Doctor Who 5x13: The Big Bang

[kerravonsen]

Squeee! Oh frabjous day! There are so many good things about this, so much angst and self-sacrifice and storytelling and lies and Truth, yes.

So many good bits.
* "Amelia, there are no such things as stars."
* The faithful Centurion. (Oh Rory!) Rory is so utterly utterly made of Awesome.
* the girl who waited/the boy who waited
* "I'm the Doctor, Amy's imaginary friend."
* The Fez and the mop, popping in and out!
* Amy waking up in the Pandorica facing herself; what a cool twist.
* Little Amelia Pond, yes! (I'm very glad I re-watched The Eleventh Hour, now)
* The sadness of the Doctor as his life rewinds, and he sits there telling a story to the sleeping Amelia.

The plot is so very very timey-wimey. And paradoxical. That which destroyed everything is used to recreate everything. Yeah, yeah, very handwavy, but it fits like a story fits. I think I like it because it didn't require super-powers, just self-sacrifice. That's why it makes story-sense, even if it doesn't make physics-sense.

Those of you who guessed that Amelia's parents had been vanished by the Crack, give yourselves a virtual cookie for guessing right.

This was an even better homage to the Power of Story than "Last of the Time Lords", I think because it resonated a lot more with the classic tropes of fairytale and folktale and myth.
* "I do believe in fairies the Doctor."
* Tam Lin, holding on in spite of opposition and confusion
* The Tin Soldier burning in the fire (Rory being the Tin Soldier)
* Pandora's Box (obviously) but Pandora's box is not just the Pandorica, it is the TARDIS also.

I am so TOTALLY squeeing about Amy and Rory married, together in the TARDIS with the Doctor. This was exactly what I wanted to happen. This awesome Team TARDIS. And Rory not dead. Yes!


Yes, you folks were right in saying we were left with a lot of questions.

Who is River Song? What is she hinting at, oh so very smugly? This is getting really annoying.

Why was River at Amy's wedding? Well, obviously to give Amy the book which triggered Amy's memory, but if River remembered the Doctor, why did Amy have to be the one to remember, and if River didn't remember the Doctor, then why did River turn up with her diary?

We still don't know what caused the TARDIS to explode, what took control of it, nor what the Silence is.

"An Egyptian Goddess? Loose on the Orient Express? In Space? We're on it, your Majesty."
I wonder if that was Liz Ten. I'd like to see her again. Though my suspension of disbelief is getting rather strained at how easily seemingly random people are ringing up the Doctor in the TARDIS.


I'm sure there will be plot holes and annoyances that people will point out, but right now I am just too happy.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there will be plot holes and annoyances that people will point out, but right now I am just too happy.

Me too. I am aware of plot holes, but I am happy to overlook them.

Regarding the fez, I like to think that the Doctor is channeling Tommy Cooper. :)

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

It must have been a future River, come back to give the book?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I feel much the same way, and oh, wonderful Rory, faithful and brave throughout 2000 years. I wonder if he somehow remembered that. I was so sure died in the Blitz and so happy to see him as the security guard.

They kept hinting so much at Amy being special, I really wondered if she'd been left there from the future, but she did have ordinary human parents. It was odd that she only remembered the Doctor and that she once didn't have parents on her wedding day. I suppose the Eleventh Hour never happened?

I wondered if it was Liz 10 too! I'd like to see her again. I can believe the phoning in after the Doctor fixed Rose's mobile to work through space and time; he probably decided it was a good idea and set his own phone up a similar way.

And I like River Song! She's fun and has a real strength behind her facetious exterior. It didn't make sense about her and the book, but perhaps Amy had to remember because the crack started in her room?

I'm off to bed now, but that was absolutely the best new season finale despite all my logical objections (like how history changed so very little and everyone still got born), because it works so well on other levels. [hugs Rory]

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm, I hadn't thought of that.

[kerravonsen]

I am aware of plot holes, but I am happy to overlook them.
(nods) The better the episode, the more willing one is to overlook plot holes.

[kerravonsen]

I wonder if he somehow remembered that.
I hope so!

I was so sure died in the Blitz and so happy to see him as the security guard.
Me too! I was thinking "so near and yet so far". And I believed he was dead, because I thought Moffat was perfectly willing to kill him off and just have Amy and the Doctor - so glad I am to have been proven wrong!

like how history changed so very little and everyone still got born
My interpretation of that is that what the Cracks were doing was not changing history so much as unravelling it; pulling out the thread of one life and leaving the rest of the tapestry intact. That was what happened in "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" -- those soldiers were Xed and yet the situation remained exactly the same. History didn't adjust to the loss, it didn't change, because the whole change was unnatural.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

When the Doctor gives her back the book, he also gives her back the time vortex manipulator...though I suppose that doesn't negate the possibility of her having another one, if she is a future River.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

This was an even better homage to the Power of Story than "Last of the Time Lords",

Much more effective, I think. If only because it was a bit more subtle and emotionally based.

