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{{Infobox NewTV
{{title dab away}}
|story name= Forest of the Dead
{{real world}}
|image= [[Image:River Song and The Doctor.jpg|250px]]
{{ImageLinkTV}}
|series= [[Doctor Who]] - [[List of television stories|TV stories]]
{{Infobox Story SMW
|number= [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|Series 4]]
|image = CAL.jpg
|story number= 8
|series = [[Doctor Who television stories|''Doctor Who'' television stories]]
|doctor= [[Tenth Doctor]]
|season number = Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)
|companions= [[Donna Noble]]  
|series episode number = 9
|enemy= [[Vashta Nerada]]  
|story number = 195b
|year= [[51st century]], [[The Library]]  
|scripturl      = https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/documents/doctor-who-4-episode-9-forest-of-the-dead-green-revisions-03022008.pdf
|writer= [[Steven Moffat]]
|doctor = Tenth Doctor
|director= [[Euros Lyn]]  
|companions = [[Donna Noble|Donna]]
|producer= [[Phil Collinson]]
|featuring = River Song{{!}}River
|broadcast date=[[7th June]] [[2008]]
|featuring2 = Charlotte Lux
|setting=[[51st century]], [[The Library]]
|enemy = [[Vashta Nerada]]
|format= 1 x 45 minute episode
|setting = [[The Library]], [[51st century]]
|production code= 4.9
|writer = Steven Moffat
|previous story= [[Silence in the Library]]
|director = [[Euros Lyn]]
|next story= [[Midnight (TV story)| Midnight]]  
|producer = [[Phil Collinson]]
}}
|confidential = River Runs Deep (CON episode)
|broadcast date = 7 June 2008
|network = BBC One
|format = 1x45 minute episode;<br/>Part 2 of 2
|production code = 4.10
|prev = Silence in the Library (TV story)
|next =  Midnight (TV story)
|made prev = Silence in the Library (TV story)
|made next = The Stolen Earth (TV story)
|clip = "River, You Know My Name..." Forest of the Dead Doctor Who
|clip2 = Everybody lives? - Doctor Who - BBC
|epcount=1|thwr=107}}
'''''Forest of the Dead''''' was the ninth episode of [[Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)|series 4]] of ''[[Doctor Who]]''.


{{Quote|Spoilers|River Song}}
Its major impact on the mythos of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was its depiction of the death of [[River Song]]. This narrative end point would be respected in future series that told River Song's out-of-sequence story.


==Synopsis==
== Synopsis ==
As the shadows rise, the Doctor forges an alliance with the mysterious River Song. But can anyone stop the Vashta Nerada?
[[Donna Noble|Donna]] is gone, the [[Vashta Nerada]] are out for fresh meat and the [[Tenth Doctor]] is running out of options. Can he trust the mysterious [[Professor]] [[River Song]], a woman who claims to be from his future? Why would his [[Twelfth Doctor|future self]] have given her his [[sonic screwdriver]], or tell her [[Aliases of the Doctor|his real name]]? Even if they do work together, can anyone stop the shadows from claiming them all as their next meal?


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
[[River Song]] uses her [[Sonic blaster]] to create a hole in the wall, enabling her, [[Tenth Doctor|the Doctor]] and the others to escape the shadow-possessed [[Proper Dave]].
[[River Song]] uses her [[sonic blaster]] to create a hole in the wall. The [[Tenth Doctor]] and the others escape the [[Vashta Nerada]]-possessed [[Proper Dave]] down a corridor.
 
These events are watched on [[television]] by the [[Charlotte Lux|girl]]. She switches channels to one showing [[Donna Noble|Donna]] being taken out of the [[ambulance]] on a stretcher. Donna wakes up in a facility being treated by [[Doctor Moon]]. When she tries to remember reality, Doctor Moon quietly tells her that she has been in this facility being treated by him for years. She accepts the reality he presents to her. The way time progresses in her virtual world seems to be led by her thoughts; Doctor Moon suggests she walks by the river and she suddenly appears at the river. She occasionally finds this odd but is reassured by Doctor Moon. He introduces her to another resident named [[Lee McAvoy|Lee]], who has a stammer. Before she knows it, she is married to her ideal man, and they have two children, twins [[Joshua (Forest of the Dead)|Joshua]] and [[Ella (Forest of the Dead)|Ella]].
 
Meanwhile, the others in the Library have been on the run from the Vashta Nerada. The Doctor and River Song argue as he demands to know who she is and where she got her [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] from. He isn't sure he can trust her, but she assures him that someday she'll be someone he trusts completely. However as she can't wait for him to learn that, she says she can prove it now and apologises before whispering something in his [[ear]]. He is stunned, and when she asks him if they're OK now, he nods in response, seeming to now trust that she's telling the truth. Unfortunately, [[Anita (Silence in the Library)|Anita]] now has two shadows. She remains brave in the face of her impending death, as the Doctor darkens her visor in the hopes that it might trick the Vashta Nerada into thinking they have already infiltrated it. They then realise that "Proper Dave" has caught up with them again, and they flee. The Doctor stops to try to reason with the Vashta Nerada. River tells [[Other Dave]] to stay behind to help the Doctor, who teaches the Vashta Nerada to use the suit's communicator to speak to him. In doing so, he learns that the Vashta Nerada didn't travel to the Library but were brought there; they lived in the forests that were pulped to create all the [[book]]s, and then hatched after arriving. Other Dave, in the meantime, has also been killed by the Vashta Nerada, leaving the Doctor trapped between the two Daves. He escapes through a trap door hatch and sets off after the other three.
 
Elsewhere, River Song tells Anita about the Doctor she knows. She has seen whole armies turn and run away from him in the future, and he can open [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] by snapping his fingers. The Doctor arrives and says that is impossible. As he returns his attention to the present, Anita asks him what River whispered in his ear earlier. She reminds him that she's about to die, and so his secret is "safe" with her. This prompts him to finally realise the significance of the oddly-worded "4022 saved" message. He figures out that the Library's [[computer]] hard drive – CAL – had detected the people in the Library were in danger from the Vashta Nerada and teleported them out, however it had nowhere to teleport them to. Instead, the computer stored the patterns on its hard drive... it literally "saved" all of the four thousand twenty-two people in the Library to its memory, and has done the same with Donna.
 
In her virtual home, Donna is contacted by a hooded figure, who tells her the world is not real. They arrange to meet in a playground. The figure reveals herself to be [[Miss Evangelista]], whose [[consciousness]] was copied when she was killed. In this reality, however, her appearance is deformed but as a side effect she has become much more intelligent. She again warns Donna that the world is not real. Donna is stubborn and sceptical, but to her horror, she sees that all the children in the playground – including hers – are identical.
 
This revelation drives the little girl into hysterics, making her [[Dad (Silence in the Library)|father]] and Doctor Moon disappear with her TV remote. [[The Library]] starts to enter a meltdown, and is set to explode.
 
Later, when Donna takes her children home, the virtual world is bathed in red light, signifying the Library's incoming destruction. Donna cradles her two children together in fear, and orders them not to get out of her sight. Later, at bedtime, Ella asks if she and Joshua are real, and Donna tells her that they both are, even if they stop as soon as she closes her eyes. Donna promises to never closes her eyes again, but as soon as she goes to kiss Ella goodnight, both children are gone!
 
Donna, shocked after witnessing her children vanishing, goes into hysterics and breaks down emotionally, sobbing at her children's empty beds.
 
Back in the Library, the team travel to the core of the planet to the computer. The little girl is, in fact, the hard drive. She was [[Strackman Lux]]'s grandfather's youngest daughter, Charlotte Abigail Lux aka "CAL". She was dying of an incurable disease, so he made an imaginary world for her to live in and every [[book]] ever written for her to enjoy. He also gave her a "Doctor Moon" to watch over her, but the stress of having so many minds integrated into her own is causing her to overload. She has initiated the self-destruct and is about to destroy the planet.
 
