New Recruit: Rivers of Light

"Why do you have a planet in a box?"

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: October 2021

Series: The Diary of River Song 9.04

Featuring: Third Doctor, Liz, Brigadier, River

Synopsis

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...

Verdict

Rivers of Light was a really fun story to conclude what has been a thoroughly enjoyable New Recruit ninth series of The Diary of River Song! It's been a sheer delight to hear River as part of the UNIT team of Season 7 and whilst I think a little more of the Brigadier would have been welcomed in the middle two episodes in the series, getting him back here was fantastic. Jon Culshaw is scarily good in his impression and the good impersonations come with Tim Treloar getting to shine in this finale. It makes sense that the final episode will be where River encounters the Third Doctor for the first time chronologically, but his return is not actually something she was anticipating or even wanting! The prospect of the Third Doctor being off on a wild Silurian goose chase was very amusing and I love how absurdly random that is. Unfortunately, we won't be getting a Third Doctor sequel to The Sensorites at this point but perhaps one day it will happen. It's definitely something I'd love to hear! Learning of the truth regarding River's presence was really interesting and it's quite intriguing that she actually wanted the Doctor out of the way. Her reaction when she heard him returning whilst she was fiddling about inside his TARDIS was terrific. I thought her comment about him being harder to deal with and more angry in his younger days was marvellous and it's quite fun to think that the elderly incarnations of the First and Third Doctors are actually some of the youngest despite their frostiness. River claiming to be from the Celestial Intervention Agency was actually a pretty darn good cover story given the Doctor's position in exile as it explained her presence as checking in on him and also helped give credence to her technical knowledge involving the TARDIS. The Doctor's reaction to her actually reinstalling the console was brilliant. He was outraged at what she was doing! I thought Liz was naturally a little quieter in this adventure which was a slight shame but that's always going to happen when the Doctor is around and River fills in that companion role. Her involvement with the rivers of light from the title was not something I was really expecting, nor finding out who she had been employed by! I thought the concept of a planet in a box and a collapsing sun was quite mad and I'm not entirely sure of the science behind it all, but I did understand the threat that was evident if that box collapsed in and the sun was left to consume the Earth. The use of the rivers to control things was decent, but it was all about the Master being the one behind it. He'd employed River for the mission and the image of her alongside the Delgado incarnation of the Master was superb. Another incarnation of the Doctor's arch nemesis for her to add to the list after Series 5 of this very range. I think it's excellent to think that the Master was present and plotting even prior to Terror of the Autons, but River was on hand to double cross him and see him sent to Gallifrey to answer for his many crimes. I really appreciated that there was something of an attempt to explain the UNIT dating controversy as well in this story as it was actually quite pivotal to the plot with the instability. It was really fun to address that in a meaningful way rather than the 'seventies or eighties' throwaway lines we've had in more recent times. Overall, this was a really strong listen and the plot was almost secondary to the interactions between the Third Doctor and River. The use of a memory wiping wine was a unique way to keep intact the timeline of Silence in the Library and beyond, and I liked how it didn't become a big thing. A fantastic little series concludes very well. 

Rating: 8/10