I'm a Doctor Who fanatic - have been since I was a kid - and season 5 just recently wrapped up in America with one of the best season finales to one of the show's best seasons ever - new or classic series. And that's saying a lot for a show that originally started in the early '60s. That being said, there was something in the story line of the finale that left me (and a lot of other bloggers and critics) a little confused.
At the beginning of part 2 of the finale, "Future" Doctor travels back in time to give Rory the sonic screwdriver in order for Rory to use it to get the Doctor out of the Pandorica. But how did the Doctor get out of the Pandorica in order to travel back in time to tell Rory how to get the him out of the Pandorica? It's a paradox. Doctor Who is science fiction, but it exists in a comic book realm where you have to suspend quite a bit of disbelief at times. But this seems to me like a stretch, and given Executive Producer and writer Stephen Moffat's attention to detail, and track record of using red herrings and narrative trickery, it seems like it could have been intentional.
Moffat's did it to us once already in season 5. In part one of the Weeping Angels 2-parter the internet lit-up with speculation after the Doctor appeared in a scene with his coat on, after having lost it previously to the Angels. Could this have been a continuity error? Most thought not, and we learned in the finale this was justified. The Doctor was crossing his own timeline as he was erased from history, urging Amy to remember what he would tell her in her bedroom as a little girl - an event that hadn't even occurred yet. Yes, confusing - but also pretty brilliant. And it turns out this memory would be the key to returning the Doctor to reality after slipping to the other side of the cracks in the universe.
So, here's my theory - more happened between part one and part two than we've seen yet. In fact, perhaps the Doctor escapes the Pandorica some other way entirely and only travels back in time to get Amy into the Pandorica to save her - and also devise a way to reboot the universe. There are many unanswered questions at the end of season 5 - what does "Silence will fall" mean?, What's with the creepy voice in the Tardis? Who took over control of the Tardis and blew it up? Could the Doctor have fought those battles on his own between part one and part two? Will we see this later on? (Moffat already has shown us he loves to tell his stories out of order).
This is all of course speculation, and my friend Howard thinks I'm reading too much into this, and I probably am. Who knows how these questions will be answered. Either way, as long as Moffat's helming the show I think it will be fantastic. Season 5 certainly was.
