![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
DW Rewatch - 4x08 & 4x09, Silence in the Library & Forest of the Dead
I’ve found it quite hard to get into this next run of picspams. Not because I don’t like the episodes, but probably because I know what’s coming and that it’s going to hurt :-(
Season 4 has some of the darkest, weightiest stories we’ve seen in all of nu-Who, and despite the high angst-factor, it’s one of the reasons that it’s my favourite season. I like the complexities and the drama and all of that, but looking back, I wouldn’t have minded a bit more light for another episode or two. Rewatching The Unicorn and the Wasp was such a joy. Like I said in my recap, it’s a shame we didn’t get more of the Doctor and Donna in total ‘fun’ mode because they were just so damn good at it together.
I know that wasn’t possible for practical reasons, but still…
On to the Library episodes. If all Moffat’s Series 5 episodes are like this. I think my head will explode before the finale!
We’re in the land of the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, so I don’t think I’m going to picspam my way through each episode because I suspect I’ll find myself going off at all sorts of tangents along the way and going backwards and forwards. So what I thought I’d do is pick out certain scenes or lines or plot points or other things of interest instead.
There will, of course, be a substantial number of GTPs. (Gratuitous Tennant Pics)
Oh, and pick out pretty as well. Did I not mention the pretty?
You have to love the idea that the sonic screwdriver doesn’t work on wood!
Oh, get out of the way! Sadly, there’s not a cap of Donna booting the door in!
One shadow…
… but what’s casting it?
I’m going to ask a question that I’m also going to answer in a minute. Why was/is there such hatred in the fandom for River Song? I regard myself as being on the very fringe of DW fandom, if that, but even I came across the River-hate.
I love Alex Kingston, I thought she was great in the role and I’m delighted to hear that she’ll be back next season. She might have been a bit of a pain in the arse at times, yes, but that’s no reason for the vitriol I was seeing, surely?
As far as I can see there are two or three reasons for it – and please feel free to correct me or contribute more.
1. For me, this seems to be the main reason people disliked her – she usurped the role of the companion, especially in FotD
2 Doctor/whoever shippers didn’t like some woman barging in on their shippy patch acting like she was the missus
3. River was a mouthy know-it-all.
Er. That last one? What’s Ten if he’s not a mouthy know-it-all? Or Donna, for that matter.
2. is just stupid. I’ve said this before about Rose. The Doctor is over 900 years old and it’s ridiculous to think that he’d have loved only once in such a long life. We know he had children at some point, so presumably he had a wife or partner that he, also presumably, loved. He loved Rose, he loved Reinette – hell, he loved her enough to get stuck in the 18th Century with her! – I believe he loved Sarah-Jane romantically as well at some point, and I also think that he could well have felt that way about Donna, had she stuck around for longer, despite all their protestations. So what's so wrong about him being in love quite a long way in the future? (I’m assuming here that River’s not a time traveller in her own right, and that when we see her in S5, it’ll be because the Doctor is in the 51st century again)
Are they all looking scared enough?
The Doctor doesn’t think so
Heh.
And now – proof that Steven Moffat understands fangirls!
From this scene, it’s clear (to me, at least!) that River has never met the Doctor in his tenth incarnation. And I think that perhaps she’s seen him in more than one ‘version’, because it explains why she’s being so familiar with him when she arrives. She sent him a message, he’s there, therefore he’s the Doctor – doesn’t matter if he looks like ‘her’ Doctor or not. So future!Doctor has either told her about regeneration, or she’s seen it, or she’s seen him before and after one or perhaps even two.
But she’s not seen him as Ten, so future!Doctor has obviously never filled her in on what he looked like in his past. She makes at least two comments about his ‘youth’, which to me implies that ‘her’ Doctor is much older.
I mean, if he’s ‘young’ at 904 (I know that’s debatable, but let’s take Rusty’s word for it for the sake of argument), he’s not going to be ‘old’ at, say, 924, is he? We also know that she doesn’t travel with him all the time, so whatever their relationship is, it’s not settled down with a mortgage and a cat! Just before she dies, she talks about him turning up on her doorstep, from which I infer that he goes off on his own sometimes, which I think makes sense. He’s too much of a wanderer to be completely happy staying in one place, and besides, if he’s at home drinking cocoa and wearing slippers, who’s out there saving the universe?
