The Big Bang reviews

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That episode was most entertaining and did wrap up the season with a big bang. It starts as the universe is gone with only a remnant of Earth left at it’s core. The Doctor is locked within the best prison ever built, Amy is gone and River is trapped in a dying TARDIS. Can the Universe be restored?


It starts with the young Amelia saying a prayer to Santa, similar to the first episode of this series. A quick shift in gear and some discussions about the stars not really existing at all except in Amelia's imagination and artwork. Amelia finds some mysterious notes directed to her, which instructs her to see the Pandorica exhibit at the National Museum. So she does, and and finds another note telling her to stick around. One sees some Dalek artifact displays by-the-way in the museum. Anywhoos, when everyone’s left the museum, the most amazing thing happens. The Pandorica opens and out comes ... the older (current?) Amy! wait, what?


Cut back 1894 years, to 102 AD. Rory is talking to Amy’s corpse when the Doctor appears, tells Rory to get him out of the Pandorica, and then disappears and reappears multiple times. What the heck is going on? So after Rory helps the Doctor out, the Doctor puts Amy in the Pandorica, where it will revive her in 1894 years time. Aaaah, right. After Rory saying he won’t go with the Doctor to the future, there’s another jump cut back to 1996. Amy discovers that Rory is probably dead, after protecting the Pandorica all those years. Random Dalek encounter, and the Doctor jumps into action and hides the Amys behind the Pandorica, when suddenly the Dalek gets shot. By who - yep - plastic Rory who ditched his centurion garb for the museum security uniform - he's still alive after all this time !



The plot after this takes quite a few crazy tuns. After time travelling various times using River's time vortex manipulator timey-wimey thingy, he meets his dying self who passes along a message. Then he rescues River, who is stuck on a time loop in the TARDIS (smart machine is trying to save itself and occupant. The random Dalek shoots the Doctor after the rescue and he travels back in the past to meet himself and give a warning, and then River kills the Dalek while Amy and Rory check on the Doctor. His corpse is gone. He wasn’t really dead at all, apparently, and was using them as a diversion so he could get to work to effect the second Big Bang happen to recreate the universe.















After lots of discussion, he lifts off in the Pandorica into the TARDIS, and is starting to be wiped from existence. The Doctor then travels through to the past several times and finishes with meeting young Amy and tucking her in bed. The Doctor now enters the quickly closing crack and is popped from existence. The scene now shifts to Amy and Rory's wedding, where suddenly, several things assist her memory of the Doctor. She now quite amazingly imagines him back into existence. Not sure how this really happens but we're certain fans liked it anyways.

The episode ends with Amy and Rory joining the Doctor in the TARDIS, there is a call from the Queen and then they prepare to investigate an issue with a Sphinx (?) on the Orient Express in Space.

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The Big Bang Teasers

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Who but Whovians loves teasers. As we are rapidly approaching the series finale this weekend, here is some episode teasers for The Big Bang . . .


¤ The TARDIS does explode in an epic shower, but be prepared for a twist.

¤ The "Future Doctor" thing from 'Flesh and Stone' does happen, and has been confirmed by people who have seen the scripts. Matt stated that his call sheet throughout shooting the previous 12 episodes included additional scenes for the finale. "When we were doing Flesh & Stone, I'd get to the end of the day and realise that I'd got to do this extra sequence that I had no idea about. All I know is I've got to be quite concerned about Amy."

¤ The Pandorica has a rather useful feature, in that it keeps you very well preserved and alive forever. This particular feature is important in developing a strategy to bring Amy back.

¤ Having lived in the house with the crack which happens to leak a field of time energy has had an important and special effect on the development of her brain.

¤ Robot Rory (or Auton) is responsible for releasing the Doctor from the Pandorica. Amy takes his seat inside the Pandorica while the Doctor goes off to find the right "fuel" to bring her back to life, leaving Rory to guard the cube for quite some time. This gives rise to the legend of "The Lone Centurion" which is ocassionally spotted throughout time guarding the cube.

