Silence in the Library (TV story)
Silence in the Library was the eighth episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who. It marked the first appearance of River Song, a mysterious person with an important role in the Doctor's personal future.
Synopsis
The Doctor and Donna enter a world of terror inside an abandoned library. They're given only one warning: "Count the shadows".
Plot
A little girl is going through a therapeutic session with psychologist named Doctor Moon. She tells him of a Library, a whole world, which she sees whenever she closes her eyes. It is a peaceful place; entirely empty of human life... but suddenly the girl's imaginary world is interrupted by the arrival of two mysterious strangers, the Doctor and Donna.
The Doctor and Donna arrive, in the 51st century, on a planet-sized book repository simply called "The Library" as the Doctor goes on about how books are never really disused dispite tech upgrades. The Library is a world, home to every book ever written, powered by the most powerful computer ever. Though the Doctor has received a message requesting his help on the psychic paper, and though the Library's computers claim over "a million million lifeforms" are present, they find the Library deserted. A Node, a statue with a strangely realistic human face, warns them to beware the shadows in a message recorded by the head librarian before he was killed mid sentence in the recording. As they explore further, the lights begin to go out around them. They race through the Library stacks, eventually finding a central room that is well lit after Donna kicks in a door the Doctor couldn't open with his screwdriver. They find a floating secruity camera orb that shuts off and lands, which was conveying what it saw to the little girl. While Doctor Moon asks the little girl what she saw, she calls out in pain of the sound of the sonic screwdriver, which is being used by the Doctor to try reactivating the secruity camera. The Doctor compliments Donna on her "door skills" and she tells him with boyfriends, sometimes you need the element of surprise. Happily, the Doctor manages to turn the camera back on, causing the little girl synched to it to fall down in pain. Her words are conveyed onto the camera's screen, begging him to stop. After recovering from the Doctor's fiddling with the camera, the girl tells Doctor Moon "The library has been breached. Others are coming." He asks her what she means. Back in the Library, the girl's message is displayed on the camera. Curious, Donna asks a Node for help, but the Doctor tells her "It's barely more than an ask your weight machine. It can't help you." Asking why it has a face in the first place then, Donna is surprised by the Node responding it has the real face of a deceased man named Mark Chambers who donated it and that it was chose by the computer among the many others and actuallized personally for her. Horrified, Donna nearly backs into a shadow in the center of the room, but is stopped by the Doctor. Wondering why he stopped her, the Doctor repeats one of the first Node's wanrnings, "Count the shadows if you want to live." Donna counts it as the Doctor tells her that nothing is casting it because the sun is directly over head, meaning small shadows. The Doctor realizes something and goes into a rant about how he's so smart, he has trouble remember important things. Donna turn away breifly from the shadow she nearly stepped into. When she looks back, she see its gone. The Doctor calmly says they should retreat to the TARDIS because the shadow has vanished, but moved. The Node repeats its wanring about the Library being breached and the doors they came through are blown open as someone in a spacesuit along with five others in spacesuits walks towards them. This person untints their helmet visor. It's revealed to be a middle-aged woman with dark blonde hair. She greets the Doctor with "Hello Sweetie." The Doctor tries to get them to leave, but is ignored by the woman, who tells everyone to remove their helmets because the Doctor and Donna are breathing. Another of the group questions if they're androids, but has the thought dismissed because the woman as she dated androids and found them "rubbish". A bald man removes his helmet and addresses the woman as Professor Song, complaining that his group was supposed to be the only expidition to the Library. Song tells the man, named Mr Lux, that she lied and is always lying. The other four members remove their helmets, revealing two girls and two guys. The girls are named Ms. Angavelista and Anita, while the guys are Proper Dave and Other Dave. The Doctor moans, wondering if they're acheologists. Song asks him if he has a problem with archeologists and the Doctor tells her he's a time travel that points and laughs at archeologists because they get things wrong. Not fazed by this, Song introduces herself properly, "Professor River Song - archeologist". Professor Song explains that she and her team are there with Mr. Strackman Lux (whose family had built the Library) to learn why the Library has been sealed for the last one hundred years.
