History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens

* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler: Never have the words "silence will fall" been more scary. ''Even the background music stops.'']] Earlier in the episode, we suddenly hear [[spoiler:"silence will fall"]] spoken by a hideous, rasping voice out of goddamn nowhere, just before the TARDIS is hijacked. The source of the sound, and hence the source of the tampering, is ''never shown''.

The one where Rory [[DisneyDeath got better.]] [[DeathIsCheap Again.]] [[ActuallyADoombot Sorta.]]

The one where Rory [[DisneyDeath got better.]] [[DeathIsCheap Again.]] [[ActuallyADoombot Sorta.]]

Written by Steven Moffat, it is the first part of the 2010 series finale.

At least 10,000 starships -- but it could be 100,000, a million, a hundred million; the scanners are going into overload. A voice comes through; Daleks. Dalek battleships, at least 12,000 armed to the teeth. Not a problem because they have the element of surprise! The three of them can sneak attack the 12,000 battleships . . . and they'll be killed . . . you know what, never mind. Then Cybermen, too; but we can [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday turn them against each other]], the Daleks are so angry they'll fight anyone! Then there's more coming through: Sontarans, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon Slitheen]] family, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones Judoon]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride Roboform]], [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Chelonians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Nestene]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvins]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion Sycorax]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Zygons]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour Atraxi]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Draconians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation Terileptils]]. They're all here for the Pandorica. What could it possibly be? Everything that's ever hated the Doctor is coming for him tonight. River tells him to run, just this once, just run; he can't win, he can't even fight.

Back to Stonehenge where Amy's waking up, she bumps into Rory and recognises him as the guy who . . . did the . . . swordy thing. The Doctor sends her up to get some fresh air. Rory is rather traumatised and angsts for a bit before the Doctor shuts him up and tosses him the ring. There's no explanation to this; Rory was eaten up by a crack in time and space and now he's here with a head full of Roman memories. It's unexplainable, and to be honest, rather distracting, but the universe is big and sometimes impossible things just happen and people call them miracles. The Doctor's never seen one, but this is close enough. Rory goes after Amy.

Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans; they've all formed [[LegionOfDoom an alliance against the Doctor]]. They have deduced that the cracks in time are threatening reality and erasing all other universes, and that they have spawned from the explosion of the TARDIS. They're here to save reality from the Doctor under the (false) logic that only he can pilot the TARDIS, shutting him in the Pandorica (while he shouts desperately) in hopes that the TARDIS won't explode without him around. Elsewhere in time and space, River opens the TARDIS doors to . . . a slab of concrete, as behind her the ship starts to explode. "[[TearJerker I'm sorry, my love.]]" The alliance has failed. We zoom out from Rory holding Amy's body, a shot of the Earth against stars and galaxies exploding until all fades out in a black void of nothingness --

* BadassNormal: At first, Rory-as-Centurion seems like this because of his impressive "swording" of a Cyberman and then volunteering with fifty of his own soldiers to secure the Pandorica. Then it turns out that he's actually an Auton . . .

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: "I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him." It's a ShoutOut to the Seventh Doctor story [[DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield "Battlefield"]], where the Doctor was revealed to be Merlin. It may be worth noting at this point that the Doctor's fate at the end of the episode is quite similar to Merlin's (sealed in an impenetrable cave[=/=]castle of air[=/=]whatever for the whole of eternity) and may lead to thematically similar results (without Merlin, Arthur's Britain falls; without the Doctor, the ''universe will cease to exist'').

** Rory also gets one, too: ". . . and then I was here, a Roman soldier, a proper Roman, head full of Roman . . . stuff."

