World Enough and Time

"People dream their lives away..."

Writer: James Goss
Format: Audio
Released: December 2016
Series: The Diary of River Song Series 2.03

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, River

Synopsis

When it comes to bringing down corrupt and explosive regimes, there is no-one quite like River.

Until she arrives at Golden Futures and discovers that someone else has already taken on her job. Someone with almost as much style and panache as herself.

The Doctor is about to get the shock of his lives.

Verdict

World Enough and Time was a brilliant audio adventure and another excellent continuation of the second series of The Diary of River Song. It really has been a terrific series so far and I am very excited for the finale which was set up in quite some style during this story. We've already had River Song meet the Seventh Doctor for the first time in The Unknown and now we have the pleasure of hearing her meet the Sixth Doctor. Their relationship was absolutely wonderful throughout the audio and may actually have been the highlight from the story for me. It brought out the softer side in the Sixth Doctor which is fantastic and it was really intriguing to hear this incarnation of the Doctor actually be rather smitten with a woman. River was quite the same back to him and I loved the moment where she mentioned really liking his coat. It wasn't the most popular item of clothing but I agreed with River in liking it! It's so brilliantly typical of the quirkiness of the Doctor and it suits the sixth incarnation down to a tee. The idea behind this adventure was very good and I thought the whole concept surrounding Golden Futures was very good. Filing dreams was an interesting way for the story to start for River and doing a story involving dreams is something I really like. The PA was a terrific character and I did enjoy her conversations with the Doctor. The fact that he had purchased 51% of the shares in the company was interesting and even though the Doctor was its owner, he was none the wiser as to just what was going on at Golden Futures. Thanks to some help from River Song though, he'd soon find out. And he wouldn't like it at all. River having trust issues with the Doctor was quite a shock and I liked how it brought out the emotion in her. Even though this was an earlier incarnation than she's ever met before, or at least that has been made available to us, she refused to believe that he could be involved in the atrocities that were occurring at Golden Futures. The idea of an Earth stitched out of possible realities and splinter moments was quite incredible and just what use that will be remains to be seen. But it is a very exciting concept and I look forward to listening to it play out. The reveal of the Speravores was good and I also liked the concept behind them as beings. They fed on potentiality and the Doctor being at Golden Futures meant they had a rife supply as he wasn't doing what he could in the rest of the universe. The pods and the Sleepers were very intriguing and I liked how River had an experience early on in the story that she really wasn't supposed to see. That gave her the determination she needed to find out just what was going and she did a much better job of it than the Doctor. The pair though worked wonderfully together and I know they feature in the next audio of the boxset but I would very much like to hear more adventures with the Sixth Doctor and River Song. I'm not quite sure how that'll be possible as there's the trouble with the Doctor not recognising her until Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead but the way they got around that here was cheap but clever. Amnesia lipstick. Nice and simple. River couldn't bare the thought of the Doctor living with the memory of what he caused here. The Doctor got it wrong which was quite incredible really and an epic finale seems to have been set up. Will Earth be destroyed? Will Elysium prevail? I guess I will find out tomorrow, but I'm very eager to find out! Overall, an excellent audio!

Rating: 9/10