Silence in the Library (TV story)

4022 saved, no survivorsStrackman Lux

Synopsis

One hundred years ago, the universe's greatest library was sealed off, leaving only one warning: "Count the shadows". But now, the shadows are moving again. The Doctor and Donna must uncover the terrible truth behind the Nodes and the horrifying Data Ghost, to find the library's secret, and on the way they try to avoid the Vashta Nerada, piranhas of the air, shadows that melt the flesh.

Plot

A little girl seems to be going through a therapeutic session with psychologist named Doctor Moon. She reveals that she has a Library, a whole world, which she sees whenever she closes her eyes. She is interrupted by the Doctor and Donna, who had landed on the planet earlier only to have found the world abandoned. The Library is a world, home to every book ever written, powered by the most powerful computer ever. The Doctor recieved a distress call on his psychic paper, but cannot understand why. Although the Doctor had found 1 Million, Million lifeforms on the planet, it appears to be empty. After hearing an eerie message on a Node (a computer with a human's donated face), telling them to run from the shadows, they later have to run from lights that had suddenly started shutting off and come across an orb, seemingly controlled by the girl shown in the beginning.

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century at a planet-sized book repository simply called "The Library" due to some unknown request for help on the Doctor's psychic paper. However, they find it completely devoid of humanoid life, though the Library's computers claim over "a million million lifeforms" exist. They find a Node, a statue with a strangely realistic human face, that warns them of the shadows, and the Doctor quickly urges Donna to race through the Library stacks as the lights go out behind them, leading them to a central room that is well lit. As they try to figure out more about the warning about the shadows, a team of explorers, led by archeologist Professor River Song, enter the room. Prof. Song explains that she is there with Mr. Strackman Lux, whose family had built the Library, and is there to learn why the Library was sealed for the last one hundred years.

4022 saved. No survivors

The Doctor quickly organises the team to make sure the area is well lit as he explains that the shadows are occupied by the Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivorous creatures that use shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. The team works to find a way out of the library. However, Mr. Lux's assistant, Ms. Evangelista, wanders off and falls prey to the Vashta Nerada, her body eaten away in seconds. The Doctor and Donna learn that the exploration team each wears a communication device which has a glitch called "Data Ghosting" where a copy of a person's consciousness is temporarily held within it for a short time after death, allowing them to communicate briefly with the living.

Throughout their investigation, there are three additional mysteries that develop. First, Dr. Song appears to know the Doctor, though from some point in his own personal future. She carries a diary that seems to be about the Doctor's life with a cover that looks like his TARDIS, and she possesses a more rugged version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver from the future but refuses to reveal the future to the Doctor for fear of "spoilers". Also, when the Doctor mentions Donna's name, she knows her surname and seems shocked that its her, when Donna asks her if she travelled with the Doctor then why doesen't he know her, River goes silent. Second, the Library's operations seem to be tied to the imagination of a 21st century young girl, as if she were the world's supercomputer but had just forgotten it, she sees them through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into central room, they appear on her television as the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers, and when she fiddles with the television's remote, she causes events to occur in the Library. The girl is under observation from Dr. Moon, a child psychologist, at the request of her dad, but Dr. Moon appears to have significant knowledge of the situation of the Doctor, Donna, and the exploration team. He reveals that her reality is an illusion, that her nightmares are reality, and that only she can save all the people trapped in the Library. The final mystery appears to be the word "CAL" that appears at times on the Library screens, the Doctor wondering who or what that means.

The team's investigation is interrupted when the pilot Dave becomes latched to a shadow of Vashta Nerada, and though the Doctor attempts to save him, he is quickly eaten away, the organisms taking control of his suit. Dave's Data Ghost echoes his last thoughts as the suit approaches the rest of the team. The Doctor attempts to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong in the teleport and Donna fails to materialize properly. As the team races away from the possessed suit, the Doctor is horrified to find a Node with Donna's face on it, which claims that Donna has left the Library and has been "saved". A statement the little girl is seen saying earlier.

The show ends in a cliffhanger as the Doctor is forced to leave the Node behind, and run with the team from the approaching Vashta Nerada.

Cast

Production crew

to be added

References

When he and Donna arrive at the Library, the Doctor makes reference to (controversial) author Jeffrey Archer, the Bridget Jones franchise, and Monty Python's Big Red Book.
The Doctor notices (and says so) that River Song has a squareness gun.
The Doctor received a message from River Song on his psychic paper.
The Doctor uses a teleport to send Donna to the TARDIS.
Vashta Nerada are said to exist on a billion worlds, including Earth.
A model of Robby the Robot is visible in the young girl's home.
The relationship between the Doctor and River Song is similar to the novel The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. That story is about a man who travels in time, so that the first time he meets his partner she has already met him before. That meeting also occurs in a library, and, like River Song, she gives him a diary of their time together.
The sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood.
When the girl changes channels on her television (causing the books to fly around in the library) a brief snippet of dialogue from an episode of Ren and Stimpy can be heard.