[[File:DOCTORWHOx409x2538.jpg|thumb|River meets her fate.]]
The Doctor realises that to restore the "saved" people, the Library needs extra memory. This can be achieved by linking himself to the core. River Song says that this will burn through both his hearts and kill him without a chance of even being able to [[regeneration|regenerate]]. He sends River and Lux upstairs to prepare for the restoration. As she exits, River tells Anita to watch him.


[[Donna Noble|Donna]] wakes up in an ambulance with no memories of her past life. She is treated in a facility by [[Doctor Moon]] and life quickly flies by. Before she knows it, she is married to her ideal man [[Lee McAvey|Lee]], who has a stammer, and has two kids of her own. She is then approached by a hooded figure in a playground, who turns out to be [[Miss Evangelista]]. She warns Donna that the world is not real. Donna soon observes that all the children in the playground are copies of one another.
Anita asks the Doctor what he intends to do about the Vashta Nerada. He states he intends to materialise the people, get them off the planet, and then leave the world to the Vashta Nerada. When asked if he thinks the Vashta Nerada will take his offer, he reveals Anita has already been consumed by them. When they, using Anita's suit, threaten to consume him and everyone else, he reminds them he is the Doctor... They are in the biggest library in the universe, and he tells them to look him up. They pause after a moment of consideration, and then agree: they will give him one day to evacuate everyone. They then abandon the suit and withdraw.


The Doctor squabbles with River Song, but is soon stunned she tells him his true name. The [[Time Lord]] tries to reason with the [[Vashta Nerada]] as it takes over more of the team, and finds out they came as microspores in millions and millions of books and then hatched.
River returns to find Anita dead, then knocks the Doctor unconscious. He wakes up, finding himself [[handcuffs|handcuffed]] to the wall. River has hooked her own mind up to the computer, planning to carry out the plan in his place. He tries desperately to persuade River to let him do this. He reminds her that she whispered his real name into his ear, which he could only tell someone for one reason... She refuses and sadly notes that during all the time they shared and will share together, he always knew this is where and when she dies. While he insists that the future can be changed, she tells him not to change one moment of what happens between them even though it leads to this and he will see her again. She links in when the countdown reaches zero and dies, as the Doctor looks on.


The Doctor figures out that [[The Library|the library]]'s computer hard drive - CAL - is the key to bringing Donna back, for it has literally 'saved' her and all of the 4022 people in the Library 100 years ago to its hard drive. The team travels to the core of the planet to locate the computer. It transpires that [[Charlotte Abigail Lux|the little girl]] is in fact the hard drive, and was [[Strackman Lux]]'s grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying so he made an imaginary world and a [[Doctor Moon]] to watch over her and any book ever written.
Donna's virtual world is overtaken by a bright light, as Lee arrives and asks if he is real or was just created for her. Donna promises to find him in reality, as the light consumes them both. In the Library, the 4,022 people and Donna are all restored much to Lux's joy. However, at the core, the Doctor looks sadly at River's dead body only too aware of how much she will mean to him one day.


River Song knocks the Doctor out to prevent him stopping her sacrificing herself to bring back Donna and the others. In order to restore those who have been saved, she has to provide memory to CAL, which burns out her mind. She dies, as the Doctor looks on, handcuffed to a wall.
The evacuation of the Library begins. Donna cannot find Lee, and she and the Doctor conclude that perhaps he never really existed at all. The real Lee sees Donna as he steps onto a teleport, but his stammer prevents him from calling out to her before he is teleported away. The Doctor and Donna briefly muse over River Song's diary, and Donna recalls how shocked River was when she mentioned her name and asks why she wasn't travelling with him when he sees her again. The Doctor holds up River's diary asking her if they should take a look, as it contains details of her life and their future. Ultimately, they decide not to look in it and leave it behind on a shelf along with the [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|sonic screwdriver]] his future self gave her.


Donna and the other saved people return, but she cannot find Lee and thinks that perhaps he didn't exist after all. Lee sees her but his stammer prevents him from calling out to her before he is teleported away.
Suddenly, the Doctor comes running back. He realises that since he knew River's fate all along, his future self would never have just let her die and has had years to think of a way to save her. He knows that he wouldn't just give her a sonic screwdriver without a good reason. Opening it, he finds that it contains a hidden [[neural relay]]. As with the [[data ghost]]s, her consciousness has been saved there. However, it is fading. The Doctor takes River for "one last run", as he sprints back to the core. He uploads River's data ghost into the Library's computer, as the face of Charlotte looks on and smiles. River appears in a virtual reality created by Charlotte and is reunited with all of her team members for all eternity. The Doctor also fixes the data core so that Charlotte is no longer unstable and it's a good place for them to live. Laughing in surprise, River only says, "He just can't do it, can he? That man. That impossible man. He just can't give in."


The Doctor realizes in the nick of time that, knowing River's fate and having years to think of a way to save her, his future self must have given  her the [[sonic screwdriver]] for a reason. He finds that, like the [[Data Ghost]]s , her consciousness has been saved in the screwdriver. River Song comes back to life in the fantasy world of the hard drive, and CAL, worried that she might be lonely bring some friend and River meets [[Miss Evangelista]] and the rest of her team again.
In the real world, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS. Standing before it and concentrating, he tries opening the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers and is able to do so. He goes inside to join Donna and turns to look back outside with her. As he snaps his fingers to close the door of the TARDIS, River closes the blue TARDIS-shaped diary. River is sitting in the kids' bedroom of Donna's house in the virtual realm, and has been telling the story of the Doctor to Donna's two children, and Charlotte, who has moved to live with them, concluding that on very special days when "the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives." Charlotte has a real family now, human consciousnesses to keep her company in her "Dream". Smiling, River turns out the lights, saying "Sweet dreams everyone."


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
*[[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[David Tennant]]
* [[Tenth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[David Tennant]]
*[[Donna Noble]] - [[Catherine Tate]]
* [[Donna Noble]] - [[Catherine Tate]]
*[[River Song]] - [[Alex Kingston]]  
* [[River Song|Professor River Song]] - [[Alex Kingston]]
*[[Doctor Moon]] - [[Colin Salmon]]
* [[Doctor Moon|Dr Moon]] - [[Colin Salmon]]
*[[Lux]] - [[Steve Pemberton]]
* [[Proper Dave]] - [[Harry Peacock]]
*[[Proper Dave]] - [[Harry Peacock]]  
* [[Strackman Lux]] - [[Steve Pemberton]]
*[[Other Dave]] - [[O.T Fagbenle]]  
* [[Anita (Silence in the Library)|Anita]] - [[Jessika Williams]]
*[[Charlotte Abigail Lux|Charlotte Lux]] - [[Eve Newton]]
* [[Other Dave]] - [[O-T Fagbenle]]
*[[Anita]] - [[Jessika Williams]]  
* [[Charlotte Lux|The Girl]] - [[Eve Newton]]
*Miss [[Evangelista]] - [[Talulah Riley]]
* [[Dad (Silence in the Library)|Dad]] - [[Mark Dexter]]
*[[Lee McAvey]] - [[Jason Pitt]]
* [[Lee McAvoy|Lee]] - [[Jason Pitt]]
*[[Dad]] - [[Mark Dexter]]
* [[The Children|Ella]] - [[Eloise Rakic-Platt]]
*[[Ella McAvey]] - [[Eloise Rakic-Platt]]
* [[The Children|Joshua]] - [[Alex Midwood]]
*[[Joshua McAvey]] - [[Alex Midwood]]
* [[Evangelista|Miss Evangelista]] - [[Talulah Riley]]
* [[Man (Forest of the Dead)|Man]] - [[Jonathan Reuben]]


