The Big Bang (TV story)

The Big Bang was the thirteenth episode of Series 5 of Doctor Who. It concluded the story begun in The Pandorica Opens. Though the Doctor rectifies the problem at the end of the episode, it left the audience wondering what the Silence was and why it wanted the TARDIS to explode. These questions would be answered in the next season.

Synopsis
The Alliance has trapped the Doctor in the Pandorica, the TARDIS has exploded with River inside, Rory has shot Amy and the cracks have swallowed everything but the Earth and Moon.

The fate of all existence lies in the hands of a little girl who still believes in stars.

Plot
In 1996, Amelia Pond sits in her bedroom, praying to Santa Claus for help mending the crack in her bedroom wall. Believing she has heard something in her garden, she runs to her window. The garden is empty. Later, she gives a drawing she has done of the night sky -- complete with stars and the moon -- to her psychiatrist, Christine. Christine explains gently there are no stars. The night sky is empty save for the moon. That night, Amelia overhears Christine and her aunt talking about her. As she eavesdrops at the top of the stairs, she sees a pamphlet advertising the National Museum slipped through the letterbox by a familiar figure wearing a fez. He flees when she notices him. There is a circle drawn around a notice of the Pandorica exhibit and a note reading, "Come along, Pond."

Amelia and her aunt go to the museum. Amelia runs off and makes her way to the Pandorica exhibit, passing a variety of strange machines on display; other exhibits are quite wrong as well. At the exhibit, Amelia sees another note stuck to the face of the box. It reads, "Stick around, Pond." This prompts Amelia to hide out in the museum to find out who is leaving notes for her.

After the museum's close -- and Aunt Sharon's failure to find her -- Amelia returns to the Pandorica and curiously sets a hand on it. Mechanisms on the face of the box glow green, scaring Amelia enough to make her back a few feet away. The Pandorica opens, however instead of an imprisoned Doctor, the occupant of the perfect prison is actually the older Amy Pond. Noticing her younger self, Amy tells the confused Amelia, "Okay, kid, this is where it gets complicated."

In 102 A.D. the Auton Rory cradles a dead Amy Pond, comforting himself by telling her how the universe ended. Suddenly, a fez-wearing Doctor appears in front of them. A confused Rory is instructed to free the Doctor from the Pandorica; the Doctor is already out. The Doctor explains that he IS already out, but back then, which is the present for Rory, he is yet to escape. Giving Rory his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor wishes him luck and informs him to put the sonic in Amy's top pocket when he's finished with it.

Rory follows the Doctor's instructions, opening the Pandorica with the sonic screwdriver. A confused Doctor quickly deduces he'll set up the chain of events that lead to his release. Rory questions the Doctor about the stone remains of the Alliance; they are the after-images of the races that now never existed due to the destruction of the universe. Showing Amy to the Doctor, Rory punches him when he says she's not more important that the universe. The Doctor laughs, congratulating Rory for proving he's himself. Putting Amy in the Pandorica, the Doctor explains that when the Nestene copied Rory, they got a bit more than what they bargained for; Rory's very soul inhabits this Auton duplicate.

Sealing the Pandorica once more with Amy inside, the Doctor explains to Rory that it prevents people from dying as it's a form of escape; it can stasis-lock Amy in a near death state until it gets an external sample of her DNA, which will take around 2000 years. Recovering River's vortex manipulator, the Doctor sets it for the future. Offering Rory a lift to the future, the Doctor is bewildered when he decides to remain behind to guard the Pandorica. Despite the warning that he'll go mad from never sleeping, Rory insists; the Doctor relents, but gives him fair warning to keep away from certain things before taking off.

In the museum, Amy explores the Pandorica exhibit, paying no mind to the younger version of herself. She finds a video on the Lone Centurion -- a man in Roman armour who protected the Pandorica wherever it went for nearly two thousand years. He was last seen in 1941, dragging the box away from an incendiary bomb; it is believed the Centurian died in the inferno. Amy realises he was Rory, retaining her recovered memories of him, but there is no time for her to dwell on this. The restorative light from the Pandorica has reactivated a stone Dalek in the exhibition.

The Doctor appears, having used the vortex manipulator to travel 1894 years into the future. The Dalek shoots at him and Amy, prompting them to take cover with young Amelia; they're trapped. A museum guard appears and the Dalek deems him unarmed. However, the guard uncaps his hand, revealing a laser gun to disable the Dalek. Amy rejoices when she sees that the guard is the Auton Rory. They kiss while the Doctor realises the "light" from the Pandorica restored the Dalek partially. He also takes a Fez from a display. The Dalek begins coming back to life once more.

