# Doctor Who 4x09 "Silence in the Library" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299 "2008-05-31T22:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/21 "2008-06-01T20:34:31Z")
Moffat’s pattern is pretty clear. 1. Seemingly innocuous things that turn out to be frightening (gas masks, clocks, statues, shadows). This is because he writes the “creepy” episodes. 2. The repetition of a creepy line. “Are you my mummy?” “Don’t blink.” “Who turned out the lights?” 3. A new woman for the Doctor to fall for besides the season’s companion (the “street urchin,” Madam Pompadour, River Song). All of these women are cute, have some snappy dialogue, and think fast on their feet, though not much else is known of them or is necessary. 3a) Which directly leads to an OOC episode for the companion (Donna standing around helpless for most of this episode) and an OOC moment for the Doctor (the Doctor abandoning Rose to die, the Doctor unable to grasp that River Song is from _his_ future). 4. A self-contained arc with a self-contained baddie that he can create (no Daleks, Cybermen, etc for him). I think Moffat’s best work is on **Jekyll** and he hardly does anything revolutionary on Doctor Who. The thing of it is, he’s such a good writer (even if he follows a pretty clear formula) that he makes it work for an enjoyable, entertaining hour of television. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/22 "2008-06-01T21:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Yeah, that’s one of Moffat’s things. The second time we saw Rose was on a video screen on the TARDIS. Only happened for a second - I think it was when Donna got stranded there during the whole \*\*Centaran \*\*incident. -Joe [/QUOTE] That’s “[Sontaran](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sontarans)” On Rose’s second appearance we saw her shouting a single word, although the picture had no sound. There has been much debate as to whether she was shouting “Doctor!” or “Donna!” ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/23 "2008-06-01T22:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] River song is Captain Jack [/QUOTE] IIRC RTD was ticked off for going too far with Captain Jack and The Face of Boe by another of the production team, I don’t think Moffat would try that. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/24 "2008-06-01T22:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] IIRC RTD was ticked off for going too far with Captain Jack and The Face of Boe by another of the production team, I don’t think Moffat would try that. [/QUOTE] What do you mean by going too far? By making Jack the Face, or…? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/25 "2008-06-02T01:57:59Z")
I’ve discussed the idea on another forum. A few other people think the same as me. Apparently there’s an additional clue in the trailer for next week. Moon River says something like “I’d chase that man to the end of the universe and, actually…we’ve been.” Captain Jack DID chase the Doctor to the end of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/26 "2008-06-02T08:27:12Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] What do you mean by going too far? By making Jack the Face, or…? -Joe [/QUOTE] Yup, making Jack the Face. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/27 "2008-06-02T13:46:00Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Yup, making Jack the Face. [/QUOTE] Huh. You think that’s one of the things that the big show runner would have been able to pounce on and say “fuck no, edit that NOW”. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/28 "2008-06-02T14:03:18Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Moon River says something like… [/QUOTE] You mean “River Song”. “Moon” is the Psychologist who tells the kid her world isn’t real. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/29 "2008-06-02T14:09:35Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Huh. You think that’s one of the things that the big show runner would have been able to pounce on and say “fuck no, edit that NOW”. -Joe [/QUOTE] I thought the big show runner _wrote_ that episode. how could another member of production sneak it in? Though I did read that Rusty said it was just a joke, and we shouldn’t take Jack=Boe as canon. ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/30 "2008-06-21T02:23:12Z")
This just aired in the US so I am giving it a bump. I loved it - Moffat making sure that another generation is properly scared of the dark! If I was a kid, I think this episode would have terrified me. (One house we lived in had a basement without windows that was always exceptionally dark. Always had to have the door closed if the light was off - now I know what was hiding down there.) I would rate it behind “Blink” and “The Girl In the Fireplace”, but not very far behind. Moffat is definitely my favorite writer of the new series, though I agree with the above posters that he can be formulaic, but it is a very tasty concoction. ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/31 "2008-06-21T03:14:25Z")
[QUOTE=pepperlandgirl] Moffat’s pattern is pretty clear. 1. Seemingly innocuous things that turn out to be frightening (gas masks, clocks, statues, shadows). This is because he writes the “creepy” episodes. 2. The repetition of a creepy line. “Are you my mummy?” “Don’t blink.” “Who turned out the lights?” 3. A new woman for the Doctor to fall for besides the season’s companion (the “street urchin,” Madam Pompadour, River Song). All of these women are cute, have some snappy dialogue, and think fast on their feet, though not much else is known of them or is necessary. 3a) Which directly leads to an OOC episode for the companion (Donna standing around helpless for most of this episode) and an OOC moment for the Doctor (the Doctor abandoning Rose to die, the Doctor unable to grasp that River Song is from _his_ future). 4. A self-contained arc with a self-contained baddie that he can create (no Daleks, Cybermen, etc for him). [/QUOTE] 5. Unlike most of the other writers’ stories, time travel is more than just an excuse to get the Doctor to each episode’s setting. Empty Child had a time agent. Girl in the Fireplace had the portals connected to different points in the girl’s life. Blink had people being thrown into the past and the various messages based on knowing what was going to happen. Silence in the Library introduced the non-linear relationship with River. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/32 "2008-06-21T03:33:07Z")
[British Accent]Donna’s screaming bit there at the end. I don’t suppose it’s too much to hope that she Met With An Accident?[/British Accent] ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/33 "2008-06-23T20:40:55Z")
Finally watched it on TiVo. I liked it. My interpretations were that the girl is probably either the computer running the library or some process of that computer. It’s pretty obvious that the people were saved into the computer (I think that’s why they did the whole “ghosting” thing–to show that people’s imprints could survive their bodies in digital form) and think it’s pretty likely that as **Illuminatiprimus** said, the end of the next part will have the people somehow getting back, either getting physical bodies again somehow, or getting a better chance to…uh…live digitally? Sort of like that Star Trek:TNG episode where they trapped Moriarity and that lady from the holodeck program in that little hard drive that had a whole virtual world for them to explore and they never knew they didn’t really escape. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299/34 "2008-06-23T21:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] and think it’s pretty likely that as **Illuminatiprimus** said, the end of the next part will have the people somehow getting back, either getting physical bodies again somehow, or getting a better chance to…uh…live digitally? [/QUOTE] Come now Opal, you know I’m always right. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x09-silence-in-the-library/451299.md?page=1)