'The Big Bang' (Story Code 5.13) by Steven Moffat

“Hello Universe. Goodbye Doctor” – the Doctor

Amy is dead, shot by the Auton replica of Rory. The TARDIS has exploded with River inside. And the Doctor has been sealed inside the Pandorica forever…

1,894 years later: before going to bed, seven year-old Amelia Pond says a prayer to Santa, asking for help with the sinister crack in her bedroom wall. Hearing a noise outside she rushes to the window, but there is nothing unusual outside… Amelia proudly shows her aunt and her therapist her drawing of the moon and stars – but the two adults are disappointed, as there are no such things as stars. Then Amelia sees a leaflet pushed through her front door: a pamphlet on the National Museum for The Anomaly - an ancient artefact called ‘The Pandorica’ - and a scribbled note saying ‘Come along Pond’. Intrigued, Amelia gets her aunt to take her to the museum the following day, where they see on display two pepper pot-shaped statues and a huge, stone cube: the Pandorica. Seeing a post-it note with the words ‘Stick around Pond’ attached to the cube, Amelia gives her mother the slip and hides until closing time. Emerging from her hiding place, Amelia makes her way through the deserted building until she reaches the Pandorica. Touching the box’s side causes it to come to life: in a blaze of white light the Pandorica opens to reveal a single occupant sitting in a chair: a familiar feisty redhead known as Amy Pond…