¤ Rory doesn't stay an Auton forever though, and it is reported that he does eventually make his way back as a human.

¤ There is a wedding at the end of the episode (use your imagination).

¤ Strong indications that Omega makes an appearence near the episode's end. Rumour has it that Omega is played by Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy of Harry Potter fame).

¤ When asked about River Song, Matt comments: "There is a a scene near the end of the episode where River Song and The Doctor have a little chat about the exact nature of their relationship"

And one last thing -
¤ Filming on Christmas Special starts on July 12. It's the "most Christmassy special there'll ever be" with an equally special cast list.

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Lastly -

You know that crack in time and space . . . well NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope located it about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.


That is all - transmission end.

The Big Bang Trailers

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The Big Bang
18:05, Saturday 26 June, BBC One

The Doctor is gone, the TARDIS has been destroyed, and the universe is collapsing. The only hope for all reality is a little girl who still believes in stars.

The Big Bang is a dramatic finale to the Eleventh Doctor's first incredible series. Find out more about it now.

nuff said already - let's watch the preview trailers . . .

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We trust that you have your priorities correct and will be ditching any responsibilities you may think you have to glue yourself to the telly when this airs in less than four days.

The Pandorica Opens

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On Saturday, if you were geographically blessed (in the UK), you took in a very exciting episode - part one of two in the Doctor Who Series 5 finale. If you do not live the UK, you have to wait another three weeks or sneak it on line somewhere (that's what we did).

How was it ? Let's have a look at the numbers - this Doctor Who episode averaged a respectable 5.9 million viewers for BBC One on Saturday evening, according to early overnight data.

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If you do not want spoilers, escape now before we roll into the episode details from wiki . . .

The Doctor and Amy Pond travel to the oldest planet in the universe where a legendary message turns out to be another "calling card" of Dr. River Song. Following the coordinates from the message, they arrive at Roman Britain in 102 AD and find River posing as Cleopatra. River explains that she has received warning of the destruction of the TARDIS from a painting by Vincent Van Gogh ("Vincent and the Doctor") that in 1941 reached Winston Churchill and Professor Bracewell ("Victory of the Daleks"). Churchill had attempted to warn the Doctor himself, but the TARDIS instead connected his call to River; she subsequently escaped from prison and encountered Liz 10 ("The Beast Below"), who had Van Gogh's painting in her collection, and then used a Vortex Manipulator to transport herself to the oldest planet then to the coordinates in the painting. The Doctor realises the painting and destruction of the TARDIS may be connected to the "Pandorica", a fabled prison for the universe's deadliest being, and rationalises that it must be stored in a memorable location, the site of Stonehenge.


At Stonehenge, the Doctor, Amy, and River find a passage to an underground area, which the Doctor terms "Underhenge". Inside, they find the Pandorica, a room-sized metal box outfitted with every type of lock imaginable. The Doctor and River become concerned when they discover that the Pandorica is opening from inside and transmitting a message across time and space, drawing many of the Doctor's foes to Earth. River warns that "everything that ever hated [the Doctor] is coming tonight". The Doctor refuses to flee and instead enlists the help of some of the nearby Roman soldiers, led by a mysterious centurion who volunteers.


Back underground, while Amy questions the Doctor about the engagement ring she has found, the pair are attacked by the debris of a Cyberman's suit trying to find a new host. The Doctor is stunned and Amy sedated with a flechette. She runs away and is rescued by the mysterious centurion, who turns out to be Rory Williams. The revived Doctor is baffled to find Rory alive, since he is supposed to have been erased from history by the crack in the universe ("Cold Blood"). Rory is even more confused and says he simply remembers dying one second and being a Roman soldier the next. Rory tries to connect with Amy using the engagement ring that he had left aboard the TARDIS, but she is still unable to remember him.








