The Big Bang (3113/513)

[Sealurk]

River might simply have been able to recognise the gaping holes in her memory, the significance of her TARDIS journal and even recognising that it absolutely, definitely should not be blank and empty, and since Amy wasn't written out of existence and River remembered her, and possibly also knew she was somehow the key, somehow very important, hopped back and left the book with her.

As for the paradoxes, yeah...Moffat does love his time travel. And this is one reason I love Moffat for writing Who.

As for the restored Doctor immediately wearing the right clothes, consider this: just as once he was deleted by the cracks in the universe he ceased to ever have existed, once he was restored he probably ceased to ever have been gone - from his perspective, he flew into the exploding TARDIS in the Pandorica, rewound through his life, talked to Amelia, stepped into the crack and probably simply woke up in the TARDIS...and that all happened in 1996. Plenty of time for even the Doctor to decide what to wear and get changed, especially since he deliberately planned for her to remember him at her wedding.

Or something...

[pbellosom]

That's one thing that really really frustrates me about DVD/BD releases. "Branching" video has been around since the early days of DVD, which allowed for 3 different versions of Terminator 2 on the same disc without using 3x the space. There's simply no reason for other movies and shows not to be using it all the time =\

Really? Love that film, what were the other versions?

[DigiFluid]

Really? Love that film, what were the other versions?

It was restoration of deleted scenes. On a single disc there was the theatrical version, the special edition version with a bunch of those deleted scenes put back in (like the Reese scene), and there was an easter egg means of playing a 3rd version that had a couple other things in it.

And it wasn't three different versions on the same DVD, that wouldn't have fit. It was all accomplished via "branching"; the system by which the DVD and player know to play a separate scene at a certain point in the main body of film.

Ever since I first bought that DVD, I've never had any sympathy for failing to re-insert deleted scenes into movies/TV.

[Pandora's_Box]

Again it bugs me.... How did River still remember the Doctor AFTER the Big Bang resets everything and manages to give Amy the blank blue diary so that she would remember the Doctor and bring him back and then the Diary is back to normal?

Moffat actually answered that in a Tweet about a week ago actually. If you want to know, I can try to find it again.

[DigiFluid]

Moffat actually answered that in a Tweet about a week ago actually. If you want to know, I can try to find it again.

Really? While I'd rather prefer an on-screen answer, I'm still interested in hearing what he has to say.

[Pandora's_Box]

Really? While I'd rather prefer an on-screen answer, I'm still interested in hearing what he has to say.

Steven Moffat provides all the answers.....that he's willing to give for now.

Which means we will be getting the on-screen answer as well.

[DigiFluid]

Steven Moffat provides all the answers.....that he's willing to give for now.

Which means we will be getting the on-screen answer as well.

As much as I loathe twitter, that's pretty hilarious to read

[Pandora's_Box]

As for the paradoxes, yeah...Moffat does love his time travel. And this is one reason I love Moffat for writing Who.

Every show I've ever seen that's included time travel, every movie that's tried its hand at it, every novel with time travel and every story that features it has fallen victim to the paradox. It is inescapable for the sole reason because we've never actually achieved time travel, we have no idea how it works therefore there is no way to decide whether this work of fiction or that work of fiction have it entirely wrong or entirely right. The most anyone can hope for is that it makes sense to enough people that it doesn't completely ruin the work of fiction at hand.

So I'm just going to sit back and watch Moffat work until he does something outrageously stupid...ion my opinion. That's about as much as I can hope for with this time travel business.

[Pandora's_Box]

As much as I loathe twitter, that's pretty hilarious to read

Yeah, I'm not a Twitter fan myself, but someone pointed out to me that he'd answered a question about River Song so I checked it out and then read all of his hilarious responses to the people who hated what he did with the Weeping Angels in the series 5 two-parter.

And then I laughed....a lot.

[Coco Pops]

Anyone answer this?

How did older Amy get out of the Pandorica? Little Amy couldn't have helped her.

[Sealurk]

Anyone answer this?

How did older Amy get out of the Pandorica? Little Amy couldn't have helped her.

The Pandorica is supposed to be easy to open from the outside, and I seem to remember it was triggered by Amelia touching it, so maybe the Doctor reprogrammed it to respond to her DNA.

The bigger question is how the Doctor got out.

[TryWhistlingThis]

As requested by Coco Pops, here is my original Big Bang review from the time of it's initial broadcast

It pains me to say this but this ended up being one of the worst episodes in the new era (2005 - present) to date. Not the worst, but certainly amongst the top ten. For me there was just far too much plot convenience to take the story seriously. It's a shame because The Pandorica Opens was a "5 out of 5" and established a very promising follow up. This time around I also managed to stay spoiler free so this is perhaps the climax I have anticipated the greatest (alongside the End of Time). The dramatic tension was resolved too easily and without any kind of loss.

The main issues:
For instance, we saw that both The Doctor and Amy were able to touch past instances of themselves without the paradox situation seen in Father's Day.

1. The time vortex wrist device just made it far to easy

2. The idea that the Doctor would be written out of time and memory was miraculously resolved by Amy remembering due to the time journal being given as a gift, yet how did Riversong get there? Furthermore, the result seems to be all the more miraculous by unwriting time because Amy has her parents but when normally she wouldn't. Instead of unwriting, well, it just re-wrote a happier tale for Amy. Really, when you think about it, if time was really unwritten, then Amy and the Doctor should have never met. The presence of the diary and Riversong shouldn't have been possible.

3. While it was explained, I thought the ability of Amy to be in the Pandorica in a time period where the universe had ended and arrive where the universe lived on was just inconsistent. The Doctor explained it by the Pandorica taking an image of the Universe and projecting it (kind of like the way in which Windows or Mac OS takes a ghost image of an operating system) outward.

