River Song is arguably one of the more popular and well-known characters in “Doctor Who” outside of the Doctor themselves. She goes in and out of the Doctor’s life and you’re never quite sure what order she’ll pop up in! Outside of her television appearances, though, River has shown up in a plethora of Big Finish audios (even has her own series) and quite a few books as well. These stories often expand on her story and see her meeting characters that she didn’t on screen. So here are five things you may not know about the Doctor’s wife!
1: River Song told the Tenth Doctor where to find the Zygons in Elizabethan England, leading to the events of “The Day of the Doctor”!
In 2018, the novelization of “The Day of the Doctor” was published. Written by Steven Moffat, the book includes quite a few extra scenes and insights not present in the original 2013 episode. One of these is a chapter entitled “The Love of the Doctor”. It opens with the Tenth Doctor asking River about a nest of Zygons that he’d been tracking and lost sight of… Though said asking takes place while River is taking a bath. And Ten has joined her. But he’s insisted on staying fully clothed!
The scene only lasts for about three or four pages, but it’s a delightful look at a dynamic between a (relatively) young Doctor and River. She does eventually tell him that she’s already uploaded the relevant information to the TARDIS databanks. The Tenth Doctor starts to leave, but as the book says:
“He smiled back at her, and leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek, before leaving as quickly as he was able to, a little under seven hours later.”
Until recently, this was the only look we’d gotten at the hinted-at unseen adventures with the Tenth Doctor and River Song. But in November 2020, Big Finish released a set of three stories featuring the two characters. I highly recommend checking them out, too!
2: Another famous “Doctor Who” archeologist was River’s tutor when she attended university.
Professor Bernice Summerfield is a long-running character in the Whoniverse, but may not be known by those who mainly enjoy the television series. She started as a character in the Virgin New Adventures books, but the character soon took on life in Big Finish’s first ever productions. She’s also a time-traveling archeologist who knows various regenerations of the Doctor… and River Song!
2019 saw the release of a six-part series titled “The Legacy of Time” to mark twenty years of “Doctor Who” stories at Big Finish. This collection brought together many characters from all over the show’s history- including River Song and Bernice Summerfield. In the collection’s first story, “Lies in Ruins” by James Goss, Bernice and River meet while assisting the Eight Doctor. However, this is not the first time that their paths have crossed.
The episode quickly establishes that Bernice was one of River’s professors when she was working on her own archeology degree. River admits that there was a reason why she arranged things so that Benny would be her tutor, though. Namely, their shared friend- the Doctor. Not aware of this connection before this meeting, though, Benny asks River “What are you then, River Song? Cloned warrior? Stalker? Assassin?” To which River simply replies “Yes.”
3: River Song knows Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Though she was not involved in 2012’s “Doctor Who” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” crossover comic event, there is a suggestion that River has met at least one of those characters before! It’s only a passing mention, but it is fun to consider!
In 2016, BBC Books published an anthology series titled “The Legends of River Song”. The second story, “Suspicious Minds” by Jacqueline Rayner is the one that hints at this possible meeting. In this story, River befriends an Auton that has taken up the disguise of Elvis in a Madame Tussauds. The Auton had been left behind and maintained sentience even after the Doctor had foiled their plans.
After finding out that the Autons were due to invade again soon and “Elvis” would likely lose his free will, River and the Doctor take him on “one last hurrah”. Elvis chooses a place that he’d heard some of the museum’s visitors talk about. It’s a beautiful nature preserve looked after by a scientist who is attempting to educate people on the importance of insects. As it turns out, though, this scientist has been killing off those who visit and do not agree with her… and turning their bodies into fertilizer for her plants. She does this by pumping a gas into the biosphere that lulls people into a peaceful sleep before they ultimately die. Gruesome.
All this is to explain that eventually, “Elvis” uses his wig to stuff into a nozzle to try and slow the flow of gas to give the trio time to find its source. With the Doctor’s respiratory bypass and Elvis being, well, plastic, River is the only one who is fully susceptible to its effects. As she starts to regain consciousness after Elvis stems the flow of the gas, this is her thought process:
“My muddled thought process went ‘Sontaran? Silence? Jean-Luc?’ until my head cleared and I realized it was Elvis.”
