Woooahhhh ... I have a necklace that says:

TIMEY WIMEY DETECTOR
A superior contraption that goes ding when there's stuff.
Warning: use caution when operating around hens. Use only as directed by the Doctor.

Then it has a little dangly thing that says 'ding'. Unfortunately, the chain snapped on that necklace earlier today ... it was obviously the force of all that dinging that happened after this post! I'm going to watch yesterday's episode in a short while (I was camping)... looking forward to it.

New theory about who River is:

:D

So, I think... after the events of The Doctor's Wife, the Tardis sorta falls in love with the Doctor, or at least strongly desires to talk to him again. She can't inhabit a human body without killing it, but she manages to somehow infiltrate Amy's unborn child, being weak and malleable, and turn it into something that she *can* possess, i.e. more timelord-like. So the Tardis ends up putting some of her soul into the baby somehow, and then some whacked up stuff happens and she ends up stuck with the Silence as an 8 year old, etc. And that's River. What do y'all think?

That would certainly explain why she knows how to control the Tardis so well. Very fun theory.

Not to throw cold water on it, but do you know when exactly this weekend's episode was written? Because Moffat knew who River was when he introduced her (he told the actress all the details), which was quite some time ago. Neil Gaiman could be 'in' on surprises, though, of course... but I would expect that the most interesting surprise in this episode would have been Gaiman's idea. If not, Moffat might have had anyone write the episode.

Oh, I watched an interview with Moffat the other day, and he mentioned that when they reveal who River is, it will be rewarding considering that episode when she was introduced. I wonder if that episode holds some really good clue?

-Fog

Also "The Doctor's Wife" was originally going to be Episode 11 of the last series and quite a lot of it had to be rewritten to fit this series!

Yeah, I'm curious what they're going to do with the Forest/Library and the "only water" in there being the river. Or if that's a different forest altogether.

I would think that the writers probably all share the secrets, don't you? That would be hard, to write for the show whilst knowing that the other writer had secrets he was trying to reveal, and you didn't know those secrets. That would be like... wait a second... that's what we do!

I didn't know the Doctor's Wife was originally in season 5 though, that's interesting... maybe that means it's a major plot point...

I'm guessing the Forest is the Library. The Only Water...
Water is Life.
If there is Tardis in River...
Well. I'd say Silence in the Library...Forest of the Dead...didn't actually end as we saw it.
Maybe we blue'box'd away with the Doctor and Donna before the regeneration scene :)

I've heard long-running shows had a sorta show bible. So future writers keep the adds straight.

I was thinking that too, or at least that the Doctor "saved" her before she regenerated. So, we pop by later, restore her consciousness to her dead exploded body, and then poof! She regenerates into a hot new lead actress!

And by the way, remember when she whispered his Galifreyan name to him, he said "there's only one reason I'd ever tell anyone that". What do you think is the one reason? Maybe, he would only tell someone that if they were a time lord? Makes perfect sense... Unless you'd rather believe he'd only tell someone that if he were *yawn* in love with them?

Galifreyan name - time lord's password - for stealing...er, accessing a Tardis the Doc desired. Maybe?

I really liked Mr. Gaiman's add to the ongoing Dr. Who collab.
Believable backstory. Our renegade time lord's obsession with the Tardis who stole him.