The Wedding of River Song (TV story): Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
(→‎Synopsis: reverting apparent vandalism)
Line 27: Line 27:


==Plot==
==Plot==
The Doctor, aware of his death at the fixed point of time on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silenco, attempts to track down the order of the Silence, to learn why he must die. First, he traps a lone [[Dalek]] and extracts from its memory banks everything the Daleks know about the Silence. He then encounters the Teselecta shapeshifting robot and its miniaturized crew who is currently posing as one of the members, and they are able to lead him to where the head of Dorium Maldovar, one of Doctor's allies killed by the Order of the Headless Monks, is kept. 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. Realising this, the Doctor accepts his fate, and gives the Teselecta crew the envelopes to deliver to Amy, Rory, and River Song to witness his death, fearing crossing his own time stream.
The Doctor, aware his death on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silenco is a fixed point in time, tracks down the Silence, to learn why he must die. He extracts from its memory banks everything a [[Dalek]] knows of the Silence. He meets the Teselecta shapeshifting robot and its miniaturized crew posing as one of its members, who lead him to the head of Dorium Maldovar. Dorium insists that the Doctor's death must happen lest he answer the oldest question in the universe. The Doctor accepts his fate. He gives the Teselecta invitations for Amy, Rory, and River Song to witness his death, fearing crossing his own time stream.


As seen in "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor joins his friends at Lake Silenco and 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 at first refuses to kill him, but the Doctor shows her her future self as proof that it will be all right. River, in the astronaut suit, surprises the Doctor by discharging her weapon, refusing to kill him, despite the Doctor warning her she cannot change a fixed event. Time becomes "stuck", and all of Earth's history begins to happen all at once, fixed at 5:02pm 22 April 2011.
As seen in "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor joins his friends at Lake Silenco and 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 at first refuses to kill him, but the Doctor shows her her future self as proof that it will be all right. River, in the astronaut suit, surprises the Doctor by discharging her weapon, refusing to kill him, despite the Doctor warning her she cannot change a fixed event. Time becomes "stuck", and all of Earth's history begins to happen all at once, fixed at 5:02pm 22 April 2011.

Revision as of 11:34, 2 October 2011

RealWorld.png

TVStub.png

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?[1]

Plot

The Doctor, aware his death on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silenco is a fixed point in time, tracks down the Silence, to learn why he must die. He extracts from its memory banks everything a Dalek knows of the Silence. He meets the Teselecta shapeshifting robot and its miniaturized crew posing as one of its members, who lead him to the head of Dorium Maldovar. Dorium insists that the Doctor's death must happen lest he answer the oldest question in the universe. The Doctor accepts his fate. He gives the Teselecta invitations for Amy, Rory, and River Song to witness his death, fearing crossing his own time stream.

As seen in "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor joins his friends at Lake Silenco and 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 at first refuses to kill him, but the Doctor shows her her future self as proof that it will be all right. River, in the astronaut suit, surprises the Doctor by discharging her weapon, refusing to kill him, despite the Doctor warning her she cannot change a fixed event. 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-addled London, Winston Churchill takes the Doctor, his "soothsayer" out from his locked cell to ask him about the stuck time. The Doctor explains this past events, but starts to realise they have lost track of time, and tally marks are appearing on his arms, indicating the presence of the Silence nearby. When they find a nest overhead, they are shortly rescued by Amy, leading an army of soldiers led by Rory (unaware of his marriage to Amy) equipped with "eyedrives" eye patches that help them to remember the Silence even after looking away. Amy takes the Doctor to "Area 52" in one of the Giza Pyramids, where they have captured more than a hundred Silence and are holding Madame Kovarian as prisoner. River is also there, well aware her actions have stuck time and refusing to allow the Doctor to touch her, an event that will cause time to become unstuck.

They soon realise that this was a trap arranged by Kovarian, as the Silence escape confinement and overload the eyedrives, killing and torturing their users. The Doctor and River escape to the top of the pyramid, while Amy and Rory fight off a wave of Silence. Madame Kovarian discovers her own eyedrive is being manipulated, and despite dislodging it, Amy forces it back in place, aware this will kill her. The two regroup with River and the Doctor. River tries to convince the Doctor that this stuck time is acceptable and that he does not have to die, but the Doctor insists that all of reality will soon break down. To show his commitment, he marries River Song on the spot, in exchange for her letting go of this stuck time. The two kiss, allowing reality to return to normal for Earth. As the original history showed, the Doctor is killed by River, an act she is sent to Stormcage prison for.

Some time later, Amy and Rory are pleased to see River, shortly after the events of "Flesh and Stone" in River's own timeline. When Amy explains she has recently witnessed the Doctor's death, River laughs, pointing out that the Doctor lies and thinks one step ahead of his enemies. The Doctor has enlisted the help of the Teselecta crew to have them take his place, with the Doctor joining them; River saw this the moment before she killed him, and realized he was still alive. 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 help wane the notoriety that his name has gained across the universe. As the Doctor turns to leave, Dorium warns him that the oldest question still awaits him, and taunts him with cries of "Doctor who?"

Cast

Crew

to be added

References

to be added

Story notes

  • A prequel for this episode was released online.[2]
  • 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.[3] This was proven true.
  • Part of this episode will be set in Egypt.[4] 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.
  • When Dorium's head is upside down, part of the actor's skin can be seen under his chin (or round about).

Continuity

Timeline

For the Doctor

For River

For River in the final scene

For Amy and Rory

Home video releases

This episode will be released on DVD shortly after the airing of the episode.[5]

External links