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- In Doctor Who season 6, episode 7, "A Good Man Goes to War," it's explained that River Song's name is actually a mistranslation of "Melody Pond," revealing River as a future regeneration of the daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
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Nov 18, 2013 · REVEALED | A Good Man Goes to War | Doctor Who. River helps the Doctor understand the truth about who she really is. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SubscribeToDoctorWhoWATCH MORE:GERMAN: https://bit.ly...
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- Doctor Who
- Biography
- Legacy
- Alternate timelines
- Personality
- Physical appearance
- Skills and abilities
Becoming River Song
River Song was the third and final incarnation of the assassin Melody Pond, the child of Rory Williams and Amy Pond who had been stolen away (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) by the Kovarian Chapter to be used as a weapon against the Doctor to prevent the Siege of Trenzalore. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).) Shortly after regenerating from her second incarnation in 1938 Berlin, Melody began examining her new body and, per her programming, began using every obvious means of trying to lure the Eleventh Doctor into a false sense of security. Having already applied lipstick laced with Judas tree poison, she kissed the Doctor, poisoning him beyond his ability to regenerate, as she cheerily ran amok in Berlin, arming herself with guns from German soldiers and stealing clothes from patrons at the posh Hotel Adlon. The Teselecta, after taking her parents on board, decided to punish River for her murder of the Doctor, but the Doctor stopped them. When her parents were in danger of being killed by antibodies, Melody was surprised to see the Doctor ignore his pain for the sake of saving them. Convincing her to let him save her parents, the Doctor had Melody pilot the TARDIS to save Amy and Rory. Melody then agreed to give a message to River Song from the dying Doctor, and he whispered it in her ear. Asking who River was, Amy had the Teselecta turned into Melody's new incarnation. Melody realised that she was the person the Doctor kept calling for help, and reawakened him with a kiss, using all of her remaining regenerations to bring him back to life. She passed out in the process. The Doctor took River to the "best hospital in the universe" to recover. Knowing of her future as an on-and-off companion, he left a TARDIS-shaped diary as a gift. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) The Doctor made it so that the diary's number of pages reflected exactly the amount of adventures they would have together for River to record. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).) The next morning, River found clothes that her parents had left for her. However, they had not left River anything to write in her diary with. The nurses called the closest antique shop and were able to secure a pen for her, and she used it to make the first entry in her diary. (GAME: The Eternity Clock [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
Studying at Luna University
This section's awfully stubby. Info from Judge, Jury and Executioner [+]James Goss and Steve Tribe, The Doctor: His Lives and Times (BBC Books, 2013). needs to be added Hoping to find the Doctor once again, River entered the Luna University in 5123. When asked why she wished to study archaeology, River said she was "looking for a good man". Her studies led to her knowing some of the Doctor's locations in the past. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) One of the things River decided to research was the legend of the Furies. (AUDIO: The Furies [+]Matt Fitton, The Diary of River Song: Series Three (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) River chose Bernice Summerfield as her tutor because she found out that Benny knew the Doctor. She rarely attended Benny's lectures but still graduated top of the class. Benny recalled River as the most annoying student she ever had. (AUDIO: Lies in Ruins [+]James Goss, The Legacy of Time (Big Finish Productions, 2019).) During her studies River once transmatted the contents of a professor's office to an upper atmosphere and frequently sought permission to visit Dalek space. She once stole an old vortex manipulator to attempt to contact her future self for help on essays. When caught she avoided expulsion by successfully arguing it was impossible to plagiarise from herself. River also swapped her diary for a special lipstick. In December 5124, River encountered numerous Silents infiltrating the university and helped fellow student Donovan Claire flee in a shuttle, as she'd caught their attention by remembering a planet erased from time by a crack which the Silents were trying to cover up. (PROSE: Student Bodies [+]Dave Rudden, Twelve Angels Weeping (2018).)