==References==
== Crew ==
*The [[Vashta Nerada]] give the Doctor a day to sort everything.
{{wales crew
*The [[teleport]]s can only teleport three people at a time.
|1stAD=Dan Mumford
*The Doctor uses his future sonic screwdriver to save [[River Song]]'s neural pattern within [[CAL]].
|2ndAD=Jennie Fava
*Before her "death", River talks about not rewriting history "Not one line", after the Doctor says history can be rewritten. This echoes the same words [[First Doctor|the Doctor]] says to [[Barbara Wright]], when she attempts to change history with regards to [[The Aztecs|the Aztecs]].  
|3rdAD=Sarah Davies
*River also associates running with her time with the Doctor, echoing sentiments expressed by [[Donna Noble]] and [[Jenny]] in ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]''.
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*River refers to the Doctor as an "impossible man", echoing sentiments expressed in ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]'' and ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp]]''.
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===[[:Category:The Doctor|The Doctor]]===
== Worldbuilding ==
*The Doctor says "Who are you?" to [[River Song]], ironic because he is always the one being asked that.
* The Doctor uses [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|River's sonic screwdriver]] to save [[River Song]]'s neural pattern within [[Charlotte Lux|CAL]].
*River Song whispers the Doctor's name in his ear to convince him to trust her. Later, the Doctor states that there is only one reason why he would have told anyone his name and only one time when he could; the reason nor the time it can be revealed is not explained.
* [[Hairdryer]]s can interfere with [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]].
*River Song indicates that "her Doctor" is a future version of the Tenth Doctor. It remains to be seen how this will reconcile with later adventures of the Tenth Doctor up to and including his eventual death and regeneration. ''It may just be that she is able to recognize the Doctor through telepathy. Being capable of summoning the Doctor via his psychic paper would indicate that prior to her physical death she did have some sort of telepathic abilities. Jack Harkness was also able to recognize the Doctor after his regeneration.'' However, it took her a while to realize that the Doctor hadn't met her yet in his personal timeline. If he didn't meet her until a future incarnation, this should have been obvious to her immediately (unless she just assumes this version of the doctor is later than ''her'' doctor). Jack was able to recognize the Doctor because of the TARDIS and, presumably, the Doctor's hand.
*The Doctor learns the fate of River Song, and retains this memory through to their "first" meeting in the future. The future Doctor will adjust his sonic screwdriver in order to preserve Song's consciousness so his younger self will be able to preserve her within Cal.
*If you look closely at the wall in Charlotte's house you will see three of her drawings are of a blonde girl, a wolf and what looks like a dalek.
*Song appears to have knowledge of Time Lord anatomy, including knowledge of [[regeneration]]. She also indicates that destruction of both of the Doctor's hearts is a circumstance after which regeneration is not possible.


==Story Notes==
=== The Doctor ===
*The working title for this story was: '''River's Run'''
* The Doctor says, "Who are you?", to [[River Song|River]], a line which is often asked of him.
*In River Song's voice over, she mentions the "skies of all the world may just turn dark" in another mention of the new series' recurring reminder about darkness.
* The Doctor learns the fate of River Song and retains this memory through to their "first" meeting in the future. The future Doctor will adjust his [[sonic screwdriver]] in order to preserve Song's consciousness so his younger self will be able to preserve her within CAL.
*CAL was also the name of the computer graphics company that created the title sequence used between [[1987]] and [[1989]] for the [[Seventh Doctor]]'s TV adventures. A result of this work was the creation of the first photo-realistic CGI TARDIS, featured in [[DW]]: ''[[Bad Wolf (TV story)]]''.
* Song appears to have knowledge of Time Lord anatomy, including knowledge of [[regeneration]]. She also indicates that destruction of both of the Doctor's [[Binary cardiovascular system|hearts]] in this instance is a circumstance after which he will likely not be able to regenerate.
*In the girl's house, on a drawing on the wall, there is a picture of a blonde haired girl and a wolf. This may be a reference to [[Rose]] and [[Bad Wolf]] as they are one of the same
*This is the second episode in this series to have a character share the name of a character from the Joss Whedon show ''Firefly'', with River. the first was Cobb in the ''[[The Doctor's Daughter]]''.
*Moffat's recurring theme "everybody lives" returns again in this episode. In the BBC podcast associated with this episode, Moffat and Davies point out that so far in the four major storylines that he has contributed to the series, the only "final" deaths that have occurred have been due to [[Billy Shipton|old]] [[Madame de Pompadour|age]], [[Moffat consequently promises (in the podcast) that he will kill people off in more dramatic fashion in future stories.


===Ratings===
== Story notes ==
''to be added''
* On the very first take of River whispering his name into the Doctor's ear, David Tennant corpsed because Alex Kingston whispered "Shaniqua"<ref>[https://x.com/anika_mercat/status/1799872125593141348 Alex Kingston reveals what she actually whispered into the Doctor's ear]</ref>
* If one pays attention to Lux's explanation, the little girl is actually his aunt; if she was his grandfather's daughter, that would mean her sibling would have been Lux's parent.
* The working title for this story was ''River's Run''. When BBC Video announced the North American release of the Series 4 DVD box set, this title was used in the episode list and not ''Forest of the Dead''. The ''[[Radio Times]]'' also used this working title. According to [[REF]]: ''[[Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale|Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter]]'', the title was changed not long before broadcast. Other potential titles included ''The Doctor Runs'', ''Forest of the Night'' and ''Return of the Dead''.
* CAL was also the name of the computer graphics company that created the title sequence used between 1987 and 1989 for the [[Seventh Doctor]]'s TV adventures. A result of this work was the creation of the first photo-realistic CGI TARDIS, featured in 1987's ''[[Time and the Rani (TV story)|Time and the Rani]]''.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2V5KWWTTzNC1HsQxyDPjXR7/the-fourth-dimension BBC]</ref>
* [[Steven Moffat]]'s recurring theme "everybody lives" returns again in this episode. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'') In the BBC podcast associated with this episode, Moffat and [[Russell T Davies]] point out that so far in the four major storylines that he has contributed to the series, the only "final" deaths that have occurred have been due to old age (as in the case of [[Billy Shipton]] and [[Kathy Nightingale]]) or illness ([[Madame de Pompadour]]). Moffat consequently promises (in the podcast) that he will kill people off in more dramatic fashion in future stories, proven to be true in ''[[The Time of Angels (TV story)|The Time of Angels]]''/''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]''.
* The concept of downloading human consciousness as data — even after physical death — and the philosophical issues surrounding this is an issue being addressed by futurists in real life, with scientists such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil] speculating that technology will allow the uploading of consciousness to computers within a generation in his [[book]], ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil The Age of Spiritual Machines]''.
* A recurring theme in this and the preceding episode is "spoilers". This is a term that was coined in the 1990s by science fiction fandom to address the circulation of information revealing the plots and endings of TV shows and movies. Interestingly, the fourth series of ''Doctor Who'' contains several examples of plot twists and cameos that were successfully protected from "spoilers". Other examples of successful spoiler protection include the appearance of [[Catherine Tate]] at the end of ''[[Doomsday (TV story)|Doomsday]]''. Examples of plot twists that were not successfully protected from "spoilers" included the return of Rose in Series 4 — spoiled in part by people witnessing the filming — and the regeneration of [[Christopher Eccleston]] at the end of Series 1 — spoiled by the BBC publicity office itself.
* This is the last episode not written or co-written by [[Russell T Davies]] until ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]'', and the last to not be written or co-written by the show's head writer until ''[[Victory of the Daleks (TV story)|Victory of the Daleks]]''.
* The frantic music from ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]'' is heard during a scene where Donna Noble freaks out, having seen her "children", whom she had tucked in bed, disappear without a trace, while she was in the data core.
* Excerpts of the ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]'' theme (a remixed version of the Doctor's theme with echoing vocals) are heard when dialogue about the Doctor's future is brought up by River, foreshadowing events to come.
* The phrase, "Time can be rewritten", is first uttered by the Doctor in this story and is a recurring phrase throughout Series 5 and 6.
* The Doctor states to River, "Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers." However, River tells him (and he finds out) that he can, and also closes the door by snapping his fingers. [[Clara Oswald]] is also later shown displaying this ability in episodes like ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'' and ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]''.
* Donna's children, Joshua and Ella, were named after [[Steven Moffat]]'s son Joshua and his best friend Ella. The accompanying [[Doctor Who Confidential|''Doctor Who Confidential'']] episode shows Moffat visiting the set with Joshua and Ella to watch part of the episode being filmed.
* During the audio commentary, [[David Tennant]] mentions that Donna's [[wedding dress]] is the same one she wore in [[TV]]: ''[[The Runaway Bride (TV story)|The Runaway Bride]]''.
* The question of the Doctor's real name dates back to the earliest days of the series, though more recent episodes have implied that his name is a terrible secret. ([[TV]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child (TV story)|An Unearthly Child]]'', ''[[Silver Nemesis (TV story)|Silver Nemesis]]'', ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace (TV story)|The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'', ''[[The Fires of Pompeii (TV story)|The Fires of Pompeii]]'', ''[[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* This episode and ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' are the only TV stories featuring River Song not to have been shot in high-definition.
* [[Julie Gardner]] suggested to [[Steven Moffat]] that at the end only Charlotte be present with River, not the other two children. He has since stated he regrets the decision otherwise.<ref>[https://www.tvcream.co.uk/podcasts/tv-cream-stays-indoors/tv-cream-stays-indoors-with-steven-moffat/ TV Cream Stays Indoors With Steven Moffat]</ref>
* According to [[Steven Moffat]], the squareness gun is the sonic blaster used by [[Jack Harkness]] in season one. After Jack leaves it in the TARDIS, River Song will take the gun in the Doctor's future.
* A twist revelation in which Donna's artificial-reality husband, Lee, turned out to be an overweight woman in the real world was excised for fear of being too confusing.
* Heavy rains forced the postponement of much of the recording of the outdoor scenes in Victoria Park, Cardiff.
* Donna's illusory children were initially called Alan and Tracy.
* The girl discovering the concealed buttons in the television remote control was based on [[Steven Moffat]]'s son Joshua doing the same thing.
* This two-parter formed Block Eight of season four.
* This two-parter was originally scheduled as the ninth and tenth episodes of season four. During the autumn, however, it was realised that both this episode and the one intended to follow it, ''[[Turn Left (TV story)|Turn Left]]'', featured Donna living in an imaginary world. Consequently, the two-parter was brought forward one spot, with ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]'' now separating the two narratives.
* [[Euros Lyn]]'s aunt and cousin, as well as his cousin's girlfriend, were amongst the missing Library patrons.
* It was during production of this episode that it was announced that [[Phil Collinson]] would be departing as producer, as he had been appointed Head of Drama for BBC Manchester  after completing season four.
* The question of which incarnation of the Doctor gave River the sonic screwdriver that preserved her data ghost was left unresolved until {{cs|The Husbands of River Song (TV story)}} revealed it was the [[Twelfth Doctor]] who gave River her sonic screwdriver.


