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{{Infobox Object
{{Infobox Object
|image         = [[File:Pandorica.png|250px]]
|image       = The Pandorica.jpg
|object name  = Pandorica
|type        = Cubic prison
|type          =  
|first      = The Pandorica Opens (TV story)
|appearances   = [[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]''/''[[The Big Bang]]''
|appearances = {{il|[[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]''|[[AUDIO]]: ''[[I, Rorius (audio story)|I, Rorius]]''|[[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Once and Future Nurse (audio story)|The Once and Future Nurse]]''|[[GAME]]: ''[[Lost in Time (video game)|Lost in Time]]''}}
}}
|clip        = I. Am. Talking! - The Pandorica Speech - Doctor Who - The Pandorica Opens - BBC
{{semi-protect}}
}}{{ImageLink}}
'''The Pandorica''' was a prison box, hidden under [[Stonehenge]]. It was constructed to ensure the safety of the [[Alliance]] and to hold the most feared organism in the [[Timeline|history]] of the [[Universe]], which turned out to be the Doctor.
The '''Pandorica''' was a prison hidden under [[Stonehenge]].


==History==
It was built to hold [[the Doctor]] and ensure the safety of the [[The Pandorica Alliance|Pandorica Alliance]].


It was mentioned by [[Prisoner Zero]] to [[Eleventh Doctor|the Doctor]], who told him that it would open and that silence would fall. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'') [[River Song]] also mentioned the Pandorica to the Doctor, telling him she would next see him there and that she remembered it well. The Doctor believed at that time that the Pandorica was a fairytale ([[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]''), later explaining to Amy that, according to legend, the Pandorica was the prison of a warrior or goblin who dropped out of the sky and tore your world apart until a good wizard tricked it and locked it up ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'').
Despite being described time and again as the "perfect prison" by the [[Eleventh Doctor]], it also proved to be "easy" to open from the outside; [[Rory Williams]], on instruction from the Doctor, opened it with the [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]].


The Pandorica turned out to be a prison, built by the [[The Alliance|Alliance]] for the Doctor to stop him from destroying all the universes. Their conclusions held that the Doctor would be responsible for the destruction of existence itself, and thus used the lure of the Pandorica in order to entrap him. There were many layers of security in the Pandorica including [[deadlock seal|deadlocks]], time stops and matter lines. It even had a [[Restoration field|restoration field]] to stop the Doctor from dying, which the Alliance believed to be a form of escape. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')
== Design ==
The Pandorica looked like an image of [[Pandora's box]] on [[The Legend of Pandora's Box|a book]] found in Amy Pond's bedroom. It was lined with a very ornate and complex set of security tumblers that glowed green when they were being unlocked, likening the Pandorica to a heavily vaulted safe. The interior was a small room with a chair in it and a set of manacles built into the chair. When someone was placed on the chair, the exterior would close and the manacles would lock around their waist, shoulders, and wrists to shackle the person to the chair, sealing them in tightly. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')


It was used to help save [[Amy Pond]] and she was locked inside it for 1894 years, until she was saved by her younger self, whose [[DNA]] provided the Pandorica with the material it needed to fully revive the near-death adult Amy. During this time, it was moved several times:
== History ==
*118 A.D - Taken back to Rome under armed guard.
According to legend, the Pandorica was the prison of a warrior or [[goblin]] who dropped out of the sky and tore the world apart until a good [[wizard]] tricked it and locked it up.
*420 A.D. - Raided by the Franks.
*1120 - Prized possession of the Knights Templar.
*1231 - Donated to the Vatican.
*Post 1231 - Sold by [[Marco Polo]].


At an undisclosed time it was put into storage in a London warehouse, which was destroyed by the Blitz in 1941. The box was found a short distance away, unscathed.
The Pandorica was actually a prison built by the [[The Pandorica Alliance|Pandorica Alliance]] for the [[Eleventh Doctor]] to stop him from inadvertently destroying all of creation in every [[Universe]]. They believed the Doctor would be responsible for the destruction of existence itself.
[[File:The Pandorica Imprisonment.jpg|thumb|The Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'')]]
They used the lure of the Pandorica to trap him. There were many layers of security in the Pandorica including [[deadlock seal|deadlocks]], [[time stop]]s and matter lines. It even had a [[restoration field]] to stop the Doctor from dying, which the Alliance believed a form of escape. In addition, [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] guarded the box for some time before the Eleventh Doctor's arrival. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'') All of this turned the "Underhenge" into a space-time [[Waypoint]]. It was visited by the [[Twelfth Doctor]] and a future version of [[Clara Oswald]] to collect [[vortex energy]]. They were attacked by two Cybermen, but managed to escape, after which Clara returned to [[Clara's TARDIS|her and Me's TARDIS]]. ([[GAME]]: ''[[Lost in Time (video game)|Lost in Time]]'')


