Stories Television Doctor Who Series 5 Episode: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 The Big Bang 11 images Overview Characters How to Watch Reviews 8 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 11 Transcript + Script Overview First aired Saturday, June 26, 2010 Production Code 1.13 Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Toby Haynes Runtime 55 minutes Story Type Series Finale, Two-Parter Time Travel Past, Present, Alternate Reality Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Amnesia, Bootstrap Paradox, Companion Doppelgänger, Doctor sacrifices themself, Meeting in the wrong order, Mind Control, Spoilers, Stone Circle, Time Loop, Time Travel Pivotal, Wedding Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Crack in time, Silence Will Fall Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) River Song's Diary, Vortex Manipulator, Fez, Sonic Screwdriver Location (Potential Spoilers!) Stonehenge, Earth, England, Leadworth UK Viewers 6.70 million Appreciation Index 89 Synopsis The Alliance has trapped the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica, the TARDIS has exploded with River inside, Rory has shot Amy and the cracks have swallowed everything but the Earth and Moon. The fate of all existence lies in the hands of a little girl who still believes in stars. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith Amy Pond Karen Gillan Autons Daleks Nicholas Briggs Rory Williams Arthur Darvill River Song Alex Kingston Show All Characters (6) How to watch The Big Bang: Watch on iPlayer Doctor Who Confidential Blu-Ray The Complete Fifth Series [Steelbook] The Complete Fifth Series DVD The Complete Fifth Series Blu-Ray Series 5: Volume 4 DVD Series 5: Volume 4 Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Default Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 8 reviews 24 April 2024 · 343 words Review by 15thDoctor Spoilers 4 This review contains spoilers! The Big Bang is a perfect closing episode. Perhaps unrivaled by any other. Tightly plotted, satisfying to rewatch and timey-wimey without being tiring. It ties up all of series five perfectly, with young Amelia’s scenes being potent reminders of the beauty of The Eleventh Hour. It’s been a brilliant series. The best since Christopher Eccleston’s, it will be quite some time until something better comes along. I was confident that this was a story I knew well, and while I recognised much of what was in The Pandorica Opens, it came largely as a surprise to me. My memory of The Big Bang overrode my memory of the full story, so the set up came pretty fresh. The sense of scale and scope is exciting. I loved revisiting Vincent van Gough, not sure I needed Liz X and Winston Churchill, but they don’t outstay their welcome. The editing could be a little snappier in parts, some shots holding for a little longer than I would have liked. The first part comes into its own when the realisation of how the Pandorica and the Romans are connected. How everything leads back to Amy. The drama of Rory the Auton killing his fiancé at the exact moment her memory of him is restored. It is high drama that outshines the whimsy of the rest of the episode. For me, it’s the more intimate journey of part 2 where things really sing. The old house, the museum, the wedding. I’m a sentimental, nostalgic person, who loves the concept of hopping through time so it hits all the right notes for me. If I had one quibble it would be that lovely Rory, who waits 2,000 years, is quite mistreated by an unappreciated Amy. Told to shut up, etc. How quickly she forgets. I hope I don’t sound too down on the first episode, but in my head it was a flawless 10/10, so I was a bit taken aback that it wasn’t. But then again it’s setting the second half which is exactly as good as I remember it. 15thDoctor View profile Like Liked 4 12 May 2024 · 287 words Review by dema1020 Spoilers 3 This review contains spoilers! The Big Bang is pretty great, overall. I had a lot of fun with the creative writing used to resolve all the big, sweeping content of the Pandorica Opens. When all seems lost and everything is up against the Doctor, it feels right that the Doctor solves it with some clever time travel. The use of the Fez to help illustrate to the audience the disjointed nature of this story telling was a lot of fun. There are a ton of great moments to the episode and some really memorable stuff that make this a pretty successful finale for Series Five. I love the scene with Amy bringing the Doctor back. It's an excellent example of a companion playing a special role in the story while still being true to the nature of the companion's character. This felt earned compared to a lot of similar moments we would go on to see with Clara. Fun stuff with River and Rory, too, while it feels like everyone is just trying their best, and giving excellent performances, while the crew really just threw everything at Big Bang to make it feel big and special. Some of the effects work better than others, but I can appreciate the clear sense of focus and energy put into this episode. The crew should be proud of the work they did. This was a new era with a new Doctor, new companions, new ideas and a new showrunner, yet I think everyone by and large did a great job. Sure, there are plenty of missteps in Series Five, but stuff like Big Bang, Eleventh Hour, and Pandorica Opens show off some of the better traits of Moffat's era - ambition, energy, and creativity. dema1020 View profile Like Liked 3 27 June 2025 · 184 words Review by Guardax Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! Happy 15th wedding anniversary to Amy and Rory! I thought about giving it a 4.5 but said screw it let's give it full marks. The Big Bang an incredibly impressive episode because it takes the massive problem of the universe is ending and turns it into secretly a rather small scale personal story. There is no real villain, it's just the four characters we've been following all seasons reaching new points in their evolution. Not only that, this is insanely clever, and actually so unlike later stories where Moffat would try a little too hard. The reveal of the Doctor from Flesh and Stone being a future Doctor from this story? Killer. We don't know why the TARDIS blew up, or who the Silence is, but we feel like Amy and Rory have satisfactorily evolved to reach their wedding day. River all but confirms she's the Doctor's wife, and the Doctor even seems to grow a bit too. Temptation was resisted to go overboard, instead we get a neat little finale with a tiny bit of universe rebooting. A great capper to a great season. Guardax View profile Like Liked 1 1 June 2025 · 126 words Review by Jann New Who Review #73 The Big Bang This story was very confusing. It carrys on in a museum where young Amelia Pond meets her older self Amy Pond. The tardis is exploding with River stuck at the heart of it. And the only way to save her and reboot the Universe is to fly the pandorica straight into it sealing the doctor on the other side. I liked that idea but the whole vortex manipulator stuff had me so confused. This story is an okay way to wrap up series 5 I do think it's quite dull though but it was cool to see the doctor travel back through his time stream. Overall a good way to wrap up series 5 and get us excited for what's to come. 7/10 Jann View profile Like Liked 0 29 April 2025 · 77 words Review by Jonathan_ Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! This is a satisfying conclusion to the season's arc, but leaves a lot of unanswered questions. We get Rory back and his reunion with Amy is very nice to see (though Amy's behavior during the wedding is like wtf). We get a lot of fun vortex manipulator shenanigans, normally the show stays away from this kind of thing but the universe dying provides a good excuse for it to work, and the plot threads come together nicely. Jonathan_ View profile Like Liked 1 Show All Reviews (8) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating985 members 4.06 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 1962 Favourited 229 Reviewed 8 Saved 4 Skipped 1 Related Stories Doctor Who S5 • Episode 12 The Pandorica Opens Rating: 4.14 Story Skipped Television Reviews(7) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Doctor Who Series 5 Set of Stories: Doctor Who (2005-2022) Set of Stories: Eleventh Doctor Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite AMY: Okay, kid. This is where it gets complicated. — Amy Pond, The Big Bang Show All Quotes (11) Open in new window Transcript + Script [Amy's bedroom] (1,894 years later... Night. The red pinwheel turns in the breeze in the garden. Upstairs, a little red haired girl is saying her prayers.) AMELIA: Dear Santa. Thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I don't wake you, but, honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall. Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but I know it's not, because at night there's voices. So, please, please, could you send someone to fix it, or a policeman, or (A strange wind whistles outside.) AMELIA: Back in a moment. Show Full Transcript Open in new window View Script (PDF)