My eldest asked “does Donna love him, then?” at that point. Awwww…
Who are you? You can see that hits her right between the eyes. She’s not really entertained the thought that he doesn’t know her – despite the evidence to the contrtary.
Specs. And mouth.
He’s tempted by the spoilers
I think I’m in a minority – but I like the blue suit -:)
The death scene is extraordinary, and I remember being completely mesmerized it first time around. It’s chilling and beautiful and hard to watch. It’s also beautifully lit and beautifully shot, but unfortunately, because it’s a bit dark, none of the screencaps are that great.
Everyone – apart from Donna – knows what’s happening. I like the fact that River insists they show the proper respect - Miss Evangalista might be dead, but she's not gone yet.
She’s a footprint on the beach. And the tide’s coming in.
Then she asks for Donna
My knees go weak at the way he says that – but this is another shining moment for Donna. She’s scared and not a little bit repulsed (rather like with the dying Ood), but she steps up to the plate – partly because the Doctor asks her to, but also because she wants to help and knows it’s the right thing to do.
That was... that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen.
The Doctor tries to get River to spill the beans - Who are you to me?
But all he gets out of that little chat is a chicken salad
Can someone explain to me why that bit melts my brain?
While the Doctor is looking for a live one
The missus and the missus-to-be have a little chat. Donna’s all – ‘cut this personal future crap, do you know him or not?’ She just wants a straight answer.
And then River hears Donna’s name for the first time
Poor ol’ Proper Dave – two shadows
After all the little references to the Doctor’s liking to see a little shop, we find out why he likes them. They’re usually by the exit!
I know that he’s doing what he thinks is best because he wants Donna to be safe, and he knows she won’t leave him – so he gives her no choice in the matter.
Idiot.
Who turned out the lights?
Is he auditioning for Swan Lake?
No signal from the TARDIS. Uh-oh
Shock
Which quickly becomes devastation. He doesn’t move – it’s just the look in his eyes that changes. He looks like he’s about to cry :(
He’s pretty much forgotten everthing else - until River drags him away
Like Moff says in the DWC, once he’d come up with the idea of the nodes, there was no way he wasn’t going to stick the companion’s face on one, because it was the worst thing that could happen!
I know I haven’t said anything about The Girl and the world “outside” the Library yet.
One of the things I remember about watching the first time was that I didn’t have a bloody clue what was going on ‘outside’ the library, especially in FotD where we have Donna’s story playing out in that world.
It was obvious that The Girl was somehow linked to and in some cases controlling events (the flying books, for example) but I couldn’t work out why. Maybe I was being incredibly dense, but I couldn’t quite work out what was going on, and that freaked me out. Which I’m sure it was supposed to.
And then there’s the rather sinister Doctor Moon.
I knew that the little girl, and then Donna were in some sort of alternate world, and that nothing there was real, but I was pretty stumped for the rest of it. Maybe that makes me seem stupid, I don’t know, but the reason I’m saying it is because I think that’s a good thing! There’s very little in film or TV these days that surprises us, but this story did, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s great.
The next time we see Donna, we have no idea where she is or how she got there. Is she dead and this is some version of heaven? Is she in an alternate reality?
Whatever it is, the abrupt cuts in the action show us that all is not as it seems – and Donna questions it too –
Until Doctor Moon plants an alternative version of events and she immediately accepts it – it’s like he erases her version and she re-types the “correct” version, As Catherine points out in the Confidential, pre-Runaway Bride Donna would probably not have questioned anything but her time with the Doctor has changed her enough that she can’t quite let it (or him) go.