The assassination of the Doctor
This section's awfully stubby. Info from Just a Minute... [+]James Goss and Mark Gatiss, The Brilliant Book 2012 (The Brilliant Book 2012 fiction, BBC Books, 2011). needs to be added Working hard for "some afternoons", River eventually gained a doctorate from Luna University, (AUDIO: Songs of Love [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2017).) but Kovarian appeared with agents of the Church and the Silence. They seized her, forced her into a modified version of the astronaut suit and took her to Utah on 22 April 2011, where they submerged her in Lake Silencio to await the Doctor. (TV: Closing Time [+]Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) When the time came to kill him, River emerged from the lake as the Doctor picnicked with Amy, Rory and an older River. The Doctor approached her alone to speak with her, (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) and reassure her that all was going to be well. However, River drained her weapon pack to defy the fixed point in time and save the Doctor, but time shredded into a reality where all history happened at once due to her actions. Working with individuals who remembered the correct history, River captured Kovarian and the Silents, and had Amy bring the Doctor to her. Refusing to fix reality, River was convinced by the Doctor to let history unfold after he wed himself to her to get close enough to whisper his plan to her. Sharing a kiss with her new husband, River went through with his apparent murder to restore the timeline, knowing he was really safe inside the Teselecta. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) Despite their marriage, River never believed her love for the Doctor was mutual. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).) With the deed apparently done, River walked back into Lake Silencio, the astronaut suit protecting her from being shot by her future self. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
The Tenth Doctor remembered River's death in the Library when Davros asked him how many people had died in his name. (TV: Journey's End [+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).)
The Eleventh Doctor mentioned River in his diary when he was attempting to write about losing Amy and Rory to the Weeping Angels in New York City. (PROSE: The Doctor's Diary [+]Moray Laing, The Official 50th Anniversary Annual (Penguin Group, 2013). Page 8.)
A request was made in the 51st century for Professor Song to be loaned out from Stormcage, but the Papal Mainframe denied it. Later, the Twelfth Doctor saw River's face alongside many others after he was hit with chronon energy. (PROSE: Big Bang Generation [+]Gary Russell, BBC New Series Adventures (BBC Books, 2015).)
During the Siege of Trenzalore, Tasha Lem noted how one of the Silence's attempts to keep the Doctor from reaching Trenzalore was to engineer a psychopath to kill him. The Doctor told Tasha he never would have made it to Trenzalore without River's help over the years, and realised that the Silence's efforts to stop him from reaching Trenzalore, led him there. (TV: The Time of the Doctor [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2013 (BBC One, 2013).)
After their night on Darillium, the Twelfth Doctor was greatly affected by River's death and "glued" Nardole's head back on so he wouldn't be alone without her. Nardole later told Grant and Lucy Fletcher about River and how her death had impacted on the Doctor, but Nardole promised them that he would make sure the Doctor was alright. (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016 (BBC One, 2016).)
Missy referenced the Twelfth Doctor's "domestic bliss" on Darillium, claiming to have heard about it from the Daleks. When she asked what happened and the Doctor didn't answer, she gave him her condolences. Later, Nardole encouraged the Doctor to save Missy by bringing him River's diary and quoting from it. (TV: Extremis [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 10 (BBC One, 2017).)
A Dalek continuity bomb revealed to the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors an alternate timeline where River refused to kill the Doctor at Lake Silencio and instead of choosing to save reality, the Eleventh Doctor and River lived as husband and wife, thus condemning the universe. (COMIC: Four Doctors [+]Paul Cornell, Titan summer events (Titan Comics, 2015).)
River received five master's degrees from the Sorbonne, each in an alternate timeline. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 2 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2016).)
River Song was very strong-willed; though brainwashed and raised to kill him, she decided the Doctor was "worth it" and saved his life, giving up all her regenerations to do so. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She resisted the upgraded astronaut suit and refused to kill him, heedless of the consequences. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).)
