User:SOTO/Forum Archive/The Panopticon/@comment-26845762-20151212000440/@comment-26845762-20160630162033

Professor River Song and Regular River Song are the same individual taken from different points in their timeline. This is pointed out in "Back and there again" in Chapter 4.

Professor RS is a Doctor in gameplay only. Being a Doctor only means that the character can go in the Doctor slot, and nothing else.

SA RS is the normal young River Song, the only reason she is a separate character is to give her a new ability for the gameplay section of the game. The dialogue in SA's first level indicates just this. This is the same for the Trickster characters, Trickster Sarah Jane in normal Sarah Jane.

As for the expert River Songs, they cannot be gained through any of the story levels. They are from levels that were made for "expert" players. Again, all the expert characters do is give the characters a new ability for the gameplay. All the signature characters do is give the player a new ability for gameplay and give you a costume with the actors signature. All the fan characters do is give the player a new ability for gameplay. All of these copies are accessed through sections of the game that are cut-off from the rest of the game. These sections have no story. Most levels in the fan area are stated to be previews, prototypes, or special "thank you" levels.

Again I would say that this is another example of the separation between the gameplay and the story. The bonus characters have no presence in the storyline.