As more enemies gather in orbit, the Doctor temporarily delays the aliens and instructs River to bring the TARDIS to Stonehenge. Although shown to be an expert TARDIS pilot ("The Time of Angels"), River now finds the machine impossible to control and gets locked on course for Amy's house on June 26, 2010 - the very date the explosion is to happen ("Flesh and Stone"). Whilst she ventures outside, the scanner screen suddenly cracks in the familiar shape, while an ominous voice declares "silence will fall". River finds huge foot prints in the garden and explores Amy's bedroom, still full of representations of the Doctor and the TARDIS. She also finds elements such as Pandora's Box and the Roman soldiers within Amy's drawings and books. She relays this to the Doctor, who starts to worry they might all be imaginary constructs taken from Amy's mind to entrap him, and believing their own cover story until they are activated. Amy meanwhile has an emotional conversation with Rory who is attempting to get her to remember him. The TARDIS begins to malfunction dangerously. Upon discovery of the date to which River has been taken, the Doctor orders her to get out of that timezone, but the TARDIS is now controlled remotely. He urges her to get out, as the TARDIS engines are supposed to shut down automatically when no one is on board, but she finds herself locked in.















Suddenly, Rory and the 'legionaries' with the Doctor are activated: they are Autons. 'Rory' remains with Amy, struggling to retain his human consciousness and stop himself from killing her. Shortly after she remembers who he is, he loses control and shoots her. Meanwhile, the other Autons capture the Doctor and take him to the now-open Pandorica, which proves to be empty. Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen and others arrive and reveal that they have formed an alliance and built the Pandorica as a prison for the Doctor, as they believe he is about to destroy the universe. The Doctor pleads that they have made a mistake and the TARDIS, not him, is about to destroy the universe but the Daleks refuse to believe that anyone else can fly the TARDIS.


River frantically manages to hot-wire the TARDIS door, but finds her way blocked by a stone surface. She declares, "I'm sorry, my love," as the TARDIS goes critical and explodes. Rory is still cradling the apparently dead Amy. The Pandorica closes on the Doctor, and a dramatic reveal shows explosions surrounding the Earth.

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Your own TARDIS

Time Travelling Tardis Among Doctor Who Props for Sale at Bonhams

Bonhams are to sell the TARDIS used to transport Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of Doctor Who in the Entertainment Memorabilia auction on 23rd June 2010 at Bonhams, Knightsbridge.

The TARDIS was created for the programme in 2005 and is expected to fetch £8,000-12,000. A more affordable miniature TARDIS model created for exhibition purposes and measuring 5ft high is also on offer, with an estimate of £300-400.

Some of the oldest Doctor Who props ever to appear at auction will also go under the hammer. Daleks from the sci-fi programme always prove popular with bidders, and this sale includes the two of the oldest examples to come to auction. Lot 126 is believed to be the earliest surviving Dalek – it first appeared in 'Dr. Who And The Daleks', 1964 and 'The Chase', 1965 and is estimated at £2,000-3,000. Lot 128 featured in 'The Evil of the Daleks', 1967 and is also expected to fetch £2,000-3,000.

A Cyberman helmet from 'Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen', 1967 is estimated to sell for £3,000-4,000.

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You may recall a large auction earlier this year (February) where Bonhams had a great number of Doctor Who items of interest -