<
I remember that there were some who were annoyed by the fact that Donna’s dreamworld, or whatever you want to call it, consisted of her being happily married with kids. It was what she wanted before she met the Doctor, and now that she’s somewhere were he doesn’t exist and she doesn’t (mostly) remember him, why is it inconceivable that she’d want that sort of an existence? It also bugs the hell out of me that people seem to think that that desire somehow demeans Donna. Yes, she’s the companion from the planet awesome, but why can’t she be awesome as a wife and mum? It’s a bloody hard job, I can tell you!
At this stage, it’s her intention to stay with the Doctor ‘fovever’, so this isn’t necessarily HER dream anymore anyway; perhaps it’s more of a generic ‘this is how a matrix-like super-computer from the 51st century thinks a human woman I’ve just been nice enough to save from flesh-eating shadows would like to live” sorta thing.
I think the fact that Donna is questioning and not just blindly accepting as I imagine she’s supposed to be is what allows her to see the Doctor, and which is why she listens to what Miss Evangalista has to say later on, no matter how hard she tries to repudiate the truth of what she says.
Back at the Library, River is again questioned about her absolute faith in the Doctor
And offers him some helpful advice about how to use a sonic screwdriver. Yeah. Not the best time for that, is it?
Which, to her credit, she does realize.
Here’s where I have a bit of a moan about the anvil being dropped on our heads when Lux makes the “old married couple” comment. It feels to me like a tacked on signpost, because their behaviour towards each other is nothing like that. Well, possibly River’s is, but there’s no sense of that at all on the Doctor’s part; as far as he’s concerned, they’re just… well, arguing. He doesn’t know who she is – although he’s accepted that she knows him, and will have figured out that she knows him in the future. He’s trying to figure out how to get them out of there, he doesn’t like not being in charge, she’s throwing all these cryptic comments at him, and to cap it all, right now, he thinks Donna’s dead and that it’s his fault. So no, he’s not ‘bickering’ he’s seriously pissed off. Donna and the Doctor argued “like an old, married couple” from the get-go because of the way they were written (and because no matter what they do, when David and Catherine get together, the sparks fly.) There’s something about the speech patterns, about the rhythms and the interplay that makes OMC arguing sound different from plain arguing. Which makes no sense written down – but if you listen the two things are very different.
That face says - I really don’t care who the hell you are right now – just stop talking in fucking riddles and let me get on with getting us the hell out
Again, to her credit, River knows that, and does the only thing she can to show the Doctor he can trust her.
Whatever she says (which we later discover is his name) leaves him completely stunned
The doctor moon explained
Oh, crap
Exit, pursued by Proper Dave
In DonnaLand, she meets a mysterious veiled woman
This is one of those times when even I, with my abiding love for Ten, want to smack him for being dim!
The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?
Even my kids were yelling at the TV that paper is made from wood, you idiot!
Aaaaand – the penny drops
Thing about me, I'm stupid, I talk too much, always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything. Wanna know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door.
Very fortunate that he managed to stand on a trap-door :-)
All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again.
I continue to be completely gobsmacked at so many of the conceits in this story.
See? She’s not really all that bothered about this version of the Doctor… she wants the later model! (You have to wonder what the later model looks like though, because when you consider all the Doctor’s other incarnations so far, this one came out on top in the looks department! /shallow. Oh – maybe that’s why she’s disappointed – she thought she’d have this one to look forward to – before she realized she’s already missed the boat! /even shallower *g*)
One of his best entrances, I think (and one of his best ‘I’m hot and you know it’ poses)
Spoilers! Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.
Another penny drops. Saved means just that.
In the park, Donna gets closer to the truth
The Girl doesn’t like it
(Such gorgeous hair!)
Temper temper!
Bugger
Bedtime. But you know it’s not good news when even the kids begin questioning their existence
The truth at last
Interesting. Of all the Doctor’s incarnations, Ten seems to have the strongest telepathic abilities – or maybe we’ve just seen him use them more.
Time for manic problem solving
River isn’t happy
I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.
And now, a reminder that, of all the people in all the universe, this is the one guy you do NOT want to piss off.
For all his gregariousness, Ten is one scary bastard
Don't play games with me! You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe.
Look me up.
