New Who Finales in Perspective: Series 5
Guest contributor Ed Smith continues the series looking back over all the New Who finales, this time with Series 5.
Series 5: the first finale written by Steven Moffat, and the ending of Matt Smith’s first series. And what a finale it is. Part one takes us on a wild journey from 1890’s France, the Cabinet War Rooms, the Stormcage Facility, the Royal Collection, Planet One and most importantly Roman Britain, where the Doctor’s rouges gallery attempt to lock him in the greatest prison ever invented. Part two manages to handle perhaps the most timey wimey plot in the show ever, see two companions get married, kill Rory, bring Rory back again and have Matt Smith in a fez. The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang is a story you can only have in Doctor Who, and it showcases everything the show does well. It ended the Eleventh Doctor’s first series with a bang (Pun intended).
What better place to start than with Romans! The first part of this finale took us back to Britain, having just been invaded by the Romans. There was more to them in this story than meets the eye, however. They are fake, taken from a story book in Amy’s house. The twist, where we find out that the Romans are Nestene Duplicates and that the whole trap is built around Amy’s memories, is perfectly done. I know I certainly never saw it coming. Of course, because these Romans are built around Amy’s memories, Rory is resurrected for the second time, even if he is plastic dummy. It is truly heart-breaking watching Rory try to resist killing Amy. Moffat seems to like his plot twists – we found out later on that there was nobody inside the Pandorica, it was just a trap for the Doctor, an attempt to stop him blowing up the TARDIS. The closing moments of the Pandorica Opens send chills down my spine to this day.
The Pandorica had been mentioned in the series already, but until The Pandorica Opens we really hadn’t been sure what it was. The ultimate trap for the Doctor, with a restoration field so he can never die. The Pandorica was the crux of the whole final, used to trap the Doctor, resurrect Amy Pond, destroy the universe and eventually save it, all in the space of two episodes. The resolution of The Big Bang is one of my favourites in the show’s history. The concept of the Pandorica is something of a fairy-tale, which is incredibly fitting considering that Series 5 is often referred to as the fairy-tale series. This vibe really does rub off on to this story, which I think makes both parts seem unique among other series finales.
These episodes didn’t really have a main ‘threat’. The enemy in The Pandorica Opens was the Alliance, a collection of the Doctor’s greatest enemies. While this doesn’t make perfect sense (See Doomsday) I had no problem when the Doctor’s foes came together to destroy him. It even made me fan girl a little bit. The Big Bang quickly pushed the Alliance out of the way, opting instead for a much more subtle threat. Instead we saw a stone Dalek, brought back to life with the Pandorica. The Silence also play a very small part in this story, as they are the force behind the TARDIS explosion. The timey wimey plot played such a heavy part in the second half that a huge villain wasn’t necessary. This didn’t carry the episode, however.
The cast deserve huge credit for both The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. At the beginning of The Pandorica Opens we saw some of the most notable guest stars of the series return for another brief appearance, and as before they are fantastic. There are four people, however, that I could talk about for hours. Matt, Karen, Arthur and Alex. I’ll keep this short. These four are a joy to watch and every line is delivered with perfection. They work brilliantly together, and really keep the episode alive. Caitlin Blackwood also deserves a special mention. There have been some brilliant young actors and actresses in New Who, but Caitlin Blackwood is by far the greatest.
As I said at the very beginning of the article, this is Steven Moffat’s first finale. While The Pandorica Opens may have seemed similar to one of Russell’s offerings, The Big Bang is certainly very different. On first broadcast I was very pleased – it made a change for the finales we were used to. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Davies’ big invasion stories, but the last episode of series 5 felt more intricate and almost quirky, breaking the mould that we were used to. Towards the end of the story, The Big Bang quickly changed from a fast paced thrill ride to a truly powerful and moving piece of television. The Doctor saying goodbye to little Amelia is an especially bittersweet moment, and the wedding scenes are truly magical. Karen Gillan steals the show as Amy remembers the Doctor, with a performance that still sticks in my mind. Of course, the Doctor only came for the dancing! The very last moments in this episode, where Amy and Rory wave goodbye to Leadworth, feel so lively and upbeat. It’s one of my favourite closing scenes in any Doctor Who series finale yet.
Conclusion
The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang is my favourite series finale. Four years later it still feels fresh, distinctive and pretty damn good. It was the perfect end to a rollercoaster of a series.
Rating
The following ratings were achieved by taking a sample of ten people and getting them to rate the finales by each of the five criteria assigning a rating out of ten to each. This allowed us to come up with an average for each of the categories and then an average score for the episode. Whilst ten is quite a small sample size, regression to the mean was beginning to show. The results for this finale are as follows:
- Episode Score – 8.85/10
- Finale Rating – 8.75/10
- Monster Score – 7.10/10
- Arc Resolution – 8.25/10
- Character Development – 9.10/10
This gives the episode an average score of: 8.41/10. This means that the leader board now looks like this:
- Series 1 – 9.40/10
- Series 3 – 9.05/10
- Series 5 – 8.41/10
- Series 4 – 8.37/10
- Series 2 – 7.43/10
