The Web of Time

"I have to keep history on track."

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: August 2019

Series: Diary of River Song 6.02

Featuring: River

Synopsis

The capital has been evacuated. Monsters stalk the Underground. For River, it's the perfect opportunity to steal a priceless artwork, so long as she can avoid looters, soldiers and an alien invasion.

With the gallant Captain Knight at her side, River faces the Great Intelligence and its Yeti army. But her biggest challenge may be keeping time itself on track...

Verdict

The Web of Time was another excellent story to continue the sixth series of The Diary of River Song! I’ve been incredibly excited for every story in this set as I love the concept of River getting involved with the events of Classic serial, so this one taking place slightly before the events of The Web of Fear prior to the Doctor’s arrival was magnificent. The pre-titles sequence with River having an art gallery tour was nicely done and it was fun for her to be given a job to find the missing painting of the Seasons. River was a little exasperated by the location and time of the painting which was good and just hearing her encounter a Yeti stalking the Underground was a wonderful clash of eras. I thought it was good that Maude and Erin were using the webbed situation as a way to steal the same painting River was after, and the inclusion of the Great Intelligence as the main enemy was tremendous. It felt a shift in time and wanted the Yeti to bring the source to him, of course meaning River. It was a brilliant clash! Captain Knight retiring in a co-lead for the episode was wonderful and I loved how he was initially trying to evacuate River from London. She knew all about the Yeti though and was scared for the Army, with Knight even pre-dating UNIT which was a lot of fun. River saving Knight from the collapse because only he was mentioned in the Doctor’s diary was quite something and I adored how she’d done her research with the reference to the Doctor being a keen diarist at this point in time a particular highlight. She knew of the events purely to avoid them and that would explain her reaction to the painting’s location. The fun River had with the UNIT dating controversy and actually identifying these events was glorious stuff and you really can have so much fun with her character. The painting being believed to be destroyed in the aforementioned building collapse was good and I liked how Maude and Erin had beaten River to retrieving it before she could. I really liked how Knight questioned River on the outcome of the future and she had no issue in telling him that London would return to normality which surprised me a little! His challenging of her morals and if she really would just leave once obtaining the painting was superb as he seemed to know her and noticed she'd tried to save his men even though only he was mentioned in the Doctor's diary. It was powerful stuff for River to sympathise with Erin because she had also been on the streets as a child, but that soon stopped when she took her vortex manipulator! I loved the line from River about Anne Travers being the only woman recorded to survive these events and the emergence of the Great Intelligence through Buscombe was brilliant. I liked that it had a presence. Maude being taken over it as well was eery stuff and it describing how her last thought was of her child not going hungry was incredible. River dealing with the dilemma of not actually being able to defeat the Great Intelligence was fantastic as she knew that the Doctor would be arriving soon to do just that. Her escape and then return as the cavalry and utilising the weakness of the pyramid was strong stuff and some good action, and the moral challenge of choosing between Erin and the painting was such a big moment. Knight knew that River would make the right call, even if she didn't! It worked well to have the Great Intelligence merely buried than fully defeated and it would set up new operations at an alternative station leading into battle with the Second Doctor. It's a shame that Knight would not retain the memory of these events as River kissed him with the hallucinogenic lipstick, but the pair developed a tremendous relationship by the end. Overall, another brilliant episode! It's just a shame River got there before the Second Doctor did.

Rating: 9/10