River was flirtatious and cheeky like her mother, Amy. Like her father, Rory, she was stubborn, responsible and fiercely compassionate. She enjoyed showing off for the Doctor. She teased him and liked using the word "spoilers" whenever the subject turned to the Doctor's future. This began when the Doctor assigned her to document their adventures in the TARDIS diary. She adopted the word from the Doctor. He, however, used the word with Donna before he met River, establishing that not only he did not learn it from her, he foreshadowed her saying it to him when he met her. (TV: Silence in the Library [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., HOMEVID: Last Night [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) She kept her diary from him (TV: Silence in the Library [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)./Forest of the Dead [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008).) and hid that his death at Lake Silencio was a hoax from everyone except her parents, waiting until the time was right to confide the real fate of the Doctor, without altering the course of a fixed point in time. River visited Amy and Rory after they found out that she was their daughter. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) As she neared Darillium and their adventures were coming to an end, River questioned the Doctor openly on her future, stating that she knew he was the kind of man who would give her a diary with the right amount of pages for her use, thus knowing when it was nearly full, their adventures were at an end. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).)
As soon as Amy and Rory knew they were her parents, she happily stopped calling them by their first names and called them Mother and Dad. She only used their given names when referring to them with a third person such as the Doctor. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) She also learned a lot from her parents. For example, when she was younger, she would back off from the Doctor's verbal onslaughts until Amy's support and push taught her to not back down. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
River seemed at ease with being kept in prison much of her life for a crime she didn't commit and often flirted with the guards or made jokes about the facility, even once stating that she was "breaking in not out" which seemed to be a subtle taunt to the security of what was supposed to be an extremely secure prison. (TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She was able to escape from prison "as though the walls aren't there" according to the Doctor. (HOMEVID: First Night [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) Nevertheless, she did work towards earning a pardon, eventually succeeding when the Doctor deleted records of himself from the universe. (TV: Flesh and Stone [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Time of Angels [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).) She later stated she had "a significant history of escaping". (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).)
River loved flirting with people and was constantly hitting on the Doctor, although she also had a tendency to flirt with other people such as prison guards and Hitler's soldiers. She often greeted the Doctor with the words "Hello Sweetie". (TV: Silence in the Library [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., Flesh and Stone [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Pandorica Opens [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She was also rather vain, believing that her cleavage "could fell an ox at twenty feet". (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
River was very confident in her abilities and she was very hard to intimidate, showing no fear when faced with the Weeping Angels, the Silence or the Vashta Nerada. She was also very good at hiding her emotions, and didn't like to show weakness. She was devastated when her parents were stolen by a Weeping Angel but unlike the Doctor she encouraged Amy to go to be with Rory and didn't break down after the Angel transported Amy away, showing a far greater level of self-control than her husband, and watching the Weeping Angel so it could not attack them while the Doctor looked away. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 7 (BBC One, 2012).)
In her third incarnation, River described herself as glamorous with exceptional hair, (AUDIO: Someone I Once Knew [+]John Dorney, The Diary of River Song: Series Four (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2018).) hair that Brooke and Strax both described as being "big". Though Strax mistook it for a "gigantic head". (TV: The Name of the...
River showed that she had enough control over regeneration to be able to use it to attack Hitler's soldiers. She was also able to use her remaining regeneration energy to bring the Doctor back to life after she poisoned him, although she had to use up all of her remaining regenerations in order to do so. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She had an extremely keen sense of smell enabling her to detect the presence of living or dead bodies (AUDIO: The Boundless Sea [+]Jenny Colgan, The Diary of River Song: Series One (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2015).) and a respiratory bypass system, but had little experience with using it. She was also able to sense time shifts. (AUDIO: I Went to a Marvellous Party [+]Justin Richards, The Diary of River Song: Series One (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2015).) River also had two hearts. (AUDIO: The Eye of the Storm [+]Matt Fitton, The Diary of River Song: Series Two (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2016)., Songs of Love [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 4 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2017).)
River was known as "the child of the TARDIS" and the time machine had taken a particular liking to her and taught her how to fly her. River was a very fast learner, becoming skilled at flying the TARDIS in a remarkably short time and she was able to control the time machine even more proficiently than the Doctor, despite the fact that the Doctor had been flying the TARDIS for centuries. (TV: The Big Bang [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., Let's Kill Hitler [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She indicated at one point she was so good at it, she stole and returned the TARDIS multiple times before the Doctor even noticed it was gone. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).)