I get chills – and not just fangirly ones – at that point.
Oh dear. He’s had his arse kicked by a girl. *g*
He just can’t catch a break, can he? Here’s yet another person ready to die in order to save him. It’s happened so often, it’s a miracle he can bear to interact with anyone, EVER.
But this is more than just some random stranger sacrificing themselves… well yes, at this point River is still a stranger, but he knows that she’s someone he’ll meet at some point in his future who will become so important to him that he tells her his real name (the implication being, I suppose that the one time I could [tell her] is during a marriage ceremony or something like that).
And he’s now got to go through that relationship – whenever it happens – knowing how and when she’s going to die… and that he can’t tell her, or stop it happening.
Poor sod.
But the plan worked
Okay. How the hell did he get out of the handcuffs? He couldn’t reach the sonic screwdriver to undo them. I’m assuming there’s a missing or unfilmed scene – my view is that Donna went looking for him.
One of those scenes that illustrates just how much the Doctor and Donna understand each other, despite his gaffe. And the fact that he’s not only aware he’s blundered but that he tries to backpedal shows a lot, too.
*sniff*
Shall we peek at the end?
Clearly, they’ve both perked up enough to exchange a few flirtatious looks
And for Ten to give his tongue a bit of a work-out!
But no…
I adore River’s voice-over at the end
It’s so absolutely TRUE to who and what the Doctor is, and the last line of that section is utterly perfect.
The sequence of the Doctor belting hell for leather through the Library is the stuff of fangirl-dreams (!) – all underscored by the Series 4 version of The Doctor’s Theme which has been rearranged for choir instead of the solo mezzo-soprano that’s been used so far. I know there are some who feel that Murray Gold’s music has become too ‘big’ and overblown as the series has gone on, but I’m not one of them. I love the big, sweeping stuff that I can feel it in my gut – which is exactly what happens here. It’s meant to be an incredibly heroic moments and the music reflects that as it’s supposed to.
And there we are… River, safe (saved?) and sound and reunited with her friends. In the DWC, Euros Lyn (who directed) says
And from Steven Moffat
I love those little snippets and insights that we get from the people involved
Heroic deed done, it’s time to try one more thing…
Everybody lives… nice throwback there to Moff’s first DW story.
Sweet dreams, everyone.
Screencaps from The Medusa Cascade, The Doctor Who Screencaps Gallery and Whoverse Screencaps. Transcripts from DWCs are mine, and quotes from the show are from Who-transcripts.
Image and rambling heavy!
Season 4 has some of the darkest, weightiest stories we’ve seen in all of nu-Who, and despite the high angst-factor, it’s one of the reasons that it’s my favourite season. I like the complexities and the drama and all of that, but looking back, I wouldn’t have minded a bit more light for another episode or two. Rewatching The Unicorn and the Wasp was such a joy. Like I said in my recap, it’s a shame we didn’t get more of the Doctor and Donna in total ‘fun’ mode because they were just so damn good at it together.
I know that wasn’t possible for practical reasons, but still…
On to the Library episodes. If all Moffat’s Series 5 episodes are like this. I think my head will explode before the finale!
We’re in the land of the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, so I don’t think I’m going to picspam my way through each episode because I suspect I’ll find myself going off at all sorts of tangents along the way and going backwards and forwards. So what I thought I’d do is pick out certain scenes or lines or plot points or other things of interest instead.
There will, of course, be a substantial number of GTPs. (Gratuitous Tennant Pics)
Oh, and pick out pretty as well. Did I not mention the pretty?
You have to love the idea that the sonic screwdriver doesn’t work on wood!
Oh, get out of the way! Sadly, there’s not a cap of Donna booting the door in!
DONNA
Did we just run away from a power cut?
DOCTOR
Possibly.
DONNA
Are we safe here?
DOCTOR
Course we're safe. There's a little shop.
One shadow…
… but what’s casting it?
I’m going to ask a question that I’m also going to answer in a minute. Why was/is there such hatred in the fandom for River Song? I regard myself as being on the very fringe of DW fandom, if that, but even I came across the River-hate.
