River

Ok, so it occurred to me that so much of the problem I had with River Song as a character could be fixed if Moffat had made her a later regeneration of Jenny (who had appeared two episodes earlier, in The Doctor’s Daughter). It would have had the same emotional impact (without the weird, circular paradox relationship) and it would have explained River’s reaction to seeing Donna (and Donna not recognizing her). River’s default to weapons and violence makes sense if it stems from Jenny’s early imprinted knowledge. Her knowledge and understanding of time travel makes more sense if she was made from Time Lord genetic material than being conceived on the TARDIS . . .

 I didn’t want to do an entire episode rewrite, 

so here’s my Forest of the Dead fix-it. Enjoy.

River

 “River, you whispered ‘Hello Dad,’ in my ear. The Time War killed my children. Cobb shot my daughter on Messaline. I waited hours for her to regenerate . . .” 

The Doctor trailed off as his mind spun through 

the names and faces of the children he’d lost.

“Hush now,” River replied quietly. “We have so much more running to do in your future, you know how much I love the running. Goodbye Dad.” 

Fear and hope warred in her eyes as she joined the two cables.

As a blinding light flared, the Doctor screamed “Jenny” 

before falling against the handcuffs in despair.

.         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .              

“And the humans and the Hath built a new world in honor of 

The Man That Never Would.” With that, Jenny closed her diary, kissed Charlotte goodnight, and pausing on her way through the doorway, 

looked back at Ella and Joshua, whispering 

“Sweet dreams, everyone” before turning out the light.