Episode 12 - The Pandorica Opens

[Sheer Matt]

Or it could be the ring--the symbol of the same thing--plus the classical meaning of a ring being an endless form, ever cycling and repeating.  Everything ends.  Silence falls and there is darkness. The only thing left clinking to the floor of the Universe is The Ring.  Boom.  Big Bang.  Maybe.

I like this theory, after all the ring is the only thing in the Universe that should not exist, therefore if reality is destroyed, it will be the only thing left in vast ocean on nothing. After all, that's how the Universe began, with something appearing out of nothing.

[weeryty]

Hello, I'm new to the forums so er.. hiya!
I really thought this episode was FANTASTIC! Never Saw the ending coming (although, due to spoilerrific people, did  know that The Doctor was going to be put into the Pandorica). 

Matt Smith was Really good this episode and I really liked him this season.

Cannot wait for Episode 13
BTW the voice that Silence Will Fall Is The Doctor. That's my two pence.
See you all later.
Bye and great Podcast guys.

[wallybee1]

just watched the episode on iplayer and I'm so sad i actually took notes I'll lay them all out in review form:
I liked the beginning, although i did feel like hte scenes were a bit mismatched but thats just me being picky.

I was a bit disappointed about the ring at the beginning as instead of amy remembering as I'd hoped, she just kind of shrugged it off.

cyberheead was a bit of an overkill and looked pretty fake still a goodish idea though.

entrance of the cyberman was pretty good though

I don't get like the point f the romans being in the episode much. were they to kind of hold hte doctor down until the enemies came?

loved entrane of rory! ad defo how the doctor didn't recognise him. That is just so doctorish.

omg the music when all the spaceships were arriving was amazing! them drums and everything....lovely, set the mood perfectly

it was at this point during the episode that i thought why did  they instantly know stonehenge was the place? just because they thought they'd want to remember where they'd put the box, there's loads of landmarks they could have picked.

why didn't the spaceships just shoot him? (although i realised later it was cos they wanted to put him in the box)

river has a tardis key?

why did she decide to jump into the tardis?

the look of pain on rorys face wen she doesn't recognise him in really good acting. loved it!

haha roranicus amazing name!!!!

loved the idea that they're all memories. gutted rorys an auton though

so why did they want to put him in the box again? how would that achieve anything?

pretty grim ending, grimmest ending i remember. Loads of cliffhangers which have quite predictable endings but i still wanna see how they execute them!

so, that was most of my notes fleshed out throughout the entire thing. now you get to see how my mind works watching an episode

the thing is, everyone is like oh wow, this episode is amazing, its brilliant, te best ever. but, I didn't think it was like that. I found it good definitely, but not as good as everyone is making out. probably 4/5 for me

[lambowolf]

I have watched this episode a few times now, and I am still trying to think where Moffat is going with it.  There have been plenty of theories bounced around, and each one as good as the last.  

I am still thinking about "Tweeting birds" sound effect that was used at the Duck Pond scene in the first episode.  Same effect used during "Amy's Choice".   Also, the Doctor not wearing the jacket in "Flesh and Stone."        Both of these could have been production errors.  However, I did notice something on this current reviewing....

When the trio first finds the Pandorica, the Doctor says that who/what is in it was tricked by a good wizard.   River speaks up, "I hate fairy tales with Good Wizards they always turn out to be him."  

Hmmm

Could this whole episode be a future Doctor trick to get the Doctor inside the Padorica in the first place?   Did we just witness the "Good Wizard Trick?"

[The Master]

Rory to the rescue, mark my words.

Or it could be the ring--the symbol of the same thing--plus the classical meaning of a ring being an endless form, ever cycling and repeating.  Everything ends.  Silence falls and there is darkness. The only thing left clinking to the floor of the Universe is The Ring.  Boom.  Big Bang.  Maybe.

Maybe silence has to fall for the Doctor to be able to escape and save reality. Could he start the legend of the Pandorica himself? He could know that it is vital that he stay in the Pandorica in order to heal the universe.
 If the cracks can't be healed by the Doctor's conventional means of time travel, as seems possible, given the extent of the cracks throughout reality and history and the fact he is trapped in the Pandorica, maybe he needs to create nothing, silence, so the universe can start again. Something from nothing, starting with the big bang.
Silence falls, nothing remains, but for the Doctor. Then the universe starts over, with a bang?

[The Master]

I think one of the Daleks saying "Only the Doctor can pilot the TARDIS" could be important.

If this is true, then it was the Doctor, unseen somehow, crossing his own time stream, who took control of the TARDIS and purposefully trapped River and blew up the TARDIS. Could it be a future Doctor, an early attempt at setting up the final regeneration. Or the future Doctor making silence fall so the universe can start over, uncracked?
Could this be the Doctor River travels with?

The precedent of the Doctor being his own worst enemy has already been set, and RTD used episodes earlier in the season to validate finale plot points (the fob watch, for eg.). So it could be the Dream Lord (with Emperor Palpatine voice), or simply the real Doctor himself, as only he can pilot the TARDIS.

[Pyrovile]

I have a feeling that Moffat doth protest too much.  He's mentioned in a number of interviews that he has no intention of bringing back baddies from the pre-RTD days of Who.  I think we're about to get one.  I hope No. 11 has a recorder in one of his pockets, or perhaps a ring that was being protected by being in proximity to some point on the TARDIS console.  Just a theory.

[judgefloyd]

For mine, the whole thing was great fun to watch but doesn't bear much thinking about.  Are we now in a new universe and everyone is an exact copy brought back by Amy's mind? It brings to mind the old Stephen Wright joke and David Lewis'  Plurality Of Worlds.  Since no explanation that even Moffatt could come up with would be more interesting than either Stephen Wright* or David Lewis**, I'm going to ignore the whole thing, just enjoy the whizzbangery and hope that future threats get a bit more low key.

*someone broke into my flat, stole everything and replaced it with an exact copy in the same place.  I couldn't believe it! I told my friend "hey someone broke into my flat, stole everything and replaced it with an exact copy in the same place".  He said "do I know you?" (or words to that effect).

** awesome analytic philosopher, who really believed in real possible worlds, which are real. Like a total spoilsport, he said it was impossible to go to these alternative worlds, so no sooky goodbyes to Rose.