The Big Bang (TV story)


 * For the event known as the Big Bang, see Event One.

The Big Bang was the thirteenth episode of Series 5, and concluded the story that began in The Pandorica Opens.

Synopsis
The Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica, the TARDIS has been destroyed, and silence has fallen. The only hope for all reality is a little girl who still believes in stars.

Plot
In 1996, a young Amelia Pond has drawn a picture of the night sky, with the Moon and several stars. A physiatrist explains that there are no stars - the night sky is void of all light aside from the Moon. As they discuss, a pamphlet advertising the National Gallery comes through the letterbox, with a ring drawn around a cubic exhibit, and a note telling Amelia to be there. She goes along to the Gallery with her Aunt Sharon, where in the gallery with the exhibit there are statues of strange machines on display. Amelia gets to the cube - the Pandorica - and finds another note. However, while she reads it, her drink is snatched from her. The note says "Stick around, Pond". After the museum closes - and an unsuccessful attempt by Aunt Sharon to find her - Amelia returns to the Pandorica. She puts her hand on it, when the mechanics on the faces of the cube light up bright green. The Pandorica opens - to reveal a grown Amy Pond.

In 102 A.D. the Auton Rory has Amy Pond lying in his arms, dead. He comforts himself by telling her stories, when the Doctor appears using a Vortex Manipulator. He explains that he needs Rory to help him to bring Amy back. He gives him his sonic screwdriver to open the Pandorica, and asks him to put it in Amy's top pocket when he's done, before disappearing. Rory goes to the Pandorica and re-opens it. The Doctor inside the Pandorica is curious, and realises that it is the same screwdriver but from later in its timeline. He then has Amy put in the Pandorica, since it is a prison so secure not even death can be allowed as it is a means of escape. However, to heal Amy, an exterior DNA supply is needed, and one can only be supplied in 2000 years time. The Doctor picks up River's Vortex Manipulator from near the Pandorica and prepares for a quick jump to the future, inviting Rory to come with him. However, Rory decides to stay and protect the Pandorica, which he does, with the Doctor's warning to avoid heat, radio waves and trouble as even though he is plastic, Rory is not invincible.

In the Gallery, the older Amy watches a video exhibit on the Centurion - a man dressed in Roman clothes who followed the Pandorica wherever it went, protecting it. His last appearance was in 1941 when he was dragging it away from the crash site of an incendiary bomb. Amelia asks who Amy is, to which she replies 'it's complicated'. However, the open Pandorica has activated the Stone Dalek in the exhibition - the light has reactivated it, even though it was only an echo in time - the end of the universe had caused everything to be erased, leaving stone forms around the Pandorica in 102. A museum guard arrives, holding a torch, which the Dalek orders dropped. The guard explains it isn't a weapon, and the Dalek can scan it. He appears unarmed, but then he raises his hand, which flips open, revealing a gun. He shoots the Dalek, temporarily deactivating it. The guard is actually the plastic Rory.

The Doctor appears, having used the Vortex Manipulator to return to 1996. He leads the troupe away from the Dalek and then, with Rory's guidance, restores the timeline, helping the Rory from 102. Amelia asks for a drink, so the Doctor once again uses the Manipulator to get the one she had had earlier. Then, another Doctor appears. He has been shot with an energy weapon. He whispers something into the living Doctor's ear, before apparently dying. The Doctor seems to only have 12 minutes, and Amelia has disappeared since the universe is still collapsing and things are disappearing from existence. The Dalek starts reactivating. He makes it to the roof, where he finds that, with the loss of the Sun, the object keeping the Earth warm is actually the exploding TARDIS, which is exploding at every moment in history. He uses a satellite dish to pick up River Song's last utterance from the TARDIS, which is replayed over and over. The emergency program locked the console room into a time loop, to protect the inhabitants. The Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to rescue River, but a new problem arrives - the stone Dalek has regenerated enough power to use its hover system.

The Doctor runs below the roof, but is shot by the Dalek. Since the gun did not have full power, the shot isn't fatal and he uses the manipulator to travel 12 minutes into the past. Amy leads Rory to the stairs where they had left the 'body', while River occupies the Dalek by making it ask for mercy before shooting it in the eye, which given its shield matrix's weakened state, kills it.

