Doctor Who Series 31: The Big Bang

Following from the cliffhanger of the previous episode, the Doctor is sealed in the Pandorica, a prison designed for him by his greatest foes and baited by elements of Amy's childhood imagination; River Song is trapped in the TARDIS as it explodes, triggering the end of the universe, leaving only the Earth, Moon, and a sun-like object within a starless black void. In 102 AD, the Auton replica of Rory, having shot Amy, is still holding her lifeless body when a future version of the Doctor, using River's Vortex Manipulator, briefly appears and gives Rory his sonic screwdriver, with instructions to open the Pandorica and release the imprisoned Doctor. Together, they place Amy's body inside the Pandorica where she will be held in stasis. The Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to jump to 1996, while Rory, ageless due to his Auton nature, opts to stay with the Pandorica and protect Amy's body until that time. His presence near it as the "lone Centurion" creates a mythology around the box that survives to the present day.

In 1996, young Amelia Pond has received clues that lead her to the National Museum, where the Pandorica is on display. Amelia's touch opens the Pandorica, reviving and releasing her older self; they are soon joined by the Doctor, arriving from 102 AD, and Rory, now a security guard at the museum. Amy and Rory have an emotional reunion before the four flee from a fossilised Dalek re-energised by the restoration field of the open Pandorica. After temporarily disabling the Dalek, the Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to set up the events that frees him from the Pandorica and brings Amelia to the museum. Amelia soon vanishes; the Doctor worries that the star-less universe is collapsing from the TARDIS explosion, and while they are safe at the "eye of the storm", they do not much have time before complete failure.

Suddenly, a mortally-wounded near-future Doctor appears via the Vortex Manipulator, and falls; the future Doctor whispers something to his earlier self before dying. As they continue to flee the Dalek, the Doctor postulates that a fragment of the original, star-filled universe is inside the Pandorica, and if they can transfer it to every point of the collapsing universe simultaneously, they may be able to "reboot" their old reality. Escaping to the roof, the Doctor realises the sun-like object is the TARDIS, having created a time loop to contain the explosion, with River still inside. The Doctor rescues River using the Vortex Manipulator, and devises a plan to fly the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS to create a second Big Bang and restore the original universe. He is then shot by the Dalek, and jumps twelve minutes into the past. Rory and Amy escape, while River confronts the Dalek, which uncharacteristically begs for mercy when told her name.

The wounded Doctor, twelve minutes in the past, appears to his older self, and directs him to create a diversion; the Doctor uses the time to prepare the Pandorica. When his companions return, the Doctor explains that once the universe is rebooted, Amy—having lived near the cracks in the universe all her life—will be able to use her memories to restore people who have been erased, and that he himself will be trapped in the void between universes once the cracks close. The Doctor then pilots the Pandorica into the TARDIS explosion and initiates a second Big Bang.

After the explosion, the Doctor finds himself rewinding through his life as an observer as the cracks in the universe start to close. Amy can hear but not see him, and as he passes through the events of "Flesh and Stone", he takes advantage of her closed eyes to tell her to remember what he told her when she was seven years old. Arriving on the day he met Amelia Pond ("The Eleventh Hour"), he finds the young girl asleep outside, waiting for her "raggedy Doctor" to return. The Doctor carries her to bed, and tells her a story about a daft old man who "borrowed" a magic box that was "big and little at the same time. Brand new and ancient. And the bluest blue ever." He then steps into the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall, sealing it completely.

Amy wakes up on 26 June 2010, the day of her wedding, to find she has remembered her mother, father and the human Rory back into existence. During the wedding reception, however, she feels as if she is forgetting something. When she sees River Song's diary, its cover fashioned after the TARDIS, she tearfully recalls the Doctor's story of "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue", causing the Doctor and the TARDIS to be restored. The Doctor joins in the wedding celebration.

