The Wedding of River Song (TV story)

The Wedding of River Song (TV story)

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The Wedding of River Song
Doctor:	[[doctor::Eleventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Amy Pond (guest) Rory Williams (guest) River Song (guest)
Main enemy:	The Silence Madame Kovarian
Main setting:	Utah, April 22, 2011 London, 5:02pm, April 22 2011 Cairo, 5:02pm, April 22 2011 Nursing Home, c.2050s.
Key crew
Writer:	Steven Moffat
Director:	Jeremy Webb
Producer:	Marcus Wilson
Release details
Story number:	223
Release number:	Series 6
Premiere broadcast:	1st October 2011
Format:	1 x 45 minute episode
Confidential:	[[confidential::When Time Froze|When Time Froze]]

The Wedding of River Song was the thirteenth and final episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who

Synopsis

As the Doctor makes his final journey to the shores of Lake Silencio in Utah, he knows only one thing can keep the universe safe – his own death. But has he reckoned without the love of a good woman?

Plot

The Doctor, aware of his death at the fixed point of time on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silencio, attempts to track down the order of the Slience, to learn why he must die. He encounters the Telselecta shapeshifting robot and its miniaturised crew who are currently posing as one of the members, and they are able to lead him to the resting place of the head of Dorium Maldovar, one of Doctor's allies killed by the Order of the Headless Monks; the head is still alive. Dorium insists that the Doctor's death must happen before he travels to a specific point in space and is asked the oldest question in the universe. Once informed of what the question is, the Doctor continues to refuse to go to Lake Silencio until he discovers his old friend, The Brigadier, has passed away. The Doctor then accepts his fate. To avoid crossing his own time stream, he gives the Teselecta crew the envelopes to deliver to Amy, Rory, River Song, Canton Everett Delaware III, and a younger version of himself, inviting them to witness his death.

As shown in "The Impossible Astronaunt", the Doctor joins his friends at Lake Silencio and then approaches the astronaut, now shown to be a younger version of River Song trained to kill the Doctor by the Silence and Madame Kovarian. River does not want to kill him but is unable to fight the suit's control, and the Doctor shows her her future self, sentenced to Stormcage prison for killing him, as evidence that her killing him is inevitable and that he forgives her for it. River, in the astronaut suit, surprises the Doctor by draining the suit's weapons systems and averting his death, despite his warning against interfering with a fixed point. Time becomes "stuck", and all of Earth's history begins to happen all at once, fixed at 5:02pm 22 April 2011.

Some time later, in a time-confused London, Winston Churchil takes the Doctor, his "soothsayer," out from his locked cell to ask him about the stuck time. The Doctor explains the preceding events, but notices they have lost track of time and tally marks are appearing on his arms, indicating the presence of the Silence. After they observe a nest overhead, they are rescued by Amy, leading an army of soldiers; due to the effects of the crack in her bedroom, Amy is cognisant of the altered timeline, though she has failed to notice that her trusted lieutenant is Rory. Amy takes the Doctor to "Area 52", a hollowed-out pyramid among the Giza Necropolis, where they have captured over a hundred Silence (in fluid-filled tanks) and Madame Kovarian. River is also there, well aware her actions have frozen time and refusing to allow the Doctor to touch her, an event that would cause time to become unstuck. They all wear "eyedrives"--eye patches identical to the one worn by Madame Kovarian that function as external memories, thus enabling them to remember the Silence.

They soon come to realise that this was a trap arranged by Kovarian, as the Silence begin to escape confinement and overload the eyedrives, torturing their users to death. The Doctor and River escape to the top of the pyramid, while Amy and Rory fight off a wave of Silence and Amy realises who Rory is. Madame Kovarian discovers her own eyedrive is being overloaded; she dislodges it, but Amy forces it back in place with the intention of killing her, explaining that this is revenge for her taking Melody away. Amy and Rory regroup with River and the Doctor. River tries to convince the Doctor that this frozen timeline is acceptable and that he does not have to die, but the Doctor explains that all of reality will soon break down. To alleviate River's pain over murdering him, the Doctor marries her on the spot, whispers something in her ear, and reveals that he has just told her his name. He then requests that River allow him to prevent the universe's destruction. The two kiss, allowing reality to return to normal. At Lake Silencio, River kills the Doctor.

Some time later, Amy and Rory are visited by River, shortly after the events of "Flesh and Stone" in River's own timeline. When Amy explains that she had recently witnessed the Doctor's death, River reveals that the Doctor lied when he said her told her his name, instead saying "Look into my eye". The Doctor had in fact enlisted the Teselecta to take his place and, during the wedding, the Doctor allowed River to see him miniaturised inside "himself." The three celebrate this news. Elsewhere, the Doctor takes Dorium's head back to where it was stored; the Doctor explains that his perceived death will enable him to be forgotten and return "to the shadows." As the Doctor leaves, Dorium warns him that the question still awaits him, and calls it after him: "Doctor who?"

