Rivers of Light was the fourth and final story of The Diary of River Song audio anthology New Recruit. It was written by Lisa McMullin and featured Alex Kingston as River Song, Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor, Daisy Ashford as Liz Shaw and Jon Culshaw as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and The Master.
Publisher's summary[]
In a Yorkshire mining town, strange temporal distortions and rivers of light crossing forests are enough to get the Brigadier’s attention, and UNIT is mobilised.
But the Doctor is back, and he wants to know who’s been messing around in his laboratory. River’s reasons for being on Earth are about to be revealed...
Plot[]
River Song is discovered inside the Doctor’s TARDIS by a confused and suspicious Doctor, who questions her presence and the modifications she’s made to his TARDIS console. River claims to be a scientific advisor from the Celestial Intervention Agency (CIA) of Gallifrey, but the Doctor remains wary. Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, a young miner named Simon and a policewoman named Gemma encounter strange rivers of light in the woods and discover a mysterious metal cube that seems to emit energy. When Gemma touches it, she becomes electrified and hears a voice calling her "the deliverer."
As the story unfolds, River and UNIT (including Liz Shaw and the Brigadier) investigate the bizarre electromagnetic phenomena, which are linked to the cube. River reveals that the cube is a "dimension condenser" containing a dying sun, and another condenser—holding the sun’s planet, Otheon—is buried in a nearby mine. The leaking energy threatens to destroy Earth, so River and the team split up to locate the second condenser. Simon is pulled into the mine by its gravitational force, while Gemma, still connected to the first cube, struggles against its pull.
Tensions rise as the mine collapses, trapping Simon. River uses her vortex manipulator to rescue him and retrieve the second condenser, but not before the Doctor and others barely escape. River then transports both condensers away, saving Earth. In the aftermath, the Doctor is left puzzled by River’s true motives, while she meets the Master, who reveals he hired her as part of a scheme to eventually kidnap Earth and torment the Doctor. River double-crosses the Master, trapping him in a dimension condenser to deliver him to Gallifrey.
The story ends with River planning to erase the Doctor’s memory of the events over dinner, leaving her enigmatic nature intact. Meanwhile, the Doctor remains intrigued by her, sensing their connection runs deeper than he understands. The adventure blends sci-fi mystery with character-driven intrigue, setting up future encounters between River Song and the Doctor.
Cast[]
- River Song - Alex Kingston
- The Doctor - Tim Treloar
- Liz Shaw - Daisy Ashford
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart / The Master - Jon Culshaw
- Gemma - Dominique Moore
- Simon - James MacNaughton
Crew[]
- Writer - Lisa McMullin
- Director - Ken Bentley
- Executive Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs
- Music, Sound Design and Theme Music - Howard Carter
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Matt Fitton
Worldbuilding[]
Time Lords[]
- Unbeknownst to the Third Doctor and UNIT, River Song pretends to be working with the UNIT-era Master. She then proceeds to hand him over to the Time Lords.
- Rather than tell the Doctor her true identity and relation to him, she claims that she is from the Celestial Intervention Agency.
Species[]
- River sends the Doctor on a wild goose chase hunting for Sensorites.
River Song[]
- Yet again, River ends her meeting with the Doctor by erasing his memory in order to keep their personal timelines intact and paradox free. This time around, she uses mnemonic wine.
- The Doctor accurately surmises that River will be quite an important person at some point.
- During her time at UNIT, River has been charging her vortex manipulator. During this adventure, she uses it as a means of transport. The Doctor sees this transport as crude and warns Liz Shaw against joining River on her travels.
Notes[]
- River Song gives up trying to date this adventure and references the real-life UNIT dating controversy, which was initially created by Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's impossible retirement date given in the TV episode Mawdryn Undead. Numerous other adventures, whilst on television or in other media, also add to the problem. It has since been made somewhat "official" in the lore of Doctor Who and has been referenced in works such as The Split Infinitive, which sees the sixties and the seventies being pulled towards one-another. The Eighth Doctor Adventure novel Interference shows Sarah Jane Smith uncertain as to which decade the UNIT adventures took place from her own point of view, with the Doctor simply using "temporal slippage" as an explanation. What makes Rivers of Light unique is that River Song herself is within the paradox and notices its effects first-hand.
Continuity[]
- River has been charging her vortex manipulator since she's been at UNIT. (TV: The Pandorica Opens et al)
- The Third Doctor scoffs at the usage of a vortex manipulator as a mode of transport. The Tenth Doctor will do much the same at Jack Harkness' vortex manipulator, much to the amusement of Martha Jones. (TV: Utopia)
- The Doctor has been off hunting Sensorites. (TV: The Sensorites et al)
- River has reinstalled the TARDIS control console in the TARDIS. (TV: The Ambassadors of Death, Inferno)
- River says she's from the CIA. (TV: The Deadly Assassin et al)
- The Doctor finds River's handcuffs. (TV: Forest of the Dead et al)
- The Doctor warns River that she could have died. Upon hearing this she jokes "not today". (TV: Forest of the Dead)
- This isn't the first time the Master will meet River Song. They will meet numerous times in his future, and in four other incarnations. (AUDIO: The Bekdel Test, et al)
- River wipes the Doctor's memory once again to maintain the stability of the timeline. (AUDIO: The Eye of the Storm, et al)
- The Third Doctor will later share an adventure with River Song without even knowing. (AUDIO: Peepshow)
- River finds it impossible to accurately date this episode due to how the UNIT dating protocols work. In 2013, Kate Stewart also found it similarly difficult to locate one of "her father's old files" and suggests the UNIT employees try either "the seventies or eighties". (TV: The Day of the Doctor) Other such people to notice this phenomena were Sarah Jane Smith, and the Seventh Doctor and Ace. (PROSE: Interference, AUDIO: The Split Infinitive)
External links[]
- Official Rivers of Light page at bigfinish.com
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