The Doctor leads the group away from the Dalek, blocking the door with a mop to buy time. With Rory's guidance, he fixes the timeline by travelling back to 102 A.D. and ordering that version of Rory to let him out of the Pandorica. He leaves the notes for Amelia, all of which led her here. Humorously, the Doctor even fullfils Amelia's request for a drink while running around the timeline, snatching it from the earlier version of herself at the museum.

As they head for the roof, another version of the Doctor appears at the top of the stairs, badly injured. He falls down the stairs and whispers in the Doctor's ear before dying. The Doctor announces he has only twelve minutes to live. Amy is confused. The Doctor draws her attention to Amelia's disappearance; the universe is still collapsing, things are being erased from existence and the Doctor and his friends are alive only because they stand at "the eye of the storm."

On the building's roof, their attention is drawn to the "sun" in the sky. The sun was erased with every other star in the universe. The object keeping the Earth warm and light is his TARDIS, exploding at every moment in history. Rory's enhanced hearing picks up a voice in the sky, which the Doctor amplifies with a satellite dish. It is River Song, whose last words -- "I'm sorry, my love" -- are repeated over and over. The TARDIS's emergency protocols have locked the console room in a time loop to save her life. The Doctor uses the vortex manipulator to rescue her and bring her to the roof, where his new hat is destroyed by River. The group is shot at by the regenerated Dalek. They retreat to the museum below.

The Doctor runs through the museum, deducing that, along with the restoration field, the Pandorica contains a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. This was how the Dalek returned despite being erased from history. The Doctor formulates a plan involving these atoms, the restoration field and the exploding TARDIS. Just as he is about to reveal it, he is shot by the Dalek, who has followed them. He uses the vortex manipulator to disappear. Amy and Rory know where he is and go to him while River stays behind. After it discovers who River is from a search of its data banks, the Dalek begs for mercy, then is shot dead.

Downstairs, Amy and Rory are confused. The Doctor's corpse is not where they left it. River returns to remind them the Doctor lies. He had pretended to die to distract them. They return to the exhibit and find the Doctor has strapped himself into the Pandorica. He will use the vortex manipulator to fly the box into the heart of the TARDIS, exploding at every point in history. The explosion will release the atoms of the preserved universe, restoring it. River admits gravely that the plan will work only if the Doctor seals himself on the other side of the cracks. The entire universe will be restored, but not the Doctor. He will never have existed at all. The Doctor and Amy say their goodbyes. He encourages her to remember her parents -- who weren't killed when Amy was young, but consumed by the time field in her bedroom wall. He pilots the Pandorica into the explosion, resets the universe, disappearing from existence...

...and sits up on the floor of the TARDIS console room. He rejoices he has survived being erased -- until he sees Amy and himself from a week earlier, travelling to Space Florida; his timeline is unravelling. He calls to Amy. She hears him, but cannot see him. His life rewinds further. He is in a street in Colchester, watching Amy leave a note for him underneath Craig's advertisement for a new lodger. She still cannot see him. The Doctor notices a crack in the road behind him, sealing itself.

He rewinds to the Byzantium; he approaches Amy -- her eyes shut to avoid being killed by the Weeping Angel -- and encourages her to remember what he told her when she was seven. He rewinds to 1996 and finds Amelia asleep in her back garden, awaiting his return. He carries her to bed and tells her the story of how he stole -- or, rather, "borrowed" -- the TARDIS, describing it romantically as "ancient and new, and the bluest blue ever." He sees the crack in her wall and tells her it can't close properly until he's on the other side and steps through, prefering not to see the rest of his life rewind. The crack in her wall closes. She wakes to an empty room and quickly goes back to sleep.

In 2010, Amy wakes on her wedding day, surprised when her mother brings her breakfast. Her reaction to her parent strikes her as odd and she has the lingering feeling there is someone or something else missing. When she phones Rory to see if he feels the same way, he agrees blithely. Amy excitedly gets ready for her wedding.

At the reception, she spots River Song outside, walking past the window. Rory presents her with a wedding gift someone has left -- River's blue TARDIS diary, all its pages blank. Amy begins to cry. Rory tries to explain away the diary by reminding her of the old wedding saying: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue."

Amy interrupts her father's speech to announce that her imaginary childhood friend, "the raggedy Doctor," is real and he is late for her wedding. Abruptly, the TARDIS -- old and new, borrowed and blue -- materialises in the middle of the room. The Doctor steps out, admitting that he is completely astonished. Everyone at the wedding is shocked to discover that the Doctor wasn't a figment of Amy's imagination. Later, after dancing maniacally and amusing Amy and Rory, the Doctor leaves to return to the TARDIS, now parked in Amy's garden. River Song appears behind him. He returns her vortex manipulator and her diary gravely before asking if she is married. She wonders if he is asking, and he says, "Yes," then stammers when he realises he has just unwittingly proposed to her. River teases him with further affirmations. The Doctor wonders who she really is. She says he will find out very soon, when everything changes. She leaves abruptly via vortex manipulator.

