Steven Moffat's first series finale. I'm sure one of the things he first thought about on taking over was: how does you go one better than RTD...?
When the series returned in 2005, RTD was very much following the model of US drama series, which featured mainly stand-alone stories but with an arc running through it. This would be introduced in the opening instalment, then reappear once or twice mid-season before taking over for the finale, which was nearly always a two-parter. The most obvious examples are Buffy The Vampire Slayer (of which RTD was a self-confessed obsessive) and The X-Files. The various Star Trek series didn't always feature mid-season arc instalments.
After reintroducing the Daleks by way of a lone example, RTD opted to deliver a vast army of them for his first finale. The second brought about the long anticipated coming together of Daleks and Cybermen.
The third reintroduced the Master, and the fourth Davros.
The last 2009 Special brought back the Time Lords and gave us a glimpse of the Time War.
In each of these finales, contemporary Earth faced global annihilation.
Another big invasion of Earth (usually represented by London) simply wouldn't do for a fifth year running. Not only would it be a bit samey, but Moffat had his own idiosyncratic way of crafting stories.
For a start, this finale goes nowhere near the present day. The Earth isn't at risk from aliens. Indeed, they think it - and everywhere else in the Universe - is at risk from the Doctor.
It isn't a conventional two-parter. The second half goes off on a weird tangent, with many elements from the first part simply passed over. (Matt Smith will never get a conventional two-part finale. No invasions of Earth for him).
After the Daleks and Cybermen squaring up to each other in Doomsday, Moffat decided to have them join forces against the Doctor. He then threw a lot of other aliens into the Pandorica Alliance.
The Pandorica was first mentioned by Prisoner Zero in The Eleventh Hour, and then again by River Song in Flesh and Stone.
She is back, still a captive at the Stormcage facility. When we first see her she is posing as Cleopatra, despite that Egyptian queen having been dead for decades before the opening scenes are set.
(The Fourth Doctor mentioned getting fencing lessons from her guard captain, so may well have met the real thing).
We see again Vincent Van Gogh (Vincent and the Doctor), Liz 10 (The Beast Below), Winston Churchill and Prof. Bracewell (Victory of the Daleks) from earlier in the series, as River pursues Vincent's painting of the exploding TARDIS through history.
The Doctor discovered that the TARDIS will blow apart at some point in Cold Blood, not long after Rory was removed from time by the crooked smile crack.
By the end of this story, most of the Series 5 episodes will have been revisited (literally in some cases).
At Stonehenge we encounter an armless, decapitated Cyberman of the Cybus design - last seen in The Next Doctor. The Daleks are the recently introduced New Paradigm flavour from Victory of the Daleks.
Never seen, but mentioned to be in the skies above what will one day be Wiltshire are Drahvins, Terileptils, Judoon, Draconians and Zygons.
The ones we actually see are clearly the ones they have costumes easily accessible - so we get z-list creatures such as the Hoix, Uvodni (Sarah Jane Adventures), Sycorax and Blowfish. Also from Torchwood there are Weevils, who are supposed to be little more than savage animals.
From the Virgin New Adventures we hear that the fleet contains Chelonians (warmongering turtle people).
A-listers we do see are the Autons, Sontarans and Silurians (though of the inferior new type).
A nice touch is bringing Chris Ryan back to play the Sontaran commander, having played Staal in The Sontaran Stratagem two-parter.
There are familiar spaceships in the sky, including Cyberships based on the design we saw way back in The Invasion.
Rory is brought back as a Nestene Auton, though he will be rendered human again after the Doctor reboots the universe in The Big Bang.
This reset is supposed to explain why Amy does not recall the events of The Stolen Earth, as well as incidents such as the Cyber-King stomping over Victorian London.
Moffat explained this as an attempt to avoid continuity questions - just blame everything on Big Bang 2 - but it simply creates new problems as the same event can be both recalled and forgotten, depending on who's writing. Russell T Davies has certainly ignored this.
The first episode ends with the Doctor in an impossible to escape prison, the titular Pandorica. However, the second episode begins with the Alliance reduced to dust whilst the writer simply cheats his way out of the predicament using his trademark "Timey-wimey"-ness. All the impregnable Pandorica needs to open it is the Sonic, which the Doctor gives to Rory to use after he has used it to free the Doctor so that he can give it to him to use to free him...
Moffat has been writing this time-twisting stuff since the 1990's, whilst a 2005 short story of his provided the springboard for Blink, in which the "Timey-wimey" thing first reared its head.
The story nears its conclusion with the Doctor seemingly being erased from time, and we see him travel backwards through his most recent experiences.
Flesh and Stone had seen what many fans thought had been a continuity gaffe - the Doctor appearing wearing his jacket when he had only just lost it to the Weeping Angels. This turned out to be a deliberate scene, as its the future Doctor revisiting Amy.
Young Amelia Pond features in the second half prominently.
Very few loose ends are tied up by the end. We'll have to wait another two years for some of them.
Next time: The Doctor has the Dickens of a time during a steampunk Christmas, whilst Amy and Rory look like they don't stand the ghost of a chance on a crashing spaceship...
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