And seriously, guys...

[tencrush]

SHE'S HIS FUCKING WIFE!!

She's not Rose, she's not Jenny, she's not the Rani, she's not Romana. River Song is the Doctor's wife from the future. She's going to die in the next episode. He will spend all that time with her, doing all that funstuff in her diary, knowing precisely how and when she will inevitably die.

Paradoxes, inevitability, fate, curse of a Time Lord... Jesus Christ to hear fandom talking you'd think they'd never seen a Moffat episode before.

EDITED TO ADD SOMETHING I POSTED IN THE COMMENTS: I don't understand what everyone's so worked up about, she's not the next companion, she's his lover/wife from some point in the future. We'll more than likely never see her again. It's about time travel and the weirdness involved. It's about the Doctor losing the woman he loves, BEFORE HE LOVES HER. It's about her dying in the arms of a man WHO DOESN'T LOVE HER YET. It's a timey-wimey Moffat story, nothing more.

Moffat's apparent fascination with the mechanics of time travel make me tremendously excited about his tenure as boss. I think if Moffat does go for any sort of overriding story arc, it will be far more clever than Rusty's namechecking "Torchwood" every bloody episode, and will probably deal with the same themes he seems so fond of, fixed history, inevitability of events, consequences of past and future actions. I'm excited about Moffat, really I am.

Comments

[violethamster.livejournal.com]

That'll probably turn out to be the case, but it seems kind of meh to me. And I'll like the story less if it's that utterly predictable. It would be nice if there were some kind of twist, although preferably something no one has predicted.
River Song hasn't grabbed my interest as a character, honestly I'd forget her existence in two seconds if people weren't still talking about her. I'm more focused on wondering if there's any chance they might surprise me and Donna might actually be dead, and future appearances could be an alt!Donna from Rose's world.

[holdingoff.livejournal.com]

...getting a little sick of the insistence by fandom that Rose was the most awesome Companion ever...

ain't that the truth, Rose doesn't even make the top five in my book.

let's see,

Romana II
Romana I
Sarah Jane
Tegan
Jamie (cause boy howdy, did Frazer look good in a kilt...)

[holdingoff.livejournal.com]

...it's about her dying in the arms of a man WHO DOESN'T LOVE HER YET...

i'll guess she dies in his arms because she'll throw herself in harms way to make sure he lives to meet her in the future...

Moffat at the helm could be incredible, it could also be frustrating as all get out- but at least it won't be filled with "aren't we so clever" moments ala RTD.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

It's about her dying in the arms of a man WHO DOESN'T LOVE HER YET.

THAT'S VERY DEPRESSING.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

I think it'll unhappen out of her love for the Doctor.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's dissing the other companions as long as she's not a companion. And the companion role is messed up this year enough that something this weird doesn't make a noticeable dent.

[girlfmkitty.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying it! Spoilerphobes out there drive me nuts when I can't even comment with what I know to be trufax... *sigh*

[misterbill.livejournal.com]

[quote]... till eventually they fall in love and get married.[/quote]

And most probably from the Doctor's point to view the marriage ceremony will be the last time he ever sees her...

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I know it's easier from his standpoint to "sell" (give away for donations) the signed cards, and of course they're a "permanent" keepsake, but geezy-creezy he could pull in a bundle-o-cash if he'd auction off hair-ruffling privileges (w/ a side order of you get a photograph of yourself doing it.)

[sm-droid.livejournal.com]

thats the problem though, if it isnt handled right it'll cause real continuity problems and limit future seasons. Unless theres a big jump in time to after the Doctors been with her I cant see it working (a problem that the Valeyard may also cause when it gets to the 12th regeneration). It'll have to take place during DTs time as well because thats the incarntion River Song recognizes.

[descrime.livejournal.com]

But it's not going to picked up again. And the Doctor is over 900 years old. He's been married before. I'm sure he'll be married half a dozen more times before he dies, not to mention all the relationships he'll have that don't end in tying the knot. With Captain Jack, he's previously made fun of the 21st century OTP forever concept.

The Doctor's wife closes off no avenues and she won't be important to the narrative. That's the whole point because you'd think she'd be all important as his wife, but because of how they've met, she's just not.

[ellji.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I think everyone's on the wrong track. I'm going to call it, for the record. She's his biographer.