In a packed saleroom 163 lots from the BBC archive of Doctor Who memorabilia were sold this afternoon at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, many selling for three, four or five times their pre-sale estimate. The sale achieved a total of £253,158 with 100% of lots sold. As the world's longest running science fiction television programme, Doctor Who has attracted a cult following. The sale saw fans and collectors entering bidding wars in an attempt to acquire authentic, screen-used props. Competition was fierce and the top lot was an Imperial Dalek (Mk 1) which achieved an estimate-busting price of £20,400 (estimate £2,500-3,500). A second Imperial Dalek (Mk 2) made an equally impressive £15,600 – both going to telephone bidders. Cybermen, who featured regularly in the Classic series proved very popular with the most expensive achieving £9,600 – nearly five times its pre-sale estimate of £1,800-2,500. Two versions of the Malus from 'The Awakening' episode were also bought for high prices. Lot 114 – a large Malus mask went for £3,000 and the Malus miniature made £1,920. David Tennant was a highly popular Doctor with more than 10 million people tuning in to see his last adventure over Christmas. A pale blue shirt worn by him in various episodes was snapped up for £1,260 – nearly five times the pre-sale estimate. Several items from Voyage of the Damned – the 2007 Christmas special in which Kylie Minogue starred as his assistant, Astrid Peth, were also on offer. Astrid's waitress outfit was bought for £3,120. Stephanie Connell, Entertainment Memorabilia Specialist at Bonhams, comments: "This is a fantastic result proving what an iconic show Doctor Who is. Collectors for both the new and classic series were out in force today – demonstrating the continuing popularity of both series - and Bonhams are delighted to have held such a high profile sale."
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas.For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com (February 2010).

DWA Mag 170

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Issue 170 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is now out (Thursday 10 June) for the small price of only £2.20


Inside, you can read about the attack of the alien granny (nasty Mrs Poggit and her third green eyeball), we challenge you to find your way round the Maze of the Dead without blinking, and you can check out what adventures lie in store for the Doctor this Saturday in our top-secret sneak preview of The Lodger!


All this, plus Matt Smith’s exclusive diary from the set of Vincent and the Doctor (find out what was on his MP3), an exciting new comic, four awesome posters and some amazing comps.

Best of all . . . Issue 170 of Doctor Who Adventures comes with a free squad of mini Daleks who are determined to invade your bedroom!










Doctor Who Adventures is a weekly magazine for young boys and girls who love Doctor Who. The magazine immerses readers into the world of the Doctor, taking them on an adventure into time and space.

Full of monsters and creatures, excitement, action, adventure and humour, it is a must-have for young fans of the successful BBC series.

Torchwood Starz

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Some very welcome news for Torchwood fans regarding the revival of the series . . .

The network has acquired U.S. television rights to the next installment of the BBC’s hit series “Torchwood,” developed and produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Starz will debut the 10-episode series exclusively in the U.S., and BBC One will debut it in the U.K., both in summer, 2011.

The official announcement may be viewed here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/torchwood_new_series

This is a co-production between Starz, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Worldwide, and BBC Worldwide will distribute the show outside the U.S. The deal was jointly announced today by Starz, LLC, President and CEO Chris Albrecht and BBC Worldwide Productions EVP Jane Tranter.

A spokesman for the show confirmed that Ystradgynlais-born Eve Myles and Sully-based John Barrowman would both return in their roles as Captain Jack and Gwen Cooper with “new faces”.










BBC drama commissioning controller Ben Stephenson said: “We have a long history of working with many US networks but it is incredibly exciting to be working with Starz for the first time, as well as to be reunited with the best of British in Russell, Jane and Julie.

“Torchwood will burst back onto the screen with a shocking and moving story with global stakes and locations that will make it feel bigger and bolder than ever.”

BBC Worldwide’s executive vice-president said: “Torchwood has attracted remarkable attention and loyalty in both the UK and US, and in this new partnership with Starz, the next chapter will not only reward our current fans, but also introduce new viewers to the most impressive instalment yet.”

Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht said. “I’ve been part of successful partnerships with Jane Tranter and the BBC previously, and I’m very much looking forward to working with them again.”









“Torchwood” originally debuted in the UK on BBC One in 2006. All five episodes of “Torchwood: Children of Earth” reached the Top 10 list in TV Episodes across the entire iTunes TV Store, with episode 1 of the series reaching the top spot the week of launch in August, 2009.
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City of the Daleks

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BBC Doctor Who - The Adventure Games - City of the Daleks

Have you ever wanted to take on the Cybermen or Daleks? This is your chance to play as the Doctor for the very first time, but don't worry, Amy's coming too. Travel across time and space in these brand new online adventures - available free in the UK, only on this site. Can you do battle with the Daleks, survive Skaro and save the Earth?

