An Hour of Who a Day: 03/21/15

March 21: "Silence in the Library"

(In the interest of disclosure, it should be noted that "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" is the story I wrote about for Outside In vol. 2 -- the only wrinkle being that, as of the time of writing, that book's not actually out yet (should be later this year!). Still, like Terror of the Zygons, I'll do my best not to cover the same ground here as in that, but some similarities will inevitably occur. So, with that said...)

This starts with, seemingly, two storylines. The first involves a little girl (apparently in contemporary times, judging from the technology and surroundings) who imagines a giant library that she can explore -- only for the Doctor and Donna to suddenly appear inside her dreams. The second involves the Doctor and Donna heading to a planet-sized library at the behest of a mysterious note on the psychic paper, only to find the place completely abandoned. It's not immediately clear what the little girl's doing in this story (although the part with Doctor Moon near the end -- "The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are real; the Library is real" -- is a good clue), and, intriguingly, it isn't laid out for us immediately at the start. (Compare with, say, "The Doctor's Daughter", and note the difference.) This is a good move.

This episode is also really good at creating a creepy mood. We've had some creepy moods in Steven Moffat's previous efforts, but this one is wonderfully effective, as the Doctor explains to us reasons to be afraid of the dark beyond the "you can't tell what's hiding in the shadows" one -- it's not just what's concealed in the shadows, it's the shadows themselves. The Vashta Nerada -- literally (albeit in an unknown language) "the shadows that melt the flesh" -- lurk in the shadows and allegedly can be seen as dust motes in sunbeams. (Though presumably not all dust motes are Vashta Nerada.) It's a creepy idea that lends a nice sense of dread to the proceedings, as characters try not to have their shadows touch and an extra shadow means you're marked for death. (Creepy and easy to realize. Nice work, Moffat.) We also get some creepiness with the data ghosts, after Miss Evangelista is killed by the Vashta Nerada. Plus it gives us another catchphrase to scare people with: "Hey, who turned out the lights?"

Of course, I'm dancing around the big event in this episode: the introduction of Professor River Song. It's a really nice idea, having someone meet the Doctor out of sequence for him (i.e., from his future), that's somewhat surprisingly only really been explored once before, in 1989's Battlefield. It's used very effectively here, in the way that River is so comfortable with the Doctor and affectionate toward him, and the scene between the two where River tries to work out where they each are in their relationship, only to learn that this is the first time the Doctor has ever seen River, is really nice. "He hasn't met me yet," she tells Donna later. "I sent him a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me. And he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does." It's a great conceit that also serves a practical purpose: it means the expedition is willing to listen to the Doctor without too many "why should we pay any attention to you?" speeches.

So, a great start to this two-part story, with a creepy monster, a cool location (although, that said... there were only 4022 people in a planet-sized library the day it sealed itself off?), and a fascinating figure from the Doctor's future. So far this looks like another winner from Steven Moffat.

(Oh, and nice move in the "next time" trailer, not showing us any scenes with Donna after she's apparently "saved" by the little girl.)