As I said, it is a very small mention inside a much larger story, but it is an interesting crossover to consider! River and Picard are both archeologists, though his is more hobby than career of course. Perhaps they met at one of the archeology conferences he’s attended? I’d certainly love to know more about this story!
4: River had at least eleven brothers and sisters.
Though many may know about River’s adoptive brother Anthony Williams, she also has quite a few other more directly related siblings. In 2018, Big Finish released “The Diary of River Song” volume three. In these stories, it’s revealed that Madame Kovarian did much more than simply kidnap Amy and Rory’s daughter. She also took River’s DNA and attempted to recreate what she called her “most dangerous experiment”.
The result of this experiment resulted in quite a few siblings for River. These included Tarn, Rindle, Wadi, Crick, Stream, Beck, Lake, Brooke, H-One, H-Two, and O. All named for bodies of water as a play on Amy’s last name and River’s chosen alias. While seven of these siblings escaped not long after the Doctor arrived at Demon’s Run, others were created later in an attempt to finish what Kovarian had started. One even found her way into traveling with the Fifth Doctor in an attempt to kill him. An attempt that does seem to succeed at least for a little while…
Though Amy and Rory do not know about these siblings, at least three of them are still alive at the end of the events of the final story of the set. Brooke, H-Two, and O have tasked themselves with being Kovarian’s jailers. River leaves them and Kovarian behind, despite Kovarian’s pleas for mercy. River’s remaining sisters have not been brought up again yet, but I hope they will in the future! It’s a heartbreaking yet fascinating addition to the Ponds’ story. Volume three remains my favorite of the series and I highly recommend checking it out!
5: River has met Doctors One through Nine, including the War Doctor!
Keeping with the Big Finish theme, let’s round out the list with how River’s timeline has crossed Doctors earlier than the Tenth! Some of these meetings result in a mind-wipe as with Six and Seven. Others find history re-written such as with Four. And a few were so brief or remote that it’s unlikely that the Doctor would have remembered meeting her at all- Eight, One, Two, and Three. A discussion of how she’s met all of them would take quite a long time, but all are great stories. If you’d like a few brief recommendations as to where to dip your toes into this series, though, I’m happy to oblige!
As mentioned, volume three is a personal favorite. This chapter in “The Diary of River Song” has River meeting the Fifth Doctor. She even goes on a full adventure (something not all of these meetings result in) with him in “A Requiem for the Doctor”. He’s also in a fair bit of “My Dinner with Andrew” and features in “The Furies” in a few scenes.
Volume four features, well, the Fourth Doctor! Four only appears in one story in this set (“Someone I Once Knew”), but it’s a wonderful appearance. The basic story of this volume of stories is about a race called the Discordia. The Discordia win all of their battles by abusing time travel to fix things so that they will always win. Modifications to their ships, themselves, or even just planting things where they know someone will turn up later. Due to this constant meddling in time, when River calls for the Doctor’s help it’s the Fourth Doctor who shows up. And he knows exactly who she is!
There has been some discussion among fans as to if these meetings somehow cheapen River’s story. But I don’t think it does. Not even slightly. In fact, it makes her demise in The Library even more heartbreaking.
With earlier Doctors, River is able to arrange things so that they do not remember her. But with Ten, as soon as she realizes that he doesn’t know her, she knows that it won’t end well. From her own past, she knows that the Tenth Doctor should know her. She’s seen this face before and he’s known her then. So when she meets a Tenth Doctor that does not know her, River knows that she didn’t wipe his memory of this meeting. And she may start to consider the fact that she won’t get- or didn’t get- the chance to for one very simple reason. Her own death.
River Song is a fascinating and amazing character. Though this was true when she was just on the TV, her appearances in other media have really cemented and built upon that groundwork. Big Finish in particular has done an amazing job with her story. I’m always thrilled when I find out she’s going to be in something new! If you’ve ever loved River Song as a character, I highly recommend checking out her series. You never know what you may learn about her next!
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