The body is not there. The three go back to the Pandorica, where the Doctor is strapped in, with the Vortex Manipulator wired in. He plans to pilot the Pandorica into the TARDIS explosion, which should reset the universe, given the Pandorica Light's restoration powers can be released at every point in history. He says goodbye to Amy, then pilots the cube into the maelstrom, resetting the universe successfully, but with one exception - to close it fully, the Doctor must be on the wrong side of the cracks. However, the Doctor ends up in the TARDIS, with a previous version of himself and Amy. He calls for Amy, but while she hears him, she cannot see him. His life then rewinds to Amy putting up a sign in a window about a lodging - Amy still cannot see him, and this time there is a crack in the road. He then goes to the events of Flesh and Stone, where he tells Amy to "remember". He then rewinds to 1996, where Amelia is waiting for the TARDIS to appear in her back garden. The Doctor takes her to bed, and tells her about himself while she sleeps. He says that he can be remembered, since he is going to skip the rest of his rewind. As the crack in Amelia's wall closes, the Doctor walks into the light and disappears.

In 2010, Amy wakes up to her mother bringing in breakfast which her father made for her. That strikes her as odd in some way she can't quite understand. She feels and acts as though she's not seen her parents before, but cannot explain why. She realises today is her wedding day with Rory, but there is something in her head - important, that she should remember but can't. She phones Rory to see if he is in the same state, which he isn't. At the reception, she starts to remember. She sees various things that remind her of the Doctor - River is walking down the road outside the windows after delivering her wedding gift - a blue book, River Song's diary, but the pages are blank. This troubles Amy greatly. She sees a wedding guest straightening his bow tie, another with trouser straps, and she begins to cry from sadness, even though she should be happy. She eventually sees the book as what it is - there is an 8-square grid design on the front, similar to the TARDIS door. As her father starts his speech, she tells him to shut up, and announces that her imaginary friend from her youth, the "raggedy Doctor" was real. She is greeted by silence, with Amy's mum muttering "Not this again..." under her breath. She begins to remember him with his bow tie, and his box that is old and new, borrowed and blue, and a strange wind picks up in the room. An alien noise fills the room, and the TARDIS materialises in the middle of the floor. Amy opens the door, and the Doctor, in a tuxedo, is standing there, real as anything. Rory also begins to remember now he sees him. At the reception, the Doctor dances manically, until the slow-dancing song where he stands aside. Finally, he lands the TARDIS outside Amy's house to part ways with River, asking her if she's married, who either says "Yes" to be married with the Doctor or "Yes" she is already married. After she evades giving the right answer, the Doctor asks River who she is, and River gave him a deadly warning "You will find out soon and that's when everything changes" and uses the vortex manipulator to teleport away leaving the Doctor to his own thoughts. Amy and Rory come to the TARDIS, encouraging the Doctor to "take the night off". However, the Doctor is still concerned as to why the TARDIS exploded - something led it to that date and purposefully destroyed it. He is also still unaware of the meaning of the 'silence'. He receives a phone call from a royal personage (possibly Liz 10) - an Egyptian goddess seems to have escaped onto the Orient Express - in outer space. Amy says goodbye one last time - but not to the Doctor, nor to Rory. She waves to her house, bidding her previous life goodbye, and the Doctor fires up the engines, sending the TARDIS and its two passengers spinning through the Time Vortex.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams / Auton Rory - Arthur Darvill
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Young Amelia Pond - Caitlin Blackwood
 * Sharon - Susan Vidler
 * Tabetha Pond - Karen Westwood
 * Augustus Pond- Halcro Johnston
 * Christine - Frances Ashman
 * Dalek Operator - Barnaby Edwards
 * Dalek - Nicholas Briggs (Voice)

Production crew
to be added

Objects

 * The Doctor wears a Fez during the episode. He believes "fezzes are cool", similar to his belief that "bowties are cool". It is later destroyed by River who doesn't agree with the Doctor wearing it.

