The Pandorica Opens (TV story)

The Pandorica Opens is the twelfth episode, and first in a dramatic two-part finale of Series 5.

Synopsis
A Van Gogh painting ferried across thousands of years, communicating a disturbing prophecy to the Doctor, a message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe and a love that lasts a thousand years. In 102 AD England, Romans receive a surprise visit from Cleopatra. Nearby, Stonehenge conceals the Pandorica, a prison-box of legend. As it slowly unlocks from the inside, terrible forces gather in the heavens above. The fates are drawing close around the TARDIS. The Pandorica, which contains the most dangerous threat in the Universe, is opening. Only one thing is certain: "The Pandorica will open... silence will fall".

Plot
France, 1890

Van Gogh lies in bed, screaming. The local doctor and a woman are at his side. The woman comments on one of his paintings, saying it's worse than the usual ones.

Cabinet War Rooms, 1941

A messenger carries a rolled-up sheet under his arm. With Winston Churchill looking, a man confirms the design on the sheet to be a Van Gogh original, and Churchill is advised to get a message to the Doctor about it.

Holding Facility, 5140

A phone call is recieved. A young prison guard, only on his first day, answers, and says that there is no Doctor at the facility. River Song is in the cell, and demands that she talk to the person on the end. She yells down the phone, until the guard takes it away. River realises he is new, and kisses him, using a hallucinogen in her lipstick to make him delerious, and she escapes.

The Royal Gallery, 5140

River Song walks among the paintings in the Royal Gallery and finds the one she is looking for. However, on her way out she trips an alarm, and is attended to personally by the Queen - Elizabeth the Tenth. River tells her that this is for the Doctor, and Liz recognizes the name. Song shows her the picture - it is an impression of an exploding TARDIS.

River talks to a salesman at a bar, asking for a vortex manipulator from a Time Agent in return for a device for deactiviting micro-explosives from up to 20ft - micro-explosives similar to those she had planted in the salesman's drink.

The TARDIS

The Doctor and Amy are in the TARDIS, and the Doctor has decided to go to the oldest cliff faces in history, made of pure diamond, to decipher the writings on the face that up until now have not been translated. When the TARDIS lands, however, the writing simply says "HELLO SWEETIE" and a set of temporal co-ordinates are written underneath.

The TARDIS lands in Roman Britain in the 2nd century AD, to be greeted by a guard. Amy comments on how the Romans, given that they were her favourite history topic at school, are unlike what she had been expending languagewise. The guard takes them to "Cleopatra" - who actually turns out to be River Song in disguise. River shows the Doctor the painting, which given that he had retrieved a fragment of the TARDIS from a crack in the Silurian city in 2020, concerns the Doctor. River's previous warning that the Pandorica would open also concerns him, and the Doctor decides to look for it. He looks at the Roman maps, since if someone had built such a device, they would want to remember where they left it.

The trio arrive at Stonehenge to look for the Pandorica. The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to search, and River uses a device from the 52nd century. The Pandorica is tracked to the underground, and they find the opening by night - also, by which time, nobody had noticed the Cyber-head on the ground, which begins to reactivate.

The Doctor finds the Pandorica, much more than just a legend, a large cube-shaped device with mechanics on the sides. There are many levels of security to this machine, and they are being de-activated one by one from the inside out. The Doctor speculates on what it culd have been designed to contain, and Amy says how similar it is to Pandora's box, her favourite childhood book. River detects a signal coming from the area - six pillars lining the entrance are transmitting outwards, and she detects at least ten thousand ships in orbit - she cannot detect any more since signals overlap and confuse her scanner - potentially there could by a million objects above the sky, among which are a Dalek saucer, a Cyber ship, a Sontaran ship, a Slitheen vessel and a Judoon ship.

The doctor decides to call on the Romans to help, and River goes back to use her influence as "Cleopatra" to talk them into helping. However, the leigon commander has arrived with news that Cleopatra is in Egypt - and dead. River attempts to talk the commander into helping, eventually resorting to using her disintergrator pistol to demonstrate her power. However, before the commander can react, a volunteer arrives.

Back at Stonehenge, a Cyber arm on the floor of the chamber has reactivated, sending bolts of energy from it's gun around the room. The Doctor tries to pick it up, but the head has also worked it's way down using tentacle-like wires from the neck section. The electronic grip function on the arm incapacitates the Doctor, and a sleeper dart from one of the pipes hits Amy. The head opens - it is a type-2 upgrade, with the parts grafted directly onto the body. The skull of the previous occupant is ejected, and the body attempts to assimilate Amy. However, the Cyberman is killed by the volunteer Roman, who is actually Rory.

The Doctor wakes and notices Rory, hardly reacting, and begins his speculations again. However, after a few minutes, he notices and they go through an awkward phase. The Doctor decides to adress the fleet of ships in orbit, while River goes to fetch the TARDIS for some technology. The Doctor gives a speech on how he had defeated most of those aliens at some point, and the fleet falls back, giving them about half an hour to think things through.

