Rivers of Light

The Diary of River Song #9.4

Released: 27 October 2021

Listened: 10/31/21

– The River Song stories “The Blood Woods,” “Terror of the Suburbs,” and “Never Alone” take place here for Liz, but the Doctor isn’t in those, so I’ve covered them in River’s portion of the project. --

This is the final story of a River Song boxed set, in which River filled in for the Doctor for a while, early in his UNIT tenure. This is the one we’ve been waiting for, where River meets the Third Doctor along with the Brig, Liz, and a special guest star at the end. The Third Doctor, especially this early in his tenure, despises being pushed around, and really hates anyone touching his stuff, which is exactly what River’s been doing for weeks now, having sent him off on a wild goose chase. So the expected shouting scene ensues, and while Tim Treloar does an excellent Third Doctor, he’s not always at his best when shouting. Because this is River’s story, she handles him the way she always does: does her own thing and expects him to trail along behind, being irritated. This time, though, she really does know what’s going on, and has most of a plan to fix it. Basically because it’s her fault. There’s some alien tech down a mine, and it’s awfully dangerous, so she needs to get it back. The plot stays pretty basic so there’s more time for banter, but there are some fairly well-drawn secondary characters, and a nice visual of subterranean lightning. There’s a little bit of dodgy science mixing up gravity and magnetism, but it’s forgivable. There’s also a nice throwaway line about some time fluctuations messing up the entire decade, which is cute. Liz kind of takes a back seat this time, but does demonstrate considerable trust in River, which built over the stories. As a boxed set, it works quite well, and this story provides the ending you’d expect.