River also seemed to be well versed in temporal theory and advanced sciences, like Jack Harkness and the Doctor himself. In addition to her ability to fix, operate, and maintain the Doctor's TARDIS, she was proficient with her scanner (TV: The Time of Angels [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Pandorica Opens [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) and was able to build a timey-wimey distress beacon. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She was also able to read and write Old High Gallifreyan (TV: The Time of Angels [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) and without benefit of the TARDIS Translation circuit she inscribed the oldest graffiti in the universe on Planet One. (TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010).) Additionally, River spoke French. (AUDIO: The Boundless Sea [+]Jenny Colgan, The Diary of River Song: Series One (The Diary of River Song, Big Finish Productions, 2015).)
In addition to piloting the TARDIS, River often used a vortex manipulator and was able to use it to get wherever she needed to be. She was able to escape from Stormcage easily, even without the Doctor coming to pick her up. (TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., HOMEVID: First Night [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW., Last Night [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.) She sometimes made impressive entrances whilst using the Vortex manipulator, such as when she made a bright flash of light appear when she teleported to Demons Run. (TV: The Pandorica Opens [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 5 (BBC One, 2010)., A Good Man Goes to War [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) She was able to modify it someway. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 2 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2016).) However, in her later life she seemed to abandon use of the vortex manipulator, preferring to steal the TARDIS and return it before the Doctor noticed it missing. She specifically stated she needed the TARDIS to reach the Harmony and Redemption before its destruction rather than using her vortex manipulator as she would've in the past. (TV: The Husbands of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 (BBC One, 2015).)
River Song proved able to achieve results in the academic field, since she gained a doctorate and a tenure in archaeology (TV: Silence in the Library [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 4 (BBC One, 2008)., Closing Time [+]Gareth Roberts, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011). et al.) and five master's degrees from the Sorbonne. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer [+]Matt Fitton, Doom Coalition 2 (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Doom Coalition, Big Finish Productions, 2016).)
River was also incredibly strong and in her first incarnation she was able to force her way out of the spacesuit that had been holding her prisoner. Even when she was forced back inside the spacesuit in her last incarnation, she drained the energy from the weapon intended to kill the Doctor, despite saying that the spacesuit was in control. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011)., The Wedding of River Song [+]Steven Moffat, Doctor Who series 6 (BBC One, 2011).) In her second incarnation she demonstrated her superhuman strength when she fought with Krampus' minions. (COMIC: Imaginary Enemies [+]Error: Code 2 - no data stored in variables, cache or SMW.)
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2 days ago · It turned out River Song (Alex Kingston) was the daughter of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). She was the baby that had been stolen away from them during the episode.
Dec 18, 2023 · Played by Alex Kingston, River Song is one of the most fascinating characters in Doctor Who - and here's her complete timeline and a recommended viewing order. River Song is the time-traveling archeologist who has one of the closest relationships with the Doctor in the entire show.
- Thomas Bacon
- River Song's birth - A Good Man Goes to War (season 6, episode 7) River's true identity isn't revealed until season 6 episode 7, when we learn about the story of her birth.
- River Song's first regeneration - The Impossible Astronaut/The Day of the Moon (season 6, episodes 1 and 2) The dramatic two-parter, which sees the Doctor "die" at the hands of River, is full of different variations of the pair of them.
- Let's Kill Hitler (season 6, episode 8) After she regenerates, River/Melody goes by the name of Mels (played by Nina Toussaint-White) and grows up as the best friend of her parents, Amy and Rory.
- Closing Time (season 6, episode 12) It's tragically revealed in Closing Time that River has not been able to escape the Silence. Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber) informs her that she will be the one to kill the Doctor, and she's forced into the space suit to carry out the horrifying task - although, thankfully, things pan out a little differently.
Nov 5, 2023 · While River Song was first seen on Doctor Who in Season 4, in a story that revealed her death, the character's secret origins were revealed in Season 6. At the start of Season 6, on "The Impossible Astronaut," Amy Pond told the Doctor she was pregnant.
Nov 5, 2018 · Matt Smith's Doctor, flanked with Amy, Rory and an adult River Song, tracks down the child who is now wearing a spacesuit (her identity unknown to them), and Amy shoots her.
