The Rulers of the Universe (audio story)

The Rulers of the Universe
Main character(s):	River Song
Featuring:	Eighth Doctor, Bertie Potts
Main enemy:	Rulers of the Universe, Sanukuma
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Matt Fitton
Director:	Ken Bentley
Music:	Howard Carter
Sound:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Tom Webster
Release details
Release number:	1.4
Release date:	25 December 2015
Format:	1 X 1 hour
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78178-943-8
The Diary of River Song
← Previous	Signs
Next →	The Unknown

The Rulers of the Universe was the fourth full cast audio story in the first series of The Diary of River Song, released in 2015 by Big Finish Productions.

Publisher's summary

As shocking secrets are exposed, and a grand plan for the universe is revealed, River decides it's time she took control of events once and for all.

Out in deep space, a clandestine society faces off with an ancient and powerful alien force — but, for River, there's an added complication.

The Eighth Doctor has been caught in the middle, and she must make sure her future husband can arrive at his own destiny with all his memories — not to mention his lives — intact...

Plot

to be added

Cast

• River Song - Alex Kingston
• The Doctor - Paul McGann
• Bertie Potts - Alexander Vlahos
• Isabella Clerkwell - Imogen Stubbs
• Sanukuma Master - Aaron Neil

References

• The Sanukuma want to take advantage of the Time War to conduct their schemes.
• The Sanukuma threaten to approach the Doctor's opponents if he does not co-operate with them.
• The Doctor wears a necktie.
• The Doctor has collected a chronon mine, which he calls a "stray bullet", while clearing up the "mess" of the Time War. He attaches it to the SporeShip's engines, blasting the Sanukuma back to the beginnings of the universe.
• The Doctor escapes the Sanukuma's fate using a "souvenir" pendant, the type used by Gallifreyan shock troops to avoid getting "mowned down" in ground assaults, which allows him to stay precisely ten nanoseconds in time ahead of the Sanukuma.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• The Eighth Doctor is not taking part in the Last Great Time War, but just helping around. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)
• River Song hides her identity from the Doctor in their radio communication. The Eighth Doctor used the same approach to avoid a paradox while dealing with a past self in another adventure. (AUDIO: The Four Doctors) River has been known to keep a record of images of each of his incarnations, including the Eighth Doctor. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
• River Song uses the nickname of "Miss Spritz" to hide her identity from the Doctor. She previously helped a woman named Spritz solve the murder of a man named Jenkins. (AUDIO: I Went to a Marvellous Party)
• River met the Eighth Doctor before and erased his memory of the meeting. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)
• The Sanukuma want to join part in the Time War. Another race, the Sontarans, also wanted to join the war but were not allowed to. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem)
• River says that she has been in crashing spaceships before. (TV: Flesh and Stone, The Husbands of River Song)
• River compares the spore ship to a doodlebug. Mr Song made that same comparison previously. (AUDIO: Signs)
• The Doctor calls himself an amateur explorer, electrophysicist, philosopher, footballer (COMIC:  Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game, The Forgotten, The Lodger, TV: The Lodger, The Power of Three), steam engine driver (TV: Black Orchid) and doctor.
• The Doctor mentions the robot waitresses. (AUDIO: I Went to a Marvellous Party)
• Bertie tells the Doctor he knows all about him because he's "read the book" and when the Doctor asks which book Bertie replies, "Spoilers." (TV: Silence in the Library et al)
• River says "Goodbye, Sweetie" after disconnecting her call from the Doctor. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
• River says that she is not a murderous assassin, "not any more". (TV: Let's Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song)

External links

• Official The Rulers of the Universe - The Diary of River Song Series 1 page at bigfinish.com