The Pandorica Opens (TV story)

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Concept Art

The Pandorica Opens
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eleventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Amy Pond River Song (guest)
Main enemy:	TBC
Main setting:	Pandorica Chamber 102AD, Stonehenge, England, Earth
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Toby Haynes
Release details
Story number:	212a
Release number:	Series 5
Premiere broadcast:	19th June 2010
Format:	1 x 50 minute episode
Production code:	1.12

The Pandorica Opens will be the twelfth episode, and first in a dramatic two-part finale of Series 5.

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Amy entangled by the Cyberman

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Amy being dragged by the Cyberman head's wiring.

Synopsis

A Van Gogh painting ferried across thousands of years, communicating a disturbing prophecy to the Doctor, a message on the oldest cliff-face in the universe and a love that lasts a thousand years. In 102 AD England, Romans receive a surprise visit from Cleopatra. Nearby, Stonehenge conceals the Pandorica, a prison-box of legend. As it slowly unlocks from the inside, terrible forces gather in the heavens above. The fates are drawing close around the TARDIS – is this the day the Doctor falls? But there is just one certainty: Silence will fall...

Plot

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Cybermen and the Cyberleader in the Doctor Who trailer

Cast

• The Doctor - Matt Smith
• Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Young Amelia Pond - Caitlin Blackwood
• Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
• Liz 10 - Sophie Okonedo
• Winston Churchill - Ian McNeice
• Dorium - Simon Fisher-Becker
• TBA - Philip Madoc
• Claudio - Marcus O'Donovan
• Tabitha Pond (Amy's mother) - Karen Westwood
• Aunt Sharon - Susan Vidler
• Daleks/Cybermen/Judoon (voice) - Nicholas Briggs
• Commander Strak - Christopher Ryan

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The Pandorica

Production Crew

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References

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The Pandorica opening

Story notes

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• The episode was incorrectly entitled Silver Sentence.
• Young Amelia Pond will reappear, played by actress Caitlin Blackwood.
• Many old enemies have been confirmed to appear in the second half of the finale, although not necessarily in the first half. Whether they're to play an enemy part is still to be confirmed. The list of enemies include the Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, the Hoix, the Weevils, the Uvodni, the Sycorax, the Silurians, the Autons, the Roboform, the Blowfish, Slitheen, the Drahvins, the Chelonians and the Nestenes (DW: The Lodger)
• An alleged leaked Radio Times episode guide for episodes 12 and 13 includes the quote, "There was a goblin. Or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. Nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it -- one day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."This was narrated by the Doctor in the next time trailer in the previous episode. This was actually published in the Radio Times in an issue released on March 29th 2010.
• This is the episode when the TARDIS design from the Blue Peter competition seemingly as the TARDIS is destroyed. Otherwise in the 2010 Christmas Special.
• At least part of the story takes place at Stonehenge in Roman Britain in 102 AD, where the Pandorica, a "prison-box of legend", is hidden.
• An official synpnosis for the following episodes indicates that the TARDIS might be destroyed at the end of this episode, and it is refered to as being destroyed in the following episode, along with the Doctor being gone, and the universe collapsing. In Cold Blood, the Doctor finds a piece of the TARDIS, burnt and destroyed, from the crack.
• Karen Westwood, who is playing Amy's mother, is credited as playing Tabitha Pond by various reliable spoilers.
• Vincent van Gogh, Winston Chruchcill, Liz 10, and some other characters from throughout series 5 all return at some point, in either part 1 or 2, or both, as revealed in the following interview with Karen Gillan: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/tubetalk/a226888/karen-gillan-previews-who-finale.html
• Cleopatra will appear.
• Clips from the Trailers and Next Time Trailers show the following:

Either from The Pandorica Opens or The Big Bang

1. The Doctor, Amy and River Song running towards Stonehenge, where the Doctor uses the Sonic Screwdriver to scan something in the air.
2. River telling the Roman Centurion, Claudio, "Your world has visitors", while dressed in a modern-day white fur coat.
3. 26/06/2010 apparently the "Basecode of the Universe".
4. The Doctor, Amy, and River Song entering what might be a cave or temple while holding flaming torches.
5. Amy fending off a damaged Cyberman with a flaming torch.
6. The Doctor and Amy back to back in front of the Pandorica.
7. A damaged Cyberman picking up a decapitated Cyber helmet.
8. Roman soldiers seeing something strange above them.
9. River Song saying, "You can't win this! You can't even fight it!"
10. Amy being tied down and dragged somewhere by an anonymous enemy.
11. Amy narrowly avoiding being stabbed by a sword breaking through a barrier.
12. The Doctor holding Amy's hand as if he was escorting her out of the TARDIS.
13. The Doctor giving a cheerful thumbs up to Amy, to which she gives one back with a confused, yet terrified face.
14. Dozens of Cybermen standing together.
15. The Doctor looking upwards at a light shining down on him while surronded by Roman soldiers.
16. The Doctor, Amy, and River riding on horses in the countryside near Stonehenge.
17. The Main Sontaran Ship, Sontaran pods, Dalek Saucers, Judoon Ships, and Stonehenge right below all of the ships.
18. The Pandorica opening.
19. A Roman Battle Field.
20. The Doctor using his Sonic Screwdriver while walking down the stairs to the Pandorica Chamber.
21. The Doctor lighting a torch with his Sonic Screwdriver.
22. The Doctor, River and Amy entering the Pandorica Chamber.
23. Amy Pond face to face with the head of a Cybus Cyberman, using the wires from its neck to attack her with.
24. Armed men simmilar to police running to a door.

