Slight Glimpses of Tomorrow

"I wish there was a way to bring the stars close again."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: January 2021

Series: Diary of River Song 8.01

Featuring: River Song 

Synopsis 

River feels responsible for synthetic person Rachel, left alone on a dying world. So she shows her the history of another, and teachers her the responsibilities of time travel.

But can an android understand what it takes for a civilisation to evolve?

Verdict 

Slight Glimpses of Tomorrow was not the greatest start to the eighth series of The Diary of River Song unfortunately. I thought this was probably the poorest episode of the entire spin-off range that I have listened to so far which is a damn shame as I’m a massive fan of River and her having her own series. I’m sure this will just be a blip but it’s not how I was hoping to kickstart the series! I found it difficult to really buy into what exactly was happening as there seemed no clear objective or plot that was being built. The premise of River showing Rachel history and even encountering cavemen that were on the hunt for dinosaurs was very good and something I wish was explored a little more. There’s untapped potential in the prehistoric era in my opinion so this could have worked. River pointing out the significance of one of the cavewomen making the first piece of jewellery was tremendous, but it barely had any significance to what came after it which struck me as odd. Armis was a strong character who I wish featured throughout the episode as she was very strong minded for a woman in her time. She would build a pyramid amidst the male oriented society and that era was begging for River to challenge the social norms, but instead we had her championing that interference in the past couldn’t be done! Of all the people, that was just silly. Women were allowed to oversee the building of their husband’s future tombs though and that’s what Armis was intent on doing. The metal on top being a star chart was intriguing and I thought Dubontis confronting her because he claimed she’d angered the gods by staring at them was pretty amusing. I wasn’t a fan of the time jumps though as there were far too many throughout and after getting comfortable with Armis, we jumped forward a millennium and found she was thrown off the pyramid. That was very sudden and just a shame! The star map metal now being a part of Cassie’s ceiling in Jade City was fascinating but things just seemed to get all mixed up as we were also following the origins of the plague. Rachel bring with an inmate that knew of the star map and its significance was good and I liked how he realised that the stars had moved since the time that they were drawn. How could someone of ancient times see more of the stars? The prison break that ensued seemed odd though and not really a part of the overall plot with it being linked to those who were possibly carrying the plague. River locking the Energy Minister in a linen cupboard was very characteristic and a fun moment for her to shine in a story where she seemed to be in the background. The growth of the plant owned by the old man was a little odd and didn’t seem important at all when Rachel offered to look after it. The historical elements of wanting to invent really big fireworks to prove a point was pretty good stuff, but Rachel was struggling with all of the jumping from time to time. That was understandable but I wasn’t expecting her to escape with River’s vortex manipulator! I quite liked that her destination was to go to Cassie and try to show her the significance of her star map ceiling, but she was far from interested in working out why someone in the past could see more stars. Rachel then being in Parliament felt like a bit of a stretch as she was trying to show the kestrel star map and appeal against the missile strike plans. But she soon realised that in this world of men in power she wouldn’t be able to save the world. When she was set for execution, River returned to save the day without any explanation as to how she got there without her manipulator. I’m glad she came for Rachel but a better explanation than ‘I found a way’ was required. Heading back to Armis to try and ‘win’ was good intentions and I’d loved that she turned her pyramid into a school for young girls. The story seemed to petter out from there as Rachel just seemed to learn a lesson that she didn’t change much at all other than dead people being better informed. The fact she didn’t impact change was a little disappointing and just weird to conclude. Overall, some good in places but as a whole slightly disappointing. 

Rating: 5/10