Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens
Jun. 19th, 2010 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethTo Be Continued ??!!??! Yes, I knew it was a two parter, but after that ending? VERY GOOD TRICK!!! I mean, that wasn't a cliffhanger, they'd already fallen off the cliff and gone splat!
Oh but it's beautiful. *That* was a season arc. Every single piece they've put together all season... oh that's *beautiful*.
I figured it was the Doctor in the Pandorica. The scariest thing, a trickster, a warrior? That's the Doctor. But I expected him to be already in there. The whole thing as a trap... oh beautiful.
And it takes all his best bits, the things he would figure out, the resources he could access, and tangles it together with what he told Vincent he had, his overconfidence... and what he hasn't named, his pride, what we were all cheering on in the first episode, the big speech, the I've beaten everything and you don't want to mess with me... and it's a clue, because what's the only thing that could bring about an alliance between such sources of hate? The one the all hated.
And even the theoretical good guys, the space police sort of thing, want to lock him up, because they all think, he caused the cracks. Because he's the only one that can pilot the TARDIS.
But the Doctor taught River.
And history can be rewritten...
So we don't know for sure she survives. We don't know for sure *anything* survives.
It is going to require a very, very good trick indeed.
I have a feeling of epic awesome such as I have not felt for... ooooh, the longest time.
Also, my eyes are like OO !
Prisoner Zero. I realised just before the Doctor went in, the Pandorica is supposed to be the oldest prison, so whatever is in it would be the first prisoner, so that would be Prisoner Zero. But who starts numbering with Zero? Except now we've seen the end it makes sense - those dudes with the big eyes, they're from the future, everyone travelled from all over time to be there. So they'd already numbered all their prisoners, so when they go back to before that and put an extra one in, that's prisoner zero. I don't know for sure that's what was intended, because there was also the scary snakey thingy, but it tracks. And then the later prisoners knowing about the earlier one and mocking him for not knowing yet would make sense. But:
Prisoner Zero is escaping.
Through the cracks in time.
See, that would be something that box *isn't* proofed against.
And... things slip out the universe all the time, but if you remember, they can come back.
They're playing with Romans so I'll say it in Latin: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. Everything changes and nothing is lost. (Learned that from the Sandman comic, said by Roman soldiers).
Rory! Oh, Rory... Oh this season ties together *everywhere*. When I was at the NSFG and talking about the episode with the Daleks the guys were all 'Spitfires! Daleks! Spaaaace! And a boring bit with the robot guy being told to be human.' And the girls were all 'That was the whole point of the episode!!!'
... we wins.
Because a robot guy with the pasted in memories of a dead man was a plenty enough human there, so we watch this one, even after all the Romans go robot, and here's Rory, and he's trying so hard, and he would never want to hurt her, and she remembers...
... and he can't quite hold on.
But he's still enough himself to be horrified by it.
Oh Rory.
... Auton Rory is Rory enough if he acts and feels and chooses like Rory. So, reckon he'll get the chance to choose...
There's one thread for the cliffhanger. Amy got shot, and Roman!Rory is a soldier, but human Rory is a nurse. Because he's proper Rory he'll be able to give her medical treatment. So I have hope for Amy.
I love how he ended up there - all her Roman guys, including Centurion!Rory, pulled out of her memory, by someone with an imperfect understanding of context.
So what other threads are there?
Okay, so, the cracks in time connect everything everywhere, but especially everywhere we've seen a crack. And every episode has been Clues.
Last week and the Doctor getting to keep the keys goes on the Clue pile then?
The Doctor on the Byzantium, wearing a jacket, talking to Amy, telling her to remember what he told her when she was a kid.
... they pulled things from her memory to make parts of that trap. If she remembered things, they'll be there later.
The last thing in Pandora's box was Hope.
... there's something in the box the makers did not intend?
... or is the Hope the Doctor?
Oh I'm so going to watch every single episode again before next week and look for Clues. We know for sure they're there now.
The Doctor telling Amy he lied about why he went back for her. Doesn't it bother you that your life doesn't make sense? A great big house with only Amy in it, and no adults. Who was in all the other rooms? And where did they go? Did the crack eat them? What else did it eat?
Makes a lot more sense of the 4 pshrinks, if she's got slip slide memories and she knows she's lost more than anyone else can remember.
The random crying about Rory, that she can't make sense of? What if there were other people she mourned the same way?
So how long did Liz X live then? When did River go to steal that painting?
Everything ties together. I love that. No wasted bits. Every story made sense on itself but has all these bonus threads to figure out the end with. He told us to look.
I love Doctor Who. Have I mentioned? I really, really, really love Doctor Who.
Oh but it's beautiful. *That* was a season arc. Every single piece they've put together all season... oh that's *beautiful*.
I figured it was the Doctor in the Pandorica. The scariest thing, a trickster, a warrior? That's the Doctor. But I expected him to be already in there. The whole thing as a trap... oh beautiful.
And it takes all his best bits, the things he would figure out, the resources he could access, and tangles it together with what he told Vincent he had, his overconfidence... and what he hasn't named, his pride, what we were all cheering on in the first episode, the big speech, the I've beaten everything and you don't want to mess with me... and it's a clue, because what's the only thing that could bring about an alliance between such sources of hate? The one the all hated.
And even the theoretical good guys, the space police sort of thing, want to lock him up, because they all think, he caused the cracks. Because he's the only one that can pilot the TARDIS.
But the Doctor taught River.
