...was actually pretty sucky.

Not complaining about this as a plot hole or speculating anything more about it. Just wanted to point out that all the big bads joined forces for a one time only performance, planned out this pretty epic and intricate plan to fool and trap the doctor in the Pandorica and it lasted...well for all of well a few minutes until someone wangled to sonic screwdriver in front of it and hey presto.

What a flipping waste of time that was for them.

well they weren't big bads, a big bad is a person who is behind everything in an evil scheme. the big bad is the person who caused the tardis to explode, not them.

To be fair, they just hadn't anticipated Auton-Rory having all his memories... and were wrong about the cause of the cracks. If the Autons had carried out their job correctly, and if the Doctor really was the only one who could have caused the TARDIS to explode, then they might have had a point...

And I think the big bad's plan (almost) worked.

He (she?) trapped the Doctor long enough to blow up the TARDIS and set into motion the event collapse of the universe.

He gave the Doctor the means to restore the universe (the Pandorica) but only at the expense of unravelling his own time stream.

Matthew

I know, but I still feel sorry for them. So much effort and planning and all for a bumbling few minutes.

poor guys.

actually mdovey you're quite right there I'd actually forgotten that if these guys were just being manipulated then all the 'silence' needed was those few minutes.

Let's be fair. When have any of these "big bads" ever got one over on the Doctor before?

They were doomed to fail. That's why they are "big bads" and he is "the big good."

They've never got him before, why would they get him now? Heck, putting him out of action for a few minutes is the best they've ever done! It took all of them to do that.

It says a lot.

One question though: If they wanted the Doctor out of the way, why didn't they kill them? He could've been drowned as in Turn Left, be trapped in a nuclear leak like he nearly was in The End of Time or simply exterminated by a Dalek to stop his regeneration from kicking in. Why place him in the Pandorica and keep him alive with the small possibility of escape instead of killing him?

ahaha, sounds like a bad bond villain when you put it that way.

unless as mentioned in the 'who said silence' thread the main function of the pandorica wasn't actually to trap the doctor, but instead a way to provide someone a way back from the void.

No, they got it all wrong by assuming the Doctor was responsible, and you know what they say about people when they assume things.

Whoever's the Big Bad will be revealed stroking a white cat.

"I've been expecting you, Doctor..."