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. They confirm this by tossing a chicken leg into the darkness at the end of a row of shelves at its picked clean before hitting the ground. The team works to find a way out of the library because the Vashta Nerada are blocking their previous path out. However, Mr. Lux's assistant, Ms. Evangelista, wanders off and falls prey to the Vashta Nerada, her body eaten away in seconds, only manageing to alert evryone with a quick scream. The Doctor and Donna learn each of the exploration team 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, which Donna finds a terrible thing to happen to someone.
Professor Song's behaviour throughout is curious. First, she appears to know the Doctor quite well, though from some point in his own personal future. She also carries a diary that seems to be about the Doctor's life with a cover that looks like his TARDIS that she won't let him read to keep the timeline straight, and she possesses a more rugged version of the Doctor's Mark 6 sonic screwdriver, which she claims was a gift from the Doctor himself. Also, when the Doctor mentions Donna's name while trying to concentrait on finding hostile shadows, River knows Donna's surname and seems shocked that it's her. Donna asks where she is in this future where River knows the Doctor. River goes silent out of something from her past.
The young girl who dreams of the Library, meanwhile, sees the team through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into central room. Later, they appear on her television as the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers. 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. Dr. Moon, however, 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 "proper Dave" acquires an extra shadow made of Vashta Nerada. The Vashta Nerada have attached themselves to him, waiting for sudden movements to attack and feed. River turns the mesh density on the suits up by 800% to make the vitims tougher meals. The Doctor, through misdirection and impatiance teleports Donna back to the TARDIS with a teleport in the next room Gift Shop while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong in the teleport and Donna vanishes after materializing properly in the TARDIS. The Doctor attempts to save proper Dave after the Vashta Nerada seem to have left him, but Dave ask why the lights are out. The Doctor looks at his visor to see they've gotten into his suit. Dave panics and goes into a temporary spasm. The Doctor as if he's alright and Dave begins to repeat hsi last sentences, showing he's a Data Ghost. Wonder why Dave's suit hasn;t fallen, the Doctor inches closer until the hands of the suit latch onto his shoulders. River saves the Doctor by giving the suit an electric shock with her screwdriver. River uses a sonic blaster to make a hole in the wall, and they race away from the possessed suit. They run down a dead-end hallway as the suit approaches. The Doctor's screwdriver informs him of a teleport breach in the TARDIS and asks a Node if it can find Donna. Horrified, the Doctor looks at the Node to see Donna's face! It claims that Donna has left the Library and has been "saved", repeating it over and over as Proper Dave's suit appoaches.
Cast
- The Doctor - David Tennant
- Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
- River Song - Alex Kingston
- The Girl - Eve Newton
- Doctor Moon - Colin Salmon
- Strackman Lux - Steve Pemberton
- Proper Dave - Harry Peacock
- Other Dave - O-T Fagbenle
- Anita - Jessika Williams
- Miss Evangelista - Talulah Riley
- Jelivia Lux - Mark Dexter
- 710/aqua - Sarah Niles
- Node - Joshua Dallas
Crew
| Executive Producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner |
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| 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. |
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This episode won a prestigious Video Effects Society award for its digital matte paintings by Simon Wicker, Charlie Bennett, 2D artist Arianna Lago and the uncredited Tim Barter. It was the only visual effects award during the RTD era of Doctor Who, despite several nominations. |
References
Cultural references
- When he and Donna arrive at the Library, the Doctor makes reference to author Jeffrey Archer, the Bridget Jones franchise, and Monty Python's Big Red Book.
- 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 girl watches Pedro and Frankensheep on her television. When she changes channels (causing the books to fly around in the library) a brief snippet of dialogue from an episode of Ren and Stimpy can be heard.
- On the little Girl's wall are 2 Drawings: A blond and a wolf.
Locations
- River and the Doctor will/have shared a picnic at Asgard.
Races and species
- Vashta Nerada are said to exist on a billion worlds, including Earth, but mainly feed on road-kill.
Technology
- The Doctor notices (and says so) that River Song has a squareness gun.
- The Doctor receives a message from River Song on his psychic paper.
