Howling:Mystery continues as River lands the Tardis: Difference between revisions
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Howling:Mystery continues as River lands the Tardis (view source)
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Yeah, as I suggested on another thread, the 51st century answers everything. We know that time travel in the 51st century was restricted to Time Agents and a handful of others, and who would that handful be if not licensed archaeologists, people who both have a good reason to go back to the past, and extensive training and practice examining things without disrupting them? Also, the fact that they have Time Agents implies that there was some unauthorized time travel going on, and again, who's more likely than renegade archaeologists, people who have the motivation to do whatever it takes to go to the past and the ability to get away with whatever they do there? --[[Special:Contributions/99.50.120.236|99.50.120.236]] 05:20, April 25, 2010 (UTC) | Yeah, as I suggested on another thread, the 51st century answers everything. We know that time travel in the 51st century was restricted to Time Agents and a handful of others, and who would that handful be if not licensed archaeologists, people who both have a good reason to go back to the past, and extensive training and practice examining things without disrupting them? Also, the fact that they have Time Agents implies that there was some unauthorized time travel going on, and again, who's more likely than renegade archaeologists, people who have the motivation to do whatever it takes to go to the past and the ability to get away with whatever they do there? --[[Special:Contributions/99.50.120.236|99.50.120.236]] 05:20, April 25, 2010 (UTC) | ||
Of course now that the episode has answered this question, it just leads to further questions. Amy: "How come you can fly the TARDIS?" River: "Oh, I had lessons from the very best." Doctor: "Well... Yeah..." River: "It's a shame you were busy that day." | |||
So, who is this "very best" TARDIS pilot, and how did River and the Doctor meet him when she never met any incarnation of the Doctor who'd been alive before Gallifrey was destroyed? The Master in disguise? The Rani or the Monk? Some other Time Lord who escaped the LGTW? A future two-Doctors story where the 12th Doctor or the Meta-Crisis 10th Doctor (or the Valeyard) teaches her how to fly the TARDIS while the 11th is busy? Some non-Gallifreyan who reverse-engineered TARDIS technology? Iris Wildthyme (post-NA era, when she's from a different universe and isn't a Time Lady)? | |||
Also, River can write Old High Gallifreyan, and it's been established before (Power of the Daleks and Five Doctors--and I think either Infinity Doctors or another novel more clearly established that the "written in OHG so no one else can read it" bit in Power of the Daleks is supposed to include even other Time Lords) that the Doctor was one of the few people who knew OHG even _before_ the LGTW, which could just mean the Doctor taught her, but could be a hint to something much more mysterious. | |||
It's worth mentioning two fan-theory identities, both of whom are ancient enough to easily explain her familiarity with OHG, although both also seem too ancient to explain her familiarity with the Type 40 TARDIS (which was presumably invented after the time of both): [[Pandora]] and [[Patience]]. | |||
The former obviously fits with the whole "Pandorica" thing, but Pandora appears only in the BFAs, so she only exists if that storyline is canonical, in which case she's been destroyed by Romana III and K-9 and now exists only as a manifestation of uncontrollable pure hate. That might explain how she survived past the LGTW, but it doesn't sound very much like River Song. Also, she already manifested as Romana (I think both Romana I and Romana III, although I don't remember), so any "River Song = Pandora" theory seems pretty close to a "River Song = Romana" theory. And really, Romana as a future wife of the Doctor makes more sense than Pandora. But neither seems very likely. (And if they wanted a hint that obscure for the obsessive fans who know the BFAs that well, why dress Amy up as Romana, rather than River?) | |||
The latter makes more sense. Patience was the widow of both Omega and the Other, and the wife of the Doctor. And, since the Other reincarnated as the Doctor, having Patience reincarnate as the Doctor's future wife fits in perectly. Especially given Cold Fusion's "It's not the first time you've met her, nor will it be the last" (although The Infinity Doctors seems to be intended as the fulfillment of that prophecy, and it would be a bit odd if the MAs are canonical but the PDAs are not). Of course this conflicts with the fan theory that Patience is the Woman in TEoT, but that doesn't matter--sure, they can't both be right, but that doesn't mean neither can be right. | |||
Anyway, I'm not too impressed with either the Pandora theory or the Patience theory. | |||
My guess is that Moffat really wants us to speculate about River Song's mystery, and to get it wildly wrong--and he pulled that off perfectly. --[[Special:Contributions/99.50.120.236|99.50.120.236]] 08:40, April 25, 2010 (UTC) | |||
