The Doctor and Donna find the largest library in the universe is mysteriously deserted.
Silence in the Library marks the beginning of the end. As the fourth season of Doctor Who reaches its climax, whatever happens in this episode will (or should) lead up to the long awaited season finale. As such, casual viewers and fans alike should not have been disappointed with this, the first episode of a two parter. The new buzz words, to be seen on T-shirts throughout the land very soon are, I am sure, “The Lights Are Going Out”.
The pre-opening credit sequence certainly caught the attention and the imagination. Rather than seeing the action from the usual perspective of the Doctor and Donna we see a small and frightened girl in a huge library. She hears noises and then the doors to the room that is seemingly preserving her safety, are rammed in by an unknown force. The force turns out to be the Doctor and his companion (who is turning out to be useful in the muscle department as well as the "keeping the Timelord in check" one).
The episode is written by Steven Moffat, who will be replacing Russell T Davis as omnipotent, omniscient controller of the series for season five and as such bears many of the hallmarks we have come to expect from one of his stories. To begin with, the plot was tightly paced and well written with enough questions to keep the viewer (and the characters) guessing. The exchange between the Doctor and Donna about spoilers was particularly enjoyable. It is the bane of the script writer that fans (or should that be obsessives) will spill the beans about episodes before they are aired and this discussion was a sly dig at those! A nice touch, but will the Doctor be able to resist reading the spoilers about his own life?
Moffat has become infamous for taking everyday objects and turning them in to something quite horribly scary for the younger viewers. In previous episodes he has taken objects as everyday and harmless as telephones and statues and created things that people under a certain height and age will shudder at as they pass. Very much one of the essences of the old TV series (particularly the Pertwee years) this has become something that I look forward to with a Moffat penned script.
He certainly didn't let us down during the running time of “Silence in the Library”. To begin with, the idea of shadows being an alien entity that can strip a human to the bones in seconds is wonderful. It should have the little ones begging for the night lights for the next few weeks (even though that would, I expect, create more shadows). I imagine if the much aligned campaigner for clean TV, Mary Whitehouse, was still alive, this episode would have elicited a letter to the Director General at the very least. Moffat does not hold back there, however. To his great shame, he has probably irrevocably damaged any future hopes we had for a fully literate nation. With a generation of under tens now reduced to gibbering wrecks when accompanied by their teachers or parents to the local library to browse for - then read - books, this reviewer has little hope that the UK will produce the next Shakespeare (or even the next Jeffrey Archer).
Joking aside, the idea of a haunted library isn't new - neither is one that encapsulates a whole planet. However, the plot line of the episode felt new because of the new spin put on these old ideas. As if shadows and haunted libraries were not enough, Moffat came up with a particularly spooky idea that I am sure had the nation producing a collective groan of “that is so unpleasant”. This was the idea of the Data Ghosts. The computer in the space suits of the archaeologists was able to retain a digital footprint of their occupant for a period of time after death. This meant that when the first of the characters met their grisly end, her essence was retained in her space suit for several minutes afterwards. Unaware that she was dead, she pleaded with the others to turn the lights back on.
Donna stepped in to ease her passage to death. This represented yet another trauma for Ms Noble and not the last of this episode. The poor thing spends so much time producing sympathetic tears that I am starting to worry for her sanity. Rose and Martha may have ended up psychologically scarred by their adventures with the gallant Gallifreyan but they had the robustness of youth on their side to help them recover. It would be no surprise to see Donna Noble consigned to the “Loony Bin at the End of the Universe” by the end of episode thirteen.
The supporting cast did what they could with the underwritten roles they were given. Alex Kingston was particularly watchable (in a slightly stomach turning way) as the annoying, flamboyant and cat that got the cream companion of the future, Professor River Song. Anyone who crossed their fingers and prayed when Donna Noble joined the Tardis must be setting up the anti-River Song Facebook pages as you read this. This reviewer has all fingers and toes crossed in the hope that the smug, cleverer than thou, soon to be killed (hopefully) character does not turn out to be the Doctor's spouse or something equally offensive to those who view the lead role as essentially "single". Please, not his wife; that would be like having to endure Cliff Richard's nuptials.
The production was, as we expect, of a superb standard and the CGIs of the library were breathtaking. The instrumental music was at one moment excellent, the next it was so jolly that I was fully expecting some of the characters to break out in to song. Whether this was done in an attempt to make the episode less scary, it was one of the few flaws in an otherwise excellent episode. Certainly, a week seems like a long time to wait to discover what happens and to find out how the Doctor disappears to enable this season's “Doctor-lite” adventure to trundle on to our screens.