** The Doctor's Academy Nickname, ΘΣ or Theta Sigma, first mentioned as far back as the Fourth Doctor serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor "The Armageddon Factor"]], is part of River's message.
** The Doctor's "No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn!" calls back to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]] in Series 1.
** The episode is a "direct sequel", according to Moffat, to every episode except [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]]:
*** The episode, from the Doctor's perspective, takes place very shortly after [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]].
*** The episode also takes place at around the same wibbly-wobbly time as [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]].
*** Part of the episode takes place shortly after the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]].
*** The episode takes place ''before'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]/"Flesh and Stone" from River's perspective.
*** The Atraxi ("The Eleventh Hour"), Paradigm Daleks ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]]) and Silurians ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E8TheHungryEarth "The Hungry Earth"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood "Cold Blood"]]) are part of the Alliance.

** The Doctor's fate resembles Merlin's (trapped forever in an impenetrable prison by someone who uses his own power against him). In the Seventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield "Battlefield"]], the Doctor turns out to ''be'' Merlin. He should have paid attention to the end of that particular story . . .

** The Doctor's speech to scare off the alien fleet is possibly what River [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble will be/was referring to]] when she tells the Tenth Doctor "Armies will flee in your wake" in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]].
** This isn't the first time someone's yelled [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern "I! AM! TALKING!"]] . . . only that time, the Doctor was the one being shouted at.

* CraniumChase: Amy finds a Cyberman head that still manages to be a threat thanks to CombatTentacles. After she gets some distance . . .

* DelayedReaction: "I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious . . ." and, a few seconds later, "Missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!" "Yeah, I think you probably are . . ." "I'll get it in a minute!" He does. And "it" is that the guy he's talking to ''died and was erased from time quite a while ago''. The look on his face is ''priceless''.
* {{Dissimile}}: The Doctor uses one to explain what the Cybermen do: "It's just like being an organ donor, except you're alive and sort of . . . screaming" .

''[A loud clatter is heard from outside.]''\\

'''Rory:''' ''[rocks back on his heels from the poke]''\\
'''The Doctor:''' . . . Hello again.
* ForegoneConclusion: River has favourable memories of the events pertaining to the Pandorica, as established in each of the two stories we've seen connected to her. Then again, this is ''Doctor Who''; Timey-Wimey and all that . . .

** The new race of realistic "autonomous Autons", with emotions and memories, first appeared in the AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho audio [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS2E3BraveNewTown "Brave New Town"]].
** Roman Britain, with aliens including a Dalek, and a BadFuture seems based off [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho030SeasonsOfFear "Seasons of Fear"]]. This becomes more prevalent in the next episode.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: June 26, 2010, the date of the explosion that caused the cracks in time and space, is the airdate of the next episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]].
* LegionOfDoom: The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters the Hoix]], [[Series/{{Torchwood}} the Weevils, the Blowfish]], [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Uvodni]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion the Sycorax]], the Silurians, the Autons and Nestenes, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour the Atraxi]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation the Terileptils]], the Draconians, [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride the Roboform]], the Zygons, the Slitheen, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvin]] and the Chelonians (from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse) have all joined forces to attempt to prevent the explosion of the TARDIS and thus TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by imprisoning the Doctor in the Pandorica. It also counts as an EnemyMine for the Daleks and Cybermen in regards to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]. Of note is that the Atraxi, Weevils, Uvodni and the Blowfish are merely easily-missed extras in crowd shots whereas the Terileptils, Draconians, Drahvin, Chelonians and Slitheen only "appear" as name-checks by River. River also mentions the Haemogoth, an obscure race that were only mentioned in a novel.

-->'''The Doctor:''' No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it . . . \\

* PaintingTheMedium: A favourite of Moffat's: in the last few seconds of the episode ''[[MusicalisInterruptus even the BGM stops]]''. "''Silence'' . . . will fall."

** The knockout dart the Cyberman head fires at Amy looks [[Film/AttackOfTheClones familiar]] . . .

The one where the Doctor pretends to be a target.

The episode opens in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor France, 1890]]. Creator/VincentVanGogh is ill and screaming his head off, and the entire town can hear him. His doctor explains to Vincent's landlord that he's ill, but she's more concerned about his new painting. It's weirder than usual.

