User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-7302713-20130331225051

So I rewatched The "Wedding of River Song" a couple times and was considering that the aborted timeline that never was is remembered by some people. Doesn't this change the continuity for a bunch of earlier episodes? I'd really like to believe that this was just a production error at the end of one episode, because the continuity this episode sets up just doesn't gel for me, but that's just a personal wish.

The issue is caused by Amy Pond remembering that she killed Madame Kovarian. Her remembering is either a mistake or has ramifications for the way all of series 6 should be viewed.

The events of this episode are technically taking place during a fraction of a second on the day River kills the doctor. And once time heals again, these events never happened. Meaning that people who died didn't die and so on. And almost no one remembers what happened.

But some people do. Amy does and River does. Meaning that Amy remembers the things she said to Madame Kovarian. About how Madame Kovarian took Amy's daughter, and she's now grown-up and ok, but she will never have her baby back. When she kills Madame Kovarian she tells her that River didn't get it all from her (referencing the events from "Let's Kill Hitler").

The issue isn't that these things haven't happened yet, because all of time is happening at once and that can account for a lot; that basically excludes any continuity errors that take place when there is no time. The issue is with her remembering these things when time is running normally.

As soon as the Doctor dies she has all of these additional memories. In other words, spoilers. She knows that Madame Kovarian steals her baby and that she never gets her baby back. She knows that River Song is her child. And yet all of these events happen later. Are we supposed to believe that for the sake of preserving time she is just lying throughout all of it? That her reaction when it turns out the child she is holding is a ganger is a lie? That sending the Doctor off in search of her child is a lie? River Song was willing to destroy time to save her Doctor, to show him that he is loved. Rory creates a paradox in time for Amy. Are we honestly supposed to believe that Amy wouldn't do the same for her daughter? (see me leaning toward error anyone?)

She spends months pretending to be running from the Government and fighting the Silence. And the whole time she knows that Madame Kovarian is working for the Silence, that she is indeed pregnant, that she has been taken by Madame Kovarian and that they are all after her baby. And I know we're seeing a Ganger Amy during this time but it's a Ganger Amy that is controlled by Amy. That shares all of her memories and feelings. There are also discussions between Amy, River and Rory about whether or not to tell the Doctor that they saw him die. And they make sense until you realize that Amy and River remember the events of The Wedding of River Song where the Doctor makes it clear that he knew he was set to die on Lake Silencio. That he did have foreknowledge of his death. Additionally, River knows that the Doctor didn't actually die. That he prepared for his death in advance. It's presented as it being dangerous for the Doctor to know of his death in advance. But they don't just know that the Doctor dies, they also know that the Doctor will know in advance. So why not tell him?

River Song must lie during these events because speaking up means changing her own history and she can't do that. The Doctor doesn't need to lie during these events because it's a younger Doctor and he doesn't know any of this yet. But Amy knows and it's not her past. Well her friendship with Mels is, but it's not clear that she knows this. The references to "Let's Kill Hitler" are there, but they're oblique.

All of this seriously messes with my head (which is why I lean heavily toward production error). Either Amy and River (and possibly Rory) have their memories and are lying for several episodes (meaning that this episode retroactively changes the continuity of the earlier episodes), or this is a massive production error. Either way something explaining this issue should be on every page of that this affects. By my count this should at least be a note for Episodes 1 through 11 in Series 6. And it has a major impact on the events in "The Impossible Astronaut", "Day of the Moon", "The Doctor's Wife", "The Almost People", "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler".

For reference in case anyone is confused about the things that happen during The Wedding of River Song that happen while time is passing:
 * the conversation that Amy and River have takes place sometime after the events of "The God Complex" (for Amy and Rory; River is coming from the Byzantium)
 * the Doctor carrying Dorium's head back to the Seventh Transept happens after the Teselecta has been burned on Lake Silencio