River Stuffs

[promethia_tenk]

1) Vid rec: Land's End by cherryice (River Song, awake in the waiting sea.) OMG, guys, go watch this now. It's . . . a River vid. I mean about River, about her life (and all the rest of their lives, too--I think especially Amy). Anyone struggling with the AGMGTW reveal, I think this might . . . actually . . . help? In a cathartic sense, cause it's not really a pretty picture. At any rate, it's amazing. Go watch many, many times!

2) Question: I've been meaning to ask for awhile, but it seemed very a propos to the vid above ('let the walls cave in'): if I were to write something up comparing River to Echo from Dollhouse, would that be of any interest to anyone but me? It would basically be about both women and their boxes (Echo and the Dollhouse/ River and the TARDIS, the astronaut suit, Stormcage, the Library computer, etc. . . .) and the complicated, push-pull, quasi-symbiotic relationships they have to them. Or is bringing up Dollhouse enough to put everybody off from the get-go?

3) Observation: Watched "The Pandorica Opens" last night for the first time since AGMGTW, and it struck me that that episode makes a lot more sense if you look at it as a systemic attack against River. I mean, obviously the Alliance believes it's all about the Doctor, but I think whoever is pulling the strings is actually after River in some way. Think about it: they locked her husband up in a box so he can't help her, had her father shoot her mother before her mother could even have her, and blew up the time machine that helped make her what she was, on the very date she was conceived. If you put the Doctor in the middle of everything, it doesn't fit together nearly as well, particularly Rory shooting Amy, which always seemed a bit random and 'what was the point in that?' The interesting thing is, though, that if Person Pulling the Strings really was after River, I'm not sure that they were trying to wipe her out so much as unmoor her. If this person knows enough about the TARDIS to be able to remotely control it and cause it to explode, probably they would realize that it would also preserve River inside as she is, even while all the foundations of her life, everything that helped create her, is being destroyed? It's like they wanted River without her context.

Comments

[cinderbella333.livejournal.com]

I will look into that vid rec. I know zero about Dollhouse but I'd probably still be interested in reading it.

And three: FLAIL! OMG, you are SO, SO right. "blew up the time machine that helped make her what she was, on the very date she was conceived" And hell, they blew up the time machine WITH HER IN IT. If you look at it as an attack on her, that really, really works. And it's later in her timeline too, so if she ends up doing something with the Doctor later in *his* timeline, earlier in hers, it would make sense that when they're attacking her, because of something she does in the Doctor's future, it would be in those early episodes. Which makes one wonder. That's very close to when she dies in the Library. When the TARDIS bring her to that date and then goes haywire (perhaps because they are attacking River/trying to kill her), doesn't it say, "Silence will fall"? And then people have been talking about the title, "Silence in the Library," which makes me wonder . . . Did they actually get her? Meaning, was she set up to go to the Library as a progression of this unseen force trying to unmake her? After all, the Doctor nearly died there. If he died as Ten, that would definitely have affected River being born. Was it a trap to get her (and/or the Doctor)? Starting to feel a bit like a conspiracy theory, but still! I think there's something in what you were saying. Until proven otherwise in canon, this is now my head-canon. And that makes that episode even more interesting for me. Thank you for that.

[promethia_tenk]

And it's later in her timeline too, so if she ends up doing something with the Doctor later in *his* timeline, earlier in hers, it would make sense that when they're attacking her, because of something she does in the Doctor's future, it would be in those early episodes.
Huh, I hadn't even gotten to thinking of it as possibly being in response to something she *did* since it seems designed not just to kill her but to wipe out her very existence--thus I assumed the problem was her existence. But that will be something to keep an eye out for!

And then people have been talking about the title, "Silence in the Library," which makes me wonder . . . Did they actually get her? Meaning, was she set up to go to the Library as a progression of this unseen force trying to unmake her?
OoooOOoo . . . I've seen a bunch of people trying to speculate about possible connections to that episode title, but that's the first suggestion I've seen that I really like.

After all, the Doctor nearly died there. If he died as Ten, that would definitely have affected River being born. Was it a trap to get her (and/or the Doctor)?
I'm in a continual state of wonderment that she manages to keep existing at all. I watched the Angels episodes too before I got to TPO, and was just staring at the screen in horror, realizing how, with both the Doctor and Amy there before River was even conceived, any little thing that could have gone wrong might have seen her wink right out of existence! You get to wondering exactly how resilient time is . . . does time want River Song alive, thus granting a certain margin of error and failsafe where, even if things change, everything else rearranges enough to make sure she still happens? (Which might explain why whoever's going after her saw reason to kill her mother *and* blow up the TARDIS *and* lock away the Doctor *and* end the universe . . . Is she like a cockroach? Pesky Time Lady, just won't die!) Or is everything really as fragile as it seems and liable to fly apart with the smallest mistake?

Until proven otherwise in canon, this is now my head-canon. And that makes that episode even more interesting for me. Thank you for that.
*g* Glad you like!