time were appearing because the Tardis was exploding so the daleks et al all got together to lock the doctor in the pandorica (a rather simplistic view on their part, given their history with the Dr wouldn't they consider the fact that the Dr wouldn't deliberately be trying to destroy the universe) We still don't know why the Tardis went out of control, who took control of it, why ? and why did it explode ? Is the real finale on Xmas day ?
The "get out of the pandorica" scenario was entertaining and at face value, clever but makes no sense at all, it involves a time loop of events that just appear from nowhere.
The Dr literally just magicked himself out of the Pandorica into a fez and carrying a mop !

[Wayne]

Well on the one hand it was a pile of senseless tosh, where the audience is asked to turn a blind eye loads of tenuous ideas that don't really add up.
One the other hand, Moffat played a bit of a kobayashi maru. He's changed the rules slightly by making Dr Who for Harry Potter fans. By turning it into such an obvious fantasy based story, instead of trying to pretend it's Science Fiction like RTD did, he sort of got away with it, for me.
I didn't think much of Part 1 to be honest, particularly with the totally fanwank idea of bunging in loads the loads of the Doctor's enemies, for no real good reason.
But i have to say i found tonight's wrap up quite entertaining.

It really is Matt Smith that makes it all hang together though. He's just works as the Doctor. I really never thought i would accept him into the role as much as i have. Especially with him being so young, n' all. But he never seems like a young bloke on screen at all. He's just the Doctor. When i'm watching him, i might just as well be watching Bill Hartnell, I'm that convinced that Smith is a several hundred year old Time Lord.

I also think Karen is great. I've even got over the legs now. As in, i'm just watching Amy Pond, and not just a sexy companion. (Well, ish...)
I've also accepted Rory. At first i thought he was just a Mickey type cypher, but now i'm quite happy for him to be along in the Tardis for the next season.
Bugger me, even Riversong has grown on me, and i never expected that back when Silence in the Library was aired! But yes, the whole ensemble has grown on me over the season, and much as i've found a lot of the stories disappointing, i'm still hoping it will live up to more of its potential next year.
C'mon Moffat, don't waste Matt Smith on tat by Chibnall and Roberts. Get people like Rob Shearman and Paul Cornell. And for god's sake get rid of Murray Gold, and give someone else a chance that's got a different ideas.

Mixed feelings on the episode overall then, but i have to say that i enjoyed it more than i expected to. Jeez, compared to Last of the Time Turds or Journey's End, this stuff if gold dust.
I really hope that next year Moffat ups the ante even more. He's had a season to for the public to get used to non-RTD Who, and i hope the writing is stronger throughout, than this season.
But although i've gotten a bit more meh about this season over the last few weeks, i think Moffat's got away with this finale, and i haven't forgotten that Time of the Angels, Flesh and Stone, and Amy's Choice have been absolute crackers.
This episode: 7/10. Here's to the next season.

[Awesome Wells]

Nice to have a different ending than usual however for me it all falls down because there are two unanswereds or paradoxes. The cracks in time were appearing because the Tardis was exploding so the daleks et al all got together to lock the doctor in the pandorica (a rather simplistic view on their part, given their history with the Dr wouldn't they consider the fact that the Dr wouldn't deliberately be trying to destroy the universe) We still don't know why the Tardis went out of control, who took control of it, why ? and why did it explode ? Is the real finale on Xmas day ?
The "get out of the pandorica" scenario was entertaining and at face value, clever but makes no sense at all, it involves a time loop of events that just appear from nowhere.
The Dr literally just magicked himself out of the Pandorica into a fez and carrying a mop !

Wha-?

[egdcltd]

I don't think the series finale was the true finale to the story arc. I'm not even sure that the Christmas Special will be; I have a feeling this may be a multi-series arc

[SiHart]

Does anyone know why Ian Collier is on IMDB.com as Omega (Uncredited) for this episode?

I suspect that's really not true since Ian Collier sadly passed away a couple of years back.

Si xx

[Awesome Wells]

Last of the Time Turds

I shouldn't really, but...

[Andrew Curnow]

What I think is rather 'neat' is that by leaving the question of, for example, who caused the TARDIS to explode, it means that next year's finale (I'm assuming it will deal with these questions) will feel like a continuation of this already-epic one. In other words, it avoids one of the 'problems' that RTD found, of having to produce an even bigger, big bad each year.

[Rob McCow]

two unanswereds or paradoxes.

It was hinted at the end of the episode (and outright stated in Confidential) that we haven't been told who was manipulating the TARDIS yet.

But the Pandorica solution to the destruction of the Universe was dangerously close to Star Trek technobabble. In fact, wasn't there a DS9 episode where they made a mini-Universe out of squeezy washing up bottles and dilithium?

