Reception
An article published in Metro, entitled "Doctor Who fans love River Song...", noted how praise from fans on Twitter after the airing of "Day of the Moon" focused heavily on Song. In 2011, Laura Pledger of Radio Times listed Kingston as the fourth best Doctor Who guest star, writing, "For my money we’ve seen rather too much of River in the last two series, but there’s no denying Kingston has created a memorable character in Melody Pond." Keith Phipps for The A.V. Club compared the Doctor and River's romantic storyline to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, "if a bit more elegantly, for my money—it echoes the plight of anyone who's watched a loved one fade into the shadowlands of dementia. This is not a story that ends well for River and she knows it, whatever flirtatious high spirits being around The Doctor stirs in her." Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker felt the character to be the Doctor's "soul mate" and described Alex Kingston as "badass".
Neela Debnath of The Independent praised Nina Toussaint-White in her role as Mels, saying she was "every bit as sassy and vivacious as her later incarnation... it was shame that she regenerated so early on because she brought a different energy to the character". However, Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph thought that her sudden introduction as Rory and Amy's childhood friend showed that Moffat was making it up as he went along. Charlie Jane Anders of io9 felt that River Song was at her "high point" in some of the early Matt Smith episodes, where she was "generally badass and mysterious". However, with "The Wedding of River Song", Anders felt she had lost her mystery and independence, and her love for the Doctor was unrealistic.
Whilst critical of the typical characterisation of British female science fiction characters, The Guardian's Krystina Nellis singles out River Song alongside Torchwood's Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) as positive depictions of strong female characters, stating: "It'd be difficult to find two superwomen in less need of a man to save them." For her role as River Song in the 2011 series of Doctor Who, Alex Kingston won the Best Actress prize at the 2012 SFX magazine Awards. In a 2012 poll conducted by SFX magazine to find the 100 sexiest female characters in science fiction and fantasy River was voted number twenty-two. She was also included in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters, at number 44. Character Options have also released official toys based on River Song as part of their Doctor Who range. Upon being notified of her own action figure, Kingston stated she did not "quite believe it" as "you don't get that on ER."
Read more about this topic: Professor River Song
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)