The Diary of River Song, Series 8

A set of four hour-long River Song stories on the general theme of ‘robots'. The first two stories are linked, and I list them separately below largely because they have different authors and tones, but the other two are standalone. Taken together, it's not the strongest collection in this series, but it has enough good points to make it worthwhile.

Slight Glimpses of Tomorrow – The first story features Rachel, the ‘teenage' android from volume two of this series (and played by Alex Kingston's daughter, Salome Haertel). River takes her on a tour of an unnamed planet's history, ostensibly to teach her about the nature of immortality, although it seems more to be a lesson on the limitations of time travel. The bulk of the story consists of jumping forward through different time periods from the Stone Age to the industrial era (although the development of technology here doesn't directly mirror our own, so precise comparisons are tricky). Towards the end, there is some more direct action and agency for our leads, but up until then, it's largely a passive history lesson, which drags in places. It's also worth noting that River, for all that she has a major role in the resolution, otherwise isn't in it very much, with the story being instead about Rachel (which I didn't mind, but others might). I feel as if I should have liked this more than I did, given the unusual style and the pro-science message, but in the end, it's just not as successful a story as it might have been. 3 stars.

A Brave New World – Following on directly from the previous story, and best listened together with it, this is a rather different beast. Rachel is now on a colony spaceship, trying to make a life for herself and finding things don't work as she'd like. In the previous story, the fact that she's an android is irrelevant and barely alluded to; here, it's central to the plot. Once again, it's her story, not River's, but the latter has a larger part to play than before, taking more of the lead when the actions of the ship's crew in the first half put it in danger in the second. From then it's a base-under-siege with a menacing monster and plenty of peril – although the acting from some of the guest actors isn't all it might be at times. But, for all that she's put through the wringer, it's a good send-off for Rachel and one that contrasts her artificial nature with her desire for a human life. 4 stars.

A Forever Home – In the first of two standalone stories in the collection, River is bought as a pet by K9 and taken to the suburban home he shares with his new girlfriend, only occasionally being allowed out on a leash for walkies. That makes it sound like a comedy, but it really isn't with the role reversal being depicted more as an off-kilter imprisonment than played for laughs. ‘Sinister' seems more to be what writer Alfie Shaw was going for with this one (although you never know) but the weirdness takes the edge off that, too. Once it's explained what's really going on, it's nowhere we haven't been before, with a large chunk of exposition told in flashback. As an idea, it has some merit, and perhaps is intended as a commentary on the domestication of dogs but the story built around it is bland with an uninteresting, overly egomaniacal villain that takes away any edge it might have. 3 stars.

Queen of the Mechonoids – A pair of Space Security Service agents answer a distress call from River and find themselves on a plant where the Mechanoids (to use the more common spelling) have been building a city. The strength here is that it doesn't show River in a wholly positive light, but still manages to keep her consistent with the character we've seen more widely. It's obvious right from the distress call in the pre-title teaser that all cannot be quite what it seems and the agents have good reason not to initially trust the person they're rescuing. As a consequence, they have at least as much of a role to play as she does, and the story makes good use of the background details of both The Chase and The Dalek's Master Plan. Indeed, both agents have appeared briefly in Big Finish audios before (and one is, in fact, a character who would have been one of the stars of Terry Nation's ‘60s spin-off Dalek TV series had that ever been made) and are being set up to be recurring characters in later audios. But, even without that, it's a fast-paced story with some dramatic action scenes and a look at a side of River we don't often see in her own show. 4.5 stars.