The Pandorica was also used by the Doctor to restore the universe. Since all of the traps inside it provided the perfect barrier against the destruction of the universe, it retained several billion atoms of the original universe within it even after the destruction of the rest of creation. Operating on the same principle as [[Cloning|cloning]] a body from a single cell, these atoms provided a literal 'blueprint' for the universe when the Doctor threw it into the exploding TARDIS which cracked all of time and space. The blueprint from the Pandorica combined with the explosion energy from the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] restored every point in time and the rest of the universe. Doing so also reset the timeline so the cracks never existed and all that was erased by them was restored. As the Alliance seemingly had no reason to form, it is likely it did not, and so the Pandorica likely never existed also. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
After the Alliance trapped the Doctor in the Pandorica in 102 AD, the [[Auton]] duplicate of [[Rory Williams]] succumbed to his programming and shot [[Amy Pond]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'') However, a future version of the Doctor was able to go back in time using River Song's vortex manipulator and tell Rory how he could use the sonic screwdriver to release the Doctor, as well as use the Pandorica to save Amy by sealing the dying Amy inside the Pandorica. Rory then pledged himself to defending the Pandorica until Amy could be revived. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')


==Appearence==
In [[107]], the Pandorica was discovered under Stonehenge. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)}}) In [[118]], the Pandorica was taken back to [[Rome]] under armed guard. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'') Rory followed it to Rome where he was forced to fight as a [[gladiator]], then the personal guard of [[Caesar (Gladiator)|the Caesar]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Gladiator (audio story)|Gladiator]]'') the assassin of his successor [[Augusta (Gladiator)|Augusta]], and finally he became Emperor himself. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Unwilling Assassin (audio story)|The Unwilling Assassin]]'') Not long after, Rory abdicated. After locating the Pandorica, he made for [[Britain|Britannia]] with the box, intending to travel via [[Ostia]] and [[France]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[I, Rorius (audio story)|I, Rorius]]'')


===Exterior===
In [[420]], it was plundered by the [[Franks]] ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'') and stolen by the [[Goths]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)}}) By [[1120]], it was the prized possession of the [[Knights Templar]].
The Pandorica looked much like an image of Pandora's Box found in the bedroom of Amy Pond. Since they used her memories to lure the Doctor there, the Alliance possibly designed it to look like this.


===Interior===
In [[1231]], it was donated to the [[Vatican]]. Sometime after, it was sold by [[Marco Polo]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'') It was later recovered from the [[Aegean]] [[seabed]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)}})
The interior was a small room with a chair in it, intending to be a prison. When someone was placed on the chair, the exterior would close, sealing them in, and many forms of security would stop the prisoner escaping.


==Known prisoners==
[[File:Lone Centurion Blitz (TBB).jpg|thumb|left|A painting depicts [[Rory Williams (Auton)|the Last Centurion]] heaving the Pandorica out of war-torn London. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')]]
[[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]] was put in the chair by the Alliance to stop him from destroying the universe. Using the Doctor's [[sonic screwdriver]], given to him by a future version of the Doctor, the [[Auton]] copy of [[Rory Williams]] was able to open the Pandorica and release him. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]])''
It was once put into storage in a London warehouse which was destroyed by [[the Blitz]] in [[1941]]. It was reportedly seen being dragged to safety from the burning warehouse by [[Rory Williams (Auton)|the Last Centurion]], and found a short distance away, unscathed.
 
It was finally opened in [[1996]], when Amy's younger self came to the museum where the Pandorica was kept. Young Amy's contact with the Pandorica gave it a sample of her [[DNA]], which it could use as a sample to fully revive the nearly dead adult Amy.
 
The Pandorica was then used by the Doctor to [[Big Bang Two|reboot the universe]]. Since all of the traps inside it provided the perfect barrier against the destruction of the universe the Alliance had been trying to avoid, it retained several billion atoms of the original universe within, even after the destruction of the rest of creation. Operating on the same principle as [[cloning]] a body from a single cell, these atoms provided a "blueprint" for the universe when the Doctor piloted it into the exploding TARDIS which had [[Time Field|cracked]] all of time and space. The atoms from the Pandorica combined with the energy of the TARDIS's explosion to restore every point in time and the universe. Doing so caused the cracks in time to close and allowed Amy to remember her family and the Doctor - all erased by the cracks - back into existence. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')
 