I love Alex Kingston, I thought she was great in the role and I’m delighted to hear that she’ll be back next season. She might have been a bit of a pain in the arse at times, yes, but that’s no reason for the vitriol I was seeing, surely?
DOCTOR
Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists.
RIVER
Got a problem with archaeologists?
DOCTOR
I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists.
As far as I can see there are two or three reasons for it – and please feel free to correct me or contribute more.
1. For me, this seems to be the main reason people disliked her – she usurped the role of the companion, especially in FotD
2 Doctor/whoever shippers didn’t like some woman barging in on their shippy patch acting like she was the missus
3. River was a mouthy know-it-all.
Er. That last one? What’s Ten if he’s not a mouthy know-it-all? Or Donna, for that matter.
2. is just stupid. I’ve said this before about Rose. The Doctor is over 900 years old and it’s ridiculous to think that he’d have loved only once in such a long life. We know he had children at some point, so presumably he had a wife or partner that he, also presumably, loved. He loved Rose, he loved Reinette – hell, he loved her enough to get stuck in the 18th Century with her! – I believe he loved Sarah-Jane romantically as well at some point, and I also think that he could well have felt that way about Donna, had she stuck around for longer, despite all their protestations. So what's so wrong about him being in love quite a long way in the future? (I’m assuming here that River’s not a time traveller in her own right, and that when we see her in S5, it’ll be because the Doctor is in the 51st century again)
Are they all looking scared enough?
The Doctor doesn’t think so
Heh.
DOCTOR
Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Cos it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada.
DONNA
What's Vashta Nerada?
DOCTOR
It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark.
And now – proof that Steven Moffat understands fangirls!
RIVER
Pretty Boy, with me I said.
DOCTOR
Oh, I'm Pretty Boy?
DONNA
Yes. Ooh, that came out a bit quick!
DOCTOR
Pretty?!
DONNA
Meh.
From this scene, it’s clear (to me, at least!) that River has never met the Doctor in his tenth incarnation. And I think that perhaps she’s seen him in more than one ‘version’, because it explains why she’s being so familiar with him when she arrives. She sent him a message, he’s there, therefore he’s the Doctor – doesn’t matter if he looks like ‘her’ Doctor or not. So future!Doctor has either told her about regeneration, or she’s seen it, or she’s seen him before and after one or perhaps even two.
But she’s not seen him as Ten, so future!Doctor has obviously never filled her in on what he looked like in his past. She makes at least two comments about his ‘youth’, which to me implies that ‘her’ Doctor is much older.
I mean, if he’s ‘young’ at 904 (I know that’s debatable, but let’s take Rusty’s word for it for the sake of argument), he’s not going to be ‘old’ at, say, 924, is he? We also know that she doesn’t travel with him all the time, so whatever their relationship is, it’s not settled down with a mortgage and a cat! Just before she dies, she talks about him turning up on her doorstep, from which I infer that he goes off on his own sometimes, which I think makes sense. He’s too much of a wanderer to be completely happy staying in one place, and besides, if he’s at home drinking cocoa and wearing slippers, who’s out there saving the universe?
My eldest asked “does Donna love him, then?” at that point. Awwww…
Who are you? You can see that hits her right between the eyes. She’s not really entertained the thought that he doesn’t know her – despite the evidence to the contrtary.
Specs. And mouth.
He’s tempted by the spoilers
I think I’m in a minority – but I like the blue suit -:)
DOCTOR
Well, funny thing, Mr Lux, I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.
RIVER
Then why don't you sign his contract? I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you.
The death scene is extraordinary, and I remember being completely mesmerized it first time around. It’s chilling and beautiful and hard to watch. It’s also beautifully lit and beautifully shot, but unfortunately, because it’s a bit dark, none of the screencaps are that great.
Everyone – apart from Donna – knows what’s happening. I like the fact that River insists they show the proper respect - Miss Evangalista might be dead, but she's not gone yet.
She’s a footprint on the beach. And the tide’s coming in.
