Melody Pond: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Individual  
{{ImageLink}}
|image           = [[Image:RiverSongTheBigBang.PNG|250px]]
{{Infobox Individual
|individual name = River Song
|image       = <gallery>
|alias           = <ul><li>Doctor Song</li><li>Professor Song</li><li>[[Cleopatra]]</li> |
Young melody escaping.jpg|Melody
|race            =  
Mels in Hitler's office.jpg|Mels
|home planet     =  
River Looks Left LKH.jpg|River
|home era        = [[51st century]]
</gallery>
|appearances    = <ul><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' </li><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]''</li><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Journey's End]]'' (flashback)</li><li>[[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'' </li><li>[[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'' </li><li> [[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]] '' </li><li> [[DW]]: ''[[The Big Bang]] ''
|alias       = [[Mels Zucker]], [[River Song]] <!-- for aliases pertaining to specific incarnations, please see those pages -->
|actor           = [[Alex Kingston]]
|species      = Human
|species2    = Proto-Time Lord
|species3     = Data ghost
|job          = Archaeologist
|job2        = Detective
|job3        = Writer
|job4        = Assassin
|affiliation  = The Silence
|affiliation2 = Luna University
|affiliation3 = Felman Lux Corporation
|birth date  = [[52nd century]], [[Demons Run]]
|death date  = [[51st century]], [[the Library]]
|spouse      = The Doctor
|spouse2      = Ramone
|spouse3      = Hydroflax
|spouse4      = Stephen Fry (in-universe){{!}}Stephen Fry
|spouse5      = River Song's second wife{{!}}second wife
|spouse6      = Jack Harkness
|grandparent  = Tabetha Pond
|grandparent2 = Augustus Pond
|grandparent3 = Brian Williams (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship)
|grandparent4 = Rory Williams's mother{{!}}Rory's mother
|mother      = Amy Pond
|father      = Rory Williams
|adoptive brother = Anthony Williams
|sibling      = Lake (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling2    = Rindle
|sibling3    = Tarn (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling4    = Stream (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling5    = Creek (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling6    = Wadi
|sibling7    = Beck (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling8    = Brooke (The Lady in the Lake)
|sibling9    = H-One
|sibling10    = H-Two
|sibling11    = O (The Furies)
|adopted child = Kamen Vers
|adopted child2 = Charlotte Lux
|origin      = [[Demons Run]]
|first        = Silence in the Library (TV story)
|appearances  = {{appears}}
|actor       = Alex Kingston
|other actor  = Harrison and Madison Mortimer
|other actor2 = Sydney Wade
|other actor3 = Maya Glace-Green
|other actor4 = Nina Toussaint-White
|clip        = The REAL Melody Pond - Doctor Who - A Good Man Goes to War - Series 6 - BBC
|bts          = Introducing the Pond Family - Doctor Who Confidential - Series 6 - Episode 13 - BBC Three
}}
}}
{{semi-protect}}
{{MelodyPonds}}
Professor '''River Song''' was a mysterious [[archaeologist]] and convicted [[murder]]er who shared a close relationship with [[the Doctor]]. Significantly, she was the only [[companion]] who appeared to know the Doctor's true name.
'''Melody Pond''' was the child of [[Amy Pond]] and [[Rory Williams]]. She was a "[[Child of a TARDIS|child]] of the [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]]", born mostly [[Human]] with some [[Time Lord]] [[DNA]]. She was transformed by [[the Silence]] into the first of several [[Proto-Time Lord]]s, and had the ability to [[Regeneration|regenerate]].


Although his [[Silence in the Library|first meeting]] with her ended in her death, they had many adventures — from [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]]'s perspective — afterward.  Like [[Melanie Bush]] before her, she was an example of the rare companion whose timeline was not synchronous with that of the Doctor.
Melody was named after her parents' childhood friend, '''[[Mels Zucker]]''', who was in fact secretly her second incarnation gone back in time to ensure her parents got together. Regenerating once more into her third incarnation after being shot by [[Adolf Hitler]], she became best known as [[Professor]] '''[[River Song]]''', and married the [[Time Lord]] known as [[the Doctor]] in his [[Eleventh Doctor|eleventh incarnation]].
==Profile==
===Early Life===
[[File:RiverInStormcage.png|thumb|left|River, as a prisoner in Stormcage. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]]'')|175px]]
River Song was an [[archaeologist]] already highly familiar with [[the Doctor]] when they first meet (from his perspective) in the [[51st century]]. She was, in fact, a future companion of his who travelled with him off and on. According to her, he came to trust her implicitly, though at the start of their relationship (from his perspective) he was generally suspicious of her and almost hostile to her at times. Prior to her encounter with the [[Weeping Angel]]s, she was imprisoned for murder of someone she described as, "A very good man. Best man I've ever known." She was imprisoned in the Storm Cage Facility until she was put under [[Father Octavian]]'s custody. If she were to carry out the mission assigned to her she would earn her pardon. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]] / [[Flesh and Stone]]'')


