Friday 20 May 2011

Why Romana is more interesting than River Song (and it's not just that Burberry cap!)




Forget for a moment all that continuity about the Time War and imagine if the character of Romana had been introduced in a Moffat story and had been a regular feature in the last two seasons. I think it is safe to imagine that Romana's identity as a Time Lady would be concealed and only revealed as a dramatic discovery at the end of the season.

If that had been the case, we would have missed out on an awful lot. Romana was not a character that was always served well by script writers; at times they did not seem to know what to do with her. Nevertheless, when Romana was used effectively, her Time Lady status was always fundamental to her. If the viewer was unaware that Romana was a Time Lady, so much of her dialogue and character development would lack impact. Right from the start when Romana first appear in The Ribos Operation, we see how her status colours her introduction to the Doctor. She knows who he is, but she is disappointed by him. She embarasses him by pointing out his low grades at the academy and speculates about his psychology. Having a Time Lady in the TARDIS shines a completely new light on the Doctor. Her regeneration scene might be silly, but it was interesting in the way it contrasted with the Doctor's regenerations (we could not have had that had we not known she was a Time Lady). When Romana became more pro-active than the Doctor, in Androids of Tara, and more frequently in Season 17, we were able to think of her as being a sort of female Doctor.

City of Death would not be nearly as good a story without the knowledge that Romana is a Time Lady. It allows her to approach saving the world in a completely dispassionate way, to be haughty to Duggan and justifies her closer, more affectionate interaction with the Doctor.

Contrast this with River Song. She interacts with the Doctor in a way that no other human character does. It seems wrong and we want to know why, but this is kept secret. In fact, the secret of River Song's identity is constantly being dangled in front of us. It is really the only interesting thing about her. However strong Alex Kingston's performances, River Song is essentially a cardboard character. She is simply there to fuel speculation and to tantalise the viewer in the wait for the big revelation. There is no character development to enjoy, no subtlety in her interaction with the Doctor (they just behave like a bickering couple with the odd racy comment here and there) and her only good lines are cheap laughs.

Romana is a character that survived her onscreen appearances. She returned in the Virgin New Adventures and then regenerated as Lord President of Gallifrey in the BBC books. Big Finish have given us an whole audio series featuring the Lalla Ward Romana as Lord President. It seems unlikely that River Song will last so long as a character. Once we find out what the deal is with her, she will be dropped from the show and nobody will care about her any longer. Big mysterious story arcs will never beat simple ande effective character development.

19 comments:

  1. You're comparing two entirely different characters (from two entirely different eras of the show) that have no connection to each other whatsoever. What's the point of this? I personally find the mystery of River Song's identity to be pretty interesting and compelling. Who cares if once her identity is revealed she'll be done with the show? We've more or less known that since "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead."

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  2. I hate to be so negative but the only item I can disagree with you on is "Once we find out what the deal is with her, she will be dropped from the show and nobody will care about her any longer."

    Thinking that she'll be dropped after we find out her identity is wishful thinking... and I stopped finding her interesting ages ago.

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  3. On the other hand, I find her an extremely enjoyable character completely apart from the mystery aspect, and would be happy to watch her in her own series.

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  4. Anonymous, thanks for offering your opinion.

    Personally, I think the whole thing is utterly boring, just like everything to do with Amy Pond.

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  5. DP, they got rid of Rose.

    Don't you think they will kill off River Song with lots of overblown cinematic music?

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  6. Roderick, I do think Alex Kingston's performances are very strong.

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  7. "DP, they got rid of Rose.
    "Don't you think they will kill off River Song with lots of overblown cinematic music?"

    By 'get rid of,' I think RTD meant 'promise to kill her off then keep bringing her back every year.' I dearly hope the same fate is not in store for River Song.

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  8. Back when I watched the old Doctor Who series, when I was young rather than Older Than Dirt, I had a major crush on Romana (the Lalla Ward version).
    I think it's good for the Doctor to have an equal around, or at the least some person who can stand up to him. Which I why I like River Song.
    I do like Amy Pond as a companion. I like the way she managed to bring her husband along on the Tardis. And she's cute. I think that's important in a companion. (Of course, my standards of 'cute' are a bit broad since I think Rose, Capt. Jack, and the Racnoss empress are all very cute.)

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  9. River Song could have been a good character, the problem is that she is sumply the source of Lost-style story arcs rather than proper and intelligent character development.

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  10. River Song was annoying. Unfortunately, Moffat seems to be very into strong but totally unbelievable female characters. On the plus side, she's essentially a good person, while also sexually aggressive (this is an incredibly rare and refreshing thing in TV, let's not forget - how often is the seductress also the murderess?). But she's also obnoxious and rarely vulnerable. "Spoilers," a catchphrase steeped in post-modernism and 'meta' humour, might just be the nadir of Moffat's writing career, in fact.

    Speaking of unbelievable female characters, Moffat's now of course written us Oswin Oswald (I think that was her name); what is sometimes referred to as a Mary Sue. She's like a character a teenage girl writes in her Harry Potter fanfic to act as her own avatar in that universe. "OOH LOOK I HAVE POWERS THE DOCTOR DOESN'T HAVE LIKE ALL THIS SUPER HACKING STUFF! WEEE REWRITE THE UNIVERSE! BUT OH DEAR, I CAN'T MAKE SOUFFLÉS, AREN'T I ADORABLE?" When all your powers are unique and didn't previously exist in the universe you just entered, you've got an exotic name, you're totally sexy and super smart and your only flaws are adorable ones, you're not a three dimensional character. You're a Mary Sue.

    It's just frustrating, especially since Amy Pond is the most gloriously three dimensional companion the Doctor's EVER had. Strong yet believable.

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    1. I can never resist an opportunity to rant about Doctor Who. While we disagree a lot on the show it's still my favourite thing this side of Metabolis 3.

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    2. I hope you visit again and comment on some other posts.

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  11. Oh yeah. I'd love to see Romana return btw, but under Moffat's control she'd probably just end up being annoying. Give Moffat a character like Leela, however, and maybe there'd be some potential.

    Especially aft

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  12. Oh yeah. I'd love to see Romana return btw, but under Moffat's control she'd probably just end up being annoying. Give Moffat a character like Leela, however, and maybe there'd be some potential.

    Especially after that awful right-wing ending to Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. The Doctor can judge, that's fine (Tom Baker's little rants were golden), but to then act as jury and executioner is a bit much. It'd be nice to see him on a mission to civilise again, to quote The Newsroom.

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  13. Is oswin romana though?

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  14. Yet, people are still crying out for Captain Jack, Classic series monsters, even Romana herself to return.

    P.S.- I found this courtesy of TARDIS Newsroom, TARDIS NEWSROOM! I came here...I came here..via..TARDIS Newsroom. I..MUST..OBEY!

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