Saturday 26 June 2010

The Big Bang

Following on from the cliffhanger of "The Pandorica Opens", the universe appears to end as the Doctor is placed in the Pandorica, a prison designed for him by his greatest foes, leaving only the Earth, the Moon, and a sun-like light source in a black void. The Auton version of Rory still tends over Amy's lifeless body after he shot her, but is surprised when a future version of the Doctor, using a Vortex Manipulator, temporarily appears and gives him his sonic screwdriver and instructions to open the Pandorica. Rory does so, recovering the Doctor and placing Amy inside where she will be restored and held in stasis. Rory stays with the Pandorica, guarding it through nearly two millennia, while the Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to jump forward in time to contemporary time. There, he provides hints to young Amelia Pond—Amy's younger self who has dreams of a star-filled sky—to go to a natural history museum where the Pandorica is on display while Rory, now a security guard, still watches over it. Amelia is able to open the Pandorica, releasing the healed Amy. Amelia soon disappears as the universe begins to collapse further.


The Doctor reunites with Amy and Rory, and uses the Vortex Manipulator to pass his screwdriver to Rory in the past, and to rescue River Song from a time loop from the destruction of the TARDIS. They discover a stone Dalek has also been released by the opening of the Pandorica, and, while fleeing from it, the Doctor surmises that it is a fragment of the old, star-filled universe that is stored within the Pandorica. They soon meet another version of the Doctor, twelve minutes in the future, who has been shot by the Dalek; the future version of the Doctor whispers something to the current version, and then passes away. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River continue to flee from the Dalek as the Doctor explains that if they can transfer the remnants of the old universe simultaneously to every point of the collapsing universe, they may be able to restore the old universe. The Doctor is then shot by the Dalek, and jumps back to the past, while River mercilessly kills the Dalek.


It is shown that the future Doctor did not die after jumping back in time twelve minutes, but instead used the opportunity to get his earlier self to create a distraction, allowing him to program the Pandorica to fly into the sun-like source—the remnants of the explosion of the TARDIS—in order to restore the universe. When Amy, Rory, and River return, the Doctor explains that Amy, having lived near the cracks in the universe all her life, has the ability to recall people that were consumed by the cracks back into being once the old universe is restored, and that he will be trapped in the voids between universes once the cracks close. The Doctor then pilots the Pandorica into the TARDIS explosion.


The Doctor finds himself rewinding through his life as an observer. Amy is able to hear him, however, and he tries to tell her to remember what he told her when she was seven. ("Flesh and Stone") Arriving on the day he met Amelia Pond ("The Eleventh Hour"), he finds the young girl asleep outside, waiting for his return. The Doctor carries Amelia to bed, and tells her a story about a daft old man who had borrowed a really blue magic box that was brand new and ancient at the same time. He then steps into the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall, sealing the cracks completely. Amelia lives out her life with the family that she had remembered back into existence, including her mother and father. On her wedding day to Rory, she feels as if she is forgetting something. When she sees River Song with her diary, its cover fashioned after the TARDIS' appearance, she suddenly remembers the Doctor's story of "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue", and upon its recollection, the Doctor and the TARDIS are restored. The Doctor joins in the wedding celebration.


After the wedding, the Doctor gives River the Vortex Manipulator to return to her time in the future. River sadly warns the Doctor he will soon learn who she truly is, and that it will change everything. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor explains to Amy and Rory that there still remain unanswered questions about the destruction of the TARDIS, but before they can contemplate that, the Doctor receives a telephone call alerting him to the presence of an escaped Egyptian goddess on the Orient Express in space. Rory and Amy decide to join him, and the three leave on their next adventure.


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