=== Meetings with [[The Doctor|the Doctor]] ===
== Biography ==
====Opening of the [[Pandorica|Pandorica]]====
=== Incarnations of Melody Pond ===
After escaping from prison, River made a deal at a black market for a [[Vortex manipulator]] that she would use to travel back in time to the Roman era of Earth and pose as [[Cleopatra]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]]'')
During her first incarnation, Melody was a [[Melody Pond (Prequel to The Impossible Astronaut)|little girl]], who had been kidnapped by [[Madame Kovarian]]. She harvested Melody's embryonic [[DNA]] in order to [[clone]] more children like her. This resulted in the creation of River's clones, the [[Proto-Time Lord|Proto-Time Lords]]. The clones referred to one another as siblings. The first batch consisted of seven clones named [[Lake (The Lady in the Lake)|Lake]], [[Rindle]], [[Tarn (The Lady in the Lake)|Tarn]], [[Wadi]], [[Creek (The Lady in the Lake)|Creek]], [[Stream (The Lady in the Lake)|Stream]], and [[Beck (The Lady in the Lake)|Beck]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Lady in the Lake (audio story)|The Lady in the Lake]]'') The second batch of clones included [[Brooke (The Lady in the Lake)|Brooke]], [[H-One]], [[H-Two]], and [[O (The Furies)|O]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[My Dinner with Andrew (audio story)|My Dinner with Andrew]]'', ''[[The Furies (audio story)|The Furies]]'') Like River, the clones had [[Binary vascular system|two hearts]] and the ability to regenerate; however, the exact amount of regenerations each of them had was random. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Lady in the Lake (audio story)|The Lady in the Lake]]'')


====Crash of the [[Byzantium (ship)|Byzantium]]====
After escaping from the Silence, Melody had made her way to [[New York City]] and developed a terminal illness, but knew she could "fix it" by [[Regeneration|regenerating]]. She was living homeless in an alley when she finally succumbed to her ailment in January [[1970]], and regenerated. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon (TV story)|Day of the Moon]]'')
[[File:RiverBreaks.png|thumb|left|River breaks into the [[Byzantium (ship)|Byzantium ship]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')|185px]]
Doctor River Song was a guest on the Byzantium ship in the 51st century. She was working for a military organisation at the time in exchange for the pardon of a murder. She infiltrated the lower levels to find the [[Home Box]], into which she carved the message "Hello Sweetie" in the [[Old High Gallifreyan]] language to attract the Doctor's attention. About 12,000 years later [[Eleventh Doctor|the Doctor]] found the Home Box in [[Delerium Archive|a museum]]. The Doctor used the cube to see who wrote the message. Seeing her being pursued by guards and giving him the co-ordinates of her location,[[File:RiverN11.png|thumb|right|River tells [[Eleventh Doctor|the Doctor]] that he will see her again.  ([[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')|185px]] he went to rescue her. She then jettisoned herself from an air lock, where the waiting Doctor and Amy Pond picked her up in the TARDIS. River then showed exceptional TARDIS flying skills landing it next to the Byzantium, which had crashed into the [[Aplan Mortarium|Maze of the Dead]]. Along with the Bishop and his Clerics, River accompanied the Doctor and Amy into the maze. She made it out of the maze alive along with Amy and the Doctor, to be imprisoned once more, but she thought she may have done enough to earn a pardon. She then mentioned to the Doctor about their meeting at the Pandorica. ([[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')