===Myths===
=== Ratings ===
*Following the broadcast of ''[[Silence in the Library]]'' there was much discussion in the ''Doctor Who'' fan community over the identity of River Song, with speculation that she might be a future incarnation of [[Romana]] or an alias of [[Bernice Summerfield]] being two of the ideas put forth. ''(The episode, ultimately, leaves her origin ambiguous.)''
* 7.84 million (UK final)<ref>[http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date Doctor Who Ratings - UK final]</ref>
*In ''[[Planet of the Ood]]'', the Doctor is told his "song may end soon", leading to speculation the "death" of River Song is what is being referred to. ''(This has yet to be definitively confirmed, pending how the rest of the season plays out.)''.
*Given Song's knowledge of the Doctor's true name, coupled with various references in dialogue in this and the preceding episode, additional speculation has included the possibility that she is the Doctor's future wife, or that the Doctor revealed his name to her just prior to his own death ("the only time I could," he says). ''It's unlikely the Doctor told her his name before his own death since Song clearly expected to meet the Doctor from a time after their relationship; she wouldn't have had this expectation if he was dead in her timeframe.  However, given Davies' own comments that they have prepared to ensure this series continues long after the upcoming final regeneration, it is possible that his final death brings on a resurrection of some form.''


===Filming Locations===
=== Myths ===
*The Library halls were filmed in Swansea Library.
* Following the broadcast of ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' there was much discussion in the ''Doctor Who'' fan community of the identity of River Song, with rampant speculation on various characters who she might "really" be. ''The episode ultimately leaves her origin ambiguous, although it does establish several times that this was the first time the Doctor met River, meaning she could not be a past character. [[A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)|A Good Man Goes to War]] conclusively proves that she is a new character, a human with Time Lord DNA, and the daughter of [[Amy Pond]] and [[Rory Williams]]''.
*The Area where everybody was returned was filmed in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
* In ''[[Planet of the Ood (TV story)|Planet of the Ood]]'', the Doctor was told his "song may end soon", leading to speculation the "death" of River Song is what was being referred to. ''[[The End of Time (TV story)|The End of Time]]'' shows that this prediction centred on the end of this incarnation of the Doctor.
*The control room where River sacrificed herself was filmed in ALCOA industries, in Fforestfach, Swansea.
* It had been rumoured that [[River Song]] was the Doctor's future wife. ''This was shown to be true in [[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]].''
* Before the official title was revealed to be ''Forest of the Dead'', it was rumoured that the episode's title was ''Saved from the Books''.


===Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors===
=== Filming locations ===
*It is never explained how the Doctor got out of the handcuffs as it was shown that he couldn't reach the sonic screwdriver and there is no evidence that anyone freed him. ''There were 4,022 people in the Library. There is a very high chance that one of them found him and handed him the screwdriver. This well may have been Donna as the Doctor knew straight away that she was looking for Lee the first time we see them properly together in this episode.
==== Studio ====
*What happened to the [[Vashta Nerada]]? ''The Vashta Nerada agreed to give the Doctor one day to free the saved souls in return for the planet itself. It will be interesting to see if the "recovery" of River crops up in a future season...'' Why do they do that? How can they survive on an empty planet? ''Remember, they survived an entire century without meat while the people were 'saved'''
* Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest
* When River Song says goodnight to her "children" there are three beds in the room, but when Donna is in the bedroom there are 2 beds. ''An extra bed was put in the room for Charlotte. As seen many times in the episode, the world in the data core can be changed drastically and spontaneously.''
*If the Vashta Nerada are now living on the planet, does that not mean that CAL and its hardrive will be destroyed? ''Even assuming they could destroy the computer without physical bodies, they have no reason to - they cannot feed on CAL.''
*It is curious how in this episode, a click of the fingers opens the [[TARDIS]] doors whilst in [[The Long Game]], when the Doctor and Rose clicked in close proximity to the [[TARDIS]], nothing happened to the TARDIS. ''The Doctor himself says "It doesn't work like that", referring to clicking to open the [[TARDIS]]. Presumably with the TARDIS being telepathic, it has to do with the intent the Doctor has in mind when snapping as well. Perhaps after all his travels with the same [[TARDIS]], he has developed a closer telepathic connection with it than even he realizes, allowing him to command parts of it with his will. The Doctor also had the incentive to attempt opening the TARDIS doors; he had been told that his future self could do it. So, even if he failed when he attempted it this time, he could be sure that that it was possible later on.''
*The Vashta Nerada gave the humans a day to leave the planet after they were retrieved from CAL. They were last seen being teleported -- but teleported to where? It's unlikely River Song's ship, then crewless, would have been large enough to hold more than 4,000 people. (''A computer voiceover tells the humans to state their destinations before being teleported. It's the 51st century, the human race have expanded into the stars. There could be countless planets they were taken to. It could even be the Doctor Moon, where a long-distance teleport relay or spaceport could be situated.'')
* When the Doctor opens the trap door to escape, we see him fall and there is no ledge beneath him, but when we see him again he is hanging on to one. ''We only see the trapdoor door fall. (This is more visible in HD, where it is clear that only the door falls.)''
* During the scene when everything goes white, when Lee bursts through the door - he shouts Donna! But Lee could not say her name properly because he had a stammer.''He doesn't have it all the time. It seems to come and go, as there were several scenes in which he spoke without the stammer.''
*Before The Doctor fell through the trap door he was wearing his blue suit. When he was climbing along the ledge beneath he was wearing his grey suit. He is later back in his blue suit.''The Doctor only has the blue suit. It looks different under different lighting conditions. Besides, this Doctor doesn't have a grey suit.''
* The future Doctor apparently places one of the communicator links in the sonic screwdriver to save River's mind, yet the suit she is wearing when she dies also has one of the links. ''We don't know if the communicator on her suit was intact after her death. If the transfer fried her brain, it may also have fried the communicator (which mirrors her brain activity). Also, The Doctor could probably only directly interface River's ghost with the data core using the Sonic Screwdriver.'' ''Also, perhaps the sonic screwdriver's neural interface gets a better "impression", partly because doubtless the Doctor worked on it to make it retain the pattern long enough, and partly, maybe, because she owned it and had it with her for longer.''
* It seemed to be that 4022 people who were saved left CAL's world when River Song wired herself up.  But if so, how come when the Doctor 'saved' River Song, the rest of her crew were still there and hadn't been brought back with the masses.  Furthermore, Miss Evangelista's face has somehow been miraculously fixed. ''CAL was only able to reconstruct those that had been in suspended transport, since their entire bodies were stored within the computer as teleport patterns. River's crew's bodies had already been consumed and could not be brought back - only their conciousness remained and their Data Ghosts were automatically uploaded via the Library's wi-fi system - this is what Miss Evangelista ascribes her continued existence to. Miss Evangelista's communicator was the only one broken, not just left to continue degrading, possibly causing her "incomplete" transfer into the computer. Her data is corrupted and she exists as "a poor copy of [her]self" until CAL is repaired and can properly reconstruct her digital image. The 4022 people had not died, they had been teleported but with no destination and so had been saved onto the hard-drive - they could just be "teleported" back from the hard-drive back to the library. The dead crew, though, could only be put somewhere happy in virtual reality because they had no physical bodies, just data.''
* As in the previous episode, there are many inconsistencies with the communicator lights between close-ups and wider shots (how many are lit, blinking/not blinking), particularly with the suit creatures. ''In the suit creatures, this could be seen as the data ghost, or soul flickering in and out of consciousness repeatedly, as the [[Vashta Nerada]] can manipulate the Data Ghosts to keep them around longer than they should be.''
* Similarly to a scene in the previous episode, soon after Anita notices she has two shadows, there is a shot in which she only has one shadow again, and then her two shadows return in the next shot. ''The episode establishes that the shadows can expand and withdraw. Depending on when this happens with Anita -- i.e. before or after her visor is darkened -- it may indicate when the Doctor became aware that she had been eaten.''
* The Doctor said that the sonic screwdriver couldn't 'do' wood, then later used it to blast a hole through a plain wooden floor. ''He did not "blast a hole", he, in fact, was standing on top of an outside access door in the floor, as he stated. "I always stand near the door. The door was probably made of metal.''  There is no door visible on the floor in the episode. ''...which simply suggests that the joins cannot be seen. Either way, the screwdriver is "very good at opening doors."'' The shape and size of the 'hole' is identical to the holes blasted by his future Sonic Screwdriver.''The future sonic screwdriver can not shoot holes in walls, The gun that River used was the sonic blaster that Captain Jack had left in the Tardis, presumably when River becomes a companion she will steal or will be given this gun.''
* Considering [[CAL]] was built on the personality of a little girl from the 50th century, and that the personalities of more than 4000 people from the same era were uploaded, why would she create a virtual world clearly set in the late-20th/early 21st century instead of a more recent time? ''As time progresses CAL would probably improve her world.'' also, mr lux said that his grandfather had given her the ability to live in any era, any book, maybe she just took a fancy to the 21st century?


==Continuity==
==== Location ====
*At the end of [[Planet of the Ood]], Ood Sigma says that the "Doctor's song" may soon end.
* Hensol Castle, Hensol
*The Doctor says that the auto destruct in [[The Library]] could 'crack the planet open like an egg' the [[Seventh Doctor]] said the same about what the [[Imperial Dalek]] mothership's weapons could do to the Earth ([[DW]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks]]'').
* Victoria Park, Cardiff
*River Song says the Doctor has taken her to the "end of the universe", suggesting the Doctor at some point returns to the general time period seen in ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'' which is also described as being at the end of the universe. She could also mean "end of the universe" as a location, supposing that the area of the universe is finite, however the paradoxes that the toclafane caused may have averted the end of the universe to an even further date.
* Palace Road, Cardiff
*The question of the Doctor's real name dates back to the earliest days of the series ([[DW]]: ''[[An Unearthly Child]]'', ''[[Silver Nemesis]]''), though in more recent episodes ([[DW]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', ''[[The Shakespeare Code]]'', ''[[The Fires of Pompeii]]'', etc.) the fact his name is a mystery has been amplified. An earlier Moffat-written episode ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', directly addressed this issue when [[Madame de Pompadour]] reads the Doctor's mind and discovers that the Doctor's true name is hidden (it is not, however, indicated whether she actually learns his true name). 
* Crwys Medical Centre, Cardiff
*At the end of this episode, River shouts that "Everybody lives!". This is very similar to what the Doctor says at the end of another of [[Steven Moffat|Steven Moffat's]] episodes, ''[[The Doctor Dances]]'' ("Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once — everybody lives!").
* St Mary's Of Angels, Canton
*The Doctor says to River Song "history can be rewritten" to which Song replies "not one line" a reference to [[DW]]: ''[[The Aztecs]]''.
* Dyffryn Gardens, Vale Of Glamorgan
*The Doctor has previously spoken his name in [[EDA]]: ''[[Vanderdeken's Children]]'' and also [[EDA]]: ''[[Interference]]''
* Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
*The teleport system is similar to that used in [[DW]]: ''[[The Ark in Space]]'' in that it is limited to three at one time.
* Alcoa Emp Swansea, Swansea
*The [[sonic blaster|squareness gun]] used by River Song to blast a hole in the wall of the Library is the same gun used by [[Jack Harkness]] when he first met the Doctor. It was left behind in the TARDIS when Jack Harkness was teleported out with the Doctor & Rose into the game shows on Station Five. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Empty Child]]''/''[[The Doctor Dances]]''/''[[Bad Wolf]]'') (''Per Steven Moffat, ''Doctor Who Confidential'': "River Runs Deep"'')
* Swansea Library, Swansea


== DVD and other releases==
=== Production errors ===
*It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.
* The two times we see [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]] project the image of Donna, the Doctor's tone of voice is different.
*It will be released as Series 4 Volume 3 alongside Silence in the Library and Midnight in August 2008.
* When the Doctor tells River and Donna "Spoilers" and walks down the staircase, as the camera pans downwards with him, the camera boom's reflection can be seen on one of the books.
* Several times when the Doctor handles [[River Song's sonic screwdriver|River's sonic screwdriver]], the camera changes do not match up to his hand positions on the screwdriver.
* When Anita gets two shadows after she says, "Didn't do Proper Dave any good", she only has one shadow. When they get away from the swarm she has two shadows again.
* Shortly after Donna's children are taken to the playground, Ella runs by with a scraped left knee, long before she actually injures herself there.
* When Charlotte throws the TV remote away in rage, it can be seen that the shot in which the remote hits the floor is archive footage from ''Silence in the Library''; as before Charlotte throws the remote, the bottom of it is badly scratched, but when the remote hits the floor, the bottom is intact.


