Silence in the Library 

The Doctor and Donna join a group of archaeologists at a 51st century library. What caused the library to become abandoned? What are the Nodes? And what links the library to one little girl... See full summary »

Director:

Euros Lyn

Writer:

Steven Moffat

Stars:

David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Alex Kingston

Cast

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

Storyline

The Doctor and Donna join a group of archaeologists at a 51st century library. What caused the library to become abandoned? What are the Nodes? And what links the library to one little girl? All they have is one warning - count the shadows.

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Plot Keywords:

shadow | library planet | skeleton in a spacesuit | vashta nerada | doctor who | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [UK]

Release Date:

20 June 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Wales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min 45 min (50 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Did You Know?

Trivia

The 51st century keyboards in The Library are early 21st century Apple keyboards inset to the kiosks, both regular and extended, UK models, with some distressing. Each kiosk has one of each.

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Goofs

When the Doctor and Donna are running down the corridor with the lights that are switching off, and Donna kicks open the door, you can plainly see that when they relax, there is still a crack of light coming through the door, indicating that there was no need to run in the first place.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dr. Moon: Close your eyes and tell me what you see.
The Girl: [fade in to POV of drifting outside and above] The Library.
[the Girl looks down, sees herself suspended in the air, drifting above The Library]
Dr. Moon: Open your eyes again. Where are you now.
The Girl: [as if this is obvious] My living room, Dr. Moon.
Dr. Moon: When you close your eyes...?
The Girl: [finishing] I go to The Library.
Dr. Moon: [we see Dad seated behind Dr. Moon's right, concerned] Go to The Library now.
[...]

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Connections

References Forbidden Planet (1956)

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Soundtracks

Doctor Who Closing Credits
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

User Reviews

Frighteningly good

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.