Amy and Rory, still in their wedding finery, enter the TARDIS and encourage the Doctor to take the night off. He is reluctant -- they still do not know what led the TARDIS to the date of the temporal explosion and destroyed it, much less why. He also has not figured out the meaning of the "silence." As he ponders, he takes a phone call: an Egyptian goddess is on the loose on the Orient Express in space and the royal on the other end is concerned. The Doctor turns to bid Amy and Rory goodbye, but Amy runs to the door, bids her former life adieu and closes the TARDIS doors. The Doctor smiles and fires up the engines, sending the TARDIS 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)

Cultural references from the real world

 * Prominent scientist Richard Dawkins is mentioned as involved in a "Star Cult" which believes stars are real. Dawkins is a self-professed fan of Doctor Who and married to former star Lalla Ward. They were introduced by his friend and former series writer/script editor, the late Douglas Adams. This was the second consecutive series finale to reference Dawkins. In the first he appears in a cameo role, being interviewed about the planets in the sky (TV: The Stolen Earth).
 * The music playing to which the Doctor briefly dances very badly is "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by British rock band Queen.

The Doctor

 * The Doctor tells the sleeping Amelia that he stole/borrowed the TARDIS.
 * The Doctor briefly sees the Saturnyns, Weeping Angels, Silurians, Daleks, the Star Whale, Craig Owens, Vincent Van Gogh, Dr Black, some Smilers and a Supreme Dalek during his re-wind.

Individuals

 * River Song claims she once went out with a Nestene duplicate who had swappable heads.
 * Rory says he remembers being an Auton. He would later compare his Auton memories to a door in his head; he could open it when he wanted to, but tended to keep it shut. (TV: Day of the Moon) Having spent two millennia guarding the Pandorica, Rory became a very effective warrior, as shown in A Good Man Goes to War.
 * Tabetha mentions taking Amy to psychiatrists about her 'imaginary friend'.

Objects

 * The Doctor wears a fez during the episode. He believes "fezzes are cool". Neither Amy nor River are impressed. Amy grabs it and throws it in the air. River destroys it with her blaster.
 * The fez may be a small nod to TV: Silver Nemesis, wherein the Seventh Doctor briefly wore a fez while going through the storage room at Windsor Castle looking for Nemesis' silver bow.

Theories and concepts

 * The Blinovitch Limitation Effect occurs in a very small way when the Doctor taps the sonic screwdriver iterations together.

Story notes

 * This is the first episode in the entire history of Doctor Who where the current Doctor has interacted with a version of himself in the same incarnation. The Third Doctor spoke briefly with a future version of himself in the same incarnation in TV: Day of the Daleks, but did not have physical contact with his counterpart. Similarly, the Ninth Doctor saw an earlier version of himself in the same incarnation in TV: Father's Day, but did not speak nor interact with himself.
 * This episode was incorrectly entitled Cyber War and Enemies of a Time Lord.
 * The date of the in-universe 'unidentified explosion' and the real-world date of broadcast were the same: 26/06/2010.
 * This is the second of only three times in the revived series this has occurred. The others are TV: The Impossible Astronaut on 22 April 2011 and TV: The End of Time on 25 December 2009.
 * The Pandorica and a Stone Dalek appear in the museum that Amelia visits.
 * The Doctor minus his fez can be seen very briefly behind Amelia when she pushes her way through the crowd to see The Pandorica.
 * 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.
 * This is the first time a BBC Wales finale does not feature the departure of a main character. However, it does result in a change of cast. Rory, who had previously been a recurring character who had ostensibly died, becomes a full-time companion in the final scene.
 * Amy is the first new series companion since Rose to travel with the Doctor through a whole season and to continue doing so after the finale.
 * The museum includes anomalies as a result of the altered timeline, including penguins in the Nile, Egyptians in the Himalayas and dinosaurs in ice.
 * This is the first finale of the BBC Wales series that didn't feature David Tennant; the first since The Parting of the Ways not to feature Freema Agyeman; and the first with no reference to the Torchwood Institute whatsoever. It is also one of only three finales not to include John Barrowman.
 * According to the DVD commentary, director Toby Haynes continued to use playback while recording this episode, just as he had for The Pandorica Opens. In particular, it was used with Caitlin Blackwood's solo scenes in the museum.
 * River's main costume in this story was designed deliberately to evoke both Princess Leia and Han Solo, so that she looked like, according to Toby Haynes, a "female Han Solo". (DCOM: The Big Bang)
 * According to Toby Haynes, this episode had no bigger budget "and maybe even a little less" than other episodes in the series. (DCOM: The Big Bang)
 * According to Russell T. Davies, closing the cracks in time also resulted in the closing of the Cardiff Rift.

