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{{work}}
First part of the season finale, penned by [[Steven Moffat]].
The episode opens in [[Doctor Who
[[Doctor Who
We join the Doctor, who's taking Amy to the oldest planet in the universe. There's a message on the cliff side that no-one's ever translated, but that changes today. "Why today?", Amy asks. Because of the TARDIS' [[Translator Microbes]], answers the Doctor. They open the doors, and see in fifty foot letters, you guessed it, "[[Doctor Who
Luckily, Vincent has left date and map references on the painting. The painting's name? [[Title Drop|"The Pandorica Opens".]] The Doctor insists that it's a fairytale, while River argues that if it is real, it's here, it's opening and it's related to the TARDIS going kaboom.
Cut to the trio on horseback, riding to Stonehenge. River and Amy have a Timey-Wimey conversation about their goodbye [[Doctor Who
And it's opening from the inside, breaking all kinds of locks and safe-holders; what could get past all that? What could inspire that level of fear? And moreover, how did Vincent van Gogh know about it, since he won't even be alive for another few centuries? Well, Stonehenge is broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere and every''when''; the Pandorica is opening.
Wait a minute: a message to everyone, everywhere? So, who else is coming?
[[Oh Crap|...Oh.]]
At least 10,000
But they have the greatest fighting force in the history of the earth with them: the Romans. River rides back to get help, but it's not easy; the general has seen through her Cleopatra gig. It mainly has to do with the real Cleo being in Egypt and, well, dead (for 130 years, actually). But don't worry, a faceless, voiceless Roman soldier appears in the doorway to help. Who could it possibly be?
Back to Underhenge. The Doctor keeps scanning the Box, when Amy pulls out [[Chekhov's Gun|the ring]]. "Are you proposing to someone?" she asks. Well, no. It was a friend of his, the Doctor says, someone he lost. He tries to coax Amy into remembering Rory: sometimes, people fall out of the world, but they leave things behind; faces in photographs, half-eaten meals, luggage, rings. Nothing is ever completely forgotten; if they can be remembered they can come back. And the night he picked Amy
Suddenly, something is shooting at them and the Doctor needs to get a closer look. He has a brilliant plan --
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Amy runs out in front while the Doctor gets behind it, tackling it to the ground and disabling it. He warns Amy to stay where she is, while a disembodied Cyberhead approaches behind her. It's crawling and scrabbling around on its wires, and tangling around her wrists (at which point the dessicated ''human head'' is ejected) while the arm electrocutes the Doctor. She slams it against a stone wall, but before she can escape, a sleeping dart is shot into her neck. [[You Will Be Assimilated|"YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."]] The Cyberman proper walks in and picks up its head.
Amy manages to stumble behind a big door and shut it. It rattles a bit and falls open, revealing the Cyberman with a sword stabbed through it and pinned to the wood. Amy passes out, but Rory, in full Roman gear, catches her and carries her out. The Doctor scans her and starts babbling, looking at two huge [[
He pokes Rory quite apprehensively. Not to be rude, but Rory ''[[Doctor Who
There's commotion above them before the Doctor can answer, and the sky above Stonehenge is filled with all kinds of alien spaceships. They're surrounded. The Doctor tells River to get the TARDIS to him, while he grabs the scanner and shouts into it. He addresses each and every single one of the starships: could they all stop whizzing about please, because "'''[[Large Ham|I!]] [[Doctor Who
▲He pokes Rory quite apprehensively. Not to be rude, but Rory ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/Recap/S31 E09 Cold Blood|died]]'' and was ''[[Ret Gone|erased from time]]''. Turns out, Rory doesn't really have an answer either. He just died and became a Roman centurion. It's sort of distracting. He walks over to the sleeping Amy. [[Dramatic Irony|"Did she]] [[Tear Jerker|miss me?"]] Oh, Rory.