==External Links==
== Continuity ==
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_09 BBC Website - Episode Guide: '''Forest of the Dead''']
* The Doctor says that the auto destruct in [[the Library]] could "crack the planet open like an egg". The [[Seventh Doctor]] said the same about what the [[Imperial Dalek]] mothership's weapons could do to the Earth. ([[TV]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'')
* River Song says she trusts the Doctor to "the end of the universe", where she also states that they've been. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Big Bang (TV story)|The Big Bang]]'')
* The Doctor says to River Song, "time can be rewritten", to which River replies, "not one line", mirroring a statement by the Doctor himself in his [[First Doctor|first incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Aztecs (TV story)|The Aztecs]]'')
* The Doctor has previously spoken his name to others. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Vanderdeken's Children (novel)|Vanderdeken's Children]]'', ''[[Interference - Book One (novel)|Interference - Books One]]'' and ''[[Interference - Book Two (novel)|Two]]'', ''[[Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing (short story)|Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing]]'')
* The [[sonic blaster|squareness gun]] used by River Song to blast a hole in the wall of the Library is just like the gun used by [[Jack Harkness]] when he first met the Doctor. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Empty Child (TV story)|The Empty Child]]''/''[[The Doctor Dances (TV story)|The Doctor Dances]]'')
* Although the Doctor has never given away a [[sonic screwdriver]] exactly, [[Liz Shaw]] used a "door handle" device, and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] had her [[sonic lipstick]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Inferno (TV story)|Inferno]]'', ''[[Invasion of the Bane (TV story)|Invasion of the Bane]]'', et al.)
* The Doctor wonders why River Song has [[handcuff]]s. ([[TV]]: ''[[Flesh and Stone (TV story)|Flesh and Stone]]'')
* The Doctor maintains that he is "always alright" in the wake of a great loss. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Girl in the Fireplace (TV story)|The Girl in the Fireplace]]'', ''[[Last of the Time Lords (TV story)|Last of the Time Lords]]'')
* The Doctor says that having 4,022 minds talking inside one's mind (referring to CAL) is like being him. Time Lord minds were shown to be all interconnected through [[the Matrix]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Deadly Assassin (TV story)|The Deadly Assassin]]'')
* River Song says, when talking about the Doctor, "I've seen whole armies turn and run away." ([[TV]]: ''[[The Pandorica Opens (TV story)|The Pandorica Opens]]'', ''[[A Good Man Goes to War (TV story)|A Good Man Goes to War]]'')
* This is one of the moments during the Doctor's timeline in which one incarnation of [[Clara Oswald]] comes across the Tenth Doctor while trying to undo the damage done by the [[Great Intelligence]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* River Song reveals to the Doctor that his future self can open the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers. While the Doctor doesn't believe this can be done, he tests it out and is able to do so. The [[Eleventh Doctor]] later does the same thing when inviting [[Amy Pond]] to join him ([[TV]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour (TV story)|The Eleventh Hour]]'') and also does it in front of River. ([[TV]]: ''[[Day of the Moon (TV story)|Day of the Moon]]'') His [[Twelfth Doctor|twelfth incarnation]] continues to use this technique. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'') [[Clara Oswald]] also later displays the ability. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'', ''[[The Caretaker (TV story)|The Caretaker]]'')
* The Doctor, unable to physically get rid of the attacking Vashta Nerada, must settle for a compromise to evacuate all human occupants of the Library and leave them to dominate the planet. In his [[Ninth Doctor|previous incarnation]], he had to deal with another hostile [[Rain (Pitter-Patter)|alien life form]] that also took on the form of a natural force, this one being rain. Like the Vashta Nerada, he lacked the power to stop it physically and could only make it let up its attacks long enough for some human colonists to flee the planet. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pitter-Patter (short story)|Pitter-Patter]]'')
* The Doctor has previously been cornered in front of a door, only to chastise his enemies for doing so before he escapes through it. ([[TV]]: ''[[World War Three (TV story)|World War Three]]'')
* Like River here, [[Rose Tyler]] and [[Harriet Jones]] have also referred to [[Ninth Doctor|another incarnation]] of the Doctor as the "proper Doctor" or "[her] Doctor". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Christmas Invasion (TV story)|The Christmas Invasion]]'')
* The [[data ghost]] incarnation of River Song returns in ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'' where she reveals that after her death here, "her" Doctor never visited her again. She is briefly reunited with the [[Eleventh Doctor]] on [[Trenzalore]] through a psychic "[[conference call]]" she was using to communicate with Clara Oswald. The Doctor tells her that he found it too hard to see her again due to the pain it would cause him, but after sharing a last kiss with her, gives River the goodbye she had always wanted from him.
* The Doctor remarks that River knows his name, claiming there is only one time he could reveal it. When the [[Eleventh Doctor]] marries River, he whispers something in her ear that he claims is his real name. River later reveals that this was a lie as "the Doctor lies" so that [[Amy Pond]] and [[Rory Williams]] would not know that he was telling River he was hidden inside the ''[[Teselecta]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]]'') River's data ghost uses his name to open the doors of the future TARDIS, having stated earlier that she eventually got the Doctor to tell her his name. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* River mentions the [[Singing Towers]] of [[Darillium]] as her last night with the Doctor's future self. The [[Twelfth Doctor]], after the [[Eleventh Doctor]] had put off this date for as long as possible, ([[HOMEVID]]: ''[[Last Night (home video)|Last Night]]'') takes River there after a final adventure with her. By that point, River saw signs of her adventures coming to an end as her diary was almost full and the Doctor would know how many pages she'd need and she'd heard rumours about their date at Darillium. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Husbands of River Song (TV story)|The Husbands of River Song]]'')
* River would be among those remembered when [[Davros]] asked the Doctor: ''"How many have died in your name?'' ([[TV]]: ''[[Journey's End (TV story)|Journey's End]]'')
* River associates running with her time with the Doctor, echoing sentiments expressed by [[Donna Noble|Donna]] and [[Jenny (The Doctor's Daughter)|Jenny]]. Jenny would effectively become River's step-daughter when River married her father in his [[Eleventh Doctor|Eleventh incarnation]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'')
* River refers to the Doctor as an "impossible man", something previously said by [[Agatha Christie]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Unicorn and the Wasp (TV story)|The Unicorn and the Wasp]]'')


{{Series 4}}
== Home video releases ==
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
File:The Complete David Tennant Years Region 1 US DVD cover.jpg|The Complete David Tennant Years DVD<br />Region 1 US cover
File:Bbcdvd-s4-v3.jpg|thumb|Series 4 Volume 3 DVD Cover
File:Series-4-boxset.jpg|thumb|''Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series'' DVD cover
File:Bbcdvd-series1234.jpg|thumb|''Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Four'' DVD box-set
</gallery>


* This story was released in the [[Series 4 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 4]] DVD box set in November 2008 along with the rest of the series.
* It was released as Series 4 Volume 3 in a vanilla edition with ''[[Silence in the Library (TV story)|Silence in the Library]]'' and ''[[Midnight (TV story)|Midnight]]''.
== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S4_09 BBC Website - Episode Guide: '''Forest of the Dead''']
{{DWTV}}
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[[Category:Doctor Who (2005) television stories]]
[[Category:2008 television stories]]
[[Category:2008 television stories]]
[[Category:Tenth Doctor episodes]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 51st century]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 51st century]]
[[Category:Series 4 (Doctor Who) stories]]
[[Category:Television stories that use Murray Gold's 2nd main theme]]
[[Category:Vashta Nerada stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in virtual realities]]
[[fr:Forest of the Dead]]
[[he:יער המתים]]
[[it:Forest of the Dead (TV)]]
[[pt:Forest of the Dead]]
[[ro:Forest of the Dead]]

Latest revision as of 05:18, 17 December 2024

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Forest of the Dead was the ninth episode of series 4 of Doctor Who.

Its major impact on the mythos of Doctor Who was its depiction of the death of River Song. This narrative end point would be respected in future series that told River Song's out-of-sequence story.

Synopsis[[edit] | [edit source]]

Donna is gone, the Vashta Nerada are out for fresh meat and the Tenth Doctor is running out of options. Can he trust the mysterious Professor River Song, a woman who claims to be from his future? Why would his future self have given her his sonic screwdriver, or tell her his real name? Even if they do work together, can anyone stop the shadows from claiming them all as their next meal?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

River Song uses her sonic blaster to create a hole in the wall. The Tenth Doctor and the others escape the Vashta Nerada-possessed Proper Dave down a corridor.

These events are watched on television by the girl. She switches channels to one showing Donna being taken out of the ambulance on a stretcher. Donna wakes up in a facility being treated by Doctor Moon. When she tries to remember reality, Doctor Moon quietly tells her that she has been in this facility being treated by him for years. She accepts the reality he presents to her. The way time progresses in her virtual world seems to be led by her thoughts; Doctor Moon suggests she walks by the river and she suddenly appears at the river. She occasionally finds this odd but is reassured by Doctor Moon. He introduces her to another resident named Lee, who has a stammer. Before she knows it, she is married to her ideal man, and they have two children, twins Joshua and Ella.

