Silence in the Library

Silence in the Library seems to be a favourite story amongst fans. It introduced the endlessly likeable, enigmatic River Song, featured the terrifying Vatsha Nerada, and sets up future plot-points explored more in the Moffat era as showrunner.

Now, this episode is really, really good - I was heavily tempted to give it a 9, but I feel it pales in comparison to part 2, which fully fleshs out and explores the interesting concepts which part 1 just sets-up. River Song became more interesting in part 2, and the Vatsha Nerada became more of an active threat, but here, we're mostly building up to the ending cliffhanger, which is amazing, but it's part 2 that gets into the really meat of the story.

That said, this is still great. Catherine Tate and Alex Kingston steal the show, and, as mentioned, the cliffhanger is built up so well, and delivers such a punch in the gut, that it makes some of the more meandering sections feel worth it. And the Vatsha Nerada are legitimately really creepy, and it boasts some unexpectedly touching Donna momments.

This is a really good episode, but Part 1 is a little overrated, with part 2 over-shadowing it so much that it looses some of its original magic. Some other two-parters - like the Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit, The Stolen Earth / Journey's End, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, or even the far less great Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel - have both parts on an equal level of quality, but here, one is great, while the other is fantastic.

I'll say it again, this is great, but not my absolute favourite. 8/10.

I'll save my full blown review when the story is complete but as usual Moffat and Doctor Who never disappoints especially with this chiller of an episode providing us with a slew of iconic imagery to go with the already bursting array of memorable moments which this show is notorious for providing.

The first part provides so much beautiful setup for what could be an incredibly striking second part.

We're just gonna have to get used to this when Moffat takes over in 2010.

Bring on Forest of the Dead

Yes, another excellent story from the ever-inventive brain of Steven Moffat - Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead proves that you can have intelligent science fiction that appeals to the whole family AND which makes you think. No dumbing down required, just a great story, great script and some characters who you really care about. What more could you ask for? My only slight disappointment was with the direction - Euros Lyn is a very fine director but I don't feel that his style suited this kind of story - I would have chosen someone like Hettie MacDonald (director of the excellent 'Blink'), Alice Troughton or perhaps Charles Palmer as they all have the ability to direct 'dark and creepy' stories. Okay, so Euros directed the successful 'The Unquiet Dead' series 1 story, but he was helped a lot by it being set in the rather dark and moody Victorian times.

Anyhow, an excellent two parter nonetheless. Here's hoping that we see more like this in series 5 when Steven Moffat takes over as the show runner.

I suppose comparisons between this episode (and its follow up, Forest of the Dead - it's hard to review them separately, so most of my comments here apply to the two as a combined story) and Blink are inevitable given that they're both written by Steven Moffatt, both excellent, and both scary as hell. Even the beginning fragmentary warning "If you want to live, count the shadows" is a bit reminiscent of Blink's "Don't blink, or you're dead".

However, given that Blink tends to be pretty widely regarded as the best Doctor Who episode ever, there are far less promising ways to start a new one than evoking it. And overall, Silence/Forest doesn't come across as derivative at all. Both of them are very fast-paced and alternately terrifying, tragic, touching and funny, but beyond that the themes are very different. This story is a lot more complex and thought-provoking, packing in enough really interesting ideas and twists that even spread across two episodes, it keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat and never drags at all. It also includes some really top-notch performances from some of the cast, particularly in Forest of the Dead.

All in all, one of the best episodes (or pairs thereof) yet, and good reason to look forward to Moffatt taking over the series in 2010.

Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead

This is a two part story which is one of my all time top 10 Doctor Who TV stories. It is absolutely superb in every way. It also introduces a main character, River Song, who would go on to be very important in the whole Doctor Who universe.

Alex Kingston is an excellent actress who portrays River to perfection. The character is a strong, intelligent and interesting female character who adds a lot of quality. In this two parter she is completely mysterious and adds huge interest as a result.

River is a fantastic character for this story and when Steven Moffatt who wrote this wonderful two parter took over as Showrunner he went on to use River in repeated appearances which continued to be in a non-chronological order and maintained the mystery before finally revealing her back story. That back story is hugely problematic for me to be honest but that has no impact thankfully on this two parter and she is just a tremendous guest character here adding great mystery.

The rest of the guest characters are fun and interesting whilst Catherine Tate puts in an awesome performance with Donna at her peak of brilliance as a top companion.

Tennant is also at the peak of his excellence as the Doctor and the whole story with the little girl and the library is clever, entertaining and ultimately logical.

There are exciting thrills, moving scenes of touching drama as well as intelligent dialogue and witty humour. The scenes in Forest of the Dead where Donna faces up to reality and the loss of her 'children' is heartbreaking. This is top notch Doctor Who.

The Vashta Nerada are a fantastically menacing alien threat and the skeletons in space suits are a cool aspect.

Overall this is basically as good as it gets. Russell T. Davies in charge brings the best out of Steven Moffatt. As showrunner I felt Moffatt often let his ideas and enthusiasm go a bit over the top but when assigned a writing job by RTD with boundaries nobody is better than Moffatt.

Euros Lyn directs perfectly and both episodes are utterly iconic Doctor Who classics. Incredibly this amazing standard would continue right through the rest of Series 4, lifting it to be my favourite series of the modern era of the show.

My Rating for both episodes: 10/10.