However, they have the greatest fighting force in the history of the Earth with them: the Romans. River rides back to get help, but it's not easy; the general has seen through her Cleopatra gig. It mainly has to do with the real Cleo being in Egypt and dead (for 130 years in total), but don't worry, a faceless, voiceless Roman soldier appears in the doorway to help. Who could it possibly be?

* BigDamnHeroes: Rory-as-Centurion kills the Cyberman in the crypt in the nick of time to save Amy

** River gets a Vortex Manipulator "fresh off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent" (the people Captain Jack used to work for). Except it's ''on'' the wrist, so not Jack himself (unless he got a new wrist).

(''[[TemptingFate The rest of the Cyberman walks in and picks up its head]]'')

'''The Doctor:''' Well, I'll get it in a minute. (''walks out of the room carrying two Cyber guns'')\\

'''The Doctor:''' (''slowly walks back into the room, staring at Rory, and pokes him in the chest'')\\
'''Rory:''' (''rocks back on his heels from the poke'')\\

* ForegoneConclusion: River has favourable memories of the events pertaining to the Pandorica, as established in each of the two stories we've seen connected to her. Then again, this is Who; Timey-Wimey and all that . . .
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Doctor notices something's oddly coincidental when he founds out that Pandora's Box was Amy's favourite book, and Roman history was Amy's favourite subject.
** The fact that the half-disassembled Cyberman attacked Amy and the Doctor in an attempt to assimilate them, yet ''hadn't'' done so to any of the Roman troops who'd been camped nearby, is an early sign that [[spoiler: the Romans are plastic, not flesh.]]

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the Doctor's phone-call with River, while she's at Amy's house, you can see a Roman briefly wielding the Cyberman's weapon, trying to look badass. Several of them, in fact. As the scene continues, it's clear that they've lined up to have their turn at it.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: June 26th, 2010, the date of the explosion that caused the cracks in time and space, is the airdate of the next episode, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang "The Big Bang"]].

(''after the Doctor has exited and then re-entered the room'')\\

-->'''River:''' When you fight Barbarians, what must they think of you?\\

'''Roman Commander:''' (''draws sword'') A place more deadly and more powerful and more impatient than their tiny minds can imagine.\\
'''River:''' (''pulls out a blaster and disintegrates a table'') [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Where do I come from?]]

* TitleDrop: ''The Pandorica Opens'' is the title of Vincent's painting.

* LegionOfDoom: The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters the Hoix]], [[Series/{{Torchwood}} the Weevils, the Blowfish]], [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Uvodni]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion the Sycorax]], the Silurians, the Autons and Nestenes, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventHour the Atraxi]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation the Terileptils]], the Draconians, [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride the Roboform]], the Zygons, the Slitheen, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvin]] and the Chelonians (from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse) have all joined forces to attempt to prevent the explosion of the TARDIS and thus TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by imprisoning the Doctor in the Pandorica. It also counts as an EnemyMine for the Daleks and Cybermen in regards to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]. Of note is that the Atraxi, Weevils, Uvodni and the Blowfish are merely easily-missed extras in crowd shots whereas the Terileptils, Draconians, Drahvin, Chelonians and Slitheen only "appear" as name-checks by River. River also mentions the Haemogoth, an obscure race that were only mentioned in a novel.

* CraniumChase: Amy finds a Cyberman head that still manages to be a threat thanks to CombatTentacles. After she gets some distance...

[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks Cabinet War Rooms, 1941]]. The Allies have found a painting in Arles, and it's confirmed as a genuine Van Gogh. After seeing the painting, UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill gets on the phone to the Doctor. River Song, in a 51st century prison, gets the call instead (relayed by the TARDIS) and breaks out after talking to Churchill. She makes her way to the Royal Gallery, and gets caught nicking the painting by [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E2TheBeastBelow Liz Ten]], who lets her go after ''she'' sees the painting. River then is able to procure a vortex manipulator fresh off the wrist of a Time Agent (so fresh they're still attached!) after a bit of haggling, and travels in time.

