Doctor Who

Yes, I'd heard it was down to being conceived inside the Tardis, but I still think that excuse is pretty darned lame! It also kind of makes the parentage a bit messy - like the result of some strange menage a trois. Ick!

(thinking about other super powers one might gain by virtue of the location of one's conception)

:) mumatron! Some people just don't get time travel, do they??!

I just came on to post exactly what garlicnutter did.

Don't care about the permission for hugs (that made sense in context) - rather more concerned about her obsession with clothes size, weight, breast size, outfits.... River Song was rather more than an image-obsessed WAG in earlier episodes

She was conceived inside the Tardis, yep.

I get that she was a baddie. I just think she was a shit baddie.

CRI - she''s the child of the Tardis. I think the implication is that Rory and Amy do the deed while inside the Tardis so she gets timelord DNA spliced into the human stuff.

Ah, but how did Melody Pond / River Song get to be a time lord, or at least get all those lives/regenerations? Her parents were just normal earthlings, right?

Okies, I didn't know Mel the BFF had made an appearance before (and my Dr Who Ubernerd DH hadn't recalled that either! :) ) so okay, I'm not keeping up/down/back/around with the plot!

I think in previous episodes Rory was insecure/unhappy about Amy's relationship with theDr, so he's making sure Rory is aware of their relationship and including him in it by giving him the power to decline his request to hug her.

And it's very, very clear that Amy wouldn't stand for any nonsense about actually needing permission. It's not meant to be taken seriously.

What Bibi and edam said.

I thought the idea behind Alex Kingston's performance was that the young River Song is still just a teenager in Time Lord years, and a teenager who hasn't had positive influences in her life at that - hence why she is superficial and reckless and not a well-rounded character yet. Presumably the River Song we know is the person that she becomes under the influence of the Doctor.

Oh, you're not getting it!!

Or I'm not.

Best friend Mel has appeared before. Some episodes about Amy's childhood; Mel was quite prickly but they became besties.

The vain River Song is the first incarnation of that body. She's a baddie (Melody, who's been conditioned to murder the Doctor) but turns into a goodie after Doc whispers the magic word. She then used up all her regenerations on bringing him back to life, which is why she's River Song throughout all other parts of the story - past and present. I love that character! In fact an a little bit in lurve with her

The Doctor and Amy had a very long hug during the Roman bit. Rory, who'd been waitning centuries for Amy to come back, was a bit pissed off that she hugged the Doc more than him. Hence the hug permission business.

Do keep up - or down, backwards, forwards, whatever it is

DontCall - yes, I think that was poor (non-white shifting to white ... and then finding herself very attractive).

I don't disagree it's plausible within the storyline that young River/Mel would be quite different from older River that we've already met ... but I found the way she was different very disappointing. She kicked ass when we first met her; she really didn't here. And I'm not sure (while I am moaning! ) about her getting Nazi'd up a la Prince Harry.

yes she was acting out of character - although she reminded me of River in the episode when she was in the Louboutins.

but the character of both Mels/River has been conditioned to murder at that point in her timeline.

Hmm. I thought Alex whatesface was acting River Song as a totally different character, though. I didn't like it. She just came across as a bit of a wanker, tbh.

They didn't have to cast a mixed-race girl to be 'in trouble with the law', did they? I'm all for more non-white actors but not if you're just going to use them lazily.

I think that Mels is always in trouble with the law/authority in the same way as River Song is. Also River has always been very flirty/teasing with the doctor and other men e.g. the hallucinogenic lipstick. I thought that they were putting River's character in another actor's body which must be very difficult to pull off, which is perhaps why Mels came across as being sexually voracious.

CRI that is spot on. I found that uncomfortable too. And not great that she 'changes' to River Song and burbles on about how sexy she now is and how she has to go weigh herself ... WTF? She seemed like a totally different character.

Oh, and forgot to mention "sexually voracious" Black woman - she kept going on about how "hot" the Doctor was. Yada yada.