32X13 The Wedding of River Song (Grading/Discussion) SPOILERS
- Thread starter Mitty
- Start date
^ Excellent point! After all, that "Rory Pond" thing was the Doctor's doing to start with. He needs to put his money where his mouth is. 
Particularly as it was obviously a short name, it didn't take much lip movements to say it.
Well, to be clear, I think it probable that now that the Doctor is married, we'll see children -- perhaps the beginning of a new Time Lord race.
As to my speculation about "Dr. River Song," I'm not sure what it means. I just think it's an obvious answer to an obvious question.
Is River somehow a future or past incarnation of the Doctor? Nah -- we know she winds up with her consciousness inside a computer, so we can't have that.
River has pictures of all the Doctor's incarnations, and Kingston has explicitly said that the Doctor sends her into his past where he knows he needs her expertise. I think it probable that the 50th anniversary series will show River interacting with past incarnations thanks to the wonders of CGI and compositing.
At least, I sure hope so.
I think children with the Doctor is a given. Beyond that, having "Dr. River Song" be the answer to the Question is sheer conjecture that might not work.
I'm absolutely certain, however, that when the Doctor finds himself on the fields of Transelor at the Fall of the Eleventh, when no one could speak falsely or fail to give answer, River will learn the Doctor's name.
The audience, however, will not learn it. Nothing they give him could possibly satisfy the audience, so the smart move is to not answer it. If I were running the show, I wouldn't answer it.
Maybe the Answer is simpler than that. 42, anyone?
Dakota Smith
Last edited:
Had 10 not explicitly said that River told him his name under the circumstances he did, I'd be inclined to wonder if River didn't actually say:
"Look into my eye."
Winding up with her consciousness inside a computer has sort of become an unfortunate fate for the character. It would be nice if it turned out that she was actually "wearing" a Teselacta at the time.
But 10 did say she said his name. I don't think he was lying.
So on the fields of Transelor at the Fall of the Eleventh, when no one can speak falsely or fail to give answer, a question will be asked. River will find out the Doctor's name -- but the audience won't.
It is, after all, a question that should never, ever be answered.
Dakota Smith
I think this is one death that can't be entirely cheated. If anything, it makes Silence in the Library more powerful as time goes on instead of less powerful.
Yea, the only cheat can be him circling around and giving her a Ganger or a Tesselecta (Or some other revival body to carry her consciousness) to hold her consciousness, the loss of her no longer Regenerative Time Lord body is absolutely carved in stone, IMHO.
50 Anniversary sending her back to help a former generation Doctor(s) sounds awesome.
I could see that. Would be fun.
Well, I finally saw the episode. After I returned from mytwo-week vacation, I discovered that my laptop battery adapter decided to die while I was gone, so I had to wait for a replacement to arrive. Anyways, I digress...
I hate to say it, but the episode was somewhat of a mixed bag. I enjoyed the whole "time is stuck" alternate universe on Earth (although I would think it would be a bit more chaotic than as presented), but the episode took a dip with the forced CGI at Lake Silencio (and on the top of the pyramid later on). On the plus side, there were lots of fun little moments ("I HATE rats" a la Indy, the carnivorous skulls, everything with Dorium's head a la Futurama). Overall, the episode was a big adventure, but it didn't feel like it had much heart. Well, with the exception of...
The Brigadier's death.
Wow, I simply didn't see that coming. I was completely knocked off my feet. And I loved that The Brigadier's death is what pushed The Doctor to face his own mortality (although he then decided to use the Tesseract to his advantage).
I had two predictions and one hope before going into the episode, and I was right on all three counts. The Tesseract filling in for The Doctor (I hope we get to see another Tesseract in the future) and the Question being "Doctor Who?" (although, really, both seemed rather obvious to me).
I'm very, very happy that The Doctor is taking advantage of surviving his supposed death by keeping a low profile. Climbing down the proverbial mountain of his own supposed, self-believed godhood, if you will. I can only hope that will lead to good things in the future.
However, that being said (putting on my LOST hat on now), we didn't get many answers and still don't know who took control of the TARDIS and uttered "Silence will fall." I know some people in this forum will be pissed about this (and a few have sworn to stop watching if this happened, so I'll be interested to see if they keep their word). I'm not overly bugged by this but it is a little frustrating. All in due time. I finally got my answers on LOST, didn't I?
Overall, an enjoyable episode but not as interesting as I had hoped. Naturally, I look forward to next season!
And now I need to watch the new, but final episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures soon...
Edit: Forgot to mention that I loved the Silents referring to how Rory keeps dying.
I hate to say it, but the episode was somewhat of a mixed bag. I enjoyed the whole "time is stuck" alternate universe on Earth (although I would think it would be a bit more chaotic than as presented), but the episode took a dip with the forced CGI at Lake Silencio (and on the top of the pyramid later on). On the plus side, there were lots of fun little moments ("I HATE rats" a la Indy, the carnivorous skulls, everything with Dorium's head a la Futurama). Overall, the episode was a big adventure, but it didn't feel like it had much heart. Well, with the exception of...
The Brigadier's death.
