Additional Who thoughts...

[seawasp]

Don't read this if you haven't been watching the latest Who.



Kathleen pointed out a theory -- or related pair of theories -- which would explain River Song and make her an interesting and much more palatable character for me. They're very simple:

River Song is a Timelord. The front-running candidate is Romanadvoratralundar, Romana, companion of Tom Baker's Doctor for a couple of seasons. The second candidate is The Rani, the mad scientist of Gallifrey.

Of the two, Romana fits extremely well. The interchange between River and The Doctor in the Tardis -- down to River apparently knowing more about the Tardis than the Doctor (or, alternatively, insisting on changing operations of the Tardis that the Doctor, crotchety old man that he is, has gotten used to) -- the other arguments and quips, and just the general behavior (to the point that they appeared to be, as Amy observed, married) fits PRECISELY with the way Romana used to behave. She would puncture the Doctor's self-superior behavior, but then when the chips were down relied on him to solve the problems because, in the end, that was what the Doctor did best.

The Rani would also work, though not so well because River Song has shown many human traits that simply didn't belong to the Rani. For her to have those, she'd have changed a lot.

Either one would explain the oddities of her background (including the interchanges about when they've met; she's not implying she hasn't met him yet, just that HE hasn't quite twigged to who SHE is, and she's waiting for him to get a clue).

This still wouldn't fix the problems of the Suddenly Munchkinized Angels, but it'd make River Song no longer a problem for me.






Comments

[sorek.livejournal.com]

I can't buy this theory. She doesn't necessarily recognize the Doctor without a scorecard (she mentions sometimes needing a sighting book, or at least something that made me think of a bird book).

"[She] learned from the best...too bad [the Doctor] wasn't there that day"

Romana knows how to fly the Tardis (and via K9 even how to build one) why would she need to relearn?

I had a theory she learned from a Donna re-brained, but that doesn't work as River doesn't recognize Donna in River's earlier appearance. That appearance, by definition, takes place later in her life than this episode. Not to mention if River was a Time Lord would her previous appearance end that way? She doesn't seem to be acting as if she's been "chameleon arch"ed either.

Maybe the "best" was Romana, someone who could give her pointers. Still the Doctor has said he would "know" if another time lord existed.

My guess is it's the "mostly human Doctor" with Rose.
Or it's Captain Jack.

Still I love the concept of the Doctor driving "stick" for so long he forgets the Tardis even has an automatic transmission.

Smith's version of the Tardis noise is horrible...he makes it sound like the Tardis is wheezing to death, Yes, it makes the brakes joke even funnier, but come on, usually the Tardis sounds a lot better than that.

I loved the "some words of High Galifrey are able to explode suns" "So what do these say?" "Hello, Sweetie" bit.

I also loved "Doctor, can you sonic me?" which came across exactly like "honey can you zip up the back of my dress" or "darling can you help me with this necklace?"

She definitely seems more smug here than earlier. Maybe this experience shows her the Doctor is not infallible and so she dials it back later in her life?

As for the Angels, even with the muchkinization, they're still lame. As someone who plays D&D, you should recognize their real problem. These are monsters being run by a DM who has no idea how to use their abilities. It's like a DM who runs an Eye of the Beholder and complains when the PC's walk all over it...chances are he didn't play the beholder right. Their biggest advantage is blazing fast speed, blink and they get you. But we've very rarely seen that speed. Ok in Blink, you handwave it away by saying 7 billion people equals a lot of eyes, especially if you can throw in animals in the mix (do they count?) But here the minute the humans retreat, the angles should at least be at the entrance to the cave, but in fact it takes them minutes to get there. Bottom line is, they don't have super speed, they seem to have human speed, a great first step off the blocks, and going back to D&D, an awesome touch attack.

[seawasp]

Romana last saw the Doctor as Tom Baker. She'd need a field guide covering the next seven.

"Learned from the best". -- She got top grades at the University of Gallifrey; The Doctor, it was often noted, played hooky. Thus, he wasn't there that day.

Captain Jack can't fly a Tardis as far as I know.

Yes, the angels are lame; with their added power they're entering the All-Star Hall of Lame. While the larger bulk of Angels are explained as being starving and just now waking up, the original Angel should be at full speed. And of course with this "image of an Angel becomes an Angel" crap, they've REALLY become an adversary that should only be defeatable because it's too stupid to live.