After the wedding, the Doctor gives River her diary and the Vortex Manipulator to return to her time. River dodges his questions about marriage, and sadly warns him he will soon learn who she truly is, and that it will change everything. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor explains to Amy and Rory that unanswered questions remain about the destruction of the TARDIS and the nature of "the Silence" that will fall, but before they can contemplate that, the Doctor receives a telephone call alerting him to the presence of an escaped Egyptian goddess on the Orient Express in space. Rory and Amy decide to join him, and the three leave on their next adventure.
source: wikipedia

Cast
Doctor

* Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)

Companions

* Karen Gillan (Amy Pond)
* Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)

Others

* Alex Kingston – River Song
* Caitlin Blackwood – Amelia
* Susan Vidler – Aunt Sharon
* Frances Ashman – Christine
* Barnaby Edwards – Stone Dalek
* William Pretsell – Dave
* Halcro Johnston – Augustus Pond
* Karen Westwood – Tabetha Pond
* Nicholas Briggs – Dalek voice

Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director Toby Haynes
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Peter Bennett
Executive producer(s)

* Steven Moffat
* Piers Wenger
* Beth Willis

Production code 1.13
Series Series 5
Length 55 minutes
Originally broadcast 26 June 2010

Doctor Who Series 31: The Pandorica Opens

The Doctor and Amy Pond, following a message from River Song engraved on the oldest planet in the universe, arrive in Roman Britain on Earth in 102 AD, where they find River posing as Cleopatra. River shows the Doctor a Vincent van Gogh painting titled The Pandorica Opens, depicting the TARDIS exploding. River had recovered the painting in the 52nd century, and traveled to the time-space coordinates on the painting using a Vortex Manipulator. The Doctor realises the "Pandorica", a fabled prison for the universe's deadliest being, must be stored in a memorable location near the coordinates, such as the site of Stonehenge.

At Stonehenge, the Doctor, Amy, and River find a passage to an underground area, which the Doctor terms "the Underhenge". Inside, they find the Pandorica, a room-sized metal box outfitted with every type of lock imaginable. The Doctor and River become concerned when they discover that the Pandorica is opening from inside and transmitting a message across time and space using the rocks of Stonehenge. River warns the Doctor that the signal is drawing "everything that ever hated [the Doctor]" to Earth that night, and urges him to escape. The Doctor refuses, but instead finds help to defend the area from a volunteer group of Roman legion centurions. When a Cyberman suit temporarily stuns the Doctor while looking for a new host, Amy is protected by one of the centurions, revealing himself to be Rory. The revived Doctor is baffled to find Rory alive, since he is supposed to have been erased from history by a crack in the universe ("Cold Blood"). Rory is even more confused and says he simply remembers dying one second and being a Roman soldier the next. Rory attempts to connect with Amy using the engagement ring that he had left aboard the TARDIS, but she is still unable to remember him.

As his enemies gather in orbit, the Doctor temporarily delays the aliens and instructs River to pilot the TARDIS to Stonehenge. River finds the TARDIS under the control of a mysterious force, warning that "silence will fall", before the TARDIS materialises at Amy's house in Leadworth on 26 June 2010, the day of her wedding and of the time energy explosion that caused the cracks in the universe ("Flesh and Stone"). River finds burn-marks in Amy's lawn and the front door off its hinges; upstairs in Amy's room, River finds books in Amy's bedroom representing Pandora's box and Roman soldiers along with a photograph of Rory posing with Amy while in a centurion costume. River communicates this information to the Doctor, who worries the imaginary constructs taken from Amy's mind were used by his enemies to entrap him. When River reveals the date that the TARDIS has arrived, the Doctor urges her to leave that time zone immediately, believing the TARDIS to be the source of the time explosion. River cannot regain control of the TARDIS as it dematerializes, and traps her inside it despite her attempts to rewire the door controls.