We join the Doctor, who's taking Amy to the oldest planet in the universe. There's a message on the cliff side that no-one's ever translated, but that changes today. "Why today?", Amy asks. Because of the TARDIS' TranslatorMicrobes, answers the Doctor. They open the doors, and see in fifty-foot letters, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Θ Σ]][[labelnote:*]][[GratuitousGreek For those who don't know the Greek alphabet]]: [[DontExplainTheJoke Theta Sigma]][[/labelnote]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels Hello Sweetie!]]". River's also left the Doctor some co-ordinates, which take the TARDIS to Roman Britain (102AD), where River's playing Cleopatra. As soon as the Doctor gets there, we finally get a peek at the painting; it's the TARDIS, and it's exploding!

Cut to the trio on horseback, riding to Stonehenge. River and Amy have a Timey-Wimey conversation about their goodbye [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone last time]]; "I'll see you again when the Pandorica opens", River had said. Maybe she did say that, but she hasn't yet. Maybe she will have. They move aside a stone and go under Stonehenge. Inside, they find a huge box carved with complicated patterns and symbols: the Pandorica. More than just a fairytale, then, and something's trapped inside. "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", the Doctor says. Indestructible, can't be caught or reasoned with; it would just drop out of the sky and tear down their world. How did it get caught? Like all fairy-tales, a good wizard came and [[{{Foreshadowing}} tricked it]]. Amy takes a moment to mention that it's a bit like PandorasBox, her favourite book when she was a kid; all the bad things trapped inside it that came into the world when the box opened. This arouses the Doctor's suspicion: Amy's favourite subject at school, the Romans, and now her favourite childhood book. "Never overlook a coincidence. Unless you're busy, then always overlook a coincidence."

At least 10,000 starships -- but it could be 100,000, a million, a hundred million; the scanners are going into overload. A voice comes through; Daleks. Dalek battleships, at least 12,000 armed to the teeth. Not a problem because they have the element of surprise! The three of them can sneak attack the 12,000 battleships....and they'll be killed... you know what, never mind. Then Cybermen, too; but we can [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday turn them against each other]], the Daleks are so angry they'll fight anyone! Then there's more coming through: Sontarans, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon Slitheen]] family, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones Judoon]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride Roboform]], [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Chelonians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Nestene]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvins]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion Sycorax]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Zygons]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour Atraxi]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Draconians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation Terileptils]]. They're all here for the Pandorica. What could it possibly be? Everything that's ever hated the Doctor is coming for him tonight. River tells him to run, just this once, just run; he can't win, he can't even fight.

->'''The Doctor:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn]]. Oh, and something else I don't have: anything. To. Lose. So, if you're sitting up there with your silly little spaceships and your silly little guns and you've any plans on taking the Pandorica ''tonight''; just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you. And then, [[ChewingTheScenery AND THEN]], do the smart thing. (''{{beat}}'') '''''Let somebody else try first'''''.

Back to Stonehenge where Amy's waking up, she bumps into Rory and recognises him as the guy who... did the... swordy thing. The Doctor sends her up to get some fresh air. Rory is rather traumatised and angsts for a bit before the Doctor shuts him up and tosses him the ring. There's no explanation to this; Rory was eaten up by a crack in time and space and now he's here with a head full of Roman memories. It's unexplainable, and to be honest, rather distracting, but the universe is big and sometimes impossible things just happen and people call them miracles. The Doctor's never seen one, but this is close enough. Rory goes after Amy.

Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans; they've all formed [[LegionOfDoom an alliance against the Doctor]]. They have deduced that the cracks in time are threatening reality and erasing all other universes, and that they have spawned from the explosion of the TARDIS. They're here to save reality from the Doctor under the (false) logic that only he can pilot the TARDIS, shutting him in the Pandorica (while he shouts desperately) in hopes that the TARDIS won't explode without him around. Elsewhere in time and space, River opens the TARDIS doors to... a slab of concrete, as behind her the ship starts to explode. "[[TearJerker I'm sorry, my love.]]" The alliance has failed. We zoom out from Rory holding Amy's body, a shot of the Earth against stars and galaxies exploding until all fades out in a black void of nothingness --

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: "I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him." It's a ShoutOut to the Seventh Doctor story [[DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield "Battlefield"]], where the Doctor was revealed to be Merlin. It may be worth noting at this point that the Doctor's fate at the end of the episode is quite similar to Merlin's (sealed in an impenetrable cave / castle of air / whatever for the whole of eternity) and may lead to thematically similar results (without Merlin, Arthur's Britain falls; without the Doctor, the ''universe will cease to exist'').

** Rory also gets one, too: "... and then I was here, a Roman soldier, a proper Roman, head full of Roman... stuff."

*** The episode, from the Doctor's perspective, takes place very shortly after "The Lodger".
*** The episode also takes place at around the same wibbly-wobbly time as "Vampires of Venice".
*** Part of the episode takes place shortly after the end of "The Eleventh Hour" and "Flesh and Stone".
*** The episode takes place ''before'' "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone" from River's perspective.
*** The Atraxi ("The Eleventh Hour"), Paradigm Daleks ("Victory of the Daleks") and Silurians ("The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood") are part of the Alliance.
*** Van Gogh ("Vincent and the Doctor"), Winston Churchill ("Victory of the Daleks"), and Liz 10 ("The Beast Below") play the part of message couriers.

** The Doctor's fate resembles Merlin's (trapped forever in an impenetrable prison by someone who uses his own power against him). In the Seventh Doctor episode "Battlefield", the Doctor turns out to ''be'' Merlin. He should have paid attention to the end of that particular story...

-->'''Cyberman:''' [[TheAssimilator You will be assimilated.]]\\

* DelayedReaction: "I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious..." and, a few seconds later, "Missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!" "Yeah, I think you probably are..." "I'll get it in a minute!" He does. And "it" is that the guy he's talking to ''died and was erased from time quite a while ago.'' The look on his face is ''priceless.''
* {{Dissimile}}: The Doctor uses one to explain what the Cybermen do: "It's just like being an organ donor, except you're alive and sort of... screaming" .
* DownerEnding: Amy is killed by Auton Rory, River is trapped in the TARDIS as it explodes, causing the Time Cracks which lead to the end of the universe, and the Doctor can't do anything about any of this because he's just been locked in the cosmos' best prison.

* EldritchAbomination: The Pandorica was built to hold "a nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies:" [[HumanoidAbomination the Doctor]].

* ForegoneConclusion: River has favourable memories of the events pertaining to the Pandorica, as established in each of the two stories we've seen connected to her. Then again, this is Who; Timey-Wimey and all that...

* LegionOfDoom: The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters the Hoix]], [[Series/{{Torchwood}} the Weevils and the Blowfish]], [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Uvodni]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion the Sycorax]], the Silurians, the Autons and Nestenes, the Atraxi, the Terileptils, the Draconians, [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride the RoboForm]], Zygons, Slitheen, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvins]] and the Chelonians (from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse) have all joined forces to attempt to prevent the explosion of the TARDIS and thus TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by imprisoning the Doctor in the Pandorica. It also counts as an EnemyMine for the Daleks and Cybermen in regards to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]. Of note is that the Atraxi, Weevils, Uvodni and the Blowfish are merely easily-missed extras in crowd shots whereas the Terileptil, Draconians, Drahvins, Chelonians and Slitheen only "appear" as name-checks by River. River also mentions the Haemogoth, an obscure race that were only mentioned in a novel.

-->'''The Doctor:''' No, I'm missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it... \\
'''Rory:''' Yea, I think you probably are.\\

* PaintingTheMedium: A favourite of Moffat's: in the last few seconds of the episode ''[[MusicalisInterruptus even the BGM stops]]''. "''Silence''... will fall."

* PoisonAndCureGambit: River puts micro explosives into a dealer's wine and then offers him the detonator to buy for her black-market vortex manipulator.

