Last Night (home video)

Last Night was the fourth of five Night and the Doctor shorts produced exclusively for the Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series DVD and Bluray box sets. It is the second of a two-part story which began with "First Night". It was written by showrunner Steven Moffat.

Synopsis

With three River Songs wandering around the TARDIS, the Doctor needs two of him to sort matters.

Plot

The Doctor lays a seemingly unconscious River Song on the floor of the TARDIS, terrified she has been slain in the gunfight. She is only holding her breath with her eyes closed. She gets up to flirt with him.

She has escaped from Stormcage and asked some Sontarans if they were out on a hen's night, only for them to chase her halfway across the galaxy. As he chastises her, she notices the gold dress he chosen for her for their first visit to Caldoron Beta five years before hanging near the console. She demands to know whom he has brought and storms up the stairs to find the hussy. A second later, the earlier River returns from the TARDIS wardrobe, demanding to know whom he is talking to. She returns to the wardrobe. The older River returns, demanding to know who the Doctor is speaking to. When he denies talking to anyone, she resumes her hunt.

A third River enters the TARDIS, actually wearing the gold dress. This version of River was expecting to meet the Doctor here, but on seeing an identical gold dress hung by the console, asks him why he has bought another. The Doctor asks her to step outside to check if the light on top of the TARDIS is working. She does.

The youngest River reappears, certain she has heard voices. The Doctor tells her he was talking to himself and she bustles off again. The second River returns to the control room, likewise convinced she heard the Doctor talking to someone. The Doctor brusquely activates her Vortex manipulator to send her back to prison. The third River re-enters the TARDIS. She is followed by a second, older incarnation of the Doctor in a tailcoat, who tells her she's in the wrong TARDIS. River is amused at the prospect of having two versions of her husband, but as 'her' Doctor ushers her out, she calls back to tells the younger Doctor she and her Doctor are off to see the Singing Towers of Darillium. Tthe two Doctors share a brief, sad moment, knowing this trips is the last she will see of them before she dies inthe Library.

As the older Doctor exits, the youngest River returns to catch a glimpse of them together. Her Doctor will not tell her what has just transpired between them, because of 'spoilers'. He escort her to the door to go on their date but she protests that she hasn't changed. He says she never will. River jokes that his secrets will be the death of her.

Cast

Crew

Writer - Steven Moffat
Director -Richard Senior (uncredited)

References

TARDIS

Multiple versions of one person can coexist within the same TARDIS. While it can be claimed that this is contradicted by The Girl Who Waited, it should be noted that none of the River Songs that appear in this episode exist as a result of a paradox and are all from the "correct" timeline.

Story notes

This is the second of a two-part story than began with First Night.
The title makes reference to the fact that the future version of the Eleventh Doctor is the one that takes River on her final "night out" to the Singing Towers of Darillium before the events of Silence in the Library.
This story is set entirely within the Doctor's TARDIS.

Myths and rumours

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Filming locations

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Production errors

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Continuity

River asks the Doctor, "How many hands do you have?" The answer was, at one point, three. (DW: The Christmas Invasion, DW: Utopia, DW: The Stolen Earth, DW: Journey's End)
River was being chased by Sontarans.
The Doctor asks River to see if the TARDIS bulb needs changing. Amy Pond earler raised the question of whether the bulb needs to be changed shortly after arriving on the TARDIS. (DW: Meanwhile in the TARDIS: Episode 1)
The TARDIS is mistaken by the third River Song as belonging to "her" Doctor when it technically belongs to another. Previously, Susan Foreman and the First Doctor had mistaken the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS for theirs. (DW: The Five Doctors)
River's mind races at the possibility of two Doctors in the same place. Jack Harkness previous had a similar line of thought when in the presence of the Tenth Doctor, the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor, and the Doctor Donna. (DW: Journey's End) However, in DW: A Good Man Goes To War, River states to Rory, "[Two Doctors] That's a whole different birthday!" This indicates River has had multiple instances in which she has been around more than one version of The Doctor and might have possibly been referring to one of the two instances that occurred in DW: Last Night.
The two Doctors mention River's death. Later, River remarks that the Doctor will be the death of her, which was also something she would speak about metaphorically to her father later in her timeline. (DW: Forest of the Dead, DW: Day of the Moon)
second chronological instance of River using the word "Spoilers." The first time she used it twice in Let' s kill Hittler: "Spoilers? What spoilers?"
At no point are any of the three Rivers aware of the others. But perhaps the third one noticed, after going out, that this was THAT day.
The Doctor wears a white suit with a black tie. This suit was first introduced in DW: A Christmas Carol, when The Doctor accidentally gets engaged to and marries Marilyn Monroe. It is reintroduced in DW: Good Night, in which The Doctor calls out the door to River Song and "Marilyn." The present Doctor also wears it in DW: First Night.
The gold dress that all three versions of River remark on in DW: First Night and DW: Last Night is the same dress that River wears in the beginning of DW: Day of the Moon, which, happens when The Doctor is locked up in Area 51.
A future version of the Eleventh Doctor wears a black and white suit with tails and a top hat to take a future version of River Song to the Singing Towers. This suit was first introduced in DW: The Big Bang, when The Doctor wore it to Rory and Amy's wedding. He wore it again in DW: Let's Kill Hitler and a third time to a party which he attended with River Song in DW: Bad Night. However, in DW: Forest of the Dead, River tells the Tenth Doctor, "The last time I saw you, the real you, the - the future you, I mean: you turned up on my doorstep with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium, to see the Singing Towers." If this was the meeting she was referring to in DW: Forest of the Dead, then the Eleventh Doctor's hair cut and suit are inconsistent, since neither one of them would have been new to her.

Timeline

For the present Eleventh Doctor

This story takes place after DW: First Night.
This story takes place before DW: Prequel (The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe).

For River no. 1

This story takes place immediately after DW: First Night.

For River no. 2

This story takes place at least five years after her first version's appearance in DW: First Night and immediately after her second version's appearance in DW: First Night.

For the future Eleventh Doctor

This story takes place before his trip to the Singing Towers, and after the end of The Wedding of River Song.

For River no. 3

This story takes place after her final scene in DW: The Wedding of River Song.
This story takes place before DW: Silence in the Library.

Home video releases

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External links

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