{{quote|
▲There's commotion above them before the Doctor can answer, and the sky above Stonehenge is filled with all kinds of alien spaceships. They're surrounded. The Doctor tells River to get the TARDIS to him, while he grabs the scanner and shouts into it. He addresses each and every single one of the starships: could they all stop whizzing about please, because "'''[[Large Ham|I!]] [[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S2 E7 The Idiots Lantern|AM!]] [[This Is Sparta|TALKING!]]'''". Who's got the Pandorica? He does, next question. Who's coming to take it? Look at him:
▲{{quote| "[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S1 E13 The Parting of the Ways|No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn]]. Oh, and something else I don't have: anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there with your silly little spaceships and your silly little guns and you've any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight; just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you and then, [[Chewing the Scenery|AND THEN]], do the smart thing. [[[Beat]]] Let somebody else try first."}}
And the aliens must have dropped the [[Villain Ball]], because [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|they all get the hell out.]] Well, for half an hour, anyway. To decide who gets to take the first shot.
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Back to Stonehenge where Amy's waking up. She bumps into Rory and recognises him as the guy who... did the... swordy thing. The Doctor sends her up to get some fresh air. Rory is rather traumatized and angsts for a bit before the Doctor shuts him up and tosses Rory the ring. There's no explanation to this; Rory was eaten up by a crack in time and space and now he's here with a head full of Roman memories. It's unexplainable, and to be honest, rather distracting, but the Universe is big and sometimes impossible things just happen and people call them miracles. The Doctor's never seen one, but this is close enough. Rory goes after Amy.
The TARDIS and River have landed, but the screen is showing a mess of nothing. River goes out the door when the screen cracks, and suddenly a [[Hell Is That Noise|creepy voice]] from ''nowhere'' announces "silence will fall". They've landed outside Amy's house on June
Rory tries to get Amy to remember him. She's crying, but she doesn't know why. She's happy, but ''why is she happy?''
The TARDIS is still uncontrollable, the doors won't open, and again that creepy voice from ''nowhere'' that says "silence will fall". The Pandorica gives off a high-pitched whine and suddenly all the Romans stop. [[Tomato in
"-- [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Williams. From Leadworth. My boyfriend. How could I ever forget you?"]] Oh, ''Amy''.
Underground, Daleks have appeared, along with Cybermen, Judoon, Sontarans, etc. The Pandorica opens. It is ready. For the Doctor. Above ground, Rory's lost his hold and shoots Amy while clinging to her.
The aliens watch while the Doctor is dragged into the Pandorica. River re-wires the TARDIS. {{spoiler|[[Like You Would Really Do It|Amy dies.]]}}
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{{spoiler|And then the [[Painting the Fourth Wall|background music stops]], mid-note.}}
[[Nothing Is Scarier|Silence]] [[Oh Crap|has]] [[Arc Words|fallen.]]<ref>
----
* [[All There in the Manual]]: [[Steven Moffat]] said that the Cybermen seen in this episode, despite the fact that they have the Cybus logo on their chest, ''are'' in fact the Mondas Cybermen. The only reason they look that way is a low budget.
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* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class Z. It'll be as if the universe never existed.
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Rory is forced to kill Amy, apologising all the time.
* [[Back
* [[Badass Abnormal]]: Rory, since he is actually an Auton.
* [[Badass Boast]]: Eleven delivers his best speech here, telling everyone fighting over the Pandorica to remember just how many times he's beaten each of them, and to do the smart thing..."Let someone else try first."
* [[Badass Normal]]: At first, Rory-as-Legionary seems like this. And then it turns out that he's actually an Auton...
* [[Batman Gambit]]: The villains spread rumours of the Pandorica across space and time to trick the Doctor into going there.
* [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy]]: "I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him." Also a possible [[Shout
** It may be worth noting at this point that the Doctor's fate at the end of the episode is quite similar to Merlin's (sealed in an impenetrable cave / castle of air / whatever for the whole of eternity) and may lead to thematically similar results (without Merlin, Arthur's Britain falls; without the Doctor, the ''universe will cease to exist'').
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Rory-as-Legionary manages to kill the Cyberman in the crypt in the nick of time.
* [[Blonde, Brunette, Redhead]]: River, the Doctor/Rory and Amy.
