Doctor Who 4.8: Silence in the Library
Jun. 1st, 2008 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI have apparently just put the last 109 books into LibraryThing (all non-fiction) so, dusty and tired, it is time to write my DW review :-)
Somehow it feels oddly proper that I write this after spending an afternoon cataloguing books.
Steven Moffat has developed a bit of a reputation for writing rather good, rather creepy DW episodes and this one lived up to every bit of that reputation. Things to love:
- Donna!
- The more I think about the idea of data ghosting, the more it gives me the shudders.
- I was determined not to be creeped out by this one because I knew that it would be creepy, but I failed completely.
- Moffat's genius is in taking ordinary everyday things and making us scared of them, like small children, statues and now the dark. He doesn't use big gory monsters and somehow it is those simple ideas that are far more scary than a big gory monster ever could be.
- I knew that there would be a skull in that face plate. Why did I still jump?
- The other thing that has be mildly shuddery is the idea of all those people 'saved' as data nodes. Particularly seeing Donna's face.
- I have some suspicions about who the little girl is (probably suspicions that will be disproved next week) but it's one of those subplots that I loved and can't wait to see the resolution for.
- River Song was certainly an interesting character and she rather grew on me. Obviously that means she's destined to die next week. Is she going to be the new companion next year?
- How many children will refuse to visit the library tomorrow?
- The idea of an entire planet being a library is brilliant. Can I have one?
- The whole thing looked amazing but there was never a point where I was going "Ooh, look at those great effects!" because I was so absorbed in the plot. That's the mark of a great episode.
I deliberately turned off before I could see the trailer for next week's episode because I love Moffat's work so much that I don't want to be spoiled for it. The wonderful thing about Steve Moffat is that his scripts are always tight, always great for the characters and don't rely on spectacle to entertain. If anything, his scripts play on the little fears and irrationalities at the back of everyone's minds rather than playing with blood and gore. It's this kind of plotting and idea-usage that makes me excited about what he'll do as show-runner.
Donna didn't get a huge focus this week but everything she did was great. She's turning into the human 'us' voice and doing it fantastically. It was her horror at the idea of the node faces that really made me shudder: I suspect that I would have been rather 'meh' otherwise, at least until Donna became a node face. That was something I really didn't expect. Her sympathy for the PA was also lovely and rather understandable. I wonder how often Donna was on the receiving end of that slightly condescending attitude herself? Not because she's stupid (she really isn't) but because the Donna we saw all those months ago almost tried to make a virtue of ignorance and sheltering herself from the reality of the world around her. Since she met the Doctor she has grown and matured and changed yet I rather think that she remembers what she was like.
I also think that she likes the person she is growing into even though it's been incredibly difficult and emotional at times for her.
The other great Moffat thing is his catch-phrases. "Are you my mummy", "The angels have the police box" and now "who turned the lights off?" are all things that you remember about the episodes for months or years afterwards.
The idea of data ghosts is just horrid and, combined with the dark and the node faces, just finishes off the creepiness of this episode. Again, it's such a simple idea but as soon as you think about it a little it becomes horrific. To then have the swarm inhabiting the space suit with the data ghost voice eternally repeating that one phrase...
Is it next week yet?
Somehow it feels oddly proper that I write this after spending an afternoon cataloguing books.
Steven Moffat has developed a bit of a reputation for writing rather good, rather creepy DW episodes and this one lived up to every bit of that reputation. Things to love:
- Donna!
- The more I think about the idea of data ghosting, the more it gives me the shudders.
- I was determined not to be creeped out by this one because I knew that it would be creepy, but I failed completely.
- Moffat's genius is in taking ordinary everyday things and making us scared of them, like small children, statues and now the dark. He doesn't use big gory monsters and somehow it is those simple ideas that are far more scary than a big gory monster ever could be.
- I knew that there would be a skull in that face plate. Why did I still jump?
- The other thing that has be mildly shuddery is the idea of all those people 'saved' as data nodes. Particularly seeing Donna's face.
- I have some suspicions about who the little girl is (probably suspicions that will be disproved next week) but it's one of those subplots that I loved and can't wait to see the resolution for.
- River Song was certainly an interesting character and she rather grew on me. Obviously that means she's destined to die next week. Is she going to be the new companion next year?
- How many children will refuse to visit the library tomorrow?
- The idea of an entire planet being a library is brilliant. Can I have one?
- The whole thing looked amazing but there was never a point where I was going "Ooh, look at those great effects!" because I was so absorbed in the plot. That's the mark of a great episode.
I deliberately turned off before I could see the trailer for next week's episode because I love Moffat's work so much that I don't want to be spoiled for it. The wonderful thing about Steve Moffat is that his scripts are always tight, always great for the characters and don't rely on spectacle to entertain. If anything, his scripts play on the little fears and irrationalities at the back of everyone's minds rather than playing with blood and gore. It's this kind of plotting and idea-usage that makes me excited about what he'll do as show-runner.
Donna didn't get a huge focus this week but everything she did was great. She's turning into the human 'us' voice and doing it fantastically. It was her horror at the idea of the node faces that really made me shudder: I suspect that I would have been rather 'meh' otherwise, at least until Donna became a node face. That was something I really didn't expect. Her sympathy for the PA was also lovely and rather understandable. I wonder how often Donna was on the receiving end of that slightly condescending attitude herself? Not because she's stupid (she really isn't) but because the Donna we saw all those months ago almost tried to make a virtue of ignorance and sheltering herself from the reality of the world around her. Since she met the Doctor she has grown and matured and changed yet I rather think that she remembers what she was like.
I also think that she likes the person she is growing into even though it's been incredibly difficult and emotional at times for her.
The other great Moffat thing is his catch-phrases. "Are you my mummy", "The angels have the police box" and now "who turned the lights off?" are all things that you remember about the episodes for months or years afterwards.
The idea of data ghosts is just horrid and, combined with the dark and the node faces, just finishes off the creepiness of this episode. Again, it's such a simple idea but as soon as you think about it a little it becomes horrific. To then have the swarm inhabiting the space suit with the data ghost voice eternally repeating that one phrase...
Is it next week yet?
