Forest of the Dead

"Don't let your shadows cross..."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 7th June 2008

Series: 4.09

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna, River

Synopsis 

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?

Verdict 

Forest of the Dead was an excellent conclusion to the story already started in Silence in the Library. The story was already sublime and it just excelled here with a fantastic conclusion. This was more action packed than its opening episode and I thought the blend between the two was perfect. The story as a whole was pretty much perfect to be honest. Steven Moffat creates an enemy that we only see by them devouring a chicken drumstick and yet they are one of the most memorable monsters since the series was revived in 2005! I think that's testament to him as a writer and it's simply no secret that he is brilliant and that's exactly why he has been showrunner since 2010. Watching back for the first time in quite a while, I found that this story had a lot of similarities to Listen with the atmosphere and the invisibility of the monster really catching my eye and remind me of that Series 8 episode. This episode fitted perfectly with The Husbands of River Song and at the time we could be forgiven for thinking that the "new haircut" line was intended for the Eleventh Doctor, but over 7 years after it was broadcast that line became so significant as River met the unprecedented Twelfth Doctor, who was actually in his fourteenth incarnation. That line really put a smile on my face and it's quite amazing that with all the plot threads and timey wimey stuff over the Eleventh Doctor's tenure, especially that which involved River, nothing that occurred here was contradicted. And it really wasn't. This is the first time we meet River and she bloody dies! That's typical Steven Moffat but I absolutely love it. He's a genius. Everything just fitted across the entire out of sequence storyline and that takes some doing as a writer. The moment River gained the trust of the Doctor was phenomenal and I thought David Tennant was simply brilliant. I mean, he usually is but there was added emotion here and that's the fact that what River told him was his own name. The fact somebody else knew it must have been incredible to the Doctor and he immediately trusted his future self and trusted River without question. I think it's a shame we never saw River with the Tenth Doctor again but of course it's very possible that we could see it in an audio or a novel at some point. Although, I think sticking to Doctors she hasn't met as seen in The Rulers of the Universe is the way to go. It worked well with the Eighth Doctor and I think it will work equally as well with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors in the second series of The Diary of River Song. Donna was more prominent in this episode which I liked and the connection between Cal, Dr Moon and the saving of 4022 people was superb. Again, it was so typically Steven Moffat and it was simply brilliant. Donna was living a dream out and everything around her was virtual reality. The deaths of Other Dave and Anita were good with the latter particularly standing out as en example of the evil intentions of the Vashta Nerada and something that really annoyed the Doctor. This made him angry and kicked him right into action. The story advanced very well from that point and I loved that the Doctor was prepared to kill himself to save the 4022 people who were uploaded to the Library hard drive. River was not prepared to let that happen though as her past would be rewritten, and she couldn't allow that. Her sacrifice was courageous and we knew that when we saw her again she was an incredible character. The Doctor knowing how she died all along is quite a burden to live with but he dealt with it well. But he wasn't quite done with striking a deal with the Vashta Nerada, he wanted to save River after death and through the help of his future self he did just that due to the sonic screwdriver and used it to save and upload her consciousness to the hard drive. The Doctor not giving in to reading his future adventures was interesting but I think he was always going to go with that option. Overall, a brilliant episode to conclude an incredible story!

Rating: 10/10