Exactly. We know, and the Doctor knows. That look he gives Amy as she's waving to her future self says it all. Sure I admit his death didn't have a HUGE impact on me (coming so out of the blue as it did), but I still found it to be a fairly sad and tragic thing.
We're discussing a TV show. Ultimately opinions as such wouldn't be objective, because it's down to interpretation. You can say there can be objectiveness in things like how well the plot holds together or how good the CGI looks, but ultimately people judge these things differently and place different emphasis on what areas are more important to them for them to like it. If there was any objectivity about it, we'd all know immediately whether it was good or bad and agree.
I do not think I have seen this theory. What if the Tardis shrapnel that we saw was from the tardis of the doctor whom River Song might kill during the events of the pandoricon? Maybe that causes the explosion? My theory of what will occur is this: I think we are witnessing an alternate universe play out. There are many clues to this theory being right. In this episode the doctor flat out says that a new timeline will be created. In the episode with the dream world there is a play on what is real and what is not. And during the episode with the angels we see another doctor. What if the "real doctor" is trying to direct Amy Pond to sealing the cracks of the alt universe so that it can heal and close up?
Spoiler: Rory Because he's listed in the credits for the last episode, dressed as a Roman soldier. I think there will be an emotional impact for Amy, because I think time will somehow be rewritten (again) and it will hit her all at once. With the Doctor traveling back through his own timeline it looks like the season finale will be full of all sort of timey-wimey stuff. Whether Rory will actually be resurrected or not I don't know, but I think Amy will somehow remember him. Moffet's a good writer, I trust his finales to be better than RTD's.
I'm fairly certain that since River Song knows of an older Doctor, and because the Doctor will clearly be traveling in his own timeline which is apparently a big no-no, what's going to happen -- somehow -- is that the TARDIS is going to collide into itself. One will survive, one will not. Since time is going to be rewritten, chances are the Doctor is going to take the TARDIS back into his own timeline (or someone else at the wheel may do it, which we know is a distinct possibility considering how smooth River was at piloting it as well as the whole 'does he know what you did' line) is going to wind up destroying his past self from the point of the collision up until the point of the collision. So, basically, most of this season. Though he's not going to have any idea that's going to happen, or if he does it's going to be some kind of suicide mission in order to save Amy and/or Rory. That's my theory anyway. Seems to account for all the major points of the season thus far. Amelia seeing the TARDIS materialize in Amy's dream, why the Doctor found shrapnel from the TARDIS, the bishop's mysterious conversation with River, River's exceptional piloting skills, the cracks in time being caused by the TARDIS, why the supervillian aliens are mocking him about his impending death, etc.
I'm guessing the future Doctor will be deprived of the TARDIS (such as by it's explosion) in some way. That's why Zero and the Angels were both very specific when they taunted that "the Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know." Presumably, the Doctor without the TARDIS knows full well what's happened to him.
Massive spoilers, so click at your own risk: http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/finale-spoilers-5888.htm http://doctorwhospoilers.ueuo.com/ep12ep13.html http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Pandorica_Opens http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Big_Bang
Just a reflection, but I find myself wondering whether the 'Pandorica opening' is a euphemism for the Doctor losing his mind. He seems so alarmingly close to it, and getting more so. Someone upthread suggested that this whole series is a mental construct - we''ve seen him do exactly that with the DreamLord, was that a hint that the whole series is in fact more of the same? The latest madness is the very notion that humans would be willing to cohabit with silurians. He kept going on about how peaceful humans are, how the two races could live together... what century does he think he landed in? Humanity in the 2010s is at least as barbaric as it ever was. This Doctor seems to have a slightly psychotic lack of grip on reality. And I still want someone with the recordings to get me all the "We only have X minutes" quotes and see whether they're counting down.
Ahh thank you. I couldn't remember - I was just aware we seem to have had an awful lot of "X minutes to defuse the bomb" scenarios this season, from Prisoner Zero onwards.
Confirming Rowan Sjet's observation with the following data: The Eleventh Hour: 20 minutes until the human residence is incinerated. The Beast Below: No obvious countdown. Victory of the Daleks: 10 minutes until German bombers reach London. Time of the Angels: No obvious countdown. Flesh and Stone: One hour until the Angels drain the ship's power. Vampires of Venice: No obvious countdown. Amy's Choice: About 40 minutes before crashing into the cold sun. Hungry Earth: Silurian transports to arrive in 12 minutes. Cold Blood: Human drill set to start burrowing again in ... 15 minutes. Mind you, I had to skim the above episodes to go to where I recalled a plot-related countdown, so I may have made minor mistakes, but I think we can abandon this possible clue.
Thought about Rory. It was too abrupt, so he'll be back. I refer you to 'Age of Steel'. As they awere about to depart the AU (Pete's World), Rose tried to explain what was going on and who he was to her. He couldn't handle it and walked away. Pretty abrupt exit for a character, I thought. Sure enough, he was back for the finale. Thiunk the same will happen with Rory. Tell you what, wouldn't mind if he didn't. I liked Rory, but if they left it this way, his loss will have more impact on the Doctor and us. But there is some kind of reset coming, fer shure.
It warmed my heart to hear and see Stephen Moore in this.. Still don't know what I think of this one. On the one hand, it's kinda slow, on the other it does have a classic vibe to it. It's like a classic story, but one of the more uninteresting ones. There were some nice aspects here and there. I liked the tension between the Silurian hostage and the humans, and I liked the fact the author had the humans ultimately being the bad guys. But I hate what they have done with the Silurian makeup. In general the makeup is a good design, but they dropped the ball when it came to the face, imo. I know, they felt they wanted the actors to be able to emote like a regular person, but still, it destroys the appearance of the Silurian. Dodgey science pisses me off too. As previously stated, the moniker 'Homo Reptilis' or ;Homo Reptilia' makes zero taxanomic sense. Basically, it seems an awful lot like the writer wanted a cool-sounding latin name for the Silurians. Unfortunately, he didn't take the time to actually look at how proper latin names are derived, or didn't care. The business with the crack didn't bowl me over as it did some others. Probably because I had been spoiled on Rory's death-scene. It was, however, an interesting diversion. There is an interesting setup there, I hope the series finale delivers on the promise.. So there you go. Total mixed bag. All up though, I'd have to say Above Average (which means I have to flip a coin between 'Average' & 'Good' when it comes to voting in the poll).. NEXT!
If you have seen that episode of Blake's 7 you would know the main bad-guy in that arc was Orac itself, The Doctor vs. Orac........ Oh crap, the Doctor is doomed!
Was homo reptilia a term of Chibnall's coinage? I thought it was from the old series. I agree with you as to why it's pretty bad, though. But it doesn't bother me too much because it's only as inaccurate as Silurian or Eocene, which are from the old series.