- The Doctor uses a teleport to attempt to send Donna to the TARDIS, but mentions that he could only do this for Donna as the TARDIS wouldn't recognise the others.
- The sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood. Some very strong signals and certain types of hairdryers can interfere with it.
Story notes
- Transmission of this episode was delayed by one week due to the Eurovision Song Contest, as was the case with the Series 3 gap between The Lazarus Experiment and 42.
- Russell T Davies feels this episode is more frightening than Steven Moffat's series 3 episode Blink, which rated a 5.5 out of 5 on the official Doctor Who website 'Fear Factor' feature.
- While the Doctor is hacking into The Girl's TV, she is watching the CBBC show Pedro and Frankesheep. Previous real-life kids shows whose clips have been shown on Doctor Who include The Doctor watching Tommy Zoom in The Poison Sky, The Master watching The Teletubbies in The Sound of Drums, and the Master (again) watching The Clangers in The Sea Devils.
- 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. In The Time of Angels River Song says she has pictures of all the Doctors. By "young" she may mean an earlier incarnation from what she is used to.
- There is, perhaps, unintentional irony to the Doctor's line, "No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring." Given that Saturdays are "good", according to The Stolen Earth, it could also be a reference to the fact that, to kids, the day after a new episode of Doctor Who is broadcast is comparatively boring. Former companion Ace also once mentioned that she found Sundays boring in Survival.
- This episode begins the Series 5 Story Arc.
- In NSA: Wetworld, the planet that he and Martha visited was called Sunday.
- The Library's front desk looks like a redecorated version of a control console from The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky or the teleport control unit from Voyage of the Damned.
- In the associated Doctor Who Confidential episode, Steven Moffat says that he imagined River found the gun (as left behind by Jack) in the TARDIS during her future travels.
Ratings
- Official BARB - 6.27 million viewers
Myths and rumours
- The mystery of River Song led to much online fan speculation over her identity. Possibilities cited ranged from River being an iteration of Bernice Summerfield (as the two share similar personalities and are both space archeologists) to a disguised Time Lord like Romana. A new hypothesis is that Amy Pond is River Song, but earlier within her own timeline. Additional ideas abound.
- Evangelista's last words have occasionally been misinterpreted as "I scream." On the official BBC subtitling, her final words are, "I... Ice cream. Ice cream." Which is in keeping with her (initially) childlike demeanour.
Filming locations
Studio
- Upper Boat Studios, Trefforest
Location
- 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
- 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.
- When the Doctor and group are talking to the little girl on her TV you can see them all standing around the console but when the shot pulls back and they all back away from the console you can see that half of them have changed positions. Mr Lux, Proper Dave, Anita and Miss Evangelista have all changed from their positions seen on the TV to when you cut to the group. Also Donna who is clearly close to the Doctor's right is not shown leaning to look into the console but jumps back like everyone else as if she had been looking into it.
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/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.
- The Doctor once again expresses his affinity for little gift shops of the type found in museums and hospitals, having mentioned them in DW: Smith and Jones and DW: New Earth.
- The previous episode ended with the Doctor showing a traditional paper-bound book dating from the far future, a thematic lead-in to this visit to the library (although dialogue indicates that he and Donna were originally travelling elsewhere).
- River Song, although she never confirms it, appears to know about Donna's memory loss in DW: Journey's End.
- The story also has considerable commonality with a Fifth Doctor illustrated text story, "Catalogue of Events", from the 1983 Doctor Who Magazine Special.
- When River Song goes through her diary to check wherabouts the Doctor is in his timeline, she mentions "The Crash of the Byzantium" (DW: The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone). Later, she claims to have gone "to the end of the universe" with him. (DW: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang) A picnic at Asgard is mentioned, but it is unclear if this is the same as the picnic in Utah or not. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
Timeline
- (For the Doctor and Donna) This story takes place after DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp
- (For River Song) This story takes place after DW: Flesh and Stone
- This story takes place before DW: Forest of the Dead
Home video releases
- Released in the Series 4 DVD boxset in November 2008 along with the rest of the Series.
- Released as Series 4 Volume 3 in a vanilla edition alongside Forest of the Dead and Midnight.
See also
to be added
