"Our lives are back to front." -River Song

[RoJoHen]

Can we safely assume that this is just a bunch of nonsense? If it were true, "Let's Kill Hitler" should have been the last time we ever saw River, since it was the very first time she met him.

We also know that River lies, but I have to assume that she wasn't lying when she foreshadowed "a worse day coming for her" at the beginning of Season 6. We know this to be when she meets Tennant in the Library.

Could it just be that, up until that point in her life, they had been living back to front? I keep picturing the scene at the end of "The Day of the Moon" when River kisses the Doctor for his first time (and she assumes it will be her last). I would absolutely love it if, immediately after the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS, a future TARDIS appears, and a future Doctor steps out and kisses her again, completely disproving the "back to front" idea.

It's simply an inconsistency that I'd like to be given a definitive explanation.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think it was a quick easy explanation designed to fill in the audience to some of the important themes of their relationship rather than being something to be taken literally. You also have to keep in mind that there's no way River could ever know that their entire lives are back to front when she said it.

 

[RoJoHen]

You're absolutely right that she can't know for sure, but the point is that she believes it. I'd really like a future episode to address that fact.

 

[ToddKent]

She was just speaking generally.

 

[Photoman15]

We also know that River lies, but I have to assume that she wasn't lying when she foreshadowed "a worse day coming for her" at the beginning of Season 6. We know this to be when she meets Tennant in the Library.

She has no idea of what's to come in the library.
Her "worst day coming" is when she "kills him" at Lake Silencio (or it could be when she kisses him after regenerating from Mels in Hitlers' office).

 

[RoJoHen]

We also know that River lies, but I have to assume that she wasn't lying when she foreshadowed "a worse day coming for her" at the beginning of Season 6. We know this to be when she meets Tennant in the Library.

She has no idea of what's to come in the library.
Her "worst day coming" is when she "kills him" at Lake Silencio (or it could be when she kisses him after regenerating from Mels in Hitlers' office).

No, her "worse day coming" is the day she meets the Doctor and he has no idea know who she is. That's the whole point of that scene. She doesn't know when that day will be, but we know this to be the Library.

 

[Bacl]

The whole River Song storyline and character have pretty much ended up fucked. None of it makes much sense if you give it thought and compare it to the other episodes. Basically, you have to imagine/offer you own explanations and justifications for most of it.

 

[RoJoHen]

The whole River Song storyline and character have pretty much ended up fucked. None of it makes much sense if you give it thought and compare it to the other episodes. Basically, you have to imagine/offer you own explanations and justifications for most of it.

Well, yeah, it's a mess, but that's kind of the point of this thread. It can still be salvaged!

 

[Bacl]

The whole River Song storyline and character have pretty much ended up fucked. None of it makes much sense if you give it thought and compare it to the other episodes. Basically, you have to imagine/offer you own explanations and justifications for most of it.

Well, yeah, it's a mess, but that's kind of the point of this thread. It can still be salvaged!

Ugh, I really want to never see River again after last season. Doctor Who turned into the River Song show and I really want to get back to basics and stop with all this serialization, Who Is River Song (TM), and The Doctor is Really A Bad Person and We Hate Him nonsense.

Can we just go back in time and meet Hemingway and stop an invasion of aliens already? The Doctor says and does clever things, etc.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'd personally like both. The River story needs to come to an end, I agree, but it needs a definitive finale.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I think the "Our lives are back to front" was meant to be a play on the notion that they've literally met backwards. I look at it as a general comment or "wink wink" to us that their entire relationship is timey whimey. I dunno.

 

[Zeppster]

I'd personally like both. The River story needs to come to an end, I agree, but it needs a definitive finale.

Since the Doctor and River traveled together for some time. There will have to be some episodes or maybe even seasons where the Doctor and River travel together.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Can we safely assume that this is just a bunch of nonsense? If it were true, "Let's Kill Hitler" should have been the last time we ever saw River, since it was the very first time she met him.

Moffat's shown us on multiple occasions that "back to front" isn't literally true. The "Night and the Doctor" shorts especially make mincemeat of the notion given that we have multiple Rivers meeting the same Doctor, including a River from immediately prior to "Silence in the Library."

 

[Admiral_Young]

The River story does have a definitive end in "Forest of the Dead".

 

[RoJoHen]

Can we safely assume that this is just a bunch of nonsense? If it were true, "Let's Kill Hitler" should have been the last time we ever saw River, since it was the very first time she met him.

Moffat's shown us on multiple occasions that "back to front" isn't literally true. The "Night and the Doctor" shorts especially make mincemeat of the notion given that we have multiple Rivers meeting the same Doctor, including a River from immediately prior to "Silence in the Library."

I haven't heard of these shorts.

The River story does have a definitive end in "Forest of the Dead".

Really not what I meant. The River story of these seasons is directly related to Amy and Rory. We need some kind of wrap-up to that, an episode that definitively ends the story arc that has been introduced until this point. Basically, need to see the Doctor saying goodbye to River, knowing that it's the last time he'll see her.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm guessing this will be the final season we see River in that case since Amy and Rory are leaving.

 

[The Wormhole]

Can we safely assume that this is just a bunch of nonsense? If it were true, "Let's Kill Hitler" should have been the last time we ever saw River, since it was the very first time she met him.

Moffat's shown us on multiple occasions that "back to front" isn't literally true. The "Night and the Doctor" shorts especially make mincemeat of the notion given that we have multiple Rivers meeting the same Doctor, including a River from immediately prior to "Silence in the Library."

I haven't heard of these shorts.

They're on the season 6 DVD, the set for the complete season. Though I hear they're viewable through "alternate methods." Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The Doctor/River episode is cute, but some moments there deserve to be in a full episode.

 

[Tom]

Let face it, I think Moffet got way to hung up on the 'Time Travellers Wife' story. It may have been and interesting approach but the TTW did it first and Moffet was pretty much copying that with some Doctor Who twists added in.

 

[Admiral_Young]

As much as I've enjoyed the River arc and finding out who she is...yeah it has been highly convoluted and maybe taken something away from her mystique when we first were introduced to her.