Once river is in the TARDIS, she attempts to go back to Stonehenge, but instead is thrown to 26th June 2010 - the date that appeared on the base code of the universe and as such when it would end. she leaves the TARDIS just before an ominous warning is broadcast on the speakers - "Silence will fall", and then the screen at the centre console cracks.

There are scorch marks on the ground, and River enters the house nearby, which has been broken into. By some of the things she finds, she deduces that this is Amy Pond's house, and finds a book on Roman Britain and Pandora's Box - things are exactly the same as they were where the Doctor is working - even the soldiers look identical. She attempts to return, but is instead thrown uncontrollably around space. She phones the Doctor to get help, who tells her to shut off the engines once he learns the date she is at. She can't, so he tells her to shut them off automatically by landing and leaving the TARDIS. She lands, but the doors are locked.

The Romans begin falling asleep, but remain standing. Even Rory, who is talking to Amy and is not being recognized, begins to fail, but he resists. The Romans suddenly look up, and their hands fall away to reveal guns - they are in fact Autons, under the control of the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor is escorted to the Pandorica, where he is greeted by the Dalek Supreme, Eternal and a singal Drone, who have teleported in, and they state that the Doctor is responsible for the end of the universe. The Cybermen arrive and state that all evidence correlates- the Doctor is to blame. Various other species - Silurians, Sontarans, Judoon and Sycorax included - arrive and the Doctor realizes that they have formed a massive alliance to save the universe from him. The alliance had built a perfect trap, using Amy's memories as building blocks. They believe that the TARDIS exploding will cause the end of the universe.

The Auton Rory is still fighting, but inadvertantly shoots Amy while trying to resist the Consciousness's control.

The Pandorica finally opens and inside is a holding cell, designed for a humanoid. The Daleks say that it is for the Doctor. The Doctor tries to protest, saying that it is the TARDIS that is the threat, not him, but the Daleks state that he is the only person who can fly it - since they are unaware of River's presence. witht he Doctor held firmly in place, the Pandorical closes.

River manages to open the TARDIS door, but in front of her is a wall of stone. She says that she is sorry, then the TARDIS console explodes. There are thousands of explosions across the sky, and Earth is left in the middle of a void.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Dr. Gachet - Howard Lee
 * Guard - Joe Jacobs
 * Dorium - Simon Fisher Becker
 * Claudio - Marcus O'Donovan
 * Commander - Clive Wood
 * Marcellus - David Fynn
 * Dalek Operator - Barnaby Edwards
 * Cyber-Leader - Ruari Mears
 * Commander Stark - Christopher Ryan
 * Dalek/Cybermen/Judoon (voice) - Nicholas Briggs
 * Vincent van Gogh - Tony Curran
 * Bracewell - Bill Paterson
 * Winston Churchill - Ian McNeice
 * Liz 10 - Sophie Okonedo

Production crew
to be added

Continuity
to be added

Story Notes

 * This episode was incorrectly entitled Silver Sentence.
 * Almost every major enemy since the beginning of the new Doctor Who series is mentioned in the trailers, and will possibly appear. The list of enemies include the Daleks, the Cybus Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, the Hoix, the Weevils, the Uvodni, the Sycorax, the Silurians, the Autons, the Roboform, the Blowfish, the Nestene, the Chelonians, the Drahvins, the Atraxi, the Zygons, the Terileptils, and the Draconians.They all formed an aliance.
 * Characters from throughout Series 5 who return in the finale include Vincent van Gogh, Winston Churchill, Liz 10, and River Song, according to an interview with Karen Gillan.
 * Karen also said in a separate interview with TV times that "It starts with the Doctor saying he's going to take Amy to the very first planet in existence, but when they arrive there they find a message from River Song, the message rings alarm bells for the Doctor - and then they find River dressed as Cleopatra."
 * Almost a week before the episode's airing, concept art revealed what is believed to be the contents of the Pandorica. The artwork can be seen here.The Doctor was placed inside the Pandorica.

Ratings
to be added

Rumours

 * Many fans believe Omega will return. He does not appear in the episode, but a voice is heard in the TARDIS when River lands it in Leadworth saying 'Silence will fall'.
 * Many fans believe Original Cybermen will return. They have not appeared yet.
 * The Doctor himself is inside the Pandorica. At the climax of the episode, the Doctor is placed inside the Pandorica (although he was not in it originally).
 * The Slitheen were among the villians mentioned by River approching the Doctor. This was proven partially true. River says Slitheen whilst reading out the list, however one does not appear.
 * It is rumoured that either the Timoreen, the Ha'rik, or the Skarkish will appear – primarily because these were all listed as "new aliens" to appear in Series 5 and have not appeared yet meaning one of them could be inside the Pandorica. This was proven false.
 * According to the Radio Times, the Vincent van Gogh painting will be in Churchill's war bunker. This was proven true.
 * It is believed that the enemies will form an alliance; this is supported by the screen-shots depicting many of the Doctor's enemies together but not fighting. This was proven true

Filming locations

 * Stonehenge, England

to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity
Roman soldiers previously appeared on screen in DW: The War Games.

Home video releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four will feature 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.