Talk:Forest of the Dead (TV story)

Addressing Rumors
these are lots of rumours! where do they all come from?


 * It has been rumored, variously, that River Song is a future mutation of Jack Harkness, The TARDIS in humanoid form, The Rani, or a regeneration of Romana. All of these are unlikely as River Song as stated repeatedly that the Doctor hasn't met her yet and that she knows the Doctor in his personal future. This cannot be allied to Jack, the Rani or even the TARDIS.Wild speculation
 * Other rumors state that River Song is a future companion of the Doctor who the audience have not met until this two-parter. This is not a rumor since River herself says she travels with the Doctor further in his personal time line. Makes sense
 * While not a rumor, it can be assumed River Song became a companion during the Tenth Doctor's tenure, since she recognized that incarnation of the Doctor as well as having knowledge of Donna and her own Sonic Screwdriver. She also has a Sonic Blaster, indicating she may have met Jack Harkness (Or that the Sonic Blaster factory has not yet been destroyed by the Ninth Doctor during Forest of the Dead's setting date - 51st Century) agan, makes sense
 * Rose Tyler may be seen in one of the library's books. This would explain how Donna somehow knows that Rose is returning. This is very unlikely as Donna is trapped at the end of the last episode and is likely to take most of the episode to save her. The trailer was referring to a later episode. Makes Sense
 * It is suggested that The Girl is CAL, the library index computer's AI. This is likely true as she seems to be able to control library systems unconsciously. Makes Sense
 * The Doctor is stunned by something River Song whispers in his ear.  Truth, his name
 * The episode will begin by River using the sonic blaster to create a hole in the wall to escape. Reasonable assumption 
 * The Doctor allows himself to be "saved" to visit The Girl. Probable, the Doctor is seen falling through a tunnel of light in the trailer (a probable transition effect for entering the digital reality), however his destination is unknown. Reasonable assumption based on the trailer
 * Donna's physical body has been somehow digitized and saved into the index hard drive, along with the 4022 people. "Saved" in the computer's message is used in the context of a computer file, not meaning "rescued." Very possible, the second node seems to imply that the there is some kind of corporeal database that the node-faces are stored in. logical
 * The Doctor reads his future in the book to find the way he escapes the Vastha Nerada which resolves the cliff hanger (This creates a loop in time which means none of the events happened!) This may be likely since the trailer for the concluding episode shows the Doctor confronting River Song about her connection to his future self. Speculation
 * The Vastha Nerada aren't defeated but the Doctor manages to seal off the planet. However, as the archeologist's ship leaves, a shadow is seen moving along its wing; signifying the Nerada's escape from the library for use in later episodes. Speculation
 * River Song may end up dying or through the Doctor's actions, her future with him will be neutralized. Unlikely as no main characters in Doctor Who have ever been killed on screen, since it's intended as a children's program. (Minor characters have been killed on screen, though; however, such characters are commonly ones viewers expect to die) It is possible for a main charecter to die as many have died in the past such as Adric 'Speculation

Does that help? Slacker1989 14:31, 4 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Figured I'd give these an update now that we have answers to most:
 * 1st point: In theory not completely ruled out, but seems highly unlikely
 * 2nd point: Seems basically confirmed now
 * 3rd: We now know she didn't meet the 10th Doctor again, but recognized him because she has pictures of his incarnations.
 * 4th: Proven false
 * 5th: Confirmed
 * 8th: Proven false
 * 9th: Confirmed
 * 10th: Proven false
 * 11th: Half true, there was no hint that the Vashta Nerada left the planet as well
 * 12th: Half true, she dies, but their future's intact
 * TweedJacket 04:09, May 20, 2010 (UTC)

Incidental music
Anyone know what the music was overplaying the final moments of this episode - sounded Jarvis Cockerish..... 82.0.164.237 21:15, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Screwdriver paradox
Why was screwdriver paradox removed? I couldn't find any explanation as to what happened with the many screwdrivers in that episode, did I miss something obvious? --213.52.212.129 09:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

River the only one who knows the Doctor's name?
Dosen't reinnette know the Doctor's name when she read his mind. I'm going to change where it says River is the only one. Any one who has any objection plz feel free to put the reason here. ---Si Iway amway Ichamousacoricothingmabobsay. http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/e/e4/Si_HTL_Seal_Leader.PNG 21:48, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I was just thinking the other day, are we really sure that the name whispered was the Doctor's name? Is there any possibility whatsoever that it could be Romana or Susan? Or perhaps some other Time Lord I'm not thinking of? This might be a stretch but back in 'Tomb of the Cybermen' the Doctor explained that he didn't think of the people he lost most of the time so it stands to reason that the only way River would know Romana's name (for example) is if at some point together the two of them met her. One time and one place where she could know that name? Gallifrey before the Time War? Pure speculation but I'm wondering if it holds any water.


 * It seems likely that it was his name, since there's not really "only one time" he could mention Susan, Romana, et al. As far as Reinette, unless I'm recalling wrong, she could tell that his real name was hidden, but I don't think it's established that she could see what it was. With the Doctor's mental strength and the fact that he holds his name as such an intense secret, it's very likely she wouldn't be able to learn it. TweedJacket 04:09, May 20, 2010 (UTC)

The Matrix reference
When the Doctor discovers that 4,022 people were saved to the hard drive, he talks about how it's driving the computer mad. He says something like "All those voices chatting away in her head, taking up space. That'd be like, well, like me."

A reference to the Matrix being saved in the Doctor's head, an ultimate way to restore the Time Lords?

Seems possible since this was a Moffat episode and he's taking over. It'd be likely he'd want to seed things early on.

What River Whispered?
What she whispered only seemed to be a few sylables so maybe she whispered "The Other" because it seems the Doctor is a re-loomed version of the Other and no human would know of a importent person in time lord history would they?Berfomet 01:05, May 20, 2010 (UTC)

She wispered his name:)

86.131.31.218 17:25, June 11, 2010 (UTC)

Her Death
Since it's been shown that River is indeed a half-time lord, when how come she didn't regenerate? (obviously the story never planned for that) 94.14.243.72 17:19, June 9, 2011 (UTC)

A couple of possibilities suggest themselves. The simplest is that since Time Lords have a finite number of regenerations, it's possible that River had already used her limit (which as a partial Time Lord may only have been one). 58.110.182.64 11:33, August 13, 2011 (UTC)

Both her hearts, if she had regenerated and gained the two hearts of a time lord, had been burned out, which prevents regeneration. She specifcally stated this would have killed the doctor, so it is safe to assume it would have killed any time lord, or partial time lord.