Meanwhile, the others in the Library have been on the run from the Vashta Nerada. The Doctor and River Song argue as he demands to know who she is and where she got her sonic screwdriver from. He isn't sure he can trust her, but she assures him that someday she'll be someone he trusts completely. However as she can't wait for him to learn that, she says she can prove it now and apologises before whispering something in his ear. He is stunned, and when she asks him if they're OK now, he nods in response, seeming to now trust that she's telling the truth. Unfortunately, Anita now has two shadows. She remains brave in the face of her impending death, as the Doctor darkens her visor in the hopes that it might trick the Vashta Nerada into thinking they have already infiltrated it. They then realise that "Proper Dave" has caught up with them again, and they flee. The Doctor stops to try to reason with the Vashta Nerada. River tells Other Dave to stay behind to help the Doctor, who teaches the Vashta Nerada to use the suit's communicator to speak to him. In doing so, he learns that the Vashta Nerada didn't travel to the Library but were brought there; they lived in the forests that were pulped to create all the books, and then hatched after arriving. Other Dave, in the meantime, has also been killed by the Vashta Nerada, leaving the Doctor trapped between the two Daves. He escapes through a trap door hatch and sets off after the other three.

Elsewhere, River Song tells Anita about the Doctor she knows. She has seen whole armies turn and run away from him in the future, and he can open the TARDIS by snapping his fingers. The Doctor arrives and says that is impossible. As he returns his attention to the present, Anita asks him what River whispered in his ear earlier. She reminds him that she's about to die, and so his secret is "safe" with her. This prompts him to finally realise the significance of the oddly-worded "4022 saved" message. He figures out that the Library's computer hard drive – CAL – had detected the people in the Library were in danger from the Vashta Nerada and teleported them out, however it had nowhere to teleport them to. Instead, the computer stored the patterns on its hard drive... it literally "saved" all of the four thousand twenty-two people in the Library to its memory, and has done the same with Donna.

In her virtual home, Donna is contacted by a hooded figure, who tells her the world is not real. They arrange to meet in a playground. The figure reveals herself to be Miss Evangelista, whose consciousness was copied when she was killed. In this reality, however, her appearance is deformed but as a side effect she has become much more intelligent. She again warns Donna that the world is not real. Donna is stubborn and sceptical, but to her horror, she sees that all the children in the playground – including hers – are identical.

This revelation drives the little girl into hysterics, making her father and Doctor Moon disappear with her TV remote. The Library starts to enter a meltdown, and is set to explode.

Later, when Donna takes her children home, the virtual world is bathed in red light, signifying the Library's incoming destruction. Donna cradles her two children together in fear, and orders them not to get out of her sight. Later, at bedtime, Ella asks if she and Joshua are real, and Donna tells her that they both are, even if they stop as soon as she closes her eyes. Donna promises to never closes her eyes again, but as soon as she goes to kiss Ella goodnight, both children are gone!

Donna, shocked after witnessing her children vanishing, goes into hysterics and breaks down emotionally, sobbing at her children's empty beds.

Back in the Library, the team travel to the core of the planet to the computer. The little girl is, in fact, the hard drive. She was Strackman Lux's grandfather's youngest daughter, Charlotte Abigail Lux aka "CAL". She was dying of an incurable disease, so he made an imaginary world for her to live in and every book ever written for her to enjoy. He also gave her a "Doctor Moon" to watch over her, but the stress of having so many minds integrated into her own is causing her to overload. She has initiated the self-destruct and is about to destroy the planet.

River meets her fate.

The Doctor realises that to restore the "saved" people, the Library needs extra memory. This can be achieved by linking himself to the core. River Song says that this will burn through both his hearts and kill him without a chance of even being able to regenerate. He sends River and Lux upstairs to prepare for the restoration. As she exits, River tells Anita to watch him.

Anita asks the Doctor what he intends to do about the Vashta Nerada. He states he intends to materialise the people, get them off the planet, and then leave the world to the Vashta Nerada. When asked if he thinks the Vashta Nerada will take his offer, he reveals Anita has already been consumed by them. When they, using Anita's suit, threaten to consume him and everyone else, he reminds them he is the Doctor... They are in the biggest library in the universe, and he tells them to look him up. They pause after a moment of consideration, and then agree: they will give him one day to evacuate everyone. They then abandon the suit and withdraw.

River returns to find Anita dead, then knocks the Doctor unconscious. He wakes up, finding himself handcuffed to the wall. River has hooked her own mind up to the computer, planning to carry out the plan in his place. He tries desperately to persuade River to let him do this. He reminds her that she whispered his real name into his ear, which he could only tell someone for one reason... She refuses and sadly notes that during all the time they shared and will share together, he always knew this is where and when she dies. While he insists that the future can be changed, she tells him not to change one moment of what happens between them even though it leads to this and he will see her again. She links in when the countdown reaches zero and dies, as the Doctor looks on.

Donna's virtual world is overtaken by a bright light, as Lee arrives and asks if he is real or was just created for her. Donna promises to find him in reality, as the light consumes them both. In the Library, the 4,022 people and Donna are all restored much to Lux's joy. However, at the core, the Doctor looks sadly at River's dead body only too aware of how much she will mean to him one day.

The evacuation of the Library begins. Donna cannot find Lee, and she and the Doctor conclude that perhaps he never really existed at all. The real Lee sees Donna as he steps onto a teleport, but his stammer prevents him from calling out to her before he is teleported away. The Doctor and Donna briefly muse over River Song's diary, and Donna recalls how shocked River was when she mentioned her name and asks why she wasn't travelling with him when he sees her again. The Doctor holds up River's diary asking her if they should take a look, as it contains details of her life and their future. Ultimately, they decide not to look in it and leave it behind on a shelf along with the sonic screwdriver his future self gave her.

Suddenly, the Doctor comes running back. He realises that since he knew River's fate all along, his future self would never have just let her die and has had years to think of a way to save her. He knows that he wouldn't just give her a sonic screwdriver without a good reason. Opening it, he finds that it contains a hidden neural relay. As with the data ghosts, her consciousness has been saved there. However, it is fading. The Doctor takes River for "one last run", as he sprints back to the core. He uploads River's data ghost into the Library's computer, as the face of Charlotte looks on and smiles. River appears in a virtual reality created by Charlotte and is reunited with all of her team members for all eternity. The Doctor also fixes the data core so that Charlotte is no longer unstable and it's a good place for them to live. Laughing in surprise, River only says, "He just can't do it, can he? That man. That impossible man. He just can't give in."

In the real world, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS. Standing before it and concentrating, he tries opening the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers and is able to do so. He goes inside to join Donna and turns to look back outside with her. As he snaps his fingers to close the door of the TARDIS, River closes the blue TARDIS-shaped diary. River is sitting in the kids' bedroom of Donna's house in the virtual realm, and has been telling the story of the Doctor to Donna's two children, and Charlotte, who has moved to live with them, concluding that on very special days when "the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives." Charlotte has a real family now, human consciousnesses to keep her company in her "Dream". Smiling, River turns out the lights, saying "Sweet dreams everyone."

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.
          

This is one of the very few episodes after the beginning of series 2 that did not credit BBC Wales Graphics.


Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor says, "Who are you?", to River, a line which is often asked of him.
  • The Doctor learns the fate of River Song and retains this memory through to their "first" meeting in the future. The future Doctor will adjust his sonic screwdriver in order to preserve Song's consciousness so his younger self will be able to preserve her within CAL.
  • Song appears to have knowledge of Time Lord anatomy, including knowledge of regeneration. She also indicates that destruction of both of the Doctor's hearts in this instance is a circumstance after which he will likely not be able to regenerate.