Ratings

 * 6.7 million.

Rumours

 * A sinister voice declaring, "Silence will fall", in the previous episode The Pandorica Opens led some fans to speculate that Omega or another rogue Time Lord would appear in this episode. While this wasn't the case and the ultimate identity of the sinister voice is unknown, Steven Moffat has suggested the mystery antagonist will play a key role in the next series.
 * The Internet Movie Database incorrectly stated that Doctor Who veteran actor Philip Madoc would guest star. He did not appear.

Filming locations

 * Miskin Manor - Cardiff

Production errors

 * In the museum, when the trio see the "future" Doctor die, Amy walks up the stairs. The camera 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.
 * When the Amy that has just came out of the Pandorica compares height to younger Amy and guesses the date, you can see a shadow back away from the side of the camera when it pans out.
 * In the museum, the Doctor is talking but a shot of him turning around shows that his lips are not moving
 * The museum scenes are set in 1996, but when the Doctor and crew make it to the roof, you see the Gherkin in the skyline - a building that was built in the twenty-first century.
 * While travelling backwards, the Doctor is seen wearing the vortex manipulator in the TARDIS on the way to Space Florida. In the next scene, while telling Amy to remember, it is absent. It returns in the following scene when he picks up the younger Amy.
 * In the museum, after the two Amys, the Doctor, and Rory escape the stone Dalek, we see the Doctor use the vortex manipulator to go back and talk to Rory, as seen at the beginning of the episode. The third time, in the wide shot of Rory and Amy, Amy's abdomen moves from the actress's breathing. During Rory's speech at the beginning of the episode, there is faint breathing heard during his dialogue, probably from Amy.

Continuity

 * The Seventh Doctor held a mop while wearing a fez during his time at Windsor Castle. (TV: Silver Nemesis)
 * Rory says of the Doctor: "He was the stripper at my stag..." (TV: The Vampires of Venice) and notes that "I was plastic!" (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
 * The Doctor travels back through his time stream, visiting the events of TV: The Eleventh Hour, Flesh and Stone and The Lodger. Also seen are the events of Vincent and the Doctor, Cold Blood, The Hungry Earth, The Vampires of Venice, Victory of the Daleks and The Beast Below. It is implied that he would have continued travelling backwards through his entire life, with all of his former incarnations, but that he decided to stop the rewind early by walking into a crack in time.
 * The Doctor says that fezzes 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. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, Amy's Choice, Vincent and the Doctor)
 * The Doctor sends a message to River Song saying, "Geronimo", a catchphrase of the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The End of Time et al)
 * The Doctor has been involved in the weddings of companions Sarah Jane Smith (TV: The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith) and Donna Noble. (TV: The Runaway Bride, The End of Time)
 * This is the second time that the Doctor has been seen to (willingly) dance. (TV: The Doctor Dances) In this case, however, he is an awful dancer - Amy shrieks "You're embarrassing!", but the children are clearly enjoying the spectacle (perhaps he deliberately dances badly to keep them entertained?).
 * This is the third time that the Doctor has been shot by a Dalek. (TV: Planet of the Daleks, TV: The Stolen Earth).
 * This is the third time a Dalek has been put on display in a museum. An empty Dalek casing was on display in the Space Museum (TV: The Space Museum) and one Dalek was kept in the Cage in van Statten's underground museum. (TV: Dalek)
 * Early in the episode, Amy's aunt states that she does not trust Richard Dawkins (who appeared as himself in TV: The Stolen Earth) due to his support for the existence of stars; in this reality stars don't exist.
 * The Doctor last wore a fez in his eighth incarnation. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game)
 * The Doctor says, "Gotcha", to Amy, which was uttered by both aboard the Starship UK. (TV: The Beast Below)
 * On this occasion, the younger Amy meets a future version of herself. The older Amy would have the same experience in TV: Space, TV: Time and TV: The Girl Who Waited.
 * The Doctor mentions "The footprints of the Neverwere" which may have been a reference to the Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres as heard in The End of Time.

Home video releases
BBC Video - "Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four" features Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. It was released on 6 September 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray see picture below. It was released on a full series box set on 8th November 2010 but as two sets. One is a limited edition steelbook and the other one is a Lenticular Sleeve.