Rory being the Tin Soldier

Oh, yes, of course he is. *hugs Rory*

I am so TOTALLY squeeing about Amy and Rory married, together in the TARDIS with the Doctor. This was exactly what I wanted to happen.

Me, too! It surprised me somehow. I think I've become a bit leery about expecting good things for companions, alas.

Yes, you folks were right in saying we were left with a lot of questions.

Most of the big ones seem to be questions designed to hook into next season, rather than dangling plot threads or anything. So I'm cool with it.

I'm sure there will be plot holes and annoyances that people will point out, but right now I am just too happy.

I honestly don't think that the plot was quite coherent enough to have holes, and you know what? I don't mind. As you say, it all makes story-sense somehow, anyway.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I like your interpretation of the changes in history. That's more or less what I was thinking, but I hadn't come up with nearly that clear a formulation of it.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

There's no reason why the Doctor giving River the TVM and the book can't be in River's past when we see River at the wedding?

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

In River's past relative to her giving the book to Amy at the wedding? The only objection I can think of is that the Doctor gives her the book and tells her the writing's back and he didn't peek.

[infiniteviking]

*loved the episode too* :D

Why was River at Amy's wedding? Well, obviously to give Amy the book which triggered Amy's memory, but if River remembered the Doctor, why did Amy have to be the one to remember, and if River didn't remember the Doctor, then why did River turn up with her diary?

I've been wondering that too. I'm really starting to suspect she's a Time Lady or the TARDIS or something. The Doctor's wife would be too simple.

"An Egyptian Goddess? Loose on the Orient Express? In Space? We're on it, your Majesty."
I wonder if that was Liz Ten.

If that was Liz Ten, I shall be delighted. :D

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I, too, was surprised when Amy and Rory stayed on the TARDIS together--I really had not expected it. I thought maybe they'd give us the reset of the universe, Amy would remember but Rory would not, and they'd get married and the Doctor would go off alone in his blue box.

I am so, so pleased I was wrong. \o/

Most of the big ones seem to be questions designed to hook into next season, rather than dangling plot threads or anything.

This, most definitely.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Even if Auton Rory died in the Blitz, Amy would still have remembered him and brought him back after reading about his long and faithful heroism. I'm just not sure how much any of them remember from before the reboot, though Amy's memory of it all might carry through to Rory.

what the Cracks were doing was not changing history so much as unravelling it; pulling out the thread of one life and leaving the rest of the tapestry intact.

Oh yes, I like that!

[kerravonsen]

Good point.

[kerravonsen]

8-)

[kerravonsen]

though Amy's memory of it all might carry through to Rory.
Well, we did have Rory's remark "How could I have forgotten the Doctor?", so it's clear that Rory remembers something.

I need a Rory icon.

[kerravonsen]

I'm really starting to suspect she's a Time Lady or the TARDIS or something. The Doctor's wife would be too simple.
If she's a Time Lady, she isn't Romana.

I loathe the idea that River is the Doctor's wife. Enough with the supa spechul companions!

[kerravonsen]

I thought maybe they'd give us the reset of the universe, Amy would remember but Rory would not, and they'd get married and the Doctor would go off alone in his blue box.
What I expected was that Amy would remember, and Rory would stay dead, and Amy would go off with the Doctor.

I am so, so pleased I was wrong. \o/
YES.

[kerravonsen]

Most of the big ones seem to be questions designed to hook into next season, rather than dangling plot threads or anything.
(nods) And there is enough trust in the author that they will be answered later.

I honestly don't think that the plot was quite coherent enough to have holes, and you know what? I don't mind. As you say, it all makes story-sense somehow, anyway.
(grin)

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Oh, thought (on rewatch): the last place/time River was before all the collapsing of the universe and such was June 26 2010, Amy Pond's house in Leadworth. Perhaps that's why she ended up being there for the wedding, the reboot dumped her back there?

...I don't know. We still to explain why she knew to give Amy the diary.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too! I will have to make some. And possibly buy more icon space.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

It was a good end to the series.

Mind you I love the time jumping about. Though the fez! I almost expected a "Just like that!"


"Something Old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Is a perfect description of the TARDIS.

Oh the power of memory and the mind. Amy Pond can bend reality, awesome power!

I do like Matt in Top hat and tails!

[azarsuerte.livejournal.com]

Why was River at Amy's wedding? Well, obviously to give Amy the book which triggered Amy's memory, but if River remembered the Doctor, why did Amy have to be the one to remember, and if River didn't remember the Doctor, then why did River turn up with her diary?

I figure it was more timey-wimeyness. River remembered the Doctor because she came from a time AFTER Amy had set things right. So she was able to supplement the Doctor's hints with a couple of her own. But it still had to be Amy to bring him back because she was the eye of the storm: the person who grew up with the crack and had the "universe poured through her", and the one whose wedding day was Event One, so to speak. So River was only able to remember the Doctor because she succeeded in helping Amy to remember him. It's a predestination paradox, but no more so than anything else in the episode. :-)

[infiniteviking]

True. I wouldn't mind her being the Rani, though.