• The Pandorica is roughly a small room with a chair (similiar to the one that the Master had in the End of Time) that the Doctor gets strapped to. At first the chamber is closed as there is a clip in one of the trailers of Amy and the Doctor on each side of the walls. And from what is seen it does roughly suggest it is a giant cube shape that needs to possibly be opened by way of a code. However, there is some confusion as to whether the mentioned refers to something inside the Pandorica itself, or the chamber benath Stonehenge. The Pandorica is said to be in the chamber, which is the temple-like interior seen several times in the trailer.
• Doctor Who veteran actor Philip Madoc will appear in an as-yet undisclosed role - Madoc is best remembered for playing the War Lord (DW: The War Games) and Doctor Solon (DW: The Brain of Morbius). If Madoc returns as Solon, it may be likely that the Pandorica's prisoner is his master, the tyrant Time Lord, Morbius. However, as his role is undisclosed, Madoc may in fact play an alternate villain, or even the Pandorica's prisoner itself.

Ratings

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River Song showing the Doctor a severed Cyberman head.

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Rumours

• The Original Cybermen will return.
• Many fans believe Omega will return and could be the creature inside the Pandorica, with some recent reliable spoilers mentioning some Omega-like things related to the Pandorica.
• Some fans believed that the episode would take place in the Death Zone and Dark Tower on Gallifrey, both because the presence of multitudes of enemies is reminiscent of DW: The Five Doctors and because some leaked productions photos looked reminiscent of the Death Zone. Since those photos later turned out to be of the Pandorica Chamber buried beneath Stonehenge, this rumour has been confirmed to be false.
• Rory Williams will appear; if not in this episode, he is definetly appearing in part 2 of the finale.
• A press release begins "The Doctor's friends unite to send him a terrible warning", and this might seem a little overdramatic if it were only meant to be River and Rory. Amy is already with him, and doesn't know of the Pandorica. It is possible that the friends are some characters seen throughout this series, as no former friends were seen on set at all during fiming. It could be something to do with the van Gogh painting. Eldane's narration in Cold Blood seems to imply that he knows or comes to know what dangers await the Doctor; perhaps he is another one of the "friends" the press release is referring to.
• If the Doctor's "Friends who unite to send him a terrible warning" are some characters seen through the series then it's possible that they are the following:

1. Amy Pond (Who will appear)
2. Rory Williams (Who was absorbed by the time field and reports say that he will be returning in both parts of the finale)
3. Jeff and Mrs. Angelo
4. Liz 10 (Who will appear in part 1 or 2, according to an interview with Karen Gillan)
5. Winston Churchill (Who will appear in part 1 or 2, according to an interview with Karen Gillan)
6. River Song (Who will appear)
7. Father Octavian and the Clerics (Since they got absorbed by the Cracks)
8. Eldane (Since he knows that the Doctor has greater losses to come)
9. Tony, Nasreen, Mo, Elliot and Ambrose (The crack that absorbed Rory may have spread and absorbed all the Silurians in stasis, explaining their return)
10. Vincent van Gogh (Implied by spoilers to appear in some form, will appear, according to an interview with Karen Gillan)

1. Craig Owens and Sophie (They may be absorbed by the Time Field crack behind his fridge, it expanded at the end of The Lodger)

1. The interview with Karen Gillan about the finale, which can be found in story notes, said that a number of characters from throughout series 5 all return, some of whom could be any of the unconfirmed above.

• Three new enemies, the Ha'rik, the Timoreen and the Skarkish have been confirmed to appear and have yet to. As only the finale is left, this could mean at least one new enemy will appear in the finale.
• The Timoreen might appear as a (sort of) old enemy, since their name is reminiscent of a Raxacoricofallapatorian surname. River said the Slitheen were among the enemies coming but she may be refering to the Timoreen as many characters have refered to the Raxacoricofallpatorian race as Slitheen.

Filming locations

• Stonehenge, England

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Production errors

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Continuity

• The Van Gogh painting would return as it had something to do with these events. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor)
• Prisoner Zero and River Song (one who already experienced these events) previously mentioned the Pandorica opening. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, DW: Flesh and Stone)
• The Cybus Cybermen last appeared in DW: The Next Doctor, and also appeared in DW: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday and (as an incomplete "Cyberwoman") in TW: Cyberwoman
• The new, non-Time War Daleks return since they were last seen in DW: Victory of the Daleks
• Many other enemies are featured or mentioned, specifically by River Song in the trailer, including:
  • The Sontarans (DW: The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion of Time, The Two Doctors, The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, SJA: The Last Sontaran, Enemy of the Bane, DW:The End of Time)
  • The Judoon (DW: Smith and Jones, The Stolen Earth, SJA: Prisoner of the Judoon, DW: The End of Time)
  • The Hoix (DW: Love & Monsters, TW: Exit Wounds)
  • The Weevils (TW: Everything Changes, Day One)
  • The Blowfish (TW: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Fragments)
  • The Uvodni (SJA: Warriors of Kudlak)
  • The Sycorax (DW: The Christmas Invasion, The Shakespeare Code, The End of Time)
  • The Silurians (DW: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Warriors of the Deep, The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood)
  • The Nestene and Autons (DW:Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons, Rose)
  • The Roboform (DW: The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride)
  • The Drahvins (DW: Galaxy 4)
  • The Chelonians (NA: The Highest Science, Zamper, MA: The Well-Mannered War, The Crystal Bucephalus, The Empire of Glass, DWM: The Last Word, The Body Bank, VD: Fegovy)

Home video releases

BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Four will feature The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. It will be released on Monday 6th September 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.

See also

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External links

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