* [[Body Horror]]: The Cyberman helmet tries to assimilate Amy. [[Alien|Does it remind]] [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|you of anything?]]
** More reminiscent of [[The Thing (
*** Or of... [[Naughty Tentacles|a different thing]].
* [[Buffy
** Rory also gets one, too: "... and then I was here, a Roman, a proper Roman, head full of Roman... stuff."
* [[Call Back]]:
** [[Doctor Who
** This time Rory is the one wielding a sword, unlike [[Doctor Who
* [[Catch Phrase]]: No River Song episode is complete without "Hello, Sweetie" (always in a place you would never expect to find it) and "Spoilers!"
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The ring that's been mounted on the fireplace is finally fired.
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* [[Combat Tentacles]]: A Cyberman head located outside the Pandorica has a bunch of wires which function similarly.
* [[Consummate Liar]]: As we learn much, much later, River is lying when she tells the Doctor {{spoiler|that he taught her to fly the TARDIS.}}
* [[Continuity Porn|Continuity]] <s>[[Continuity Nod|Nod]]</s> [[Continuity Porn|Porn]]: The Doctor's Academy Nickname, ΘΣ or Theta Sigma, first mentioned as far back as the Fourth Doctor serial "[[Doctor Who
** The Doctor's "No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn!" calls back to "[[Doctor Who
** The episode is a "direct sequel", according to Moffat, to every episode except "[[Doctor Who
*** The episode, from the Doctor's perspective, takes place very shortly after "The Lodger".
*** The episode also takes place at around the same wibbly-wobbly time as "Vampires of Venice".
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*** The Atraxi ("The Eleventh Hour"), Daleks ("Victory of the Daleks") and Silurians ("The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood") are part of the Alliance.
*** Van Gogh ("Vincent and the Doctor"), Winston Churchill ("Victory of the Daleks"), and Liz 10 ("The Beast Below") play the part of message couriers.
** A possible one to "[[Doctor Who
*** Alternately, it could be to "[[Doctor Who
** River gets a Vortex Manipulator fresh off the wrist of a ''handsome'' Time Agent (the people Captain Jack used to work for). Except it's on the wrist, so not Jack himself unless he got a new wrist.
** The Doctor sonics a severed but animate arm to deactivate it, [[Doctor Who
** The Doctor's fate resembles Merlin's (trapped forever in an impenetrable prison by someone who uses his own power against him). In the Seventh Doctor episode ''Battlefield'', the Doctor turns out to ''be'' Merlin. He probably should have paid attention to the end of that particular story...
** The Under-henge's background music also contains a lot of cues from the Cyberman stories of the Tenth Doctor.
** The Doctor's speech to scare off the alien fleet is possibly what River [[Time Travel Tense Trouble|will/was referring to]] when she tells the Tenth Doctor "Armies will flee in your wake" in [[Doctor Who
** In "The Eleventh Hour", Rory told us that Amy had him dress up as the Doctor. We learn in this episode that he also dressed up as a Roman (in the photo).
** So basically he's spent his life catering to her fantasies? That's gonna be one interesting marriage....
* [[Conviction
* [[Darkest Hour]]: To catalog: {{spoiler|Amy is dead, Rory's the undead auton who killed her, the Doctor's locked in the perfect prison, River's exploding, the crack in Amy's wall is about to devour all of time and space, and that's ''because'' these things are all true.}} It could only be worse if there were snakes in here.
* [[Deadly Hug]]: Auton-Rory does this to Amy, who refuses to flee despite his increasingly desperate warnings.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Yeah, I think you probably are.
* [[Dissimile]]: The Doctor uses one to explain what the Cybermen do: "It's just like being an organ donor, except you're alive and sort of...screaming."
* [[Downer Ending]]
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Pandorica was built to hold "a nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies:" {{spoiler|[[Humanoid Abomination|the Doctor]]}}.
