<P> River Song first appears in the Doctor Who 2008 series two - parter "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" (written by Steven Moffat) during the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who . Here, she encounters the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) in the 52nd century and, though he has never met her, claims to be someone he will come to trust completely . River, who is a professor of archaeology and carries a TARDIS - colour / pattern diary of her adventures, is able to convince the Doctor of his future trust in her by whispering his real name into his ear; which he explains he would only divulge under rare circumstances . In the second of the two episodes she sacrifices herself to save the people who were trapped in the Library's database, knocking out the Doctor before he can do the same . In turn, he is able to upload a copy of her consciousness into a computer, allowing her to live on in a virtual world with the archaeological team she was with in the Library . He achieves this via the use of a sonic screwdriver given to her by his future self . </P> <P> After Moffat took over from Davies as executive producer of the show, River Song reappeared in the 2010 series . In the two - parter "The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone", which takes place prior to River becoming a professor, she encounters the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), with whom she is more familiar . She leaves coordinates for the Doctor so that he may rescue her in the 52nd century, and together they investigate the crash of the spaceship Byzantium . She shows herself to be more adept at flying the TARDIS than he is and reveals to the Doctor that she is imprisoned in the "Stormcage Containment Facility" for killing "the best man I've ever known ." An earlier version of River appears to assist the Doctor in the series finale "The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang". After being contacted by Winston Churchill (Ian McNeice), River leads the Doctor to 102 A.D. While River is travelling in the TARDIS on her own, it explodes with her inside . The Doctor, using River's vortex manipulator, teleports her out . After the Doctor erases himself from history by flying the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS in order to close the cracks in the universe, River helps Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) to remember the Doctor and bring him back, by giving Amy her now - blank diary . At the close of the series finale, River ambiguously suggests to the Doctor that they might be married and tells him that he will soon learn the truth about her, after which "everything changes". </P> <P> In 2011 series opener "The Impossible Astronaut" / "Day of the Moon", River, along with Amy and her husband Rory (Arthur Darvill), is contacted by a future version of the Doctor to meet up in the United States . As they enjoy a lakeside picnic, the Doctor is killed by an assailant in a space suit, and the trio give him a Viking funeral, in Lake Silencio . In 1969, the present Doctor and company subsequently encounter a little girl (Sydney Wade) who wears the space suit, which River tells the Doctor is a life support unit; the suit has been designed by the hypnotic aliens known as the Silence . Homeless, the girl is later shown regenerating in New York City, 1970 . In "A Good Man Goes to War", it is revealed that River is Amy and Rory's daughter Melody (Harrison and Maddison Mortimer), who was conceived in the TARDIS while it was in the Time Vortex and consequently carries Time Lord DNA; the name River Song comes from a recursive translation of Melody Pond via the language of the Gamma Forests; which have no ponds, only rivers; hence the translation of "Pond" to "River ." Baby Melody is kidnapped by Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber) to become a weapon against the Doctor . </P> <P> "Let's Kill Hitler" establishes that Melody was trained by the Silence to kill the Doctor . At some point after regenerating in New York, Melody becomes Rory and Amy's childhood friend Mels (Maya Glace - Green) and grew up with them . When adult Mels (Nina Toussaint - White) is shot, and regenerates into her next incarnation (Alex Kingston), she proceeds to do what she was created for: assassinate the Doctor . Persuaded she will one day become River Song, who the Doctor cares deeply about and places in great trust, Melody chooses to resurrect the Doctor with her own regenerative energy, losing any future regenerations . The Doctor learns, however, that it is she who kills him in the future . While she is recovering in bed, the Doctor gives her the blank TARDIS - shaped / coloured diary, and in an epilogue it is revealed that Melody (now River) wants to study archaeology . At the end of "Closing Time", on the day she receives her doctorate, the Silence and Kovarian recapture her and trap her in the space suit in order to kill the Doctor as history will record . In the series finale "The Wedding of River Song", River refuses to kill the Doctor as she is supposed to, creating an alternate reality in which time has frozen and all realities are occurring at once . In order to restart time and repair reality, the two of them must touch . The Doctor marries River and convinces her to repair the timeline by letting her know that he plans to fake his own death and how . River goes to prison for his murder in order to corroborate the deception, though it is established that she regularly breaks out of prison to go on dates and adventures with him with the aid of hallucinogenic lipstick and other tricks . </P>

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