-->'''Dorium Maldovar:''' What kind of micro-explosives?\\

** The knockout dart the Cyberman head fires at Amy looks [[Film/AttackOfTheClones familiar]]...

** SealedEvilInACan was actually Sealed Nothing in a Can and a BatmanGambit. Although the Alliance are attempting to seal an evil being into the sturdiest can they can make.

* TookALevelInBadass
** Rory is no longer making a fool out of himself when he tries to fight. Now he's a Roman centurion, a proper Roman, filled with "Roman stuff" who can bring down a Cyberman! With a ''sword''.

''[A loud clatter is heard from outside.]\\

* ComfortingComforter: Rory gets a bit jealous when he finds one of his soldiers gave Amy a blanket.

* CombatTentacles: A detached Cyberman head attacks Amy with these.

** It's worse than that -- a Cyberman claims that "[[AC:All universes will be deleted.]]" -- meaning it's a ''[[ApocalypseHow/ClassZ Class Z'']].

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Rory, had been erased from time but came back as a Nestene copy with all Rory's memories, notices that the Doctor FailedASpotCheck.

'''The Doctor:''' Don't worry. I'll figure it out in a minute.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm missing something obvious, Rory. Something right slap-bang in front of me.\\

** It's worse than that -- a Cyberman claims that "[[AC:All universes will be deleted.]]" -- meaning it's a ''[[ApocalypseHow/ClassZ Class Z''.

"Pandorica Opens" was written by Steven Moffat and it is the first part of the 2010 series finale.

We join the Doctor, who's taking Amy to the oldest planet in the universe. There's a message on the cliff side that no-one's ever translated, but that changes today. "Why today?", Amy asks. Because of the TARDIS' TranslatorMicrobes, answers the Doctor. They open the doors, and see in fifty-foot letters, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E6TheArmageddonFactor Theta Sigma]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels Hello Sweetie!]]". River's also left the Doctor some co-ordinates, which take the TARDIS to Roman Britain (102AD), where River's playing Cleopatra. As soon as the Doctor gets there, we finally get a peek at the painting; it's the TARDIS, and it's exploding!

Luckily, Vincent has left date and map references on the painting, whose name is [[TitleDrop "The Pandorica Opens"]]. The Doctor insists that it's a fairy tale, while River argues that if it is real, it's here, it's opening and it's related to the TARDIS going kaboom.

Cut to the trio on horseback, riding to Stonehenge. River and Amy have a Timey-Wimey conversation about their goodbye [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone last time]]; "I'll see you again when the Pandorica opens", River had said. Maybe she did say that, but she hasn't yet. Maybe she will have. They move aside a stone and go under Stonehenge. Inside, they find a huge box carved with complicated patterns and symbols: the Pandorica. More than just a fairytale, then, and something's trapped inside. "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", the Doctor says. Indestructible, can't be caught or reasoned with; it would just drop out of the sky and tear down their world. How did it get caught? Like all fairy-tales, a good wizard came and [[{{Foreshadowing}} tricked him]]. Amy takes a moment to mention that it's a bit like PandorasBox, her favourite book when she was a kid; all the bad things trapped inside it that came into the world when the box opened. This arouses the Doctor's suspicion: Amy's favourite subject at school, the Romans, and now her favourite childhood book. "Never overlook a coincidence. Unless you're busy, then always overlook a coincidence."

It's opening from the inside, breaking all kinds of locks and safe-holders; what could get past all that? What could inspire that level of fear? And moreover, how did Vincent van Gogh know about it, since he won't even be alive for another few centuries? Stonehenge is broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere and every''when''; the Pandorica is opening.