Then she asks for Donna
DOCTOR
Help her.
DONNA
She's dead.
DOCTOR
Yeah. Help her.
My knees go weak at the way he says that – but this is another shining moment for Donna. She’s scared and not a little bit repulsed (rather like with the dying Ood), but she steps up to the plate – partly because the Doctor asks her to, but also because she wants to help and knows it’s the right thing to do.
That was... that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen.
The Doctor tries to get River to spill the beans - Who are you to me?
But all he gets out of that little chat is a chicken salad
Can someone explain to me why that bit melts my brain?
While the Doctor is looking for a live one
The missus and the missus-to-be have a little chat. Donna’s all – ‘cut this personal future crap, do you know him or not?’ She just wants a straight answer.
And then River hears Donna’s name for the first time
DOCTOR
The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada. Literally "the shadows that melt the flesh". Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive.
DONNA
What d'you mean, most planets? Not Earth?
DOCTOR
Mmmm, Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams.
DONNA
If they were on Earth, we'd know.
DOCTOR
Nah, normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark.
RIVER
Every shadow?
DOCTOR
No. But any shadow.
RIVER
So what do we do?
DOCTOR
Daleks - aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans - back of the neck. Vashta Nerada... Run! Just run.
Poor ol’ Proper Dave – two shadows
After all the little references to the Doctor’s liking to see a little shop, we find out why he likes them. They’re usually by the exit!
I know that he’s doing what he thinks is best because he wants Donna to be safe, and he knows she won’t leave him – so he gives her no choice in the matter.
Idiot.
Who turned out the lights?
Is he auditioning for Swan Lake?
No signal from the TARDIS. Uh-oh
Shock
Which quickly becomes devastation. He doesn’t move – it’s just the look in his eyes that changes. He looks like he’s about to cry :(
He’s pretty much forgotten everthing else - until River drags him away
Like Moff says in the DWC, once he’d come up with the idea of the nodes, there was no way he wasn’t going to stick the companion’s face on one, because it was the worst thing that could happen!
I know I haven’t said anything about The Girl and the world “outside” the Library yet.
One of the things I remember about watching the first time was that I didn’t have a bloody clue what was going on ‘outside’ the library, especially in FotD where we have Donna’s story playing out in that world.
It was obvious that The Girl was somehow linked to and in some cases controlling events (the flying books, for example) but I couldn’t work out why. Maybe I was being incredibly dense, but I couldn’t quite work out what was going on, and that freaked me out. Which I’m sure it was supposed to.
And then there’s the rather sinister Doctor Moon.
I knew that the little girl, and then Donna were in some sort of alternate world, and that nothing there was real, but I was pretty stumped for the rest of it. Maybe that makes me seem stupid, I don’t know, but the reason I’m saying it is because I think that’s a good thing! There’s very little in film or TV these days that surprises us, but this story did, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s great.
The next time we see Donna, we have no idea where she is or how she got there. Is she dead and this is some version of heaven? Is she in an alternate reality?
Whatever it is, the abrupt cuts in the action show us that all is not as it seems – and Donna questions it too –
Until Doctor Moon plants an alternative version of events and she immediately accepts it – it’s like he erases her version and she re-types the “correct” version, As Catherine points out in the Confidential, pre-Runaway Bride Donna would probably not have questioned anything but her time with the Doctor has changed her enough that she can’t quite let it (or him) go.
<
I remember that there were some who were annoyed by the fact that Donna’s dreamworld, or whatever you want to call it, consisted of her being happily married with kids. It was what she wanted before she met the Doctor, and now that she’s somewhere were he doesn’t exist and she doesn’t (mostly) remember him, why is it inconceivable that she’d want that sort of an existence? It also bugs the hell out of me that people seem to think that that desire somehow demeans Donna. Yes, she’s the companion from the planet awesome, but why can’t she be awesome as a wife and mum? It’s a bloody hard job, I can tell you!