Come on. Book of his history? Calling it "spoilers", which is his rule? Told Donna basically the same thing about the biographies? Who else would know so much about his life? Who else, but an archeologist, could possibly write it?

Sure, she could be married to him at some point, or whatever, but that doesn't really matter. The fact is, she's his biographer, and that's what's going to be important for the next episode.

Also, consider this; constantly throughout this season, it's been empisised about time being stable or in flux. Events can, and probably will, change.

[purple-pirate.livejournal.com]

I am wanting to friend you on the basis of this post alone - is that wrong?
:D
I totally agree about the thrill of Moff taking on the mechanics of time travel. A series about a time traveller that explores the astonishing possibilities and paradoxes of time travel. Imagine!

(I am, and its gonna be brilliant...)

[descrime.livejournal.com]

I've been reading more comments on other journals and it baffles me that people don't like her because they find her smug and she always knows what to do. I don't see why they're watching Doctor Who then, because the Doctor is smug and always knows what to do all the time. Oh, and she didn't trot back to her spaceship like a good little girl when the Doctor ordered her to, but rather took pride in her job and wanted to figure out what was going on for herself.

Honestly, I thought the best line of the whole episode was when the Doctor is going all righteous and saying "I'm not going to let us all die because of one man's pride" and River calls him out and asks him why he doesn't just sign the damn form then. I wish Moffat hadn't had her soften that blow, because by having the characters acknowledge that the Doctor has failings and is wrong some times, it would stop some fans from having this perception that the Doctor is god and all the other characters must bow down and obey him.

People don't seem to like Moffat's Doctor because he lies and is high-handed with his companions and is sometimes insufferable, but I say bring it on. I like my characters having flaws and I'm sick of Jesus!Doctor. Moffat's Doctor is much more real to me than the Doctor in the Doctor's Daughter.

[leoniedelt.livejournal.com]

And when they 'fall in love and get married' I'll puke, and stop watching the show.

[tencrush]

That's actually quite an interesting idea.

[leoniedelt.livejournal.com]

Davison make Dalek go boom. ♥ that episode for sooo many reasons....

[jbs-teeth.livejournal.com]

I think this is a friggin brilliant theory. I haven't been able to see past the blatant corollaries to the book, but if you take that herring away, your idea makes perfect sense.

Now I will be mad if that does not turn out to be the case, as it is so much better (and copyright violation-y) than her as his wife.

[meleth.livejournal.com]

On an unrelated note: my power was out last night, and going down the hall to the bathroom by cell phone light, after having seen Space Library, was SCARY AS FUCK.

Re: He doesn't handle loss well.

[dragonbloodink.livejournal.com]

So you're saying...that Song's not his wife before he wouldn't get involved with a human? Sorry, confused. =)

By "not handling loss well" I mean

-burning up a star to say goodbye to Rose
-the continuing emo complete with shoutyness
-hyper-sensitivity to people leaving him (i.e., the scene with Donna in The Poison Sky)

I will say this seems to be largely a New!Who thing, and thus probably relates to the loss of Gallifrey/the Time War, because he wasn't usually like this in old!school...hell, he locked his own granddaughter out of the TARDIS and LEFT HER. :)

[thedorkygirl.livejournal.com]

Won't it be sad if he can NEVER surprise us??

I don't know. With all the mentions of "spoilers" and surprises being ruined on the show, I'm wondering if the River spoilers are fake, and she's his mother or something. Not seriously, but still. That and the bees.

[spoofmaster]

I love this idea, and I think it makes an extra helping of sense when you consider the fact that they originally landed in the biography section.

Ohhh, man. That would be so incredibly cool after all the wife hype that I, too, am going to be disappointed if you're wrong.

[such_heights]

Oh, fuck. You are of course completely right, I just hadn't brought myself to think about it before. *whimpers*

[mimarie.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Thank you so much.

And I know it's horribly sad to think about her dying in the arms of a man who doesn't love her yet, but it's the satisfying, beautiful kind of sadness - that well-written, well-plotted by a writer possessing the depth of vision required for creating real and affecting stories concerning the exploits of a Time Lord, sort of sad way. (Is it 2010 yet?)

[biichan.livejournal.com]

YES THANK YOU.