The Doctor Avoids Spoilers and Fights Shadows in Steven Moffat’s Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead!!

by Josh Roth @ 1:57 pm June 8th, 2008

I am literally shaking from excitement at the end of this weeks episode of Doctor Who. Since this is the first non-announcement post on Nerdgasmic, I’d like to express my aboslute love for everything Doctor Who, both old and new. Since the re-boot of Doctor Who started back in 2005 episodes written by Steven Moffat (such as The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, and Blink) have been consistently incredible. And of course his two parter this season, Silence in the Library (last week) and Forest of the Dead (this week), is no exception. Moffat is a perfect writer for Doctor Who, he is an expert at creating and expanding the wonderful mythology behind the show, the science fiction and fantasy aspects, while keeping the characters exciting and deep. This season’s two parter from Steven Moffat may just be the best episodes since the show returned.“Silence in the Library”, which aired last week, has the Doctor and Donna called to the Library (a planet sized library of every book ever written) by a message on the psychic paper (sealed with a kiss). The Library was abandoned one hundred years before their arrival, when 4,022 people just vanished. The Doctor and Donna meet Professor River Song, an important figure from the Doctor’s personal future, and her archaeological expedition, which quickly becomes jeopardized thanks to the Vashta Nerada. Like Steven Moffats other villians (the Empty Child, the Clockwork Men, and the Weeping Angels) the Vashta Nerada are simple and delightfully scary.

This week brought us “Forest of the Dead”, the conclusion to “Silence in the Library”. Donna is trapped in a virtual reality, the Doctor learns to trust River Song, and we discover the secret behind CAL and the Vashta Nerada. The real star of the epsiode is, of course, David Tennant. He continues to make the Doctor deeper and more exciting, with no small thanks to the writing of Moffat. Tennant’s version of the Doctor is energetic, clever, and deep. His scenes with Alex Kingston (as the mysterious Professor River Song) were all around brilliant. I hope, and expect, that she will be returning in the coming years, considering Steve Moffat is taking over as showrunner on Doctor Who from Russel T. Davies. Catherine Tate’s performance as Donna this week was among her best. It’s up with her performance opposite Tennant in “Fires of Pompeii” earlier this year. She shows us that Donna is a whoe lot stronger and more interesting than she appeared to be back in “The Runaway Bride”, she’s good for the Doctor, and it’s going to be interesting to find out why she isn’t involved in the Doctor’s future.

The production design and special effects were expertly done. The wide shots of the Library planet were of feature film quality, and the sheer scale of it all made it even more impressive. The Suit Creature and the space suits themselves were very impressively designed and executed. In fact every episode of Doctor Who continues to impress me with their production design and visual efects.

I’m so glad to see Steven Moffat taking the reins of the show from Russel T. Davies. Don’t get me wrong, I love what Russel’s done with the show, in fact he’s the main reason the show returned from beyond the grave, and I am forever greatful for that. I am pretty sad to see him stepping down, but if anyone can keep the show going, and maybe even make it that much more interesting and deep, it’s Steven Moffat. On another note, if you still aren’t convinced by Steven Moffat’s awesomeness check out his other BBC show, Jekyll, a modern retelling of Jekyll and Hyde which is among some of the best work the BBC has done in recent years (apart from Doctor Who and Torchwood of course).

All in all “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” are the best episodes this year, and may be the best in the series so far. Thanks to not only Moffat’s writing, but to the incredible acting abilities of David Tennant and some great guest starring by Alex Kingston.