Silence in the Library (TV story)

Silence In The Library is Episode 8 of Series 4 of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
One hundred years ago, the universe's greatest library was sealed off, leaving only one warning: "Count the shadows". But now, the shadows are moving again. The Doctor and Donna must uncover the terrible truth behind the Nodes and the horrifying Data Ghost, to find the library's secret, and on the way they try to avoid the Vashta Nerada, piranhas of the air, shadows that melt the flesh.

Plot
A little girl seems to be going through a thereputic session with psychologist named Dr. Moon. She reveals that she has a Library, a whole world, which she sees whenever she closes her eyes. She is interrupted by the Doctor and Donna, who had landed on the planet earlier only to have found the world abandoned. The Library is a world, with every every written, powered by the most powerful computer ever. The Doctor recieved a distress call on his psychic paper, but cannot understand why. Although the Doctor had found 1 Million, Million lifeforms on the planet, it appears to be empty. After hearing an eerie message on a Node (a computer with a human's donated face), telling them to run from the shadows, they later have to run from lights that had suddenly started shutting off and come across an orb, seemingly controlled by the girl shown in the beginning.

The Doctor and Donna arrive in the 51st century at a planet-sized book repository simply called "The Library" due to some unknown request for help on the Doctor's psychic paper. However, they find it completely devoid of humanoid life, though the Library's computers claim over "a million million lifeforms" exist. They find a Node, a statue with a strangely realistic human face, that warns them of the shadows, and the Doctor quickly urges Donna to race through the Library stacks as the lights go out behind them, leading them to a central room that is well lit. As they try to figure out more about the warning about the shadows, a team of explorers, led by archeologist Professor River Song, enter the room. Prof. Song explains that she is there with Mr. Strackman Lux, whose family had built the Library, and is there to learn why the Library was sealed for the last one hundred years.

The Doctor quickly organizes the team to make sure the area is well lit as he explains that the shadows are occupied by the Vashta Nerada, microscopic carnivorous creatures that use shadows to hunt and latch onto their prey. The team works to find a way out of the library. However, Mr. Lux's assistant, Ms. Evangelista, wanders off and falls prey to the Vashta Nerada, her body eaten away in seconds. The Doctor and Donna learn that the exploration team each wears a communication device which has a glitch called "Data Ghosting" where a copy of a person's consciousness is temporarily held within it for a short time after death, allowing them to communicate briefly with the living.

Throughout their investigation, there are three additional mysteries that develop. First, Dr. Song appears to know the Doctor, though from some point in his own personal future. She carries a diary that seems to be about the Doctor's life with a cover that looks like his TARDIS, and she possesses a more rugged version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, but refuses to reveal the future to the Doctor for fear of "spoilers". Second, the Library's operations seem to be tied to the imagination of a 21st century young girl, as if she were the world's supercomputer but had just forgotten it, she sees them through the eyes of a security camera when they first break into central room, they appear on her television as the Doctor attempts to hack the Library computers, and when she fiddles with the television's remote, she causes events to occur in the Library. The girl is under observation from Dr. Moon, a child psychologist, at the request of her dad, but Dr. Moon appears to have significant knowledge of the situation of the Doctor, Donna, and the exploration team. He reveals that her reality is an illusion, that her nightmares are reality, and that only she can save all the people trapped in the Library. The final mystery appears to be the word "CAL" that appears at times on the Library screens, the Doctor wondering who or what that means.

The team's investigation is interrupted when the pilot Dave becomes latched to a shadow of Vashta Nerada, and though the Doctor attempts to save him, he is quickly eaten away, the organisms taking control of his suit. Dave's Data Ghost echoes his last throughts as the suit approaches the rest of the team. The Doctor attempts to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS while he leads the rest of the team to safety, but something goes wrong in the teleport and Donna fails to materialize properly. As the team races away from the possessed suit, the Doctor is horrified to find a Node with Donna's face on it, which claims that Donna has left the Library and has been "saved". A statement the little girl is seen saying earlier.

The show ends in a cliffhanger as the Doctor is forced to leave the Node behind, and run with the team from the approaching Vashta Nerada.

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Donna Noble - Catherine Tate
 * River Song - Alex Kingston
 * The Girl - Eve Newton
 * Doctor Moon - Colin Salmon
 * Strackman Lux - Steve Pemberton
 * Proper Dave - Harry Peacock
 * Other Dave - O-T Fagbenle
 * Anita - Jessika Williams
 * Miss Evangelista - Talulah Riley

Production crew
to be added

Story notes

 * Transmission of this episode will be delayed one week by the Eurovision Song Contest, as was the case last year with a gap between The Lazarus Experiment and 42.
 * According to Russel T. Davies this episode is more frightening than Steven Moffat's terrifying series 3 episode Blink, which rated a 5.5 out of 5 on the the offical Doctor Who website 'Fear Factor' feature.
 * Professor River's Sonic Screwdriver fires a ray similar to the one produced by Captain Jack Harkness's sonic blaster. (DW: The Doctor Dances). This may be a deliberate reference that will be explained in Forest of the Dead.
 * While the Doctor is hacking into Eve's tv she is watching the CBBC show Pedro and Frankesheep which makes it the second time this series someone has been watching a real-life kids show after The Doctor watching Tommy Zoom in The Poison Sky and the third since the series revival.
 * Professor River Song mentions having "been to the End of the Universe" with the Doctor

Cast Notes

 * Steve Pemberton is the second of the League of Gentlemen to appear in Doctor Who, the other being Mark Gatiss who appeared in The Lazarus Experiment as Richard Lazarus.

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Rumors
to be added

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * When standing on the balcony upon entrance, The Doctor remarks on how, being near the equator, they must be in or near the Biography section, though when the screen pans down, a Traffic sign can bee seen with a marking to the left(an arrow, though this could be another reference to Turn Left) with the Words "Xeno Biology". What? So the doctor can't be misinformed? Biology - Biography, same words really. Going on what was implied to the layout of the library the doctor is in the area of bio- nonfiction which judging by the sign is split into buildings for each topic.

Continuity

 * A similar species which would take over the light but weren't hostile were the Cimmerians in the Eighth Doctor story Embrace the Darkness.


 * As shown on the BBC Doctor Who website, there are a number of books in the library that reference previous episodes. Those seen are the operating manual for the TARDIS, Origins of the Universe (Destiny of the Daleks), The French Revolution (An Unearthly Child), the Journal of Impossible Things (Human Nature (TV story)/The Family of Blood), The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams, former Doctor Who writer and script editor), Everest in Easy Stages (The Creature from the Pit) and Black Orchid (a book first seen in the Fifth Doctor serial of the same name).

DVD and other releases

 * It will be released on the Series 4 boxset DVD in November 2008.