The Big Bang

"You know there's no such thing as stars."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 26th June 2010

Series: 5.13

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory, River

Synopsis 

The Alliance has trapped the Doctor in the Pandorica. The TARDIS has exploded with River inside. Rory has shot Amy and the cracks have swallowed everything but the Earth and the Moon. 

The fate of all existence lies in the hands of a little girl who still believes in stars.

Verdict 

The Big Bang is fantastic fifth season finale and an excellent conclusion to the story already started in The Pandorica Opens. It expertly closes a lot of story arcs from the past 12 episodes, but in typical Moffat fashion, it potentially leaves us with more questions than answers! I remember when watching this on broadcast, which I can't believe is over five years, and I was quite shocked by how different it was to the story's first part. After the incredible cliffhanger, the resolutions are all pretty simple really. The Doctor escapes the Pandorica thanks to his future self and what must be a paradox. In doing so, he instructs Rory to place Amy in the Pandorica as that will force her to stay alive which, after being shot by her soon to be Auton husband, is exactly what she needed! River being trapped in the exploding TARDIS, which wonderfully acted as the replacement for the Sun in this timeline with the absence of the stars. I loved how the Alliance miserably failed to save the universe and once more it was left to the Doctor to save all of creation. The idea of the TARDIS exploding at every point in history was incredibly audacious from Moffat. At just one point in time you'd wonder why it would cause a threat to the whole universe, but with it at every point in history the threat was gigantic. History was falling apart and the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River were only surviving by being at the heart of the storm. I really like Amelia and despite being the younger self of Amy, I love the differentiation between the pair that comes with simply extending her name to what it fully is. I loved how she was the girl that believed in stars. In this timeline, the stars had never existed. The Richard Dawkins reference was quite funny I must say, that was a real nice inclusion. Rory committing himself to 2,000 years of guarding his soon to be wife in her perfect prison was quite incredible I must say! I thought it was really nice of the Doctor to show his admiration of that at the pair's wedding. With the Doctor destined for the other side of the cracks, closing them for good and allowing the universe to be fully rebooted, I absolutely adored the comparison of the TARDIS to the well known wedding craze of having something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue because well, the TARDIS was all of them! The way the Doctor saved himself by implanting ways for Amy to remember him once he was erased was magical. The scene being repeated from The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone was simply stunning and this time we knew what it meant! That caused a bit of confusion during that story but it just lead up to something beautiful here. I thought the Doctor being at Amelia's bedside and telling her the story of the TARDIS was sublime as well! I really liked how this episode followed suit of the previous by having a lone enemy. Only this time it wasn't a Cyberman, it was an Underhenge Dalek! The restoration field of the Pandorica had brought the Dalek back. Now, the Doctor had one of his most dangerous, incredible and audacious plans to save the universe ever! He was going to fly and pilot the Pandorica straight into the heart of the TARDIS explosion and release the restoration field at every point in history! The comparison to cloning from a single cell was really good. It of course worked and just about all was back to normal. For the second time now, the Doctor escaped regeneration following being exterminated by a Dalek. The ending was really nice with the TARDIS trio finally reunited. Overall, a sensational finale! 

Rating: 10/10