At this stage, it’s her intention to stay with the Doctor ‘fovever’, so this isn’t necessarily HER dream anymore anyway; perhaps it’s more of a generic ‘this is how a matrix-like super-computer from the 51st century thinks a human woman I’ve just been nice enough to save from flesh-eating shadows would like to live” sorta thing.
I think the fact that Donna is questioning and not just blindly accepting as I imagine she’s supposed to be is what allows her to see the Doctor, and which is why she listens to what Miss Evangalista has to say later on, no matter how hard she tries to repudiate the truth of what she says.
Back at the Library, River is again questioned about her absolute faith in the Doctor
And offers him some helpful advice about how to use a sonic screwdriver. Yeah. Not the best time for that, is it?
Which, to her credit, she does realize.
Here’s where I have a bit of a moan about the anvil being dropped on our heads when Lux makes the “old married couple” comment. It feels to me like a tacked on signpost, because their behaviour towards each other is nothing like that. Well, possibly River’s is, but there’s no sense of that at all on the Doctor’s part; as far as he’s concerned, they’re just… well, arguing. He doesn’t know who she is – although he’s accepted that she knows him, and will have figured out that she knows him in the future. He’s trying to figure out how to get them out of there, he doesn’t like not being in charge, she’s throwing all these cryptic comments at him, and to cap it all, right now, he thinks Donna’s dead and that it’s his fault. So no, he’s not ‘bickering’ he’s seriously pissed off. Donna and the Doctor argued “like an old, married couple” from the get-go because of the way they were written (and because no matter what they do, when David and Catherine get together, the sparks fly.) There’s something about the speech patterns, about the rhythms and the interplay that makes OMC arguing sound different from plain arguing. Which makes no sense written down – but if you listen the two things are very different.
That face says - I really don’t care who the hell you are right now – just stop talking in fucking riddles and let me get on with getting us the hell out
Again, to her credit, River knows that, and does the only thing she can to show the Doctor he can trust her.
Whatever she says (which we later discover is his name) leaves him completely stunned
The doctor moon explained
Oh, crap
Exit, pursued by Proper Dave
In DonnaLand, she meets a mysterious veiled woman
DONNA
I got your note last night. "The world is wrong", what's that mean?
MISS EVANGELISTA
No, you didn't.
DONNA
I'm sorry, what?
MISS EVANGELISTA
You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You've suspected that before, haven't you, Donna Noble?
This is one of those times when even I, with my abiding love for Ten, want to smack him for being dim!
The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?
Even my kids were yelling at the TV that paper is made from wood, you idiot!
Aaaaand – the penny drops
Thing about me, I'm stupid, I talk too much, always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything. Wanna know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door.
Very fortunate that he managed to stand on a trap-door :-)
All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again.
I continue to be completely gobsmacked at so many of the conceits in this story.
You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? It's like they're not quite... finished, they're not done yet. Well... yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does. But not my Doctor. Now my Doctor... I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor... in the TARDIS... next stop: everywhere.
See? She’s not really all that bothered about this version of the Doctor… she wants the later model! (You have to wonder what the later model looks like though, because when you consider all the Doctor’s other incarnations so far, this one came out on top in the looks department! /shallow. Oh – maybe that’s why she’s disappointed – she thought she’d have this one to look forward to – before she realized she’s already missed the boat! /even shallower *g*)
One of his best entrances, I think (and one of his best ‘I’m hot and you know it’ poses)
Spoilers! Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.
Another penny drops. Saved means just that.
In the park, Donna gets closer to the truth
The Girl doesn’t like it
(Such gorgeous hair!)
MISS EVANGELISTA
She's not real. They're fictions. I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold. They are sustained only by your belief.
DONNA
You don't know, you don't have children!
MISS EVANGELISTA
Neither do you.
Temper temper!
Bugger
Bedtime. But you know it’s not good news when even the kids begin questioning their existence
The truth at last
MR LUX
She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is CAL.
DOCTOR
CAL is a child! A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!
MR LUX
Because she's family! CAL... Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library, and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything. He gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.
DOCTOR
So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her.
MR LUX
This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever.
DOCTOR
And she saved them. She saved everyone in the Library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.