The first adventure, City of the Daleks, was posted late last week and is ready to download (HERE) and play now - unfortunately only if you are in the UK - that is unless you swim in dangerous torrent feeds and hope you don't hit an unsecure or virus-laden client.

Some more details . . .

The TARDIS materializes in 1963 to find the human race crushed by the Daleks. The Doctor embarks on a quest to the Dalek planet to correct time and save the last survivor of Humanity - Amy Pond!

The BBC has announced the production of four new 'interactive episodes' of Doctor Who which will be available from the official website, bbc.co.uk/doctorwho.


These four new adventures will take the form of downloadable computer games available for PC and Mac, in which players assume control of The Doctor and Amy as they embark on new adventures which complement the new TV series. The games have been produced by a team drawing on the very best talent from TV and gaming. The interactive episodes are executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger, Beth Willis and Anwen Aspden from BBC Wales Interactive, alongside Charles Cecil, one of videogaming's most revered creators.

The games are being developed by Sumo Digital, one of the UK's best game designers. Stories and scripts are by Phil Ford, who co-wrote The Waters Of Mars and James Moran who has written for Torchwood.


The project has been commissioned for BBC Online by the Vision Multiplatform team, headed up by Simon Nelson, and is being driven by BBC Wales Interactive.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have been digitally recreated in-game, and have provided full voice-overs. Music has been provided by TV series composer Murray Gold. An additional cast will portray original characters and classic enemies.

Finally - here's a vid of the promotional kick-off last month where the Daleks terrorised the area around Sheffield railway station for several hours, even managing to squeeze in a few digs at Sheffield Wednesday via voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs, and his ring modulator.

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Venetian Vampires - Victoria Day

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As most of you may know by now, Space had preempted the latest Doctor Who episode (season 5, episode 6) The Vampires of Venice for the May 2-4 (aka Victoria Day) weekend which will now leave us poor Canadians three weeks out from UK broadcast and, until July 4, a week out from US broadcast now as well.


In it's stead, Space channel had a marathon of "When Good Environments Go Bad" movies. Among these were Tin Man (series), The Day After Tomorrow, Solar Attack, Nature Unleashed (series), Meteor and its ilk. On the other side of the border, BBC America is preempting Doctor Who on May 29, so both SPACE and BBCA will air Amy’s Choice on June 5.

We want to complain but won't - Space Channel (we will sometimes refer to it Spacecast), certainly a whole cuss of a lot better than what the CBC had provided previously, even at their best. If you reside outside of the UK, it kinda sucks but certainly will not suck as much as those lovely vampiric ladies will this weekend.

If you are still stressed, why not get yourself an Adipose stress toy ?

Are you still here ? Well, here are Ten teasers about 'The Vampires of Venice'
By Neil Wilkes, Editor at Digital Spy -

The population of the TARDIS rises from two to three this week when Amy's fiancé Rory arrives on board. Still reeling from Amy's pass at him, The Doctor decides to pick up the-one-with-the-big-nose and take a trip to 16th century Venice - "an early wedding present", as he brands it. This particular gift comes with an added bonus, however: vampires!

Read on for our ten teasers about 'The Vampires Of Venice':

1. Rory is halfway through his stag do when The Doctor arrives to collect him. And it's quite an entrance.
2. On entering the TARDIS, Rory doesn't really say what The Doctor wants him to.
3. The First Doctor makes an appearance.
4. The 'vampires' like Amy. Who can blame them? She's delicious!
5. "Where are you from? Did you **** ******* the *****?"
6. Ever wanted to see The Doctor get electrocuted? Luck's in.
7. "Some tiny. Some were as big as the sky."
8. What's 10,000 in number and waiting in the water?
9. Amy enjoys a massive snog with either Rory or The Doctor. Right in front of the other.
10. "All I can **** is... *******."

That is all, end transmission.

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