River's Journal--Chronicling Her Adventures With The Doctor

[Admiral_Young]

I find the concept of River's journal fascinating...she's taken the time over the years of her adventures with the Doctor to actually write down and chronicle them in a book (that looks like the Tardis). I don't think any other companion did this and it is an interesting facet to her character that she would do this as well. It's also an interesting plot device to use. I like the fact that she's used it to provide information from the future and that the Doctor detests this but Amy is interested in seeing what is written down there...more so than I think Donna was.

River mentions that she has all of his faces in the book...does this mean that she's done sketches of all Eleven Doctor's including the Doctor she traveled with? It still isn't clear which Doctor she traveled and fell in love with (wife or not it is pretty clear by now that the Doctor and River had some kind of romantic entanglement as River says to Amy...with the Doctor it's anything but complex). I'm inclined to think that it is the Eleventh Doctor she meets and wonder if we will ever have their first meeting together. Perhaps next series?

 

[PorthosShadow]

I find the concept of River's journal fascinating...she's taken the time over the years of her adventures with the Doctor to actually write down and chronicle them in a book (that looks like the Tardis). I don't think any other companion did this and it is an interesting facet to her character that she would do this as well. It's also an interesting plot device to use. I like the fact that she's used it to provide information from the future and that the Doctor detests this but Amy is interested in seeing what is written down there...more so than I think Donna was.

River mentions that she has all of his faces in the book...does this mean that she's done sketches of all Eleven Doctor's including the Doctor she traveled with? It still isn't clear which Doctor she traveled and fell in love with (wife or not it is pretty clear by now that the Doctor and River had some kind of romantic entanglement as River says to Amy...with the Doctor it's anything but complex). I'm inclined to think that it is the Eleventh Doctor she meets and wonder if we will ever have their first meeting together. Perhaps next series?

No spoilers but after seeing "Time Of The Angels" this afternoon I got to thinking that maybe River meets The Doctor on his final regeration. Basically he knows the end is definate and he is going to spend the rest of his life with someone, basically he's going to have a real life and he chooses to spend it with River.

 

[Bones2]

Meh, I hope she dies next week and that's an end to it. Either the diary burns with her and remains an uninteresting mystery, or else the Doctor gets a good read of it and sees that for the first 200 pages, the word "Rani" has been crossed out and replaced with "River" in messy handwriting.

 

[Shazam!]

That or she's just one big con merchant and never/has never actually had any kind of relationship with The Doctor.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ I don't think that is the case...remember the expression on the Tenth's face when she whispered his real name to him? Also he recognized the futuristic version of the sonic screwdriver and she knows how to pilot the Tardis. I did find it interesting that this early River was in prison. The theory posed by the first poster regarding his final regeneration is interesting but the description she gave to the Tenth Doctor when meeting him indicated meeting a younger version of the Doctor.

 

[Kelso]

I wish they would do a River Song spin-off. Best character ever.

 

[JoeZhang]

Since in the Doctor's own personal timeline he only knows her from ten onwards and she doesn't know 11 but she knows multiple regenerations of his, I'm guessing that she knows him from some point of 12 onwards...

Also I doubt we will ever get the original meeting - however, have song as middle-aged means that we can meet a 20 year old song in ten years time.

 

[EJA]

How would River have pictures of Doctors 1 to 9? She never met any of them. Did the Doctor give them to her in the future (i.e. his personal future)?

 

[Australis]

As I said somewhere else, he must find a way round the regen limit.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

How would River have pictures of Doctors 1 to 9? She never met any of them. Did the Doctor give them to her in the future (i.e. his personal future)?

I suspect that at some point the (future) Doctor is going to say to River, "You need to know about these Doctors. They are me, but they are me before I first met you in the library in my personal timeline. You need to know what they look like, so that if you see them, you won't corrupt my past -- and yours." The Doctor will do it simply for self-preservation purposes. Probably early in her life (on the premise that the earlier, the better), possibly late in his own.

 

[JoeZhang]

As I said somewhere else, he must find a way round the regen limit.

It's not worth taking seriously at this point - as long as the series is still pulling in the viewers, they will hand-wave it away.

 

[EJA]

How would River have pictures of Doctors 1 to 9? She never met any of them. Did the Doctor give them to her in the future (i.e. his personal future)?

I suspect that at some point the (future) Doctor is going to say to River, "You need to know about these Doctors. They are me, but they are me before I first met you in the library in my personal timeline. You need to know what they look like, so that if you see them, you won't corrupt my past -- and yours." The Doctor will do it simply for self-preservation purposes. Probably early in her life (on the premise that the earlier, the better), possibly late in his own.

I assume he'll let her know it's ok for her to interact with any Doctors from 10 onwards though?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

How would River have pictures of Doctors 1 to 9? She never met any of them. Did the Doctor give them to her in the future (i.e. his personal future)?

I suspect that at some point the (future) Doctor is going to say to River, "You need to know about these Doctors. They are me, but they are me before I first met you in the library in my personal timeline. You need to know what they look like, so that if you see them, you won't corrupt my past -- and yours." The Doctor will do it simply for self-preservation purposes. Probably early in her life (on the premise that the earlier, the better), possibly late in his own.

Or she has met them.

 

[EJA]

How would River have pictures of Doctors 1 to 9? She never met any of them. Did the Doctor give them to her in the future (i.e. his personal future)?

I suspect that at some point the (future) Doctor is going to say to River, "You need to know about these Doctors. They are me, but they are me before I first met you in the library in my personal timeline. You need to know what they look like, so that if you see them, you won't corrupt my past -- and yours." The Doctor will do it simply for self-preservation purposes. Probably early in her life (on the premise that the earlier, the better), possibly late in his own.

Or she has met them.

The Tenth Doctor didn't recognise her in Silence in the Library.

 

[Cutter John]

Well hell, if the Daleks, Cybermen, and Atraxi have footage of all his former selve's then surely the Doctors got a few old photos lying about.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The Tenth Doctor didn't recognise her in Silence in the Library.

She retroactively met them later.

 

[EJA]

The Tenth Doctor didn't recognise her in Silence in the Library.

She retroactively met them later.

Not possible, seeing as she died at the end of that story.

I am kind of curious as to how none of the Doctors prior to Eleven noticed the box with her message in the museum, as he appears to have been visiting it for quite some time.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The Tenth Doctor didn't recognise her in Silence in the Library.

She retroactively met them later.

Not possible, seeing as she died at the end of that story.

Come on. Of course it's possible.

It's a time paradox. Or River Song exists in several places simultaneously. Or it was caused by Jeanne-Azum III the Gorilla Princess' imprudent use of the Throne of Mathematic Scorn. Or ripple effects from the First Poker Game of the Universe. Or River Song was dematerialized picoseconds before her demise by time gremlins and transported to 1963 where she met the Doctor in Totter's Lane. Or it's a TARDIS glitch. Or the Doctor just used his sonic screwdriver. Or, you know, just the fact that people assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, when actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like...

"Not possible"? It's Doctor Who.

 

[Mr. Sin]

I'm curious about the "Old High Gallifreyan" bit. It's possible the Doctor taught her somehow in the future (As the Doctor is one of those who understands it from "The Five Doctors".). Or there's more to River than there appears to be. Some have compared her to Romana, interestingly enough....

 

[Cutter John]

And I'm still trying to figure out who could have taught River how to fly the Tardis.