===Death===
Now under the name of [[Mels Zucker]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Mels at School (short story)|Mels at School]]'') and residing in [[Leadworth]], Melody grew up once more, now alongside her parents. She became Amelia and Rory's close childhood friend, ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'') Upon meeting the [[Eleventh Doctor]], Mels held him at gunpoint and made him take her to "kill [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]". There, she was caught in a crossfire between him and the ''[[Teselecta]]''. She got the Doctor to promise to marry her, and revealed her true identity to the three of them. Beginning to regenerate, Melody reflected on her last regeneration, and told her parents she was glad she had found them, before she exploded with [[regeneration energy]].
[[File:DOCTORWHOx408x1410.jpg|thumb|River introduces herself to the [[Tenth Doctor]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')|left]]
River's expedition to [[The Library|the Library]] was financed by [[Felman Lux]] and was chartered to discover what disaster had happened there, years previously, that had caused 4022 people to "die" or disappear. When her team ran into trouble during the expedition, River summoned the Doctor by sending him a message via [[psychic paper]]. [[Tenth Doctor|The version of the Doctor]] who turned up had not yet met her. Though bewildered, he agreed to help River and her team.
[[File:River and 10.png|thumb|right|River and the Doctor "do diaries". ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')|200px]]
River and the Doctor appeared to be very close, even considering the strong bonds the Doctor forms with his companions. She kept a worn and battered diary, the cover looking very much like the TARDIS doors, keeping a journal of her travels with the Doctor. There was a suggestion that in the Doctor's personal future he would carry a similar journal, as she commented about needing to "compare" diaries. She carried an [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|upgraded version]] of the [[sonic screwdriver]] which "her" version of the Doctor had given her.


As the situation in the Library deteriorated, River realised she must prove to the Doctor that she was, or will become in his case, someone he trusted completely and with profuse apologies, she whispers his true name into his ear. The Doctor was stunned by this information, and River succeeded in winning his trust[[File:DOCTORWHOx409x2538.jpg|thumb|Right|River, moments before her death. ([[DW]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')|left]]River physically died when she chose to sacrifice herself in order to stop the Doctor from sacrificing himself in order to save Donna and the other 4022 people trapped in the Library's computer. She pleaded with him to not try and change history, not to change one moment of what is to come for them. After saving all the trapped people, the Doctor realized his future self must have given her his sonic screwdriver for a reason. Inside he found a [[data chip]], which contained River's [[Data Ghost]]. The Doctor saved her by uploading her into the virtual world contained in [[The Library]]'s data core. [[CAL]], the library's data core, controlled by a human girl wired into its mainframe, also managed to save the data ghosts of all of River's dead archaeological team, so she would have company in the virtual world. River would go on to take care of two virtual children in the virutal world, reading out her diary of her life with the Doctor and how "everybody lives" when the Doctor comes to call, her story ending with her telling the sleeping children sweet dreams. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]''/''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
Shortly after regenerating, Melody began examining her new body. Unbeknownst to her, both the Doctor and her parents were already acquainted with this new incarnation, who more commonly used the name [[River Song]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)|Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
The Doctor would later remember her death when [[Davros]] reminded him of the people who had died in his name. ([[DW]]: ''[[Journey's End]]'')


===Other information===
{{Proto-Time Lords}}
*River Song seemed to take shorter trips with the Doctor, living a more or less normal life between trips, rather than having one extended trip with the Doctor and never seeing him again after parting ways.
{{NameSort}}
*River Song is a skilled TARDIS pilot (with very different methods from the Doctor). She has mentioned that she "learned from the best" but implied that her teacher was not the Doctor. ([[DW]]: [[Time of Angels]]) Later, however, she revealed that the Doctor had indeed taught her. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]]'')
*Song appears to have knowledge of Time Lord anatomy, including knowledge of regeneration. She indicates that destruction of both of the Doctor's hearts is a circumstance after which regeneration is not possible.
*River Song has the ability to write messages in [[High Gallifreyan]].
*River possessed pictures of all the Doctor's incarnations.
*River is sentenced to prison for murdering a man described as "a hero of many" and whom she calls "A very good man. Best man I've ever known". Octavian felt that the murder victim's identity is something that the Doctor "really [doesn't] want to know."
*Before his death, Octavian tells the Doctor that "You think you know [River], but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is."


