Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

Donna, stay out of the shadows.

Given all the history between River Song and the Eleventh Doctor, her introduction with the Tenth Doctor can feel a bit out of place on rewatch. But, taken as a story in and of itself, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead are excellent.

Donna and the Tenth Doctor are summoned via psychic paper to the largest library in the universe by River, except that she sends the message too early the Doctor hasn't met her yet. While there, the team of archaeologists are attacked by the Vashta Nerada, tiny creatures in the air that act like piranhas when in swarms. Most of the team is consumed and Donna is trapped within the computer memory. The Doctor strikes a bargain with the Vashta Nerada to release the trapped people within the core memory, which will also restabilize the computer. River, however, stops the Doctor from hooking himself to the computer and does it instead to save his life. He, in turn, is able to preserve her mind and those of her fallen comrades within the computer memory.

Silence in the Library is a wonderfully scary set up. The Vashta Nerada are a well imagined menace. The bit play with River is witty and unlike many of her subsequent appearances, she gives in to her fear with only traces of the brashness she will sometimes show. The interplay with Donna is also good as Donna had been somewhat sidelined in the Sontarian two-parter and The Doctor's Daughter and then played only for comedy in The Unicorn and the Wasp. Here she was allowed to do drama again and does it very well. Even the mystery with CAL has an interesting hook as you can't quite figure who this girl is that is observing and controlling the library.

The Forest of the Dead fell a little short of the bar set by Silence in the Library. It is still good and the drama, especially with Donna in the computer, is good and tragic. However, the Doctor gets a little cocksure and it feels like a little bit of a let down to have a more or less mindless monster negotiate a cease-fire based solely on the Doctor's reputation. That feels like a cheap trick of the writer to show the Doctor getting out of a situation that they can't actually think of any other way to escape.

Still, it does deliver on the scariness still and the tension stays high. The final scene with the Doctor and River is also touching and it is something that improves once you've seen River's arc through the time of the Eleventh Doctor.

I would be always up to rewatch these two and have already watched them more than once. They make for an excellent story and entertaining television.

Overall personal score: Silence in the Library - 5 out of 5; Forest of the Dead - 4.5 out of 5