Doctor Who review: River Song faces the Yeti in The Web of Time
By James Aggas
River Song journeys back to the events of a major Doctor Who story, and tries to avoid changing history or damaging The Web of Time…
Just as An Unearthly Woman acts as a kind of prequel to An Unearthly Child, The Web of Time – the second episode of the sixth series of The Diary of River Song – acts as a prequel to The Web of Fear. However, in some ways, it almost feels like a sequel to it, as well. While the events in London take place a very short time before the classic Doctor Who adventure, River Song is already aware of what happens. Or at least, what’s meant to happen.
As a result, it definitely helps to be familiar with what exactly happens in the original story. Or at least, with one of the key characters from it: Captain Ben Knight, played by Ralph Watson, who once again plays him in River’s story.
I’ll be honest, it’s easy to hear that the actor is considerably older than he was in the original story, but that’s to be expected. Over the course of the story, you gradually get used to it, and it is fantastic to hear an actor reprise a role for the first time in decades.
It’s pretty exciting to hear River face the Great Intelligence. We kind of got that story in Eleventh Doctor episode The Name of the Doctor. However, in that particular instance, she was already dead, and could only be seen by the Doctor and Clara.
So it’s nice for her to fully encounter the Intelligence when she was still alive, and shortly before the events of a key story for the Doctor’s enemy. And of course, we have River facing the Yeti, which is just as exciting!
The Web of Time is just one of several adventures for River in Series 6 of The Diary of River Song.
(Image Courtesy: Big Finish Productions.)
An unlikely pairing
However, I think the real drive of this story is the relationship between River and Captain Knight. Knight’s a pretty interesting character, especially when paired with someone like River. For him, morality is black and white – you either help people in trouble or you don’t.
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River, on the other hand, is far more pragmatic. She’s only in London in this particular time period to do a job. It’s not even a particularly important job, not by her standards, at least. This time, she’s just out to make some money. Sometimes, she’s about saving lives, or even the entire universe. But this is not one of those days. Or at least, that’s what she thinks…
The Web of Time is an interesting little story. It’s a relatively small adventure, with fairly low stakes. But it’s an interesting character study, both for Knight and for River. John Dorney has written an interesting script focused around one of the more forgotten characters from Doctor Who history, in a story that adds extra weight to his inevitable fate. An enjoyable little story indeed.
Next. Review: An Unearthly Woman begins the sixth series of The Diary of River Song. dark
Are you a fan of The Web of Fear? Do you think either the Great Intelligence or even the Yeti should return to Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments below.