First Night (home video)

First Night was the third 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 first of a two-part story concluding with "Last Night". It was written by showrunner Steven Moffat.

Synopsis
The eleventh Doctor picks up River Song for their first date, but things soon become complicated.

Plot
Having been apprehended, taken to the 51st Century and incarcerated in the Storm Cage prison facility to serve out over 12,000 consecutive life sentences for apparently (but not actually) killing the 1,100 year old Eleventh Doctor on the shores of Lake Silencio (The Wedding of River Song), River is in her cell in the Storm Cage prison facility on the first night of her long incarceration, looking through the blue diary the Doctor had given her during her stay in hospital some time before (Let's Kill Hitler). Hearing the sound of the TARDIS engines, she looks up, surprised.

Entering the TARDIS, she encounters the 908 year old Eleventh Doctor in a white dinner-suit. He greets her and tells her that her parents are asleep upstairs and tells her that he is taking her out to the planet Calodran Beta, a planet that he describes as ‘boring’ apart from a 400 foot tall tree growing out of a cliff-top in the middle of the sea, from the top of which he intends to show her the night sky on the starriest night in the entire history of the universe, the 12th of December, 2360. He asks if she’s brought the diary, and when she comments that she's not going to have much need of a diary in prison, he reminds her that she can easily break out because she is the unbeatable River Song. He then explains that the book is to help them keep their encounters in the right order, to avoid ‘spoilers’, and tells her that he's chosen a dress for her, but that there are more in the wardrobe down the corridor if she wants to choose another. She hurries off to look while he pilots the TARDIS to their destination.

While she is off looking through the dresses, however, the Doctor lands the TARDIS and hears laser-gunfire outside. Opening the TARDIS door, he is surprised as a second, slightly older incarnation of River quickly enters, calling him a 'sentimental idiot' for returning to this spot, and then collapsing into his arms.

Cast

 * Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith
 * River Song - Alex Kingston

Crew

 * Writer - Steven Moffat
 * Director - Richard Senior (uncredited)

Planets

 * Calderon Beta is described by the Doctor as "Boring. Planet of the Chip Shops". However it is home to a four hundred foot tall tree "growing out of a clifftop on the north side of a mountain in the middle of the sea". At 12:12am on 21 September 2360, you can see more stars in the sky from the top of the tree than in any other point in history. The Doctor notes that "You could read a book by it."

TARDIS

 * The wardobe is now "first right, second left, just past the Helter Skelter." This is significantly shorter (not to mention easier to remember) than the directions the Ninth Doctor gave Rose Tyler during DW: The Unquiet Dead.

Story notes

 * First of a two-part story, concluded in Last Night.
 * This is the shortest of the Night and the Doctor to feature the Doctor, coming in at 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The shortest overall is Up All Night, which is just under 2 minutes.
 * This is also the only Night and the Doctor short to feature scenes outside of the TARDIS.
 * The footage of the TARDIS flying through the solar storm is originally from The Rebel Flesh.

Myths and rumours
To be added

Filming locations
To be added

Production errors

 * When River opens the diary, ostensibly for the first time, you can see some of the pages have already been written in.
 * River had written notes in the book before being forced to kill The Doctor and her sentence at Stormcage, as seen at the end of Closing Time.

Continuity

 * The first River Song is serving her first night of "Twelve thousand consecutive life sentences" in Stormcage.
 * Second appearance (in chronological order) of River Song's diary. Here, the Doctor instructs her on its use and purpose. (DW: Silence in the Library, et al.)
 * Possibly the earliest chronological occurrence, from River's perspective, of the Doctor coming to River's rescue in the TARDIS, although on this occasion it is unintentional. (DW: Silence in the Library, DW: The Time of Angels, DW: The Pandorica Opens)

For the Doctor

 * This story takes place after DW: The Wedding of River Song
 * This story takes place before DW: Last Night

For River no. 1

 * This story takes place after DW: The Wedding of River Song
 * This story takes place before DW: Last Night

For River no. 2

 * This story takes place some time after the River no. 1 events in DW: First Night

Home video releases
To be added

== External links == To be added