4. Everybody lives, everyone happy and live goes on better than ever. I'm not saying that the result should be an absolute dystopia, but in previous finales, while the Doctor has remained victorious, it was always at the expense of something. For example:

- Series 1: a regeneration

- Series 2: a companion

- Series 3: an old colleague

- Series 4: death of a former Prime Minister, genocide and being alone again. Effectively, a companion had died too given that her memories were destroyed

- Specials finale: a regeneration

While these finales had their flaws, what made them enjoyable was that by the end of the episode, the consequences of the Doctor's actions overshadowed him and changed him in some way. With this year's finale, it just lacked the tension and the anticipation because of how immediately things were going on. But the irony is, with less events and settings, the plots were so much more nail biting because we knew the Doctor had to make a decision he had to live with and possibly regret. Matt's Doctor merely shrugged it off and rubbed his hand for the next great adventure with two well dressed companions to boot. People miraculously remembered the Doctor because of the presence of Riversong and the journal, yet if the universe was undone, technically none of that should have remained. Amy's parent's return to her present day state. Again, this isn't reversing the timeline, it just re-writes it in a way that everyone lives happily ever after. If you take the reset to a point prior to the crack in time literally (and I took it this way because of how oversimplified it was), Amy should never have met the Doctor. It's also possible that Riversong never meets Tennant's Doctor.

The final point it a minor one but did annoy me; but why didn't we see how Riversong dealt with the Dalek? Surely the team didn't think that to show the shooting (if at all it happened) was too violent? To me this just overly sanitises the show. There's no way it would offend children. If we saw the burned skull of a human fall out of a Cyberman's helmet, then how could a concrete coated dalek exploding be any worse?

This episode did leave me with a sour taste in my mouth. I truly am saddened because I have absolutely loved this year's series. Matt has been an outstanding Doctor in the way that he's grown on me faster than the previous two, the writing actually has been quite good up until this point and i've enjoyed the companion. But the finale just really let this down. I hate having to write this and I realise my rant has gone on a while, but it really has disappointed me this much.

Compare this with The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, we had the dark, action packed war story juxtaposed with the comedic parts with Doctor/Donna plus the cheer of the companions coming together to assist the Doctor and literally drive the TARDIS home. I loved all of that because it acted as the reward after the doom and gloom. It also served the plot quite well and logically extended from the events which preceeded it. For this year's finale, it just lacked that "oomph" which is why I felt the balance was lacking here.

But, to the credit of the episode, the production was top notch in terms of the score and CGI plus it was well performed with a few chuckles along the way. However, by backing the Doctor into such a perilous situation, Moffat gave himself the very difficult task of writing the Doctor out of it and mostly failed.

My apologies. Let's hope we can reflect more positively next year.

[Coco Pops]

As requested by Coco Pops, here is my original Big Bang review from the time of it's initial broadcast

Thankyou so much for this. I enjoyed your post... And I want to respond to one or two things that also annoyed me.

The final point it a minor one but did annoy me; but why didn't we see how Riversong dealt with the Dalek? Surely the team didn't think that to show the shooting (if at all it happened) was too violent? To me this just overly sanitises the show. There's no way it would offend children. If we saw the burned skull of a human fall out of a Cyberman's helmet, then how could a concrete coated dalek exploding be any worse?

I have to agree here. Why didn't we see River shoot the Dalek.... Maybe it was budgetry and they didn't have the time or money to film that. But still leaves a question in my mind. What would the Dalek find so frightening about River Song that it begged for mercy. This is a moment that gives me an anunswered question about a character, and I don't like that.

But, to the credit of the episode, the production was top notch in terms of the score and CGI plus it was well performed with a few chuckles along the way. However, by backing the Doctor into such a perilous situation, Moffat gave himself the very difficult task of writing the Doctor out of it and mostly failed.

I honestly don't know why people apologise for posts. I never do. I speak my mind and if people don't like it they can get stuffed.

I partly agree with this. I loved this 5th series a lot. This Doctor was funny, and fun. But the last 30 minutes was so rushed and I felt really let down by the lack of drama or urgency... We knew the Doctor would come back in the last couple of minutes when River gave Amy the journal. That just had to happen.

The previews for the new series look grand so I am hoping to be surprised this year.

That's all for now.

End Of Line.

[Sealurk]

Even though it wasn't addressed to me, I really wanted to respond to this post.

I have to agree here. Why didn't we see River shoot the Dalek.... Maybe it was budgetry and they didn't have the time or money to film that. But still leaves a question in my mind. What would the Dalek find so frightening about River Song that it begged for mercy. This is a moment that gives me an anunswered question about a character, and I don't like that.

Personally I love it, as long as it isn't left hanging for too long. The intrigue and the mystery makes her all the more wonderful as a character. I think good writers and good directors know when to show and when to conceal, leave the audience guessing, and this was one of those moments.

I just hope the big reveal about River does all the mystery surrounding her justice.

I honestly don't know why people apologise for posts. I never do. I speak my mind and if people don't like it they can get stuffed.

I can understand and even admire this, but personally speaking, in real life I've always found a little tact goes a long way, so I've carried it over to online life.

I partly agree with this. I loved this 5th series a lot. This Doctor was funny, and fun. But the last 30 minutes was so rushed and I felt really let down by the lack of drama or urgency... We knew the Doctor would come back in the last couple of minutes when River gave Amy the journal. That just had to happen.

I think Moffat wrote himself into a corner. I think he came up with The Pandorica Opens, and realised it was too good not to do even though he couldn't come up with a completely decent second part. That said, the sheer spectacle and awesomeness of the idea partly made up for the big logic jumps and flimsy premise.

[DigiFluid]

Moff likes paradoxical resolutions, it's as simple as that.