One Storyline Doctor Who Fans Still Can’t Forgive Steven Moffat For 

Summary:

• Doctor Who is the most popular sci-fi show in the UK, having been on the air for 60 years.
• Fans loved the second showrunner behind the show's revival, Steven Moffat, but some storylines are still considered questionable.
• The most questionable of all is the arc of River Song and her parents, the 11th Doctor's companions, Amy and Rory Pond.

There should be a certain amount of appreciation for any show that can survive for 60 years. The number of talented people working behind the scenes and the unique ideas it requires to put it on a higher pedestal than others.

The longevity of such a show also gives it several advantages in terms of audience expectations. While audiences are usually pretty harsh on repetitive storylines, in the case of Doctor Who, fans tend to be more forgiving. People cheer on the return of their favorite aliens and old characters, as well as the return of their favorite actors.

Even the audience's favorite writers are often met with praise and excitement, as they clearly share as much love for the universe as the average fan.

But that doesn't mean that viewers are ready to gobble up every update without a word. In fact, the fandom's ability to reflect on past character arcs and storylines is exactly what holds those who work on Doctor Who accountable for future episodes.

Steven Moffat's ability to build intrigue around the mysterious River Song and ruin both her and her parents is exactly the kind of mistake no one wants to see again.

Who Is River Song?

River Song is perhaps the most mysterious character of them all, at least when it comes to the Nu Who roster. Portrayed by Alex Kingston, she was first introduced during the reign of Russell T. Davies as part of the two-parter Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, written by Steven Moffat.

What no one expected at the time was that a character who was introduced and then immediately killed off would return. River Song's character arc continued throughout Steven Moffat's time as showrunner. Smart and witty, very familiar with various kinds of weapons, and seemingly attracted to The Doctor, River immediately caught the viewers’ eye.

And people weren’t wrong to expect more from her. Although she was introduced to the 10th Doctor, most of her adventures were spent with the 11th Doctor, and the 12th Doctor was the one who brought the story back to the beginning with a heartwarming Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song.

The mysteries surrounding River Song never really ended, as her life was a couple of hundreds of years long and full of solo adventures without the Doctor, but the most dramatic of all was the revelation of her origins.

A woman who looked twice as old as the 11th Doctor's companion at the time, Amy Pond, was revealed to be her daughter. Because she was conceived in the TARDIS, River, or Melody as she was called by her mother, received part Time Lord, part human DNA, hence her ability to regenerate.

She was stolen by the religious movement The Silence and raised to find and kill the Doctor, but eventually fell in love with him and even married him. While this storyline alone is quite controversial, the real drama surrounding River Song has nothing to do with her love life.

Amy Pond and River Song's Mother-Daughter Moments

As one can imagine, when Amy and Rory found out that their stolen baby was River Song herself, they were even more desperate to get her back. Whether you know your newborn will live and grow up into a courageous and strong woman, or not, you still don’t want to miss a single bit of her childhood.

Having traveled across the universe for a season and a half at that point, they knew they would eventually be able to get her back, but had no way of doing so until Melody failed to reveal herself as her childhood best friend.

Although Melody was happy that she had at least managed to spend some time with her parents as a child (even though they were technically children too), Amy and Rory seemed lost in their emotions and obviously confused. It was very obvious that Amy didn't have any connection to Melody as her daughter.

But wouldn't she at least have one with her friend?

In the episode Let's Kill Hitler while dying from River's poison, the Doctor has to crawl and beg her parents to do something to stop Teselecta from killing River, who just regenerated in front of them. Standing at the beginning of her journey from her timeline, she's scared, she's confused, and she obviously sees how much the Doctor cares, but she also sees her parents' reactions.

Sadly, Amy and Rory seem to offer her even less parental love and support than The Silence did. And while it's understandable that the transition would take some time, and that they would have some emotional difficulties dealing with the idea that River is their daughter, this is not explored.

Instead, River is left on her own to ‘grow up’ and find the Doctor organically with them, as it should happen, and his companions are generally fine with leaving their daughter in a hospital, and look forward to another dangerous adventure they will take on.

Many consider this lack of parental instinct and basic interest in their child's life to be Steven Moffat's biggest writing mistake in his run with Ponds.

Having the companions form a literal family with the Doctor was a great idea, showing a lot of sides of the Doctor that weren't necessarily obvious before, but to be believable, the family has to be a real bond. And someone in that family always felt left out.

If you want to see River Song's story from the beginning to the end, you can stream the previous series of the revived Doctor Who on MAX. And if you want to see how the show celebrates its 60th anniversary, you can tune in to three special episodes starring David Tennant on Disney Plus.