This is not at all treadmill or Doctor Who related, I just have to say: Last night I had easily the best stage performance of my life at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Sure, it wasn't a massive audience, but who cares? The small crowd who attended all had a great time, and I felt absolutely in the groove for the entire performance. A dozen songs, lots of stories, and a direct connection with everyone in attendance -- it was just sublime. I am about to leave for my final performance of this show, and I couldn't be more proud of what I have achieved in the last year or so. And this ridiculous project? It's a huge part of what has gotten me here. So thank you, my dear Imaginary Readers, for keeping me motivated and moving. I treasure each and every one of you (especially the ones who aren't actually imaginary).

Speaking of imaginary people, let's talk about today's episode of Doctor Who.

The Pandorica Opens

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

In the first half of Steven Moffat's first season finale, he certainly ratchets up the threat. I mean, sure, it is something like the fifth time the show has done the destruction of the entire multiverse, but it's done in a really neat and inventive way that eschew's Russel T. Davies' penchant for spectacle and bombast, and instead creates a literal puzzle box.

The story opens with a series of callbacks to several previous episodes this season - opening with Vincent Van Gogh, jumping off to Winston Churchill and then Liz Ten, bringing in River Song from her prison in the Storm Cage, and ultimately looping in the Doctor and Amy by way of a very Douglas Adams style message carved on the face of the oldest cliff in the universe. It's a lot of fun, and very timey-wimey in exactly the way that Moffat excels.

All of which leads the Doctor, Amy, and River to Stonehenge in 2nd Century Britain during the Roman occupation. There we find the puzzle box, the Pandorica, a mythical prison designed to house the most dangerous and feared creature in the history of the universe.

Oh, and they also find Rory. You know, Amy's boyfriend who died and then was erased from history? Well, for no apparent reason he is now a Roman centurion.

As the puzzle box is slowly working towards opening, and as the Doctor is racing to figure out what terrible thing is about to be set loose, he discovers that the Earth is surrounded by thousands upon thousands of alien spacecraft, with warriors from pretty much every enemy race he has ever faced. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, and a plethora of others. It is the single largest collection of aliens in the show's nearly five decade history, and the Tenth Doctor faces them down in the single most iconic speech of his tenure:

[I don't usually come back and edit these posts after the fact, aside from typo fixes, but I just had to circle back to add this because it is awesome]

Ultimately the big sucker punch comes just as Amy begins to remember who Rory is/was, and the same moment that the Pandorica actually opens and is revealed to be a prison for the Doctor himself. The cracks in time throughout the universe have been determined to be caused by the Doctor himself, due to the TARDIS exploding, and his entire rogue's gallery of villains have painted themselves as the saviors of the universe by placing the Doctor in an inescapable box to prevent him from blowing up all of reality. Oh, and Rory and all of the Romans are actually just Autons programed based on Amy's childhood fascination with the history of Roman Britain. Also oh and, River Song is trapped inside the TARDIS while it blows up and destroys the entirety of everything that ever was.

Roll credits.

This is just a great, great season finale. On the one hand it follows the model of ratcheting up the threat to ridiculous levels (I mean, really, the entire universe is wiped out at the end). But it does it in a way that feels more restrained than in previous years. It plays out against a much more human set of emotions, focusing around Amy and Rory, and on the Doctor's history.

So yeah, I love this one. A lot. I am looking forward to tomorrow's resolution.

And now, I need to go do a show. I'll catch you all on the flip side.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Eleventh
Companion(s): Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song
Episode(s): The Pandorica Opens
Steps Walked: 7,635 today, 3,085,179 total
Distance Walked: 4.13 miles today, 1,609.96 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 4,464 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
How Many Times has Rory Died?: 3
How Many Times has Amy Died?: 1
Is Anything Cool?: Yes, bow ties are still cool
Weight: 248.92 lbs (five day moving average), net change -58.38 lbs