== Other references ==
As a "sneak preview", River mentioned to the Eleventh Doctor that he would see her again "quite soon. When the Pandorica opens." The Doctor responded that that was a [[fairy tale]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'') When [[Flemming (The Husbands of River Song)|Flemming]] was reading [[River Song's diary|River's diary]], he mentioned this adventure, remarking that it sounded "exciting". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'')
 
[[Human]] [[historian]]s following the [[Siege of Trenzalore]] acknowledged the Pandorica within a string of defeats, following the [[Eye of Time]] and the [[Eternity Clock]] and preceding the [[Dalek Project]] and the [[Dalek Foundation]], the Doctor inflicted on the [[New Paradigm]] which led to their organisational restructure into the [[Parliament of the Daleks]] preceding the [[Asylum Incident]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (short story)|Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe]]'')
 
As recorded by the [[Testimony]], the "Imp of the Pandorica" was a [[Aliases of the Doctor|name]] for [[the Doctor]] given his entrapment in the prison. ([[TV]]: ''[[Twice Upon a Time (TV story)|Twice Upon a Time]]'')
 
A prison similar to the Pandorica, made of [[dwarf star alloy]] to prevent anything from entering it, was built by the [[United States government]] inside [[Area 51]] in [[1969]] with the official purpose of keeping inside it the Doctor, but was later revealed to be a place where he, [[River Song]], Amy, Rory, [[Canton Everett Delaware III]] and President [[Richard Nixon]] could talk about [[Silent]]s and operate [[the Doctor's TARDIS]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon (TV story)|Day of the Moon]]'')
 
While discussing everything the toil that his non-stop adventuring had taken on his mental state across their many lifetimes, the [[Fifteenth Doctor]] reminded the [[Fourteenth Doctor]] of the events of the Pandorica. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Giggle (TV story)}})
 
== Behind the scenes ==
[[File:Pandorica II.jpg|thumb|The Pandorica II]]
* For the [[Doctor Who Experience (London/Cardiff)]], part of the interactive story featured a device called the "Pandorica II". The Alliance trapped the Doctor in it again and it was up to the guests to bring the TARDIS to him, so he could escape. The Doctor considered the Back Up Pandorica as cheating and complained on the fact that it wasn't even a different colour.


Though not a prisoner, Amy Pond was kept in the Pandorica by the Doctor and the Auton duplicate of Rory after being killed. The imprisonment was meant to bring her back to life and she was restored when her seven year old self touched the box, causing it to open. Rory's duplicate guarded it from 102 AD to 1996 AD, preventing it from falling into the wrong hands and often being seen in its presence; he was dubbed "The Lone Centurion" and became the subject of myth. One of the Pandorica's powers was to keep anyone from dying as that was a form of escape. Once it got a DNA sample from the young Amy, it was able to resurrect the older one. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]]'')
[[Category:Prisons]]
[[Category:Prisons]]
[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Fairy tales]]
[[Category:Security]]
[[Category:Resurrection]]
[[fr:Pandorica]]
[[Category:Total Collapse Event Incident]]

Latest revision as of 19:26, 25 December 2024

The Pandorica was a prison hidden under Stonehenge.

It was built to hold the Doctor and ensure the safety of the Pandorica Alliance.

Despite being described time and again as the "perfect prison" by the Eleventh Doctor, it also proved to be "easy" to open from the outside; Rory Williams, on instruction from the Doctor, opened it with the sonic screwdriver.

Design[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Pandorica looked like an image of Pandora's box on a book found in Amy Pond's bedroom. It was lined with a very ornate and complex set of security tumblers that glowed green when they were being unlocked, likening the Pandorica to a heavily vaulted safe. The interior was a small room with a chair in it and a set of manacles built into the chair. When someone was placed on the chair, the exterior would close and the manacles would lock around their waist, shoulders, and wrists to shackle the person to the chair, sealing them in tightly. (TV: The Big Bang)

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

According to legend, the Pandorica was the prison of a warrior or goblin who dropped out of the sky and tore the world apart until a good wizard tricked it and locked it up.

The Pandorica was actually a prison built by the Pandorica Alliance for the Eleventh Doctor to stop him from inadvertently destroying all of creation in every Universe. They believed the Doctor would be responsible for the destruction of existence itself.