DX Same here. I suspect she'll be a villain.

[kerravonsen]

I wouldn't mind her being the Rani, though.
I like that idea that you are pretending you didn't say. 8-)

[kerravonsen]

Though the fez! I almost expected a "Just like that!"
This is obviously some part of British culture of which I am ignorant.

"Something Old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Is a perfect description of the TARDIS.
This is one example of how the plot made story-sense, even if it didn't make logic-sense.

[infiniteviking]

:D

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

A very popular TV and stage comedy magician of the 70's, Tommy Cooper wore a fez and had the catchphrase "Just Like That".

He was actually a good magician.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Tommy+Cooper&aq=f

[reveilles.livejournal.com]

jcobleigh and I were speculating. I suppose that making River actually be Romana would be too neat, but I wouldn't mind it in the slightest, plus we'd have some earlier-timeline continuity to support the idea (i.e., Fourth Doctor / Romana). Who better, really? Another Time Lord could give it as well as he could, and would be able to withstand all the crazy timeline-warping shenanigans that he gets up to. River being a Time Lady would explain her ability to still keep her sense of self and history across a reboot of the universe, just the like the Doctor can. If the Daleks have been steadily leaking out of whatever time-trap the Eighth Doctor put them into with the rest of the Time Lords, I don't see why the Time Lords can't start leaking out as well, with Romana at the head of the pack. She's resourceful, intelligent, and learned a lot about thinking outside the box during her time with the Doctor.

Plus, upping the ante significantly with a boatload of angry Time Lords hot on the Doctor's tail with newer-model TARDISes would certainly increase both the universe-ending (again, yawn) tension and the personal-history-oh-crap-it's-all-catching-up-with-me Doctor character development. Romana's out to protect him (or at least give him a reasonable head start) and finish what she started with him however long ago.

I mean, honestly, if Moffatt decides to pull an R.J. Anderson Synaesthesia Trilogy plot and wrap the whole thing around to explain Susan, I'd be more than delighted, because it would make story-sense and give a kind of poetic justice to the entire series. (I'm not sure how Romana/Doctor turns out a half-human child, so maybe all my gleeful machinations are just silliness, but if we don't redefine the word "Grandfather" to apply to multiple Doctors, and instead just go with an actual grandparent relationship, two Time Lords have a kid who has a kid with a human and whoopee, we've got Susan.)

Continued in my next comment; I exceeded the word limit. :)

[reveilles.livejournal.com]

As much as I love the Doctor, I'm also somewhat exasperated with his tendency to keep slipping out of any permanent entanglements. Rory puts the Doctor to shame, and I can't help but wonder what Moffatt was thinking when he decided to put a married couple on the TARDIS as the Doctor's companions.

Think about it: there's been precious little actual Doctor character development across several hundred episodes. I understand that that's kind of the point--he's timeless--but it's got all the emotional wallop of Peter Pan, which is to say, not much. Like Peter Pan and J.M. Barrie, the Doctor is emotionally stunted. He's still essentially what he was when he started: a fun rebel with a heroic streak and a time machine. It's like, despite his 900+ years of age, he's still a teenager instead of a man, always running, always trying to have adventures, always trying to avoid something personally important, and never wanting to grow up, dropping Companions constantly, picking up new ones constantly, always able to redefine himself as a kid again for each one, not letting anyone really know him. I saw his running away from the Time Lords as being, at least in part, a fleeing of his responsibility to maintain the order that they imposed. It's a lot more fun to be an agent of chaos, but as the Doctor gets older, he's seeing more and more that there might be a steep price to pay for his adventures.

At some point, he's going to have to grow up...and to me, that means developing the emotional maturity to stop running and face a long-term commitment where he can't out-talk and out-dance everybody else in the conversation. There are really only three long-term commitments: marriage, kids, and death. If the Doctor is to develop some depth rather than die a perpetual emotional adolescent, he has to grow up and embrace something as an adult...making the transition to face the inevitable, not unlike Harry Potter. For the Doctor, dying is easy. He goes all heroic and comes back with a new body. It's traumatic, but it's basically just putting on a new outfit. So what adult-commitments are left?

River is the first potential Companion who poses even a threat of that kind of challenge to him, and she doesn't have the same childlike scruples that he does (e.g., she killed the Dalek in Big Bang). She's made that transition to adulthood. She can see right through his adolescent show and she loves him anyway. It's not that she's a self-absorbed "supa spechul" companion. None of that junior high silliness. She's his wife and possibly the person who ends his life once and for all. If that's not adulthood, I don't know what is.

I personally look forward to seeing how Moffatt "changes everything." :)

[kerravonsen]

Hmmm. You give food for thought. Hmmm.