The Diary of River Song: Series 6

A set of four stories in which River, for various reasons, finds herself interfering in the events of some of the first four Doctors' TV serials. The problem with doing this, rather than more straightforward sequels, soon becomes apparent; the originals are self-contained and trying to fit anything else significant into them either clashes or feels largely empty. It sounds a fun idea, but it ends up flawed, and perhaps unavoidably so.

An Unearthly Woman – We begin at, or slightly before, the beginning, with a story set in London immediately before the events of An Unearthly Child. Unlike the other stories, this one features the regular characters from the TV show, mainly Ian, Barbara, and Susan, but also a couple of brief appearances by the Doctor himself – all portrayed by the recast actors from the First Doctor Adventure audios. The temptation to do this story rather than, say, Dalek Invasion of Earth or The War Machines is understandable, but it does strain credulity a bit and has been done before (only without River, obviously). The plot ties in with that of a different audio series and, while it's not necessary to have listened to that to follow this, it does leave the main villain without an obvious motivation for what he's doing. It's a well-done story with strong portrayals of Ian and Barbara, but it feels as out-of-place as its central character. 3.5 stars.

The Web of Time – Next up is The Web of Fear, with River turning up in an evacuated London a few days before the Doctor's arrival. The story here is rather clearer and builds on, rather than reiterating, the plot of the original. While River's reason for visiting a time when she knows that her actions could unravel the established timeline drives many of her actions, the details are rather irrelevant to the main plot. Instead, it's about her interactions with one of the main supporting characters from the TV serial, and how she deals with knowing his future and that of the other people around him. This gives the story more heart and makes it about more than simply running from yeti. On the negative side, BF have chosen to use the original actor who played the character – one can appreciate the gesture, but hearing somebody who is very audibly in their 80s playing a character in their 30s is jarring in a way that recasting would not have been, at least for me. 4 stars.

Peepshow – Here we get a story that does manage to be fun, but only at the expense of any real depth. It's set during Carnival of Monsters, between the Doctor escaping and the destruction of the miniscope. River heads inside the device in search of a maguffin, only to find that it isn't as empty of inhabitants as the Doctor had believed. This avoids any clash with the original story, and features original characters, but what it leaves is basically a run through the machinery pursued by assorted monsters, without much room for an actual plot. The saving grace is that it's played as a comedy, without any attempt to take itself too seriously, although one has to take a few absurdities in that light to enjoy it. But at least it doesn't feel like it's clashing with anything. 3.5 stars.

The Talents of Greel – Finally, we're in the run-up to Talons of Weng-Chiang in a story about an earlier attempt by Greel to use Jago's theatre to further his nefarious ends. As with the first episode in the collection, this ends up clashing with the real serial, adding too much on before it even gets going. For instance, it attempts to expand Li H'sen Chang, making him a more rounded character (and played by an actual Asian actor) but that subplot has to go nowhere in order to make him act the way he does on TV. Considering that the story has to keep him unaware of what's really going on, Jago does get a fair bit to do and there is some enjoyable interaction and banter between him and River. Once again, it feels like an unnecessary add-on to the original that doesn't fully fit, although, if you ignore that and take it on its own merits, it actually stands up pretty well. 4 stars.