The Doctor and Amy discover that Rory and the centurions are Autons. The other centurions capture the Doctor and take him to the Pandorica, while Rory attempts to retain his human consciousness and prevent himself from killing Amy. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and other enemies arrive and reveal that they have formed an alliance and built the Pandorica as a prison for the Doctor, as they believe he is about to destroy the universe. The Doctor pleads that they have made a mistake and the TARDIS, not him, is about to destroy the universe but the aliens refuse to believe that anyone else can pilot the TARDIS. In the cliffhanger ending, the Doctor is sealed inside the Pandorica, River is unable to escape from the exploding TARDIS, and Rory can no longer maintain control and fires upon Amy shortly after she has come to remember him, seemingly killing her; meanwhile in space, several explosions occur around Earth before a fade to black and silence.
source: wikipedia

Cast
Doctor

* Matt Smith (Eleventh Doctor)

Companions

* Karen Gillan (Amy Pond)
* Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams)

Others

* Alex Kingston – River Song
* Tony Curran – Vincent
* Bill Paterson – Bracewell
* Ian McNeice – Winston Churchill
* Sophie Okonedo – Liz Ten
* Marcus O'Donovan – Claudio
* Clive Wood – Commander
* Christopher Ryan – Commander Stark
* Ruari Mears – Cyber Leader
* Paul Kasey – Judoon
* Howard Lee – Doctor Gachet
* Barnaby Edwards – Dalek
* Simon Fisher Becker – Dorium
* Joe Jacobs – Guard
* Chrissie Cotterill – Madame Vernet
* David Fynn – Marcellus

Production
Writer Steven Moffat
Director Toby Haynes
Script editor Lindsey Alford
Producer Peter Bennett
Executive producer(s)

* Steven Moffat
* Piers Wenger
* Beth Willis

Production code 1.12
Series Series 5
Length 50 minutes
Originally broadcast 19 June 2010

No Daleks Next Year!

Steven Moffat has given a strong hint that The Daleks will not be appearing in the next series of Doctor Who.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the Who showrunner admitted that there are currently no plans for the famous aliens to reappear, although work on the 2011 series is not yet complete.

He said: "There will be a Dalek story when we've got a good idea for a Dalek story. [When that happens], there will be lots of different kinds of Daleks."
source: digitalspy

Doctor Who in Two Parts

From theescapist.com:

2011 will have the same amount of Doctor Who, but it will be more evenly spread out throughout the year.

If you're a big fan of the new Doctor Who, you'll be familiar with the dry months between the end of one season and the start of the next. Sure there's the Christmas special, but that's just a tiny drop in an otherwise Doctor Who-less few months. But next year will be different, as show boss Steven Moffat has decided to split the season into two parts.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival in Scotland today, Moffat said that he felt the show needed a big event in the middle of the season. He said that a Doctor Who season was 13 episodes long, which was enough for two seasons of most BBC shows, so rather than show them all at once, it would be split into two blocks, one shown in the spring as usual, and the second shown in the fall. He added that the spring series would "build to an Earth-shattering climax," calling it a "gamechanging" event for the character. In a BBC press release, Moffat also said that the split series meant that fans would be treated to twice as many season premiers and twice as many finales.

It sounds like the loose story arcs of previous series might not be quite so loose when the show resumes next year. When you've only got seven episodes - which is how long the blocks will be - and you're building to some big event, it doesn't leave a much time for a lot of side stories.

Sylvester McCoy Hobbit News

Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy ("Doctor Who") revealed to the Argyllshire Standard that he is in talks to join THE HOBBIT: Mr McCoy told the Standard that contrary to widespread internet rumours, he's not vying for the role of Bilbo in THE HOBBIT (due to start filming next year) - but is one of two actors being considered for one of the wizard parts.
"I am being cast in The Hobbit," he said. "We're currently in negotiations - there are two of us under consideration. It's not the Bilbo role, but could be bigger."
TheOneRing.net speculates that he may be playing Radagast the Brown.

A pic from the Christmas Special

Series 32 Writing News

The guys at denofgeek.com interviewed Steven Moffat and here is what he said about writing for the new series of Doctor Who:

It’s been said if all this goes to plan, that there’s going to be more Sherlock. How does that fit with balancing your own workload? Are you keen to write more of these? Have you worked out how many episodes of Doctor Who you’re writing for next year?