At least 10,000 starships -- but it could be 100,000, a million, a hundred million; the scanners are going into overload. A voice comes through; Daleks. Dalek battleships, at least 12,000 armed to the teeth. Not a problem because they have the element of surprise! The three of them can sneak attack the 12,000 battleships....and they'll be killed... you know what, never mind. Then Cybermen, too; but we can [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday turn them against each other]], the Daleks are so angry they'll fight anyone! Then there's more coming through: Sontarans, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E4AliensOfLondon Slitheen]] family, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones Judoon]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion Roboform]], [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Chelonians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Nestene]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvins]], [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion Sycorax]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Zygons]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour Atraxi]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E3FrontierInSpace Draconians]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E4TheVisitation Terileptils]]. They're all here for the Pandorica. What could it possibly be? Everything that's ever hated the Doctor is coming for him tonight. River tells him to run, just this once, just run; he can't win, he can't even fight.

However, they have the greatest fighting force in the history of the earth with them: the Romans. River rides back to get help, but it's not easy; the general has seen through her Cleopatra gig. It mainly has to do with the real Cleo being in Egypt and dead (for 130 years in total), but don't worry, a faceless, voiceless Roman soldier appears in the doorway to help. Who could it possibly be?

He pokes Rory quite apprehensively. "Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E9ColdBlood died]]''. You died and then you were ''[[RetGone erased from time]]''. You didn't just die, you were never born at all. You never existed." Turns out, Rory doesn't have an answer either. He just died and became a Roman centurion. It's sort of distracting. He walks over to the sleeping Amy. [[DramaticIrony "Did she miss me?"]] Oh, Rory.

->'''The Doctor:''' [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays No plans, no backup, no weapons worth a damn]]. Oh, and something else I don't have: anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there with your silly little spaceships and your silly little guns and you've any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight; just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you and then, [[ChewingTheScenery AND THEN]], do the smart thing. (''{{beat}}'') '''''Let somebody else try first'''''.

* ActionPrologue: The prologue is over six thousand years of a painting traveling from Earth to the Doctor. The action kicks in when River Song is involved and breaks out of prison.

* ApocalypseHow: Metaphysical Annihilation on an omniversal scale. Every sun going supernova at once. It'll be as if the universe never existed.

* BadassNormal: At first, Rory-as-Centurion seems like this because of his impressive "swording" of a cyberman and then volunteering with fifty of his own soldiers to secure the Pandorica. Then it turns out that he's actually an Auton....

** "Oh, you're the guy, yeah? The one who did the swordy thing." "Thanks for the swording."
** Rory also gets one, too: "... and then I was here, a Roman, a proper Roman, head full of Roman... stuff."

* ChickMagnet: River sees a virtual StalkerShrine of Doctor dolls and toy TARDIS in Amy's room and wonders why she lets the Doctor out of her sight.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I'm missing something Rory. Something that is right in front of me.\\

*** The Atraxi ("The Eleventh Hour"), Daleks ("Victory of the Daleks") and Silurians ("The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood") are part of the Alliance.

* DarkestHour: To catalogue: Amy is dead, Rory's the undead auton who killed her, the Doctor's locked in the perfect prison, River's in the exploding TARDIS, the crack in Amy's wall is about to devour all of time and space and that's ''because'' these things are all true. It could only be worse if there were snakes in here.
* DeadlyHug: Auton-Rory does this to Amy, who refuses to flee despite his increasingly desperate warnings that he will kill her. He does, and with a finger lazer.

* DownerEnding: Amy is killed by Auton Rory, River is trapped in the T.A.R.D.I.S as it explodes, causing the Time Cracks which lead to the end of the universe, and the Doctor can't do anything about any of this because he's just been locked in the comos' best prison.

* EvilVersusOblivion: Several of the Doctor's greatest enemies have teamed up to save the universe and all of time and space from being destroyed, because obviously that includes them. Unfortunately for The Doctor, however, he's the one they believe will be responsible for said apocalypse.