The Doctor is trapped in the Pandorica. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)

They used the lure of the Pandorica to trap him. There were many layers of security in the Pandorica including deadlocks, time stops and matter lines. It even had a restoration field to stop the Doctor from dying, which the Alliance believed a form of escape. In addition, Cybermen guarded the box for some time before the Eleventh Doctor's arrival. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) All of this turned the "Underhenge" into a space-time Waypoint. It was visited by the Twelfth Doctor and a future version of Clara Oswald to collect vortex energy. They were attacked by two Cybermen, but managed to escape, after which Clara returned to her and Me's TARDIS. (GAME: Lost in Time)

After the Alliance trapped the Doctor in the Pandorica in 102 AD, the Auton duplicate of Rory Williams succumbed to his programming and shot Amy Pond. (TV: The Pandorica Opens) However, a future version of the Doctor was able to go back in time using River Song's vortex manipulator and tell Rory how he could use the sonic screwdriver to release the Doctor, as well as use the Pandorica to save Amy by sealing the dying Amy inside the Pandorica. Rory then pledged himself to defending the Pandorica until Amy could be revived. (TV: The Big Bang)

In 107, the Pandorica was discovered under Stonehenge. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)"]) In 118, the Pandorica was taken back to Rome under armed guard. (TV: The Big Bang) Rory followed it to Rome where he was forced to fight as a gladiator, then the personal guard of the Caesar, (AUDIO: Gladiator) the assassin of his successor Augusta, and finally he became Emperor himself. (AUDIO: The Unwilling Assassin) Not long after, Rory abdicated. After locating the Pandorica, he made for Britannia with the box, intending to travel via Ostia and France. (AUDIO: I, Rorius)

In 420, it was plundered by the Franks (TV: The Big Bang) and stolen by the Goths. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)"]) By 1120, it was the prized possession of the Knights Templar.

In 1231, it was donated to the Vatican. Sometime after, it was sold by Marco Polo. (TV: The Big Bang) It was later recovered from the Aegean seabed. (PROSE: The Visual Dictionary [+]Loading...["The Visual Dictionary (2010 reference book)"])

A painting depicts the Last Centurion heaving the Pandorica out of war-torn London. (TV: The Big Bang)

It was once put into storage in a London warehouse which was destroyed by the Blitz in 1941. It was reportedly seen being dragged to safety from the burning warehouse by the Last Centurion, and found a short distance away, unscathed.

It was finally opened in 1996, when Amy's younger self came to the museum where the Pandorica was kept. Young Amy's contact with the Pandorica gave it a sample of her DNA, which it could use as a sample to fully revive the nearly dead adult Amy.

The Pandorica was then used by the Doctor to reboot the universe. Since all of the traps inside it provided the perfect barrier against the destruction of the universe the Alliance had been trying to avoid, it retained several billion atoms of the original universe within, even after the destruction of the rest of creation. Operating on the same principle as cloning a body from a single cell, these atoms provided a "blueprint" for the universe when the Doctor piloted it into the exploding TARDIS which had cracked all of time and space. The atoms from the Pandorica combined with the energy of the TARDIS's explosion to restore every point in time and the universe. Doing so caused the cracks in time to close and allowed Amy to remember her family and the Doctor - all erased by the cracks - back into existence. (TV: The Big Bang)

Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]

As a "sneak preview", River mentioned to the Eleventh Doctor that he would see her again "quite soon. When the Pandorica opens." The Doctor responded that that was a fairy tale. (TV: Flesh and Stone) When Flemming was reading River's diary, he mentioned this adventure, remarking that it sounded "exciting". (TV: The Husbands of River Song)

Human historians following the Siege of Trenzalore acknowledged the Pandorica within a string of defeats, following the Eye of Time and the Eternity Clock and preceding the Dalek Project and the Dalek Foundation, the Doctor inflicted on the New Paradigm which led to their organisational restructure into the Parliament of the Daleks preceding the Asylum Incident. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

As recorded by the Testimony, the "Imp of the Pandorica" was a name for the Doctor given his entrapment in the prison. (TV: Twice Upon a Time)

A prison similar to the Pandorica, made of dwarf star alloy to prevent anything from entering it, was built by the United States government inside Area 51 in 1969 with the official purpose of keeping inside it the Doctor, but was later revealed to be a place where he, River Song, Amy, Rory, Canton Everett Delaware III and President Richard Nixon could talk about Silents and operate the Doctor's TARDIS. (TV: Day of the Moon)

While discussing everything the toil that his non-stop adventuring had taken on his mental state across their many lifetimes, the Fifteenth Doctor reminded the Fourteenth Doctor of the events of the Pandorica. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"])

Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Pandorica II
  • For the Doctor Who Experience (London/Cardiff), part of the interactive story featured a device called the "Pandorica II". The Alliance trapped the Doctor in it again and it was up to the guests to bring the TARDIS to him, so he could escape. The Doctor considered the Back Up Pandorica as cheating and complained on the fact that it wasn't even a different colour.
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