And history can be rewritten...
So we don't know for sure she survives. We don't know for sure *anything* survives.
It is going to require a very, very good trick indeed.
I have a feeling of epic awesome such as I have not felt for... ooooh, the longest time.
Also, my eyes are like OO !
Prisoner Zero. I realised just before the Doctor went in, the Pandorica is supposed to be the oldest prison, so whatever is in it would be the first prisoner, so that would be Prisoner Zero. But who starts numbering with Zero? Except now we've seen the end it makes sense - those dudes with the big eyes, they're from the future, everyone travelled from all over time to be there. So they'd already numbered all their prisoners, so when they go back to before that and put an extra one in, that's prisoner zero. I don't know for sure that's what was intended, because there was also the scary snakey thingy, but it tracks. And then the later prisoners knowing about the earlier one and mocking him for not knowing yet would make sense. But:
Prisoner Zero is escaping.
Through the cracks in time.
See, that would be something that box *isn't* proofed against.
And... things slip out the universe all the time, but if you remember, they can come back.
They're playing with Romans so I'll say it in Latin: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. Everything changes and nothing is lost. (Learned that from the Sandman comic, said by Roman soldiers).
Rory! Oh, Rory... Oh this season ties together *everywhere*. When I was at the NSFG and talking about the episode with the Daleks the guys were all 'Spitfires! Daleks! Spaaaace! And a boring bit with the robot guy being told to be human.' And the girls were all 'That was the whole point of the episode!!!'
... we wins.
Because a robot guy with the pasted in memories of a dead man was a plenty enough human there, so we watch this one, even after all the Romans go robot, and here's Rory, and he's trying so hard, and he would never want to hurt her, and she remembers...
... and he can't quite hold on.
But he's still enough himself to be horrified by it.
Oh Rory.
... Auton Rory is Rory enough if he acts and feels and chooses like Rory. So, reckon he'll get the chance to choose...
There's one thread for the cliffhanger. Amy got shot, and Roman!Rory is a soldier, but human Rory is a nurse. Because he's proper Rory he'll be able to give her medical treatment. So I have hope for Amy.
I love how he ended up there - all her Roman guys, including Centurion!Rory, pulled out of her memory, by someone with an imperfect understanding of context.
So what other threads are there?
Okay, so, the cracks in time connect everything everywhere, but especially everywhere we've seen a crack. And every episode has been Clues.
Last week and the Doctor getting to keep the keys goes on the Clue pile then?
The Doctor on the Byzantium, wearing a jacket, talking to Amy, telling her to remember what he told her when she was a kid.
... they pulled things from her memory to make parts of that trap. If she remembered things, they'll be there later.
The last thing in Pandora's box was Hope.
... there's something in the box the makers did not intend?
... or is the Hope the Doctor?
Oh I'm so going to watch every single episode again before next week and look for Clues. We know for sure they're there now.
The Doctor telling Amy he lied about why he went back for her. Doesn't it bother you that your life doesn't make sense? A great big house with only Amy in it, and no adults. Who was in all the other rooms? And where did they go? Did the crack eat them? What else did it eat?
Makes a lot more sense of the 4 pshrinks, if she's got slip slide memories and she knows she's lost more than anyone else can remember.
The random crying about Rory, that she can't make sense of? What if there were other people she mourned the same way?
So how long did Liz X live then? When did River go to steal that painting?
Everything ties together. I love that. No wasted bits. Every story made sense on itself but has all these bonus threads to figure out the end with. He told us to look.
I love Doctor Who. Have I mentioned? I really, really, really love Doctor Who.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 09:56 pm (UTC)Scarier!!!
VERY GOOD TRICK!!!
So they don't need the conversion unit, they just kind of EAT YOUR BRAIN?!?
ZOMBIE CYBERMEN!!!
AWESOME!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 10:04 pm (UTC)I mean, no, probably not, but... if it's about memory and if you remember stuff can come back... the way the Doctor chooses to remember Gallifrey could be important...
Time Agent Wrist Strap
Date: 2010-06-20 03:57 am (UTC):-)
I think with the TARDIS doors closed she wouldn't have been able to, but with the doors open even though she's inside the TARDIS dimension there's a chance.
but even if there isn't?
if the TARDIS explodes and it's a timey sort of explosion River could get thrown into the vortex, which would usually be Very Bad, but a Time Agent's wrist strap lets them go walking about in that shiny, so...
River has a get out of jail strap.
Re: Time Agent Wrist Strap
Date: 2010-06-20 11:47 pm (UTC)has been pointed out
The Doctor has the wrist strap
and
Where would River jump to?
I tend to think of the Vortex as a whole sepereate Place that might not blow up when the universe does, and also there's the Void, but that's between universes and if every moment of the universe blows up there are no other universes to be between. But *big shrug*... basically is a good point, there's no where-when to go to if it all went boom already.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 10:20 am (UTC)... Rory being a nurse is not going to help if she's dead dead.
... Rory being a miracle might have but sadly he's a plastic.
Plastic Amy?
PS I'm having Plastic Rory jokes in my head now that are Not PG At All.
But they are too obvious for teh LOL
no subject
Date: 2010-06-19 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-20 10:21 pm (UTC)Inscription says 5145 for both the prison and the gallery. I though she was supposed to be from the 51st century like Jack, not the 52nd. Wasn't that what they said in the library?
This is a very exciting season finale with all the clues and the rewatching on top of the action-cliffie. Very cool, well done, Moffat et all. :D