I’m doing the Christmas special plus five, so it’s the same. Six again.

Six, including the Christmas special?

Yeah. I’m basically following what Russell did. Having worked out the sums and worked out how he does it, I thought that’s a perfect way of doing it.

But there is no way of balancing this. The last year has been extraordinary. I’ve had about four days off, and that includes Christmas day. I work every weekend, I get up early in the morning, I go to bed late at night. There is no way of balancing it.

It’s extraordinary, but it’s great fun too! Great fun, so long as it doesn’t kill me.

Read the whole interview here.

New 4th Doctor Audios

Details are available for Relics of Time, the first episode of the new Tom Baker audio series Demon Quest.

The BBC Audiobook production comes in five parts and is a sequel to Hornet's News released last year. Tom Baker reprises the role of the Fourth Doctor and is joined once more by Richard Franklin and Susan Jameson, reprising their roles as Mike Yates and Mrs. Wibbsey respectively.
The Doctor returns to Nest Cottage but lands in trouble when a key component from the TARDIS disappears. Mrs. Wibbsey is inadvertently responsible, but all she can offer in recompense is a bag containing four curious objects. It seems that each one is a clue, and the beginning of a chase through Time. In ancient Sussex they are apprehended by primitive tribesfolk, and mistaken for wizards. Can the revered goddess Wibbsentia get them out of hot water? Who is the fearful wizard in the neighbouring village, and why is the countryside littered with bodies? The Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey are about to discover that all is not right with history.

The series also features Nigel Anthony as the Wizard and Rupert Holliday Evans and Kate Sachs as the Warriors with with Samuel West, Lorelei King, Jan Francis, Finty Williams and Rowena Cooper.

The series is written by Paul Magrs and the first part is released in the UK on 2nd September and in the US on November 16.

Portal Awards

Doctor Who has dominated the 2010 Portal Awards, held by Airlock Alpha part of the BlipNetwork.

Doctor Who was named Best Series/Television with 65% of the vote beating Torchwood into second place.

David Tennant was overwhelmingly voted Best Actor/television with a massive 68% of the vote, beating John Barrowman who was in second place with 10% of the vote.

Bernard Cribbins won Best Supporting Actor/Television for his portrayal of Wilfred Mott in The End of Time with 59 percent of the vote. The End of Time was itself voted Best Episode/Television.

Alex Kingston was voted Best Special Guest for her portrayal of River Song in Time of Angels.

The award for Best Actress/Television went to Eve Myles for Torchwood - Children of Earth, beating Karen Gillan into second place

The Gene Roddenberry Award for lifetime achievement was given to Russell T Davies for his work on Doctor Who and Torchwood.

This was the 11th year for the Portal Awards, which started in 1999 as the SyFy Genre Awards. An international nominating committee generated a list of five nominees for each category and readers then had 30 days to vote.

Doctor Who has won seven awards over the years, and is third to Star Trek: Voyager (18 wins) and Farscape (eight wins).

The Seeds of Doom DVD

2|Entertain have confirmed the fourth Doctor story The Seeds of Doom, will be released in the UK on 25th October 2010.

This story was originally due for release in 2011. The Revisitations boxset was due in October but has not clear if this has been postponed or if The Seeds of Doom is an additional release.

Originally shown in the first part of 1976, The Seeds of Doom was the final story of Series 13. As well as starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, it features Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Sylvia Coleridge as Amelia Ducat, Mark Jones as Arnold Keeler, John Gleeson as Charles Winlett, John Challis as Scorby and Tony Beckley as Harrison Chase.

Made in six parts, the story was written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield, and is one of the most fondly remembered stories from the fourth Doctor's era.

Tom Baker has recorded the commentary track for the release along with John Challis and Philip Hinchcliffe, who was producer at the time.
No release for North America yet, we'll keep you posted.
Thanks to Dennis for the heads up.