Silence in the Library

"A million, million life forms. And silence in the Library."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 31st May 2008

Series: 4.08

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna, River

Synopsis 

The Tenth Doctor takes Donna Noble to a planet-sized library in the 51st century. They find it empty of human life, with countless other living beings. An information kiosk warns them to "count the shadows". An archaeological expedition arrives, lead by the mysterious Professor River Song, who brings the cryptic last message sent from the library. "4022 saved, no survivors".

Verdict 

Silence in the Library is a brilliant episode and an excellent start to this two parter story but it's also the beginning of something extraordinary. The relationship between the Doctor and River Song, for us as the viewer and the Doctor himself, begins here and what a wonderful adventure we were taken on over the seven years of stories that we had with River popping up. Of course, there's since been the release of The Diary of River Song boxset where the Eighth Doctor was actually aided by his future wife, but even here the Doctor is so young to River. Having watched every episode with her in, as well as listening to her audio spinoff series, and having the memory of The Husbands of River Song still fresh in my mind despite it airing over three months ago now, I thought it was about time I gave my blogged verdict on this story. And it starts brilliantly. I hadn't   watched this episode in roughly three years before today and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the elements I had forgotten about. It took a lot longer for River to enter the scene than I remembered and I thought that was really good in establishing the setting. I thought the girl, as she was credited, along with Dr Moon was superb and the connection between them and the Library was mightily intriguing. Getting to the moments we saw pre-titles didn't take long which was good and I loved what we saw take place. The Doctor and Donna arriving at the Library, which was a whole planet, had to be more than a little day trip and that certainly was the case as the Doctor had received a message on the psychic paper from what would turn out to be River. I loved how she tried to pinpoint where in their lives this meeting was but she would learn that this was the first time the Doctor had met her. The look in her eyes suggested that it may just kill her. The foreshadowing of The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone was a sublime inclusion as well. David Tennant was outstanding as the Tenth Doctor here and I really do think this is one of his best performances as our heroic Time Lord. Catherine Tate seemed to be a bit overshadowed as Donna but that's more than okay as Alex Kingston's River shines in her debut story. She really is magical and immediately the chemistry she sparks with the Doctor is phenomenal. The whole 'pretty boy' thing was excellent and the start of what will become familiar 'spoilers' was wonderful. It doesn't matter which face the Doctor has, he's always magnificent around River. The pair are superb and despite the latest episode to feature River confirming the end to her run on television, I can't wait for her second batch of audio adventures next year. The Doctor's reaction to archaeologists was quite humorous although I thought the assembled team were really good. Lux and his family history with the Library is obviously going to play a big part in the second episode but the rest just seem to have been included to die at the hands of the Vashta Nerada. The concept of this enemy is another brilliant one by Steven Moffat and I still wouldn't rule out a return one day. Miss Evangelista's death was a sad one but she was merely the first. Proper Dave followed suit with a double shadow and the whole theme surrounding shadows was magnificent throughout. Moffat really knows how to play to the audience's fears. The Doctor's reaction to River having a screwdriver was even more superb having watched the Twelfth Doctor gift wrap it for her. The cliffhanger really was good as well with the Doctor thinking he was keeping Donna safe but just jeopardised her wellbeing. She became something she was horrified by and to add to that, the Vashta Nerada were looming. Overall, a fantastic first episode to what is sure to be a great story!