REVIEW:
Steven Moffat has done it again; he has written a complex, scary, and wonderful story. Apart from head writer Russel T Davies, Moffat is the only writer to pen a story in every season of the new series. In Season 1, there was The EmptyChild / The Doctor Dances; for Season 2, it was The Girl In The Fireplace; and in Season 3, he came up with the absolutely brilliant Blink. What makes Moffat's episodes so memorable and consistently among the best of the series is that he understands what makes Doctor Who tick; that magic combination of ingredients that make up a superb story.
Moffat's episodes tend to be those that rely on "the fear factor". In this story, he plays with the fear of the dark, that ancient fear we still cling to about what could be lurking in the shadows. But instead of some bugeyed monsters, he twists the idea to make the shadows themselves deadly by creating the Vashta Nerada. As monsters go, they are a very cheap gimmick: microscopic so you can't see them, there's no prosthetics or CGI involved. However, by tapping into that primordial fear - saying that any shadow could be filled with a swam of invisible creatures that could strip the flesh from your body in less than a second - they become a very effective creation; you cannot see them, and yet they're all around you. And in a library full of shadows, there's really no safe place to hide. Then he adds to the fear factor even more by having the Doctor say the Vashta Nerada can be found on most planets, including Earth. Since Doctor Who is aimed primarily at a younger audience, though, Moffat comes up with a way for the Vashta Nerada to have a more visible presence when they invade and animate the spacesuits of various members of the expedition. This can give something for kids to play with later, as they pretend to be spacesuited zombies lumbering around.
The setting of this story, a planet-sized library housing the sum total of human history and literature, is very appropriate to the Doctor's character. Unlike many heroes, he does't go in guns ablazing; he is the nerd, the geek, the kid who loved to read and study. His travels through time and space have been as much about expanding his knowledge as they have about fighting evil and saving the innocent.
The Library itself was filmed using a combination of locations. The production team was able to film in an actual closed-down library; they used one room, but through variations in colored lighting were able to suggest that it was several different rooms. For the scenes where the characters are running amongst the shelves, those were constructed for the story. And the large main reception was part of a concert hall. All of these elements are blended together seemlessly with the CGI shots of the planet, an endless sea of elegant buildings bespeaking to the sheer size of the facility.
A wonderful element of the story is the fact that, besides having computers that access the largest hard drive in existence, the Library is full of actual books. It's a nice contrast to something like Star Trek, where all books are electronic by the 23rd Century. To say that people are still reading actual printed paper books in the 51st Century and beyond is a comforting thought.
The mystery of the Girl and Dr. Moon and what their connection to the Library is adds a wonderul layer of complexity to the story. It keeps you guessing, it challenges the minds of the audience to work it out. Dr. Moon is especially mysterious at first, and you wonder if he's good or malevolent with his own agenda. While the story of the Library would have been good on it's own, this extra layer raises the bar even more.
After ending up a bit spare in Part 1, Donna is given her own story in Part 2. It's an interesting exploration of what life might have been like for her if she had found the man of her dreams and settled down instead of going off through time and space with the Doctor. Her struggle between holding on to that perfect life and the buried memories of the real world is a good, emotional building of her character. Another nice touch was to suggest the artificial nature of the virtual world by the simple means of cutting from one scene to another as is common in TV shows.
The rest of the characters are an interesting mix. Each member of the Library expedition is established soon after they first appear, but the only ones that really stand out in the end are Miss Evangelista, Lux, and River.
Evaneglista seems almost a throw-away character at first. She acts rather ditzy and shy and the other members of the team tease her for her clumsiness. Donna is the only one that shows her any kindness, and her death is also the introduction of the Data Ghost concept, so there is some measure of sympathy involved in her passing. The revelation in Part 2 that her consciousness has survived, and that she holds the key to the world around Donna is an unexpected and welcome shift in her character.
Lux at first seems like a typical businessman, only out to protect his own interests when he refuses to tell the Doctor what CAL is, and indeed if he had spoken up sooner everyone might have survived. He manages to salvage some decency and sympathy toward the end when he finally reveals CAL's true nature, so he isn't all bad in the end.
Unfortunately, the rest of the team end up as fodder for the Vashta Nerada without any exploration into their characters, although the idea of the two Daves, Proper Dave and Other Dave, is an amusing joke.
Without a doubt, the most important aspect of the story is the character of River Song and how she relates to the Doctor. She is a companion from his personal future, someone he hasn't met yet but who seems to know him quite well. What is shocking and brilliant is the slow exposing of just how deep their relationship runs. The Future Doctor gives River his sonic screwdriver, something he would never do for just anyone. She posses Capt. Jack's sonic blaster (or "squareness gun" as it's jokingly refered to). She also teases him at times, calling him sweetie and "pretty boy". Lux's barb that they squabble like an old married couple gives both of them pause. The fact that River knows the Doctor's real name, something he has never told anyone, suggests that they were very intimate. And although River dies in the end, it is assured that we will meet her again in the future.
BUILDING THE STORY ARC:
Although River knows the Doctor in his future, she does not know Donna, and she is very hesistant to answer Donna's quesiton of what happens to her. It's already known that Catherine Tate will not continue with the show beyond this season, so something will happen to Donna in the finale.
REACTION:
This just blew me away.
I love the various intricacies of the plot and how they weave together. There is just so much here, and I'm still digesting it and probably will continue to do so for awhile.
I think the Vashta Nerada are a wonderful idea. Who hasn't been afraid of the dark at some point in their life, or been walking alone on a dark night and wondered if there was something terrible lurking in the shadows? And that line about them being "the dust in sunbeams" was an excellent creepy touch. This isn't just some alien menace on a far-flung world, they're here right now. This is why Moffat is so good at playing that fear factor card.
The story reminded me quite a bit of the classic Second Doctor serial The Tomb Of The Cybermen, which also involves the Doctor and his companion(s) running into an archaeological expedition investigating a place that isn't as dead as they first assume. I like that feeling of connection between the old series and the new.
I was glad that Donna had more presence and a more important role in Part 2. She really just kind of stood around and asked questions in Part 1, since the focus was more on the ensemble of the expedition team. I'll be sad to see her go after this season.
In the end, River Song steals the show. She is a fascinating character, and the mystery of how intimate her relationship with the Doctor is in his future is tantilizing. I like what she represents: that the Doctor will stop pining for Rose some day and move on, finding another woman who is much more his equal. River's death scene is one of the most moving moments in the series, and although she's gone physically, I like that she was saved at the end and will, in a way, live on forever. Despite their deaths, it's a nice silver linving at the end to say River and her team survived. A slightly different version of "Everybody lives" happy ending to The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances.
This story serves to heighten my anticipation of Moffat taking over as exec. producer and lead writer in Season 5. With the introduction of River, plus Jenny's return to life at the end of The Doctor's Daughter (which was a suggestion from Moffat), I sense that he is already beginning to lay the groundwork for the direction he will take the series. I look forward to the future, and to meeting River Song again, for the first time.
In conclusion, this is an absolutely gorgeous episode. Everyone MUST watch it, either on TV, downloading, You Tube, whatever. These two episodes will go down among the panetheon of true classics.
