Series 4 Boxset:
Series 4 Part 1:
Series 3 Boxset:
Director:
Euros Lyn
(TV: The End of The World, The Unquiet Dead, Tooth and Claw, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Idiot's Lantern, Fear Her, The Runaway Bride, Silence in the Library, Forest of the Dead)
Screenplay:
Steven Moffat
(TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink)
Cast:
The Doctor: David Tennant
Donna Noble: Catherine Tate
Dr. Moon: Colin Salmon
Professor River Song: Alex Kingston
The Girl: Eve Newton
Strackman Lux: Steve Pemberton
The Dad: Mark Dexter
Anita: Jessika Williams
Miss Evangelista: Talulah Riley
Proper Dave: Harry Peacock
Other Dave: O-T Fagbenle
Node 1: Sarah Niles
Node 2: Joshua Dallas
Synopsis:
The Doctor and Donna visit The Library, a planet-sized depository of every book ever written. But why has it been abandoned for 100 years?
Writer Steven Moffat has been the subject of critical acclaim and fan
adoration ever since his two-part episode The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
became highlights of season 1. Since then, his imaginative Doctor Who stories
have become eagerly awaited, while miraculously managing to avoid disappointing anyone.
So far. And I'm relieved to report that Silence In The Library (the first
of a two-part serial) is every bit as intelligent, compelling, rich and
creative as you could hope for. The only downside is a 7 day wait till its
conclusion....
Silence In The Library finds The Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine
Tate) arriving in The Library; planet-sized storage for every book ever written.
It's a world of futuristic, gleaming skyscrapers and dusty, echoing interiors –
now totally devoid of any readers. Mind you, after The Doctor uses a computer
terminal to scan for life, he's puzzled to discover a million million life-forms
are apparently swarming the planet...
As they try to solve the mystery of this long-abandoned Library, a high-tech
"Node" (an automated sculpture with a human face) delivers an ominous warnings
to "count the shadows", and an expedition of archaeologists in space suits
later arrive – led by Professor River Song (Alex Kingston). Her team
have come to investigate why The Library shut itself off from outside contact
100 years ago, and The Doctor is intrigued when it becomes clear River knows him –
but he hasn't met her... yet. Oh, the joys of being a time-traveller!
Adding to the intrigue is The Girl (Eve Newton), a youngster who can
apparently visit The Library just by closing her eyes, not realising she has
physicality in The Library as a floating orb-like surveillance camera. Her mental
state is being assessed by Dr. Moon (Colin Salmon), who is clearly intrigued
by her strange connection to this "other world" she visits. The plot thickens when
The Doctor manages to communicate with The Girl through her television (shades
of his guiding role in Blink), and later discovers that swarm-like critters known
as Vashta Nerada, who live in shadows, are closing in on everyone in The
Library...
As you can tell from that brief summary, Steven Moffat once again proves he's
the most gifted Doctor Who writer when it comes to creating stories and situations
that draw an audience in. There's material for adults to chew on here, but
while the deeper mysteries will likely go over the heads of younger kids, he
caters for them with the spine-tingling "stay out of the shadows" threat and
the emergence of a skeletal astronaut -- when the Vashta Nerada manage to strip
one of River Song's team of his flesh and animate his corpse. Skeleton spacemen
in a spooky library? It's pure Scooby Doo, so the under-10s will lap it up.
With more depth and subtleties to the story, it's clear that everyone involved
rises to the challenge and gives it their all. David Tennant looks extremely
happy to be guiding us through a sci-fi story with more texture and imagination
than usual, while Catherine Tate has totally settled into the role of Donna
now.
It's a shame this season has continually hinted she'll be gone by episode 13, as
River Song – who appears to be one of The Doctor's future companions -- dodges the
question of what Donna's up to in the future. Still, a part of me always thought
comedian Catherine Tate wouldn't want to spend years filming in Cardiff most
of the year. She quite possibly has the same one-season agreement with Russell
T. Davies that Christopher Eccleston secured.
Now that Moffat's been confirmed as Doctor Who's new showrunner for season 5
in 2010, it'll be interesting to see if Alex Kingston does indeed become a
companion under his tenure. Is this more evidence (like rumours of Neil Gaiman's
involvement in 2010) that Moffat's feathering his nest already? Judging from her
performance here, Kingston would make a fine addition to the TARDIS as an
intelligent grown woman for The Doctor to travel with.
The fact this story is a two-parter did result in moments where the story was
kept in a holding pattern to pad out time, but it wasn't too unnecessary and never
boring. You could argue that the addition of "ghosting" into the script (a process
where the recently-deceased can continue to speak to the living via their comms,
briefly), was little more than an intriguing diversion. But it did result in
a few spooky sequences, and might have greater bearing on part 2 – who knows?
For now, this is clearly a season 4 highlight and marvellous on every level
that matters. It also seems extremely likely that next week's conclusion will
trump it, as Silence In The Library was a scene-setting episode. The
pay-off should be excellent to see play out – if only to learn the specifics of
River Song's relationship with The Doctor. Does she know this Tenth incarnation,
or another? Is she a future companion, or a relation? And how does The Girl
fits into all this? She seems to be living on contemporary Earth, so why can
she psychically connect to a distant-future alien library? Or, as Dr. Moon
hints, is The Library the real world and her home the Matrix-like illusion?
Overall, while not as perfect as last year's BAFTA-winning Blink
(mainly because it's not self-contained or as well-paced), this was fabulous
entertainment that held me rapt for 45-minutes. Any problems were minor one –
like the continuing overuse of the sonic screwdriver (although it was ironically
able to do everything but open a wooden door this week!) and Moffat's a bit
too dependent on creepy catchphrases...
He's already given us "are you my mummy?" and "don't blink", but
now you can add "stay out of the shadows" and "hey, who turned out
the lights?" to the list. Indeed, the cliffhanger becomes a cacophony of
catchphrases, which slightly irritated me. But, for sheer ambition, scope and
creativity, Silence In The Library is without equal this season. The hope
this quality will become the norm once Steven Moffat takes over as head writer
is just too exciting for words.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Series 4 Boxset:
Synopsis:
The Doctor and Donna visit The Library, a planet-sized depository of every book ever written. But why has it been abandoned for 100 years?
Adding to the intrigue is The Girl (Eve Newton), a youngster who can
apparently visit The Library just by closing her eyes, not realising she has
physicality in The Library as a floating orb-like surveillance camera. Her mental
state is being assessed by Dr. Moon (Colin Salmon), who is clearly intrigued
by her strange connection to this "other world" she visits. The plot thickens when
The Doctor manages to communicate with The Girl through her television (shades
of his guiding role in Blink), and later discovers that swarm-like critters known
as Vashta Nerada, who live in shadows, are closing in on everyone in The
Library...
Now that Moffat's been confirmed as Doctor Who's new showrunner for season 5
in 2010, it'll be interesting to see if Alex Kingston does indeed become a
companion under his tenure. Is this more evidence (like rumours of Neil Gaiman's
involvement in 2010) that Moffat's feathering his nest already? Judging from her
performance here, Kingston would make a fine addition to the TARDIS as an
intelligent grown woman for The Doctor to travel with.