==River Song's timeline==
[[Category:Spouses of the Doctor]]
* Meets [[the Doctor]] for the first time.
[[Category:Companions of the Doctor]]
* Has an adventure with the Doctor at the Bone Meadows. (mentioned [[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
[[Category:Partial Time Lords]]
* Has a picnic with the Doctor at Asgard. (mentioned [[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')
[[Category:Fifth Doctor companions]]
* Kills "a hero to many", "the best man [she's] ever known" and is imprisoned. (mentioned [[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
[[Category:Tenth Doctor companions]]
* Escapes from her Storm Cage ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]]'')
[[Category:Eleventh Doctor companions]]
* Meets the Doctor in 102 AD when the Pandorica Opens. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens]]'')
[[Category:Twelfth Doctor companions]]
* [[Father Octavian]] releases her from Storm Cage. ([[DW]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone]]'')
[[Category:The Doctor's Time Lord companions]]
* Four days later, she breaches the [[Byzantium]] and is rescued by the [[Eleventh Doctor]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
[[Category:The Doctor's human companions]]
* River Song and the [[Eleventh Doctor]] investigates the crash landing of the [[Byzantium (ship)|Byzantium]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')
[[Category:Biologically modified humans]]
* Travels to the End of the Universe with the Doctor. (mentioned [[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')
[[Category:Cloned individuals]]
* The Doctor, with a new haircut and a suit, visits River Song and takes her to see the [[Singing Towers of Darillium]]. He gives her his [[Sonic Screwdriver]].
[[Category:Human archaeologists]]
* Tries to send 'her Doctor' a message via the [[Psychic paper]], asking him to come to [[the Library]]. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')
[[Category:Human assassins]]
* The [[Tenth Doctor]], whilst traveling with [[Donna Noble]] comes to the Library in the 51st Century at her request and meets River Song for the first time, when they face an infestation of [[Vashta Nerada]] within [[the Library]].
[[Category:Human students]]
* Proves to the Tenth Doctor how important she will be to him by whispering his true name in his ear. ([[DW]]: ''[[Silence in the Library]]'')
[[Category:Human murderers]]
* Sacrifices herself to save the Tenth Doctor and the Library. ([[DW]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
[[Category:Human professors]]
* The Tenth Doctor beams River Song from a [[Neural Relay]] in her sonic screwdriver into the Library's Data Core. ([[DW]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
[[Category:Human war criminals]]
* River Song's brainwaves live on in the virtual world inside the Data Core, containing [[Charlotte Lux|CAL]] and [[Doctor Moon]]. She is reunited in this virtual world with her crew mates, [[Proper Dave]], [[Other Dave]], [[Anita]] and [[Miss Evangelista]], whose brainwaves must have also been added to the Data Core. ([[DW]]: ''[[Forest of the Dead]]'')
[[Category:20th century individuals]]
 
[[Category:21st century individuals]]
''River mentioned a number of these events shortly before her death, raising the question of when any of the unseen events took place, and which incarnation of the Doctor (presumably between his eleventh and thirteenth) they coincide with.''
[[Category:51st century individuals]]
 
[[Category:52nd century individuals]]
''Some of the above events that have only been mentioned, may not have occured exactly where they have been placed here. For example, when River "travels to the end of the universe" with the Doctor, it may have been in her earlier or later life.''
[[Category:Human time travellers]]
 
