"Doctor Who" Silence in the Library (2008)

Director:

Euros Lyn

Writer:

Steven Moffat (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (2005)

Original Air Date:

31 May 2008 (Season 4, Episode 8)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Doctor and Donna join a group of archaeologists at a 51st century library. What caused the library to become abandoned...

Plot Keywords:

Abandoned Library | Alien | Time Lord | Tardis | Companion

Cast

David Tennant	...	The Doctor
Catherine Tate	...	Donna Noble
Alex Kingston	...	Professor River Song
Colin Salmon	...	Dr. Moon
Eve Newton	...	The Girl
Mark Dexter	...	Dad
Sarah Niles	...	Node 1
Joshua Dallas	...	Node 2
Jessika Williams	...	Anita
Steve Pemberton	...	Strackman Lux
Talulah Riley	...	Miss Evangelista
O.T. Fagbenle	...	Other Dave (as O-T Fagbenle)
Harry Peacock	...	Proper Dave

Runtime:

43 min | 45 min (50 episodes)

Certification:

UK:12 (DVD rating)

Company:

BBC Wales

Trivia:

According to Steven Moffat, the squareness gun used by Professor River Song to help the party escape from the impending Vashta Nerada is intended to be the same sonic blaster that was used by Jack Harkness in the episode "Doctor Who: The Doctor Dances (#1.10)" (2005). Moffat suggests that it was left in the TARDIS after "Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways (#1.13)" (2005), and taken by River Song in the Doctor's future. The name "squareness gun" was coined by Rose in the earlier episode.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the girl is killed, we see her communicator as her "ghost" slowly fades. In one shot we see from a slight distance the lights left lit tick down to 3, then a short while passes, we cut back and the lights are back to 4. They then tick down to 3 again.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Node 3: Donna Noble has left The Library. Donna Noble has been saved.

Movie Connections:

Features "Pedro and Frankensheep" (2008)

Hey A Decent Black Actor In The Show ! I'm Nostalgic Already

As I write this there's a continuing rumour that Paterson Joseph will be the first black doctor . I can't help being very edgy by this news since there's no way he's the best actor for the role . In fact there's no way he's even the best black actor for the eponymous role . In the highly unlikely event of Eamon Walker being offered then there's surely only one other contender and that is Colin Salmon who plays the role of the paediatric psychiatrist here and as an actor he possess range , presence and a intriguing alien quality . Now imagine the director had cast Joseph in Salmon's role ? It wouldn't have been an improvement at all

As for the rest of the episode it's Moffat scripted which means it's a very acquired taste . Like much of his previous work on the show there's not much much happening plot wise , there's a catch phrase ( In this case " Who put the lights out ? " ) and being a two part story he has managed to write a fairly good cliffhanger as he did with The Empty Child . However when all is said and done he's no genius and one can't help thinking he has his own very different vision for the show from Russell T Davies . Say what you like about RTD but he's a populist writer and producer where as Moffat is much more esoteric . One wonders if this is where the phenomenal success of Nu-Who started to end ?