Fortunately it was all quite easy to understand. One of the joys of this episode was that it makes the audience feel clever. It's a hugely complex plot yet it never became messy or patronising.

I absolutely loved the Fez. Who cares about Toclafaine, millions of Daleks, massive wars, Gallifrey returning - tell me that the Doctor wears a Fez in the finale and I'm happy. It's a bit like the 3D glasses in Army of Ghosts, only much cooler. Fezes are cool.

[Darren]

8 out of 10


Yes, pretty good, though I feel vaguely underwhelmed in retrospect. Great to watch, though it was a bit convienient for the Earth to "hang on" for a while as the universe ended. Should it not have been simultaneous? I wasn't really convinced at how the Doctor was brought back by Amy if he never existed in the first place. And logically, the Earth would have long gone with all the invasions the Doctor had never prevented.
And after thirteen episodes, I really hate Amy. I have no idea why Rory loves her.

[Jason Thompson]

So, the ultimate trap for the Doctor, which is designed to seal him in forever and be impregnable, can actually be opened really easily a few minutes after he gets locked in it? What the...?

A refreshingly different finale. Still huge in scope (the whole damn universe is not only under threat but has pretty much ceased to exist), but small and personal in terms of cast, with only the regulars and one Dalek for the middle third. The paradoxes were fun but they worked, and the stone Dalek actually looked OK, although the shape is still all wrong. It's all so much nonsense though. The Universe ceases to have ever existed, except, rather conveniently, the four people who can do something to fix it. The TARDIS explodes but can still protect River Song and the Doctor can nip in and pull her out. All the Autons cease to have ever existed, except Auton Rory. All nonsensical. Acted superbly, however, with some wonderful moments. The Doctor urging Amy to remember her family, not him. River Song forcing the Dalek to beg for mercy. The Doctor telling Rory to get some perspective only for Rory to punch him in the face because right then nothing is more important to him than Amy (and then the payoff that the Doctor was only testing that it was really him anyway).

The fact that a few things are still left over to be explained is fine, and gives us a reason to carry on watching. Amy and Rory carrying on with the Doctor is nice too, getting away from 'companion of the year', which we've had the last two series. And the ending was actually quite happy, which made a nice change. No angsty goodbyes and the Doctor putting on a brave face. A genuinely fun knees-up and a cheerful departure for new adventures.

I have to say I'm actually not looking forward to having River Song's story exlpained. Half the appeal of her character is the mystery of who she is and the way her meetings happen out of synch with the Doctor's own timeline. I think completing the character's story would weaken her.

So it was a nice hour of total nonsense, but I do wish that the Pandorica, after all the build-up last week, hadn't been so easy to open again in the first few minutes. That's almost lazy, not really caring about the cliffhanger at all in terms of plot logic.

Oh, and the Moon was wrong too.

[The456]

Well I hope to see absolutely no father Christmas, snow, baubles, holly or the like in the Christmas episode. I don't really know where we are now, was tonight the grand finale and we'll get another cheesy Xmas theme or will Xmas day blow my mind and everything will make sense. It's interesting that there was no preview at the end of tonights show for the Xmas episode, maybe that would give too much away.

Could River Song be a future Dr ? Could she actually be the Dr from the future ?
Also why didn't the Dr regenerate when he got zapped by the Dalek ? Is that Tardis dependent ?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Well.... maybe because he wasn't dead.

[The456]

Well.... maybe because he wasn't dead.

LOL funny guy, regeneration takes place BEFORE death, that's the point, Tennant got zapped by dalek and did a semi regen last series, I don't see why that wouldn't happen in this instance.

[matthewsch]

I'd still like to know why Amy's house has three stories inside and only two outside! Plus, who made the 'time machine' in ep11.

To all those who were obsessed with that scene in Eleventh Hour, HA! I knew nothing would come of it. It was a dream all along!!!

I'm glad they kept the secrets going until next season. To have the story tied up nicely in a one season package, and with that happening every season, is just-so and completely unrealistic! Tell me, is anyone here able to tidy the events in their lives into perfect one-year segments with everything in one given year being related, but having no relation to events in other years? I DON'T THINK SO. Plus it keeps the suspense going. It annoys me also how they have neat little one-or-two-or-any-whole-number season segments for main companions. Why can't we spread some variety throughout the show, have a companion leave or join halfway through a season, instead of piling everything into the finale each year?

Kudos to Moffat for a brilliant season. He managed to avoid the tiredness of the RTD era, creating something similar yet at the same time so creatively different.

[matthewsch]

Does anyone know why Ian Collier is on IMDB.com as Omega (Uncredited) for this episode?

It was the mysterious voice! I think we'll be finding more out about Omega next season... Bring it on!!!

Completely unrelated... One of my favourite bits was when the Doctor tricked Auton Rory into proving himself (by slapping him). Classic!