Name:
Mels Zucker
Main Aliases:
Melody Pond
First Seen In:
Mels at School
Appearance:
Main Actor:
Nina Toussaint-White
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Mels was an incarnation of River Song, she appeared in Let’s Kill Hitler
LIFE AS MELS
Now going as “Mels Zucker” (Mels at School) and residing in Leadworth, Melody grew up once more alongside her parents. She became Amelia and Rory’s close childhood friend, (Let’s Kill Hitler) attending Leadworth Primary School with them. (Imaginary Enemies) Early on, Mels was the only person, aside from Rory, that Amelia told about The Doctor. (The Raggedy Doctor by Amelia Pond)
Mels was noted for her frequent outbursts of reckless, defiant or criminal behaviour, which often resulted in her being sent to the headteacher’s office. (Let’s Kill Hitler) At school, she held the record for confiscated property. She once had Amy and Rory cause a distraction so she could sneak her confiscated items out of the teachers’ supply closet, and then escaped over the roof and through the window of the teachers’ toilets. (Nothing O’Clock)
As a support figure, Amy often waited for Mels outside of the headmistress’ office and lectured her about her behaviour after these incidents. Mels was obsessed with Amelia’s “Raggedy Doctor”. She dreamt of marrying him and, due to her conditioning by the Silence, claimed that historical disasters were his fault because he did not intervene. (Let’s Kill Hitler)
During Year Three of primary school, Mels was the only person Veronica Stackmore was afraid of. One day, after Veronica stole Amelia’s Raggedy Doctor doll, Mels dressed up in a mask and proclaimed herself “the Sheep of Doom” in retaliation. She successfully scared Veronica into giving Amelia her doll back, but not before beheading it. Mels assured her mother that the doll could be repaired with some tape. When Amelia asked why adults did not believe the things Veronica did, Mels said she felt adults were dumb and that she might “stay a kid forever”. When Krampus and his goblins invaded Leadworth, the goblins told Mels they had heard “many stories” about her and then tried to attack her, but instead she used her super human strength to attack them. Afterward, Krampus trapped Mels, along with her parents, by wrapping them in Christmas wrapping. When Veronica denied Krampus, he and his goblins vanished, leaving only Mels with memories of the incident. After the school nativity play in which her parents played Mary and Joseph, Mels presented her mother with her repaired Raggedy Doctor doll and agreed with her grandfather that Amelia and Rory made a “lovely couple.” (Imaginary Enemies)
As a young adult, Mels drove a Mini Cooper and worked as a management consultant. (Riverof Time) She was also involved in stealing cars and buses, which led her into trouble with the police. (Let’s Kill Hitler)
Mels eventually helped Amy see that Rory was in love with her after she initially thought he was gay, as he never spent time with any other girl. (Let’s Kill Hitler) Mels decided not to attend their wedding however, (The Big Bang) claiming that she “[didn’t] do weddings”. (Let’s Kill Hitler)
ADVENTURES WITH THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR
At some point River, who at the time went by the name of Mels and was unaware of her future name, River Song, met Amy, Rory and the Doctor in a corn field. Although she had been a friend of Amy and Rory during their childhood, she never told them that she was their daughter and manipulated them into taking her to The Doctor. Being on the run from the law at the time, Mels forced The Doctor to take her away in the TARDIS and they met Adolf Hitler. Mels was shot by Hitler but regenerated. (Let’s Kill Hitler)
PERSONALITY
She was sassy, often in trouble and chased by police just before her regeneration. She resented The Doctor and blamed him for historical disasters, but wanted to marry him. She was quite reckless and daring, stealing vehicles to go on joyrides. Along with her rebellious behaviour, she had a dangerous curiosity that led her to fire off a gun in The Doctor’s TARDIS to test out if it had a temporal grace blocking the use of firearms, which was a bluff. Her bullet pierced the time rotor and sent the TARDIS spinning out of control with a great volume of toxic gas pouring out of the hole it made in the damaged casing. Mels also liked to use the phrase “penny in the air…and the penny drops”, when people around her were slow on the uptake to realise something that she clearly understood, then finally became aware of the truth. (Let’s Kill Hitler)