Cast

• The Doctor – Matt Smith
• Amy Pond – Karen Gillan
• Rory Williams – Arthur Darvill
• River Song/Melody Pond – Alex Kingston
• Madame Kovarian – Frances Barber
• Winston Churchill - Ian McNeice
• Malokeh-Richard Hope
• Charles Dickens - Simon Callow
• Dr Kent - Emma Campbell-Jones
• Gantok - Mark Gatiss (Credited as 'Rondo Haxton')
• News anchor - Meredith Vieira
• Dorium Maldovar -Simon Fisher Becker
• Supreme Dalek voice - Nicholas Briggs
• The Silence - Marnix Van Den Broeke
• Carter - Richard Dillane

Crew

to be added

References

to be added

Story notes

• A prequel for this episode was released online.
• This is the first time an episode of Doctor Who has aired on the same night as an episode of fellow BBC Saturday night drama, Merlin. The first episode of Merlin Series 4, The Darkest Hour, was broadcast right after The Wedding of River Song.

Ratings

UK Overnight: 6.1 Million

Myths

• The Doctor will get married. This was proven true.
• Part of this episode will be set in Egypt. This was proven true.

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.

• Mistaken for an Error: When Dorium's head is upside down, the brass plate his head is mounted on is visable below his chin, and can be mistaken for the actor's true skin.
• The Doctor's reflection in River's helmet shield is not reversed, as it should be.
• The Doctor marks his arm multiple times while seeing the Silence, yet there is no marker visible.
• When The Doctor and River kiss, a clock is shown on screen, with time resuming from 05:02:00, but earlier in the episode, it was shown that time was frozen at 05:02:57.

Continuity

• Following his death in February, this episode pays tribute to Nicholas Courtney, with the Doctor discovering that his character, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, died peacefully in his sleep. This is consistent with the Seventh Doctor's assertion in DW: Battlefield that the Brigadier would die in bed. And as presented in this episode it does not contradict the post-2010 continuity established for the character in the Virgin New Adventures novels as no indication is given as to when the Brigadier died.
• Charles Dickens appears. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
• Winston Churchill returns as the Holy Roman Emperor. (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens)
• The Silurian scientist Malokeh returns. (DW: The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood)
• Dorium Maldovar returns as a head. He was beheaded by the Headless Monks. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War)
• The Doctor mentions his former companions Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness.
• Amy's drawings include the Krafayis, the Saturnyns, the Silurians, the Daleks, the Minotaur, the Cybermen and the Smilers, as well as a self-portraits of herself from DW: The Curse of the Black Spot and one from her emerging from the Pandorica.
• The Teselecta returns, as does its captain. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
• The Doctor again sports a beard. (DW: Day of the Moon)
• When talking to Amy after the timeline has been restored, River mentions climbing out of the Byzantium and still wears her combat clothes, as well as mentioning that she had just met her when Amy had no idea who she was. (DW: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone)
• Amy is partially protected from some kinds of temporal changes due to her long term exposure to The Cracks. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Big Bang)
• Amy is disturbed when she realizes that she is her best friend's mother in-law.
• When River says to the Doctor that time can be rewritten, he responds with "Don't you dare." This echos what River says to the Doctor in a similar situation. (DW: Forest of the Dead)
• River mentions "Rule #1, the Doctor lies." (DW: The Big Bang, Let's Kill Hitler)
• A Silent calls Rory "the man who dies and dies again", referring to his deaths in Amy's Choice, Cold Blood, The Curse of the Black Spot, and The Doctor's Wife; Rory also remarked "We're (as in he and Amy) dead, again," in Night Terrors.
• When the Doctor meets River in Area 52, he greets her by saying "Honey, I'm home." River replies, "And what sort of time do you call this?" The two shared the same exchange in The Big Bang.

Timeline

For the Doctor

• This story occurs after DW: Closing Time
• This story takes place during DW: The Impossible Astronaut
• This story occurs before: to be announced

For River

• This story occurs after DW: Closing Time
• This story takes place during DW: The Impossible Astronaut
• This story occurs before DW: A Good Man Goes to War

For River in the final scene

• This story occurs after DW: Flesh and Stone
• This story occurs before DW: Silence in the Library

For Amy and Rory

• This story takes place during DW: The Impossible Astronaut
• This story takes place after DW: The God Complex

Home video releases

This episode will be released on DVD shortly after the airing of the episode.