Story notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • On the very first take of River whispering his name into the Doctor's ear, David Tennant corpsed because Alex Kingston whispered "Shaniqua"[1]
  • If one pays attention to Lux's explanation, the little girl is actually his aunt; if she was his grandfather's daughter, that would mean her sibling would have been Lux's parent.
  • The working title for this story was River's Run. When BBC Video announced the North American release of the Series 4 DVD box set, this title was used in the episode list and not Forest of the Dead. The Radio Times also used this working title. According to REF: Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter, the title was changed not long before broadcast. Other potential titles included The Doctor Runs, Forest of the Night and Return of the Dead.
  • CAL was also the name of the computer graphics company that created the title sequence used between 1987 and 1989 for the Seventh Doctor's TV adventures. A result of this work was the creation of the first photo-realistic CGI TARDIS, featured in 1987's Time and the Rani.[2]
  • Steven Moffat's recurring theme "everybody lives" returns again in this episode. (TV: The Doctor Dances) In the BBC podcast associated with this episode, Moffat and Russell T Davies point out that so far in the four major storylines that he has contributed to the series, the only "final" deaths that have occurred have been due to old age (as in the case of Billy Shipton and Kathy Nightingale) or illness (Madame de Pompadour). Moffat consequently promises (in the podcast) that he will kill people off in more dramatic fashion in future stories, proven to be true in The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.
  • The concept of downloading human consciousness as data — even after physical death — and the philosophical issues surrounding this is an issue being addressed by futurists in real life, with scientists such as Ray Kurzweil speculating that technology will allow the uploading of consciousness to computers within a generation in his book, The Age of Spiritual Machines.
  • A recurring theme in this and the preceding episode is "spoilers". This is a term that was coined in the 1990s by science fiction fandom to address the circulation of information revealing the plots and endings of TV shows and movies. Interestingly, the fourth series of Doctor Who contains several examples of plot twists and cameos that were successfully protected from "spoilers". Other examples of successful spoiler protection include the appearance of Catherine Tate at the end of Doomsday. Examples of plot twists that were not successfully protected from "spoilers" included the return of Rose in Series 4 — spoiled in part by people witnessing the filming — and the regeneration of Christopher Eccleston at the end of Series 1 — spoiled by the BBC publicity office itself.
  • This is the last episode not written or co-written by Russell T Davies until The Eleventh Hour, and the last to not be written or co-written by the show's head writer until Victory of the Daleks.
  • The frantic music from Midnight is heard during a scene where Donna Noble freaks out, having seen her "children", whom she had tucked in bed, disappear without a trace, while she was in the data core.
  • Excerpts of the Turn Left theme (a remixed version of the Doctor's theme with echoing vocals) are heard when dialogue about the Doctor's future is brought up by River, foreshadowing events to come.
  • The phrase, "Time can be rewritten", is first uttered by the Doctor in this story and is a recurring phrase throughout Series 5 and 6.
  • The Doctor states to River, "Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers." However, River tells him (and he finds out) that he can, and also closes the door by snapping his fingers. Clara Oswald is also later shown displaying this ability in episodes like The Day of the Doctor and The Caretaker.
  • Donna's children, Joshua and Ella, were named after Steven Moffat's son Joshua and his best friend Ella. The accompanying Doctor Who Confidential episode shows Moffat visiting the set with Joshua and Ella to watch part of the episode being filmed.
  • During the audio commentary, David Tennant mentions that Donna's wedding dress is the same one she wore in TV: The Runaway Bride.
  • The question of the Doctor's real name dates back to the earliest days of the series, though more recent episodes have implied that his name is a terrible secret. (TV: An Unearthly Child, Silver Nemesis, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Shakespeare Code, The Fires of Pompeii, The Wedding of River Song)
  • This episode and Silence in the Library are the only TV stories featuring River Song not to have been shot in high-definition.
  • Julie Gardner suggested to Steven Moffat that at the end only Charlotte be present with River, not the other two children. He has since stated he regrets the decision otherwise.[3]
  • According to Steven Moffat, the squareness gun is the sonic blaster used by Jack Harkness in season one. After Jack leaves it in the TARDIS, River Song will take the gun in the Doctor's future.
  • A twist revelation in which Donna's artificial-reality husband, Lee, turned out to be an overweight woman in the real world was excised for fear of being too confusing.
  • Heavy rains forced the postponement of much of the recording of the outdoor scenes in Victoria Park, Cardiff.
  • Donna's illusory children were initially called Alan and Tracy.
  • The girl discovering the concealed buttons in the television remote control was based on Steven Moffat's son Joshua doing the same thing.
  • This two-parter formed Block Eight of season four.
  • This two-parter was originally scheduled as the ninth and tenth episodes of season four. During the autumn, however, it was realised that both this episode and the one intended to follow it, Turn Left, featured Donna living in an imaginary world. Consequently, the two-parter was brought forward one spot, with Midnight now separating the two narratives.
  • Euros Lyn's aunt and cousin, as well as his cousin's girlfriend, were amongst the missing Library patrons.
  • It was during production of this episode that it was announced that Phil Collinson would be departing as producer, as he had been appointed Head of Drama for BBC Manchester after completing season four.
  • The question of which incarnation of the Doctor gave River the sonic screwdriver that preserved her data ghost was left unresolved until The Husbands of River Song [+]Loading...["The Husbands of River Song (TV story)"] revealed it was the Twelfth Doctor who gave River her sonic screwdriver.

Ratings[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • 7.84 million (UK final)[4]

Myths[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Following the broadcast of Silence in the Library there was much discussion in the Doctor Who fan community of the identity of River Song, with rampant speculation on various characters who she might "really" be. The episode ultimately leaves her origin ambiguous, although it does establish several times that this was the first time the Doctor met River, meaning she could not be a past character. A Good Man Goes to War conclusively proves that she is a new character, a human with Time Lord DNA, and the daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
  • In Planet of the Ood, the Doctor was told his "song may end soon", leading to speculation the "death" of River Song is what was being referred to. The End of Time shows that this prediction centred on the end of this incarnation of the Doctor.
  • It had been rumoured that River Song was the Doctor's future wife. This was shown to be true in The Wedding of River Song.
  • Before the official title was revealed to be Forest of the Dead, it was rumoured that the episode's title was Saved from the Books.

Filming locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Studio[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest

Location[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Hensol Castle, Hensol
  • Victoria Park, Cardiff
  • Palace Road, Cardiff
  • Crwys Medical Centre, Cardiff
  • St Mary's Of Angels, Canton
  • Dyffryn Gardens, Vale Of Glamorgan
  • Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
  • Alcoa Emp Swansea, Swansea
  • Swansea Library, Swansea

Production errors[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The two times we see the Doctor's sonic screwdriver project the image of Donna, the Doctor's tone of voice is different.
  • When the Doctor tells River and Donna "Spoilers" and walks down the staircase, as the camera pans downwards with him, the camera boom's reflection can be seen on one of the books.
  • Several times when the Doctor handles River's sonic screwdriver, the camera changes do not match up to his hand positions on the screwdriver.
  • When Anita gets two shadows after she says, "Didn't do Proper Dave any good", she only has one shadow. When they get away from the swarm she has two shadows again.
  • Shortly after Donna's children are taken to the playground, Ella runs by with a scraped left knee, long before she actually injures herself there.
  • When Charlotte throws the TV remote away in rage, it can be seen that the shot in which the remote hits the floor is archive footage from Silence in the Library; as before Charlotte throws the remote, the bottom of it is badly scratched, but when the remote hits the floor, the bottom is intact.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Home video releases[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Complete David Tennant Years DVD Region 1 US cover

    The Complete David Tennant Years DVD
    Region 1 US cover

  • Series 4 Volume 3 DVD Cover

    Series 4 Volume 3 DVD Cover

  • Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series DVD cover

    Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series DVD cover

  • Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Four DVD box-set

    Doctor Who: The Complete Series One to Four DVD box-set

  • This story was released in the Series 4 DVD box set in November 2008 along with the rest of the series.
  • It was released as Series 4 Volume 3 in a vanilla edition with Silence in the Library and Midnight.

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. ↑ Alex Kingston reveals what she actually whispered into the Doctor's ear
  2. ↑ BBC
  3. ↑ TV Cream Stays Indoors With Steven Moffat
  4. ↑ Doctor Who Ratings - UK final

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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