Wow, I simply didn't see that coming. I was completely knocked off my feet. And I loved that The Brigadier's death is what pushed The Doctor to face his own mortality (although he then decided to use the Tesseract to his advantage).
I had two predictions and one hope before going into the episode, and I was right on all three counts. The Tesseract filling in for The Doctor (I hope we get to see another Tesseract in the future) and the Question being "Doctor Who?" (although, really, both seemed rather obvious to me).
I'm very, very happy that The Doctor is taking advantage of surviving his supposed death by keeping a low profile. Climbing down the proverbial mountain of his own supposed, self-believed godhood, if you will. I can only hope that will lead to good things in the future.
However, that being said (putting on my LOST hat on now), we didn't get many answers and still don't know who took control of the TARDIS and uttered "Silence will fall." I know some people in this forum will be pissed about this (and a few have sworn to stop watching if this happened, so I'll be interested to see if they keep their word). I'm not overly bugged by this but it is a little frustrating. All in due time. I finally got my answers on LOST, didn't I?
Overall, an enjoyable episode but not as interesting as I had hoped. Naturally, I look forward to next season!
And now I need to watch the new, but final episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures soon...
Edit: Forgot to mention that I loved the Silents referring to how Rory keeps dying.
Last edited:
I agree. I really want to see the episode again.
I liked the wedding of River Song beeter on a 2nd viewing but feel the ending to season 5 was better. This felt a bit recycled and not as narratively tight.
You liked "The Big Bang" -- the one where the Doctor and his companions erase a timeline so that it never occurred and where the Doctor is brought back in a heroic moment of sweeping music because other characters essentially will him into existence -- because it was less recycled than "The Wedding of River Song?"
I will go out on a limb here and say that's a question that's being left to the Fields of Trensalore (assuming it's Smith's final adventure as well). Since the Silence is a religious order with agents all over, I'll say it's either (a) a very, very powerful agent or (b) whatever is behind the Silence, but not the Silents. Rather, I'll also wager that there's an additional twist. Whatever or whoever it is actually wants silence to fall and is using the Silence commitment to keeping the question from being asked as a means to actually get the question to be asked and, presumably, answered as well for some nefarious reason.
Well, if they want to go with the simplest, most obvious solution (again), they can reveal there was a Silent in the TARDIS with River, sabotaging it, and she and the Doctor just didn't notice for obvious reasons.
I tend to believe that the Pandorica two-parter took place before the Astronaut episodes and River's appearance at the end of "A Good Man..." for River, since that's when she got the wrist strap, and it seems silly to assume she has to steal a new one every time she breaks out. In that case, River would only remember the Silents from the everything-at-once timeline, when she had an eyedrive and didn't need to use the tally-mark trick.
I tend to believe that the Pandorica two-parter took place before the Astronaut episodes and River's appearance at the end of "A Good Man..." for River, since that's when she got the wrist strap, and it seems silly to assume she has to steal a new one every time she breaks out. In that case, River would only remember the Silents from the everything-at-once timeline, when she had an eyedrive and didn't need to use the tally-mark trick.
You liked "The Big Bang" -- the one where the Doctor and his companions erase a timeline so that it never occurred and where the Doctor is brought back in a heroic moment of sweeping music because other characters essentially will him into existence -- because it was less recycled than "The Wedding of River Song?"
Yep.
The whole series built to it. It was preestablised that amy was special because of the crack in time. Bringing someone back with memory and bringing omeone back with a through a time vortex? Its all make believe scifi.
I really enjoyed th upbet ending to Big Bang.
You liked "The Big Bang" -- the one where the Doctor and his companions erase a timeline so that it never occurred and where the Doctor is brought back in a heroic moment of sweeping music because other characters essentially will him into existence -- because it was less recycled than "The Wedding of River Song?"
Yep.
The whole series built to it. It was preestablised that amy was special because of the crack in time. Bringing someone back with memory and bringing omeone back with a through a time vortex? Its all make believe scifi.
I really enjoyed th upbet ending to Big Bang.
Enjoy it all you want, but "The Big Bang" was awfully similar to the basic structure of "Last of the Time Lords." At least as much recycled so as "The Wedding of River Song," if not more so.
You liked "The Big Bang" -- the one where the Doctor and his companions erase a timeline so that it never occurred and where the Doctor is brought back in a heroic moment of sweeping music because other characters essentially will him into existence -- because it was less recycled than "The Wedding of River Song?"
Yep.
The whole series built to it. It was preestablised that amy was special because of the crack in time. Bringing someone back with memory and bringing omeone back with a through a time vortex? Its all make believe scifi.
I really enjoyed th upbet ending to Big Bang.
Enjoy it all you want, but "The Big Bang" was awfully similar to the basic structure of "Last of the Time Lords." At least as much recycled so as "The Wedding of River Song," if not more so.
The stories are very different. The solution has some similarities but so do many of the DR Who solutions.
I was thinking the same. Or I thought because the Doctor defeats the Silence in "Day of the Moon" it's possible the Silence try to get revenge on him by blowing up the Tardis. Sort of a meeting in reverse timeline.
If that's the case, they could have programmed River to do that as well. She was the one in the TARDIS when it blew up.
Similar threads
