Howling:Off-screen Ten/River meetings.
I remember shortly before series 5 aired, Steven Moffat implied extremely heavily that there was off-screen Doctor/River meetings, which would have been when Ten was traveling alone. It was also implied in The Time of Angels, the Doctor notes that "we keep meeting in the wrong order" as if he has met has several times now. He wouldn't say that if he had only met River once, and she was at the end of her timeline. His dialouge would suggest he met her several times now, all out of order.
That, and Moffat's comments basically say the same thing. He said something like, "Ah, but who said it's the SECOND time? in refering to the first 4 episodes of series 5. This would obviously refer to the Doctor "we *keep* meeting in the wrong order" dialouge - it's not the second time he met her. There was a large chunk of him traveling alone, too.
Things to note:
It was already implied by the Doctor and Moffat
River recognises Ten very clearly - must have met him before in her timeline (there was a chunk where he traveled alone and got upto things unseen)
I don't remember clearly but upon learning that the Doctor hasn't experienced the Crash of Byzantium (The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone) yet in his timeline, I believe she places the Picnic of Agard before the Crash of Byzantium in his timeline.
So, she places the picnic before the Crash of Byzantium in his timeline, meaning he had to have experienced that off-screen. There was chucnk were Ten had off-screen adventures. She clearly recognised Ten. The Doctor heavily implies he has met her several times by during the Crash of Byzantium (explaining why I'm sure she placed the picnic before the crash in his timeline). Moffat already implied the same thing about off-screen meetings.
Without a doubt, there has been some off-screen meetings, and Asgard is one of them. Or they may only be one-screen meeting, but his dialouge would sughgest he has met her a number of times. "We keep." He seems to know River far too well in her second appearance to have only met her once before.
To the point, there are far too many mentioned River adventures too all be seen, so some will naturally be off-screen. Delton Menace#
I stopped reading immediately after seeing "River recognises Ten very clearly"...River didn't recognize Ten at all...I have no idea which show you're watching. What kind of viewer could misinterpret something to the extent of seeing something opposite of what was shown? River's first meeting with the Tenth resulted in her death...so I highly doubt it's possible that Ten had more adventures with River before the End of Time. Where do the 'implications' come from? --203.168.176.42 17:04, July 21, 2010 (UTC)
Idiot. Both Moffat and the Doctor very clearly implied that there were off-screen River/Doctor meetings, oh, and if you actually read, it seems the Asgard event is before the Byzantium event in the Doctor's timeline. Sheesh. Delton Menace 23:56, July 21, 2010 (UTC)
The Doctor didn't really imply that they had met several times before. He said that they keep meeting in the wrong order, but he knows that anyway because River told him in Silence in the Library. River didn't neccessarily recognize Ten. In Time of Angels she said that she had pictures of all of his faces. That conversation was probably only in the episode to explain why she recognized Ten. The picnic at Asgard may have happened before the Byzantium for River, but she wouldn't know what order it happened in for the Doctor. Its not very likely that something as important as the Doctor meeting a mysterious character like River Song, for the second time from his perspective, would occur offscreen.Icecreamdif 03:15, July 22, 2010 (UTC)
Without resorting to insults ... Re-watching "Silence in the Library" and their first meeting just now, I agree with Delton that River definitely recognises Ten. As soon as she enters the room where she first meets him and Donna, pausing a moment, she walks steadily towards him, and before he or Donna has said anything, she gives a huge smile and greets him warmly with "Hello, Sweetie." He responds "Get out!" as he would to a random group of people in an unsafe place. Only then does Donna say "Doctor..." Later on she starts by calling him 'Pretty Boy' and starts trying to tell him that she knows him and that he should know her - or that he will. I would interpret this as River knowing what Ten looks like at that point.
I do think it could be consistent with her having other meetings with Ten, that are later in his timeline (so he doesn't recognise her at that point) but earlier in hers. And because she doesn't recognise Donna, it would mean that those meetings are after Ten has been forced to leave Donna behind. If Moffat has tried to make it clear that the Crash of the Byzantium is not definitely the second time that the Doctor has met River (from his point of view), and he's the writer of that episode and now the new series, then I wouldn't assume there have been no meetings in between.
As for what kind of viewer could misinterpret something to the extent of seeing something opposite of what was shown ... I hope I've stated clearly enough what was shown. If you want to reinterpret that for me ... feel free :) the angel Jean - Smith's little elf 03:24, July 22, 2010 (UTC)
In Time of Angels, River said that she had pictures of all of the Doctor's faces. This was clearly meant to explain why she recognized the Tenth Doctor. It doesn't make sense that the Doctor's second meeting with River would have occured offscreen. That would have been to important an event not to show. Unless an episode actually states that the Byzantium crash was not the Doctor's second meeting with River, it should be assumed that it was.Icecreamdif 03:34, July 22, 2010 (UTC)