Story notes

 * This episode was incorrectly entitled Cyber War and Enemies of a Time Lord.
 * Both the date of the in-universe 'unidentified explosion' and the real-world date of broadcast is 26/06/2010.
 * The Pandorica and a Stone Dalek appeared in the museum that Amelia visited.
 * The line 'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' spoken by Amy, is also said (the exact same words) are also spoken by Dr. Ruth Winters on the episode of BBC's Casualty broadcast 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).
 * Rory and Amy get married in this story, and continue their travels in the TARDIS. This marks the first occasion a married couple have been companions.
 * The Daleks have knowledge of River Song; After the Stone Dalek checks it's records, it begins begging her for mercy.
 * This is the first time a new series finale does not feature a change of cast: both the Doctor and this season's companions stay on at the end.
 * Amy is also the first new series companion since Rose to travel with the Doctor through a whole season, and to continue doing so after the finale.
 * This is the first Revived Series finale which features a 'happy ending'.
 * The museum included a number of anomalies as a result of the altered timeline, including penguins in the Nile and Egyptians in the Himalayas.
 * This is the first finale of the revived series since DW: The Parting of the Ways not to feature Freema Agyeman
 * Prominent and inflammatory scientist Richard Dawkins is mentioned as being involved in an organisation which also believes stars are real. While this is probably a reference to Dawkins' own movements against religion in real life, it should be noted that he is a self-professed fan of Doctor Who, and is married to its former star, Lalla Ward, to whom he was introduced by his friend and former writer of the series, the late Douglas Adams, who was similarly referenced in The Pandorica Opens.

Ratings

 * 5.1 million - according to unofficial overnight ratings.

Rumours

 * Some fans speculate that the unknown, sinister voice heard in the previous episode was, in fact, Omega. While Omega didn't appear, the ultimate identity of the sinister voice, the external force, was left ambiguous until Series 6.
 * The Internet Movie Data-Base repeatedly stated that Doctor Who veteran actor Philip Madoc would guest star. He did not appear.

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors

 * In the museum, when the trio see the "future" Doctor die, Amy walks up the stairs. It cuts to the Doctor, then back to Amy, when she walks up the stairs again. It was too quick for her to go back down the stairs.
 * In the museum, the Doctor is talking but a shot of him turning around shows that his lips are not moving.
 * The watch the Doctor wears when returning to the scene from Flesh and Stone has a black wrist-strap, not gold as his present self wears. The vortex manipulator also vanishes from that scene, but appears later, along with the watch.

Continuity

 * 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 without invoking the effect, and Rose also touched a past version of herself without invoking the effect, so an immunity to the effect may be a side effect of TARDIS travel.The effect it had on Rose, was to weaken the reality and let a Reaper into the church. Here, also, the entirety of space-time is collapsing and the reapers may be ceased to exist. It is only in this collapsing universe that the Doctor is able to use the Vortex Manipulator so effectively.
 * The Doctor tells young Amy while asleep of how he got his TARDIS.
 * Amy and Rory's bodies were rebooted along with the universe, but their minds are almost two-thousand years-old. However, Rory is the only one who actually experienced anything during the years with the Pandorica, Amy was in a unconscious state of near-death inside. When Amy brings the Doctor back into existence she also reawakens Rory's memories of his time spent as an Auton. This arguably makes the Williams older than the Doctor claims to be. See: (The Doctor's age)
 * The Doctor travels back through his time stream, visiting the events of DW: The Eleventh Hour, Flesh and Stone and The Lodger. Also seen are the events of Vincent and the Doctor, Cold Blood, The Hungry Earth, Vampires of Venice, Victory of the Daleks and The Beast Below.
 * The Doctor states that Fezs are cool, much in the same way he has said bow ties are cool throughout the series. This may also be a reference to the fact Matt Smith wanted the costume to develop, even saying he would like a hat.
 * The Doctor sends a message to River Song saying "Geronimo", which is a saying said a lot by the Doctor in his Eleventh incarnation. ( et al)
 * This is the second time in the new series that the Doctor got involved in a companion's wedding.
 * This is the second time in the Doctor Who revival that the Doctor danced on screen.
 * This is the second time in the new series that the Doctor has been shot by a Dalek.
 * It is possible that time may have been rewritten for River, as the stories DW: The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone involved a crack in time, and since the stories are set after 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 happen the same way for River, as she tells the Doctor in The Time of Angels that she will be there when the Pandorica Opens.
 * The Doctor briefly sees the Saturnynians, Weeping Angels, Silurians, Daleks, Star Whales, Craig Owens, Van Gogh, Dr Black, Smilers and a Supreme Dalek during his re-wind.

Home video releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four will feature Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. It will be released on Monday 6th September 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.