Why River Song is the best Audio Spinoff


No, don't X out.
Okay, fine, a clickbaity title, I'm allowed that.
This is the blog's 100th post after all, so I'm breaking format, and I'm talking about the woman who got me into Big Finish productions. Alex Kingston as River Song.
Oh, granted, there were others.
My first seven sets though that I got for christmas one year, were probably the most formative, and they were two series of The Tenth Doctor Adventures, The War Master Volume One and Four Series' of The Diary of River Song. (If you must know, I got 1,2,4, and 5. For some reason not 3.)  I Got em' for Christmas.
Never looked back.
The thing is about Diary, and what makes it special is that first, it's the best series...for newcomers. Give me all the David Tennant you like, but minus a few, most of the 10DAs will have you going "mm, that was alright" and you'll forget about them soon after.
Diary is something you'll remember. 
Every season introduced a new version of the Doctor that Big Finish paraded about. Classic people I didn't really know about. I had met four and seven on classic series stories that only rarely took my interest. But the interesting thing to me, were Eight and Six. These guys were probably rubbish, right!
They both hardly had any time in the role. No, no, Diary showed me. With River's guiding hand, I got my first impression of two of my all time favorite Doctors, which led me to picking up Doom Coalition 1, less than a few days after I had first heard the Eighth Doctor's voice, and while I waited it to come in the mail, I logged onto Spotify and tried The Chimes of Midnight.
Holy hell.
You know my opinion on that one.
The next day I neglected all of my standards on actually being productive and listened to Jubilee and The Holy Terror back to back. The Sixth Doctor and Eighth Doctors were both established in my brain. Who knew that they would be so damn good?
River is so excellent in her series. From her two hander in the excellent Signs to her brutal killing of the Rulers of The Universe in the titular story to ditto in Kings of Infinite Space where she fights off a demon who can control time and wins. and That's not talking about The Bekdel Test or Someone I Once Knew. The series is positively extraordinary.
The truth is, River Song might not be the best audio spinoff. There's so many, from the formidable Jago and Litefoot to the dark and experimental Torchwood series to the political machinations of Gallifrey...Not even counting companion or Master based series. But my point is, is that River Song is my spinoff. I've been hard on it before (My review of set 4 especially needs a redux) but a River set gives me joy that is difficult to verbalize. And even when the variety of Big Finishes numerous ranges steals my heart, it keeps floating back to River Song...and how her series reminded me of why I love Doctor Who.

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