* HeroicWillpower: Rory uses this to fight his Auton programing. He lasts much longer than the other Autons but the finger lazer comes out regardless.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: June 26th, 2010, the date of the explosion that caused the cracks in time and space, is the airdate of the next episode, ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]''.
* LegionOfDoom: The Daleks, Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Judoon, the Hoix, [[Series/{{Torchwood}} the Weevils and the Blowfish]], [[Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures the Uvodni]], the Sycorax, the Silurians, the Autons and Nestenes, the Atraxi, the Terileptils, the Draconians, the Roboform, Zygons, Slitheen, the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 Drahvins]] and the Chelonians (from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse) have all joined forces to attempt to prevent the explosion of the TARDIS and thus TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt by imprisoning the Doctor in the Pandorica. It also counts as an EnemyMine for the Daleks and Cybermen in regards to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]. Of note is that the Atraxi, Weevils, Uvodni and the Blowfish are merely easily-missed extras in crowd shots whereas the Terileptil, Draconians, Drahvins, Chelonians and Slitheen only "appear" as name-checks by River. River also mentions the Haemogoth, an obscure race that were only mentioned in a novel.

(''beat'')\\

* NotUsingTheZWord: Just like in their [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose only previous appearance]] in the Revival Series, the Autons are never referred to as Autons. Their being controlled by the Nestene Consciousness is mentioned but not their name.

** She wrenches the TARDIS doors open, as the BBC orchestra play a triumphant high note. Only to find a concrete wall in her way. Biggest OhCrap moment ever.

** The black market salesman in the beginning, when River Song reveals that she drugged his drink with micro-explosives.
* OpeningShoutOut: The scene of River flying the TARDIS while dodging lighting strikes.

* PlayingTheHeartStrings: As the LegionOfDoom march the Doctor into the Pandorica, only the [[SoundtrackDissonance swelling strings]] can be heard.

-->'''Salesman:''' What kind of micro-explosives?\\

* RoboticReveal: Rory and the other Romans are revealed to be autons when they react to the signal and produce finger lazers.
* RocksFallEveryoneDies: It certainly looks that way at the end when the suns explode.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Doctor investigates the eponymous Pandorica, which is advertised as containing the most feared being in the universe and is starting to open. It's empty. The Pandorica was created by [[LegionOfDoom a coalition of the Doctor's enemies]] to trap him inside, because they believe he will destroy the universe, and it's opening so that they can put him in -- due to time-travel, he has arrived before the myth started. The Doctor is predictably fascinated; "What could be so dangerous?" he wonders. You.
* SealedGoodInACan: Although from the point of view of the people sealing the can, they're sealing an evil.

** The "oldest text in the universe" that River uses to communicate with the Doctor near the beginning sounds ''very'' similar in the Doctor's description to God's Final Message to His Creation from ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish''. [[note]]although in the book they're only 30 feet high[[/note]] Especially since, thanks to Creator/DouglasAdams being a ''Doctor Who'' writer and script editor, there's already been a fair amount of crossover and cross-pollination.\\\
It could also be a shout-out to the [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures spin-off novel]] ''Set Piece'', where one of the Doctor's companions uses the same trick to arrange a rescue after being stranded in Ancient Egypt.
** The Cyberman head crawling along on tentacles is straight out of ''Film/TheThing1982'' or the facehuggers in ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''.

* SpyCatsuit: River breaking into the Royal Collection wears a tight black outfit that shows off her cleavage.

* TomatoInTheMirror: Rory is not the human Amy and the Doctor traveled with. He's an auton.

** Rory is no longer making a fool out of himself when he tries to fight. Now he's a roman centurion, a proper roman, filled with "roman stuff" who can bring down a Cyberman! With a ''sword''.

* WhamEpisode: Rory's an auton, Amy's dead, River's stuck in the Tardis, The Doctor's sealed inside the greatest prison in the universe, and the universe has begun ending.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the Doctor's phone-call with River, while she's at Amy's house, you can see a Roman briefly wielding the Cyberman's weapon, trying to look {{Badass}}. Several of them, in fact. As the scene continues, it's clear that they've lined up to have their turn at it.

** The various shops zoom around Stonehenge like the alien ships around Devil's Tower in ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.

* Foreshadowing: The Doctor notices something's oddly coincidental when he founds out that Pandora's Box was Amy's favourite book, and Roman history was Amy's favourite subject.