Story notes

Transmission of this episode was delayed by one week due to the Eurovision Song Contest, as was the case last year with a gap between The Lazarus Experiment and 42.
According to Russell T Davies this episode is more frightening than Steven Moffat's series 3 episode Blink, which rated a 5.5 out of 5 on the the official Doctor Who website 'Fear Factor' feature.
While the Doctor is hacking into Girl's TV she is watching the CBBC show Pedro and Frankesheep which makes it the second time in this series someone has been watching a real-life kids show after The Doctor watching Tommy Zoom in The Poison Sky and the third since the series revival.
Professor River Song mentions having "been to the End of the Universe" with the Doctor.
Excluding the Children in Need specials, this is the 50th episode of Doctor Who since the series returned in 2005.

Steve Pemberton is the second of the League of Gentlemen to appear in Doctor Who, the other being Mark Gatiss who appeared in The Lazarus Experiment as Richard Lazarus.

When The Girl collapses due to the Doctor's tampering with the security camera, the pattern of the rug she collapses on is the same as the red pattern on the computer screens reading "Access Denied". It also can be briefly seen on the lens cap of the security camera, and repeated in the metalwork in the background of the circular room much of the library scenes take place in.
Additionally, when Doctor Moon and her father rush to her side when she collapses, a plastic tag reading "CAL" can be briefly seen on Doctor Moon's briefcase.
The security camera appears to have angel wings carved on its sides.
Steven Moffat continues his theme of highlighting childhood fears. In Blink it was statues coming to life, in The Girl in the Fireplace it was monsters under the bed, and in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, the fear of war and bombardment.
Talulah Riley is the second major cast member of the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice to be featured in a Steven Moffat story, the first being Carey Mulligan in Blink.
The spoilers theme may be an in-joke about DW spoilers (especially online).
Professor Song says to the Doctor, with astonishment, "you're so young!", which implies that the Doctor will live long enough to make his present age of 900+ years seem young in comparison.
- She also says, "going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yeah?" which may imply that their relationship begins when he still has the same face, i.e. is still in his tenth incarnation. If this is true, then his tenth incarnation may be exceptionally long-lived.

Ratings

Official BARB - 6.27 million viewers

Myths

Filming Locations

The main library scenes for the episode were filmed at Swansea Library and Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

When standing on the balcony upon entrance, the Doctor remarks on how, being near the equator, they must be in or near the Biography section, though when the screen pans down, a Traffic sign can bee seen with a marking to the left with the Words "Xenobiology". It also had "Art" underneath it, both with arrows pointing to the left. This is probably just an indicator on where to find those sections.
At the beginning when we see the Doctor and Donna enter the room from the little girl's point of view we see the door is kicked multiplied times before they enter however when we see it from the Doctor and Donna's point of view we see Donna kicks it once before entering.
The keyboards on the computer terminals in the library are, in fact, the latest incarnation of Apple Computer's Bluetooth keyboard. They could still have Apple computers in the future
Despite the Doctor stressing to the entire team about not staying in the shadows, all but one are standing blatantly in the shade when talking to the already-dead Miss Evangelista. This is revealed from a downwards shot on the team, with the ray of light almost completely neglected as protection.
The Doctor recieves a message on the psychic paper which shows up and he shows it to Donna. Donna takes it from him and shows it to him but it is now blank. It is possible that as the message passes out of sight of the viewer, it fades.
After Proper Dave has been turned into the suit creature, the green lights on his comm system are no longer on, even though Dave's Data Ghost is still talking.
After the shot where in Proper Dave is seen to have two shadows, there is a short shot from a different camera angle where in the Doctor passes Dave his helmet. In this short shot, Dave is seen to have but one shadow. When the shot returns to the previous camera, Dave has two shadows, as before.

Continuity

A similar species which could take over the light but weren't hostile were the Cimmerians in the BFA: Embrace the Darkness.

As shown on the BBC Doctor Who website, there are a number of books in the library that reference previous episodes. Those seen are the operating manual for the TARDIS, Origins of the Universe (DW: Destiny of the Daleks), The French Revolution (DW: An Unearthly Child), the Journal of Impossible Things (DW: Human Nature (TV story)/The Family of Blood), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams, former Doctor Who writer and script editor), Everest in Easy Stages (DW: The Creature from the Pit) and Black Orchid (a book first seen in the Fifth Doctor serial DW: of the same name).
The Doctor makes mention of 'Emergency Program One' which would return Donna home, this was first seen and used in DW: The Parting of the Ways.
The last time the Doctor received a message on his psychic paper was in DW: New Earth.
This is the second time the Doctor has arrived 'too early' (or rather the TARDIS has brought him too early), this previously occured in DW: The Doctor's Daughter.
This sequence of events in Silence in the Library was much like another episode by Steven Moffat, The Girl in the Fireplace.
The Doctor once again expresses his affinity for shops, having mentioned them in DW: Smith and Jones and DW: New Earth

DVD and other releases

It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.
It will be released as Series 4 Volume 3 alongside Forest of the Dead and Midnight in August 2008.

External links

Official BBC Website - Episode Guide for Silence in the Library

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