[[Category:Human prisoners]]
==Personality==
[[Category:Stormcage inmates]]
[[File:River blows a Kiss.png|thumb|Right|River blows a kiss. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Time of Angels]]'')]]
[[Category:Human thieves]]
*It is unknown precisely where in time and space River Song originally came from. As the Doctor has left previous companions in different parts of the universe from where he originally found them, it is possible that River was not originally from the 51st century at all.
[[Category:Business owners]]
*In a recent interview by Digital Spy, Steven Moffat made a passing comment to the effect that River Song might turn out to be very different from people's presumptions as to who she really is. [http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s7/doctor-who/tubetalk/a210033/video-steven-moffat-bonus-cut.html]
[[Category:Human writers]]
{{Companions of the Eleventh Doctor}}
[[Category:Human detectives]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Song, River}}
[[Category:Humans who have been kidnapped]]
[[Category:51st century individuals|Song, River]]
[[Category:Humans who met the Doctor as babies]]
[[Category:Human adventurers|Song, River]]
[[Category:Members of the Silence]]
[[Category:Human archaeologists|Song, River]]
[[Category:Humans who met the Doctor as children]]
[[Category:Pre-broadcast spoilers]]
[[Category:Leadworth Primary School students]]
[[Category:Allies of the Doctor]]
[[Category:Leadworth Secondary School students]]
[[Category:Companions of the Tenth Doctor]]
[[Category:Luna University students]]
[[Category:Companions of the Eleventh Doctor]]
[[Category:Aliases]]
[[Category:Individuals impersonated by the Teselecta]]
[[Category:Human imposters]]
[[Category:Humans who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Doctor's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Suspension of time]]
[[Category:River Song's World individuals]]
[[Category:Humans caught in a time loop]]
[[Category:Time Lords caught in a time loop]]
[[Category:Human royalty]]
[[Category:Human travellers between universes]]
[[Category:Time Lord travellers between universes]]
[[Category:Humans who have witnessed regeneration]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have witnessed regeneration]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Master's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Humans who have been inside the Master's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Human mercenaries]]
[[Category:The Doctor's romances]]
[[Category:Luna University staff]]
[[Category:Human Coal Hill teachers]]
[[Category:Humans who have been inside the Clocksmith's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Time Lords who have been inside the Clocksmith's TARDIS]]
[[Category:Individuals who remembered the Year That Never Was]]
[[Category:TARDIS pilots]]
[[Category:Individuals who have kissed the Doctor]]
[[Category:Non-heterosexual individuals]]
[[Category:Amy Pond's relatives]]
[[Category:Rory Williams's relatives]]
[[Category:Combatants in the Last Great Time War]]
[[Category:Individuals who knew the answer to the Question]]
[[Category:UNIT scientific advisors]]

Latest revision as of 11:56, 2 April 2024

Melody Pond was the child of Amy Pond and Rory Williams. She was a "child of the TARDIS", born mostly Human with some Time Lord DNA. She was transformed by the Silence into the first of several Proto-Time Lords, and had the ability to regenerate.

Melody was named after her parents' childhood friend, Mels Zucker, who was in fact secretly her second incarnation gone back in time to ensure her parents got together. Regenerating once more into her third incarnation after being shot by Adolf Hitler, she became best known as Professor River Song, and married the Time Lord known as the Doctor in his eleventh incarnation.

Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]

Incarnations of Melody Pond[[edit] | [edit source]]

During her first incarnation, Melody was a little girl, who had been kidnapped by Madame Kovarian. She harvested Melody's embryonic DNA in order to clone more children like her. This resulted in the creation of River's clones, the Proto-Time Lords. The clones referred to one another as siblings. The first batch consisted of seven clones named Lake, Rindle, Tarn, Wadi, Creek, Stream, and Beck. (AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake) The second batch of clones included Brooke, H-One, H-Two, and O. (AUDIO: My Dinner with Andrew, The Furies) Like River, the clones had two hearts and the ability to regenerate; however, the exact amount of regenerations each of them had was random. (AUDIO: The Lady in the Lake)

After escaping from the Silence, Melody had made her way to New York City and developed a terminal illness, but knew she could "fix it" by regenerating. She was living homeless in an alley when she finally succumbed to her ailment in January 1970, and regenerated. (TV: Day of the Moon)

Now under the name of Mels Zucker (PROSE: Mels at School) and residing in Leadworth, Melody grew up once more, now alongside her parents. She became Amelia and Rory's close childhood friend, (TV: Let's Kill Hitler) Upon meeting the Eleventh Doctor, Mels held him at gunpoint and made him take her to "kill Hitler". There, she was caught in a crossfire between him and the Teselecta. She got the Doctor to promise to marry her, and revealed her true identity to the three of them. Beginning to regenerate, Melody reflected on her last regeneration, and told her parents she was glad she had found them, before she exploded with regeneration energy.

Shortly after regenerating, Melody began examining her new body. Unbeknownst to her, both the Doctor and her parents were already acquainted with this new incarnation, who more commonly used the name River Song. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)

v • e
Proto-Time Lords
Original
First batch
Lake / Lily • Rindle • Tarn • Stream • Creek • Wadi • Beck
Second batch
Brooke • H-One • H-Two • O
The Proto-Time Lords were created by Kovarian on Demons Run, clones of the original: Melody Pond.
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