(no subject)
I actually rather liked this episode, even after having heard the stuff about River Song and being prepared to hate lots of parts. I'm actually half thinking that the whole script leaked to The Sun and subsequent spoilers leaked by them is a huge ruse, since this episode and the next one as evidenced in its preview, emphasized and made such a big deal of spoilers. In particular, I think we are meant to be misled about River Song and her relationship with the Doctor.
Did I hear correctly that the blue TARDIS-looking book is supposedly River's diary? Since its covers so obviously resemble the TARDIS, I very much expect this is actually the Doctor's biography. And how bad does it look for River that she would lie about that and use it to make up events in "their future". She can use its contents to know all about him and he wouldn't know the difference, seeing as he can't look at it and "spoil" himself about his own future either way. It would tie in with the Doctor and Donna's talk about the biography section in the beginning, too.
I really have difficulty buying that the Doctor and River could be future lovers/companions. I can't help but see that the Doctor hasn't really seemed to have warmed to River at all yet. I'd say the Doctor is shown to usually be a good judge of character, and rather quickly knows if he likes/dislikes someone. I think it's telling that he remains suspicious of River, continuing to ask who she is and even more when he looked perturbed at her having a sonic screwdriver and rushed to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS immediately after seeing it. I'm reminded of his sending Rose away the two times when things started to get too dangerous, and wonder a bit that it was at that point that he decided he had to get Donna to safety, although admittedly things were seeming pretty bad already with the Vashta Nerada. I definitely don't trust what she said about the Doctor giving her his sonic screwdriver. It doesn't matter how close you are to him. Lend it, sure, but unless he has got himself a new one, he wouldn't give it up over his dead body.
In Steven Moffatt's Girl in the Fireplace, the Doctor was immediately fascinated by Reinette, although there were other factors involved too (why the clockwork monsters were so interested in her). Admittedly, he already in a way knew Reinette, just not personally, because she was a historical figure that he'd read up on. I wonder with River if it could be kind of like this in reverse, that she has read up on the Doctor and is fascinated by him and decided to try to integrate herself into his life because of that.
From calling him stuff like "sweetie" and "pretty boy", River doesn't really seem to know the Doctor in the right sense, and I think his attitude toward her reflects that. Because she only has his biography to go by, she wouldn't know that he isn't the type to go by petnames, and other little personal things about him.
Aha, and also just to add an interesting quote from Russel T. Davies in DWM #395, "It's hard to talk about her character, River Song, without giving too much away- and the concept of 'spoilers' is a vital part of the script, so let's just say that you should watch her, and listen to her every word, very, very carefully, indeed..."
I'm not usually that observant of a viewer to catch little scene continuity goofs, but there were two very noticeable ones that irked me within minutes of each other. First one is when the Doctor is handed Dave's helmet, you clearly see Dave only has one shadow, despite his obviously having two moments before. Second was when everyone was running away from Dave, River grabs the Doctor's hand, a second later they're shown running without hands held, then back to a shot where they're obviously holding hands.
Did I hear correctly that the blue TARDIS-looking book is supposedly River's diary? Since its covers so obviously resemble the TARDIS, I very much expect this is actually the Doctor's biography. And how bad does it look for River that she would lie about that and use it to make up events in "their future". She can use its contents to know all about him and he wouldn't know the difference, seeing as he can't look at it and "spoil" himself about his own future either way. It would tie in with the Doctor and Donna's talk about the biography section in the beginning, too.
I really have difficulty buying that the Doctor and River could be future lovers/companions. I can't help but see that the Doctor hasn't really seemed to have warmed to River at all yet. I'd say the Doctor is shown to usually be a good judge of character, and rather quickly knows if he likes/dislikes someone. I think it's telling that he remains suspicious of River, continuing to ask who she is and even more when he looked perturbed at her having a sonic screwdriver and rushed to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS immediately after seeing it. I'm reminded of his sending Rose away the two times when things started to get too dangerous, and wonder a bit that it was at that point that he decided he had to get Donna to safety, although admittedly things were seeming pretty bad already with the Vashta Nerada. I definitely don't trust what she said about the Doctor giving her his sonic screwdriver. It doesn't matter how close you are to him. Lend it, sure, but unless he has got himself a new one, he wouldn't give it up over his dead body.
In Steven Moffatt's Girl in the Fireplace, the Doctor was immediately fascinated by Reinette, although there were other factors involved too (why the clockwork monsters were so interested in her). Admittedly, he already in a way knew Reinette, just not personally, because she was a historical figure that he'd read up on. I wonder with River if it could be kind of like this in reverse, that she has read up on the Doctor and is fascinated by him and decided to try to integrate herself into his life because of that.
From calling him stuff like "sweetie" and "pretty boy", River doesn't really seem to know the Doctor in the right sense, and I think his attitude toward her reflects that. Because she only has his biography to go by, she wouldn't know that he isn't the type to go by petnames, and other little personal things about him.
Aha, and also just to add an interesting quote from Russel T. Davies in DWM #395, "It's hard to talk about her character, River Song, without giving too much away- and the concept of 'spoilers' is a vital part of the script, so let's just say that you should watch her, and listen to her every word, very, very carefully, indeed..."
I'm not usually that observant of a viewer to catch little scene continuity goofs, but there were two very noticeable ones that irked me within minutes of each other. First one is when the Doctor is handed Dave's helmet, you clearly see Dave only has one shadow, despite his obviously having two moments before. Second was when everyone was running away from Dave, River grabs the Doctor's hand, a second later they're shown running without hands held, then back to a shot where they're obviously holding hands.