ANITA
Then why didn't she tell us?
DOCTOR
Because she's forgotten. She's got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head, it must be like... being... well, me.
Interesting. Of all the Doctor’s incarnations, Ten seems to have the strongest telepathic abilities – or maybe we’ve just seen him use them more.
Time for manic problem solving
River isn’t happy
I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.
And now, a reminder that, of all the people in all the universe, this is the one guy you do NOT want to piss off.
For all his gregariousness, Ten is one scary bastard
Don't play games with me! You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe.
Look me up.
I get chills – and not just fangirly ones – at that point.
Oh dear. He’s had his arse kicked by a girl. *g*
He just can’t catch a break, can he? Here’s yet another person ready to die in order to save him. It’s happened so often, it’s a miracle he can bear to interact with anyone, EVER.
But this is more than just some random stranger sacrificing themselves… well yes, at this point River is still a stranger, but he knows that she’s someone he’ll meet at some point in his future who will become so important to him that he tells her his real name (the implication being, I suppose that the one time I could [tell her] is during a marriage ceremony or something like that).
And he’s now got to go through that relationship – whenever it happens – knowing how and when she’s going to die… and that he can’t tell her, or stop it happening.
Poor sod.
But the plan worked
Okay. How the hell did he get out of the handcuffs? He couldn’t reach the sonic screwdriver to undo them. I’m assuming there’s a missing or unfilmed scene – my view is that Donna went looking for him.
One of those scenes that illustrates just how much the Doctor and Donna understand each other, despite his gaffe. And the fact that he’s not only aware he’s blundered but that he tries to backpedal shows a lot, too.
DONNA
Are you all right?
DOCTOR
I'm always all right.
DONNA
Is "all right" special Time Lord code for... "really not all right at all"?
DOCTOR
Why?
DONNA
Cos I'm "all right", too.
*sniff*
Shall we peek at the end?
Clearly, they’ve both perked up enough to exchange a few flirtatious looks
And for Ten to give his tongue a bit of a work-out!
But no…
I adore River’s voice-over at the end
When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run for ever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment accepts it.
It’s so absolutely TRUE to who and what the Doctor is, and the last line of that section is utterly perfect.
The sequence of the Doctor belting hell for leather through the Library is the stuff of fangirl-dreams (!) – all underscored by the Series 4 version of The Doctor’s Theme which has been rearranged for choir instead of the solo mezzo-soprano that’s been used so far. I know there are some who feel that Murray Gold’s music has become too ‘big’ and overblown as the series has gone on, but I’m not one of them. I love the big, sweeping stuff that I can feel it in my gut – which is exactly what happens here. It’s meant to be an incredibly heroic moments and the music reflects that as it’s supposed to.
And there we are… River, safe (saved?) and sound and reunited with her friends. In the DWC, Euros Lyn (who directed) says
We definitely wanted to suggest that this is a kind of heaven… a kind of metaphor for heaven… a beautiful, calm, serene green place where they can live happily ever after.
And from Steven Moffat
If you believe in a soul then you would say she’s not in the computer that’s just a copy of her, that’s just her mind and her memories
If you don’t believe in a soul, like me, then you think that that IS her, then that’s everything about her, that’s the crucial mental datapreserved perfectly within that computer; there’s nothing else to keep.
Given the absolute choice between oblivion and all of human history and all of human literature, then I’ll take all of human history and all of human literature, I think that sounds quite a good retirement plan – that’s about as close to heaven as you’re going to get, and that’s what the Doctor gives River at the end – he gives her an enternal retirement.
I love those little snippets and insights that we get from the people involved
Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today… Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all.
Heroic deed done, it’s time to try one more thing…
Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair, and the Doctor comes to call... everybody lives.
Everybody lives… nice throwback there to Moff’s first DW story.
Sweet dreams, everyone.
Screencaps from The Medusa Cascade, The Doctor Who Screencaps Gallery and Whoverse Screencaps. Transcripts from DWCs are mine, and quotes from the show are from Who-transcripts.
Image and rambling heavy!