* [[The End of the World
* [[Failed a Spot Check]]: Lampshaded. "I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious..." and, a few seconds later, "Missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!" "Yeah, I think you probably are..." "I'll get it in a minute!" He does. And "it" is that the guy he's talking to ''died and was erased from time quite a while ago.'' The look on his face is ''priceless.''
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: River has favourable memories of the events pertaining to the Pandorica, as established in each of the two stories we've seen connected to her. Then again, this is Who; Timey-Wimey and all that...
* [[Fridge Logic]]: "Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?", for an [[In
▲* [[Fridge Logic]]: "Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?", for an [[In Universe]] example.
* [[Funny Background Event]]: During the Doctor's phonecall with River, while she's at Amy's house, you can see a Roman briefly wielding the Cyberman's weapon, trying to look [[Badass]].
* [[Good
** In-universe, so does Amy. He came back as a Roman because she loves Rory and she loves Romans. He's her perfect man incarnate as Roman-Rory.
* [[Green
* [[Heroic Willpower]]: What Rory uses to stop himself killing Amy. And then, he falters for a moment. {{spoiler|Possibly he faltered because he was distracted ''[[Irony|because he was so happy that Amy recognized him?]]''}}
* [[Hidden Villain]]: Even though we know how they caused the cracks (by destroying the TARDIS), we ''still'' don't know who the real [[Big Bad]] is.
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*** Oh, and like the story, {{spoiler|he's tricked. Big time.}}
* [[Instant Sedation]]: Averted, Amy takes a long time to go down after being hit with a tranquilizer, and feels significant affects before she goes down.
* [[Kansas City Shuffle]]: The entire legend of the Pandorica is just a cover story for the villain alliance's plan to lure the Doctor to the Pandorica and trap him inside. [[Well
* [[Landmarking the Hidden Base]]: Stonehenge
* [[Large Ham]]: The Doctor's [[Badass Boast]] speech. And it is ''awesome''.
{{quote|
* [[Legion of Doom]]: The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, the Hoix, [[Torchwood
** Of note is that the Atraxi, Weevils, Uvodni and the Blowfish are merely easily-missed extras in crowd shots whereas the Terileptil, Draconians, Drahvins, Chelonians and Slitheen only "appear" as name-checks by River.
*** River also mentions the Haemogoth, an obscure race that were only mentioned in a recent novel.
** [[Well
** [[Big Damn Villains]]: The intergalactic coalition ''think'' they're pulling this off, while they just might be dooming the universe.
*** Or maybe {{spoiler|not, since without the Pandorica, the Doctor may have never have been able to fix the universe in the next episode.}}
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** The Doctor has one as well when the Alliance reveal that they truly did make the Pandorica to trap what they consider the most dangerous being in creation: '''HIMSELF'''.
** The black market salesman in the beginning, when River Song reveals that she drugged his drink with micro-explosives.
* [[One
* [[Opening Shout
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: A favourite of Moffat's: in the last few seconds of the episode ''even the BGM stops''.
** ''Silence''... will fall.
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* [[Robotic Reveal]]: Rory and the other Romans.
* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: The Alliance. The Doctor tries telling them why locking him in the Pandorica is a ''very bad idea.'' They don't listen.
* [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]: It certainly looks that way at the end...
* [[The Roman Empire]]
* [[Running Gag]]: ''Hello, sweetie.''
* [[Schmuck Bait]]: The Pandorica certainly borders on this.
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Sealed Good in
* [[Shipper
* [[Shout
** The "oldest text in the universe" that River uses to communicate with the Doctor near the beginning sounds ''very'' similar in the Doctor's description to God's Final Message to His Creation from ''[[The
*** It could also be a shout-out to the [[Virgin New Adventures|spin-off novel]] ''Set Piece'', where one of the Doctor's companions uses basically the same trick to arrange a rescue after being stranded in Ancient Egypt.