1,894 years previously: a distraught Rory Williams cradles the lifeless body of Amy Pond in his arms. But Rory has little time to grieve for the woman he was forced to kill, as the Doctor suddenly materialises in front of him, wearing a fez and carrying a mop. Handing the startled Rory his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor tells him to use it to release him from the Pandorica – and then vanishes. Rushing to the chamber beneath Stonehenge, Rory unlocks the Pandorica to reveal a very surprised Doctor. Deducing he has been saved by his future self, the Doctor then notices the stone Daleks, Cybermen and Roman soldiers strewn throughout the chamber: with history collapsing, these remnants are all that are left of their races, as they are slowly erased from time. When Rory shows the Doctor Amy’s body, the Time Lord goads him into showing how he feels about her death, proving that he is more than just a plastic duplicate of the real Rory Williams after all. Explaining that the Pandorica forces its occupant to stay alive for eternal punishment, the Doctor secures Amy inside the box, assuring Rory that the prison will bring her back to life and keep her safely in stasis until they collect her in the future. After leaving a psychic message in Amy’s mind, the Doctor seals the Pandorica and retrieves River’s stolen vortex manipulator; but Rory refuses to leave, insisting that he stand guard over Amy and the Pandorica until the Doctor comes to get them in two thousand years’ time. Back in 1996, in the National Museum, Amy and Amelia activate a presentation on the Pandorica, and hear of the legend of a lone Roman Centurion who stood guard over the box, until finally disappearing during the Blitz. Amy realises that the centurion was Rory, but her tears are interrupted by the arrival of the stone Dalek, which has been restored to life by the light from the Pandorica. As the Dalek advances, the Doctor suddenly appears out of thin air and rushes the two girls to safety; then the Dalek finds itself face-to-face with the museum night watchman: none other than Rory Williams, who promptly blasts the creature with his hand-gun. Amy and Rory enjoy a happy reunion with plenty of kissing, only to be interrupted by the Dalek, which has come back to life again. As Amelia, Amy and Rory rush out into the hall, the Doctor (now in a fez pilfered from a display) grabs a mop to use to block the door handles; seeing the Doctor dressed as he was two-thousand years ago, Rory gives the Doctor the idea of popping back in time to give Roman Rory his sonic, with instructions to later leave it with Amy. His job done, the Doctor returns to the museum, and, after sealing off the Dalek, he then grabs a museum leaflet and goes back in time to post it through Amy’s letterbox. When the Doctor rejoins Amy and retrieves his sonic, everyone is surprised when a second Doctor appears before them, a future-version who collapses and whispers a final warning to his earlier self – and then dies. With the knowledge that he has just twelve minutes to live, the Doctor points out to Amy and Rory that Amelia has disappeared – history is still collapsing. Heading up onto the roof, the Doctor grabs a satellite dish and points it at the sun – which is in fact the TARDIS burning up, keeping the Earth warm now that all the stars have gone. Boosting the dish with his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor hears River’s voice saying her final words again and again: the TARDIS has engaged its emergency protocols, keeping River in a time-loop for safety. Using the vortex manipulator the Doctor materialises inside the TARDIS, rescues River and brings her back to Amy and Rory. But their reunion is cut short by the reappearance of the Dalek, which forces the time-travelling quartet to flee back inside the building. With only minutes before the Dalek is due to kill him, the Doctor tells River that the interior of the Pandorica contains a few atoms of the universe as it was, a memory that could be extrapolated and transmitted by the restoration field inside the Pandorica that would enable them to reboot the universe; what they need is something to boost the light’s power – but before the Doctor can finish, the Dalek arrives and shoots him. Badly injured, the Doctor uses the vortex manipulator to time jump. Sending Amy and Rory running to safety, River pulls out her gun and makes short work of the advancing metallic menace; she then rejoins her friends in the hall, where they discover that the Doctor’s body has gone – it seems the Time Lord lied: his future-self wasn’t dead. Racing back to the Pandorica, River, Amy and Rory find the injured Doctor sitting inside, having wired the box’s controls up to River’s vortex manipulator. Struggling with the pain, the Doctor explains that with the TARDIS exploding at every point in history, he intends to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion to cause a second Big Bang that will restore everything to normal. But River knows the price the Doctor will have to pay: he must be on the other side of the cracks when they close – all memory of the Doctor will be purged from the universe. As Amy bids her best friend a tearful goodbye, the Doctor reassures her that her link to the time crack will enable her to bring back her parents; instructing Amy to remember him, the Doctor then seals the Pandorica and sends the stone box shooting up through the museum roof and out into space – straight into the heart of the exploding TARDIS. The effect is instantaneous: there is a massive explosion and then time starts to reverse as history is restored… and then the Doctor comes to and finds himself back inside the TARDIS. Hearing voices, the Doctor sees himself and Amy from a week ago, on their way to Space Florida; seeing a familiar-looking crack on the ship’s scanner, the Doctor deduces that he is travelling back along his timestream as it unravels. Time reverses again, and the Doctor finds himself on the street near Flat 79B, Aickman Road with Amy – and another crack. Time reverses once more, and this time the Doctor arrives in the wreck of the Byzantium, in the forest just as his earlier self left Amy. The Doctor just has time to tell Amy to remember what he told her when she was seven before time jumps again, taking him to Amelia’s house on the night they first met all those years ago. Discovering the seven year-old Amelia asleep in the garden waiting for his return, the Doctor carries her back inside and puts her to bed, telling her sleeping form that when she wakes up she will have a mother and father again – but only a fading memory of him. Sad and weary, the Doctor kisses Amelia goodbye and then steps into the crack on the wall, which then closes forever… Years later, Amy wakes up in her room on the day of her wedding, as her parents busy themselves with preparations for their daughter’s big day. Oddly, Amy is confused by their presence, but is still glad that they are there. The wedding goes ahead and Amy and Rory are married. Afterwards, at dinner, Amy finds that instead of being happy she is actually sad: things she sees reminds her of someone, and a familiar-looking woman leaves her a book with a blue cover and blank pages… Amy suddenly realises who she is missing: her ‘Raggedy Doctor’, who is most definitely real, despite what her assembled husband, family and guests believe. Her words have an instant effect: the building starts to shake, a strange wheezing, groaning noise sounds out – and a big blue Police Box materialises in the middle of the room: the TARDIS has returned! On seeing the box, Rory immediately recalls the Doctor, and when Amy knocks on its door, the Time Lord pops out, resplendent in top hat and tails – Amy has made the story of the Doctor come to life! Happy to be reunited with “Mr and Mrs Pond”, the Doctor lets his hair down and enjoys the celebrations – although his moves on the dance floor leave a lasting impression on everyone. Satisfied that Amy and Rory are content, the Doctor slips off and returns to the TARDIS; waiting outside is River, who takes back her vortex manipulator and journal (its pages now full of writing), flirts, gives an ominous warning of things to come, and then teleports away. The Doctor steps inside the TARDIS and prepares to leave, but before he can depart Amy barges in after him, with Rory in tow. As ever, the Doctor is pleased to see his friends, although he is still puzzled as to why the TARDIS was drawn to Amy in the first place – and what caused it to explode… At that moment the phone rings with a royal summons for the Doctor: his help is needed to deal with an escaped Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express in space. Amy and Rory can’t resist, and they join the Doctor as he sets off for his next adventure…

Matt Smith (The Doctor), Karen Gillan (Amy Pond), Alex Kingston (Doctor River Song), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams), Caitlin Blackwood (Amelia Pond), Susan Vidler (Aunt Sharon), Frances Ashman (Christine), Barnaby Edwards (Stone Dalek), William Pretsell (Dave), Halco Johnston (Mr Augustus Pond), Karen Westwood (Mrs Tabetha Pond), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voice)

Directed by Toby Haynes
Produced by Peter Bennett
Executive Producers Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Beth Willis
A BBC Wales production

TX (BBC 1 & BBC HD):
26th June 2010 @ 6.05 pm

Notes:
*Featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory and River

Part two of a two part story

*This episode is fifty-five minutes long

*This isn't the first time the Doctor has worn a fez (“Fezzes are cool”): he donned one in 'Silver Nemesis' Part 1

*Music heard in this episode: 'You Give Me Something' by James Morrison, and 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' by Queen