** The Cyberman head crawling along on tentacles is straight out of ''[[The Thing (
*** Or the facehuggers in ''[[Alien]]''
** The Cyberman reattaching its head is very similar to a scene in ''[[The Faculty]]''.
*** Or a certain death-scene from the game Dead Space.
** The idea of agents/replicants who do not know their true nature and, on a signal, activate their attack goes back to ''[[The Manchurian Candidate (novel)|The Manchurian Candidate]]'' (hence the [[Manchurian Agent]] trope) and, more recently, ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' (Rory's shock as he activates and tries to march off is similar to the [[Tomato in
*** Also a bit [[Dollhouse]].
* [[Skyward Scream]]: The Doctor calling out to every monster in the sky: "'''I. AM. TALKING!'''"
* [[Subverted Trope]]: Count 'em.
** [[Back
** [[Evil Versus Evil]]: Looks like the [[Legion of Doom]]'s been just fooling the Doctor with their fleet.
** [[Real After All]]: The Doctor has passed off the Pandorica as a [[Fairy Tale]], now he sees the real thing. Except it ''is'' just a [[Fairy Tale]], and this one has been created by the allied villains as both trap and bait for him
** [[Sealed Evil in
** [[Badass Boast]]: The boast, while arguably awesome, did not really make the Legion of Evil Aliens flee, it was all part of the plan.
** [[Big Damn Villains]]: Hohoho, they think {{spoiler|they're saving the universe. [[Unwitting Pawn|They're not.]]}}
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** [[Heroic Willpower]]: Auton!Rory can't stop himself from apparently killing Amy.
* [[Scenery Gorn]]: The final shot of {{spoiler|the Earth hanging in space, with the holes in space exploding open like a Vincent van Gogh painting, as the universe is slowly enroached}}.
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Commander Stark for [[Doctor Who
** Since the Sontarans only appeared in four classic-series stories, it is even more justified.
* [[Sympathetic POV]]: When all of the alien species conspire together to put the Doctor in the Pandorica, it shows us that from their POV, the Doctor is the bad guy, whereas we've always seen him as the good guy who always defeats the evil aliens.
* [[Tailor
* [[Tears of Joy]]: Amy, once Rory names himself to her. And she has no idea why.
* [[This Is My Boomstick]]: River awes the Romans this way.
{{quote|
'''Roman Commander:''' Riddles now?
'''River:''' Where do they think you come from?
'''Roman Commander:''' (draws sword) A place more deadly and more powerful and more impatient than their tiny minds can imagine.
'''River:''' (pulls out a blaster and disintegrates a table) [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Where do I come from?]] }}
* [[Time Travel Tense Trouble]]:
{{quote|
'''River:''' Spoilers!
'''Amy:''' No, but you told the Doctor you'd see him again when the Pandorica opens.
'''River:''' Maybe I did. But I haven't yet. But I will have. }}
* [[Title Drop]]: ''The Pandorica Opens'' is the title of Vincent's painting.
* [[Tomato in
* [[Took a Level
** How many fans felt about the Cybermen in this episode.
* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: Vincent, Churchill, and River Song for the villain alliance's [[Kansas City Shuffle]], along with the Doctor himself. River again, and potentially the villains themselves, for the as yet unrevealed real [[Big Bad]].
* [[Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: In the jail scene, look carefully where River takes her knock-out lipstick out from.
* [[Villain Team
* [[Wangst]]: Subverted: Upon learning that Amy doesn't remember him, Rory's about to enter a spiral of vocal despair when the Doctor bluntly tells him to shut up, chucks the engagement ring Rory left behind to him and tells her to 'go get her'; he's here now and still has another chance.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: So very, very much.
* [[Who Will Bell the Cat?]]: The Doctor points this out in his speech.
* [[Iron Woobie]]: Poor, sword-wielding, Roman Rory.
* [[Preemptive Declaration]]:
{{quote|
'''River:''' The kind I just put in your wine. }}
* [[You Will Be Assimilated]]: A Cyberman head to Amy, word-for-word.
** [[You and What Army?|You And Whose Body?]]: The one that's about to walk in and pick up its head again.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Doctor Who (TV)/Recap]]▼
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
[[Category:Doctor Who S 31 E 12 The Pandorica Opens]]
[[Category:Recap]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
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