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Forest of the Dead

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199b – "Forest of the Dead"
Doctor Who episode
File:Forest Of The Dead.JPG
After River Song sacrifices herself in place of the Doctor, the 4022 saved people are returned to life in the Library.
Cast
Others
Production
Directed byEuros Lyn, Graeme Harper[1]
Written bySteven Moffat
Script editorHelen Raynor
Produced byPhil Collinson
Executive producer(s)Russell T. Davies
Julie Gardner
Production code4.9
SeriesSeries 4
Running time45 mins
First broadcast7 June 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by
"Silence in the Library" 		Followed by →
"Midnight"
List of episodes (2005–present)

"Forest of the Dead"[2] (previously called "River's Run")[3] is the ninth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast by BBC One on 7 June 2008.[4] It is the second of a two-part story, following "Silence in the Library".

Synopsis

Plot

Following from "Silence in the Library", the Doctor and the exploration team manage to escape the Vashta Nerada and take refuge in a well-lit room. As they work out a plan, the Doctor is concerned about how he can trust River Song, so she whispers a single word in his ear which convinces him: his real name. Meanwhile, Donna finds herself at a hospital, where a Dr. Moon is treating her. He introduces her to another man, Lee, and is later seen visiting the married Donna and her family. However, Donna keeps noticing that something is wrong: she seems to skip from one place to another at a whim, only to be reminded of the journey by Dr. Moon.

In the library, the Doctor discovers that the moon is sending out electromagnetic signals that are interfering with his sonic screwdriver. Strackman Lux explains that the moon is a virus scanner for the planet-side computer core. By interfering with this, the Doctor appears in Dr. Moon's place next to Donna: Dr. Moon is quite literally the moon. The Doctor understands that the message "4022 saved" didn't mean they were rescued, but that their teleport patterns were saved to the library's hard drive. They are found once more by the Vashta Nerada suit and forced to flee, but the Doctor stays behind to reason with it. Through the communicator on the suit, the Vashta Nerada explain that the library is their forest; the paper of countless books in the library was made from trees filled with Vashta Nerada spores, from which they hatched after being shipped to the library. They manage to kill Anita and Other Dave after resuming the chase.

In the computer core, the truth of the situation is revealed to Donna by none other than Miss Evangelista, whose Data Ghost was captured by the library's wireless internet. However, she is not a proper copy of herself; whilst the 4022 patrons had their teleport patterns properly stored, Miss Evangelista was just a degraded Data Ghost, and a transcription error has "melted" her face but greatly increased her intelligence. She points out that all the children are merely identical copies, and gets Donna to remember the library. However, the young girl, watching from her television, does not want Donna to know, and uses her remote to injure one of Donna's children. Donna leaves Miss Evangelista behind, but her acceptance of the simulated reality is nevertheless shaken, and her invented children disappear when confronted with the fact that they don't exist. The little girl, increasingly frustrated by events, eventually throws her remote to the floor, which causes the library to activate its self-destruct mechanism.

To stop the countdown, the Doctor, River Song, and Lux make their way to the main computer. Here, Lux reveals the meaning of CAL: Charlotte Abigail Lux, his aunt, who was uploaded into the computer as a child because she was dying. In this manner, Charlotte could live forever with the sum total of human knowledge to pass the time. However, the strain of maintaining 4022 unique personalities has driven her mad, and the only way to set things right is to reintegrate them in the library. As CAL cannot do this alone, the Doctor prepares to wire his own mind into the system as extra memory, though it will surely kill him. As he works, he is confronted by one of the Vashta Nerada suits. He insists that in exchange for getting to keep their forest, he will get to save the people in the computer core. They initially refuse, but when the Doctor tells them to search for his name in the library's archives, they promptly change their tune and give him a day to clear the planet. River, unwilling to let the Doctor die, which would rewrite history and erase their time together, knocks him out and takes his place, rescuing those trapped in the computer at the cost of her life instead of his.

As the rescued humans are teleported home, Donna meets up with the Doctor. Having been unable to find her husband from the virtual world, the pair walks to the TARDIS, unaware that he is in the next group being teleported out. As the Doctor mournfully leaves River's diary and her sonic screwdriver in the library, he realizes the reason why his future self gave her the sonic screwdriver in the first place: it holds a communication device with a Data Ghost. He uses it to bring River back to life inside the computer, where she is greeted by Charlotte, Dr. Moon, Josh and Ella (the children from CAL's world), Anita, the two Daves, and Miss Evangelista, her face restored, their Data Ghosts having been saved by Charlotte and brought into the computer for eternity.

Continuity

Numerous items from previous episodes are reused here. The wedding dress Catherine Tate wears in this episode is the same dress she wore in "The Runaway Bride".[5] According to Steven Moffat, the squareness gun used by Professor River Song to help the party escape from the impending Vashta Nerada at the beginning of the episode is intended to be the same sonic blaster that was used by Jack Harkness in the episode "The Doctor Dances". Moffat suggests that it was left in the TARDIS after "The Parting of the Ways", and taken by River Song in the Doctor's future. The name "squareness gun" was coined by Rose in the earlier episode. [6]

Several quotes are also repeated from previous episodes. The phrase "Not one line!" in reference to rewriting history has been used before, specifically by the First Doctor in the 1964 serial The Aztecs.[7] Professor Song's final statement near the end of the episode, "everybody lives", is a quote said by the Ninth Doctor in "The Doctor Dances", also by Steven Moffat. The Bad Wolf motif (seen throughout series one and in other places) is alluded to once more: a picture of blonde girl and a wolf is visible in Charlotte's house.[8]

There are some similarities between River Song and Bernice Summerfield, a character created by Paul Cornell as a companion of the Seventh and late Eighth Doctors in Virgin New Adventures series of novels in the 1990s.[8] Both characters are archeologists from the future who came to be the Doctor's most trusted companion. The Bernice Summerfield character was spun-off into her own book and audio series where she was portrayed by Lisa Bowerman.

The Doctor states several times, while questioning River Song about the origins of her sonic screwdriver, that he never gives them away. While technically true, he did give Sarah Jane Smith a sonic lipstick, a lipstick-shaped item with a similar range of functions, as a parting gift along with K-9 at the start of The Sarah Jane Adventures television series.

Professor River Song whispers a word into the Doctor's ear to gain his trust tht leaves him speechless. It is implied that they have a very intimate relationship and that is why she knows his name and is given his screwdriver. Near the end of the episode he reveals that it was his name that she whispered and he states that there "only one reason" he would reveal his name and that there is "only one time [he] could", what this means is currently unknown.

Production

Several scenes from this episode and "Silence in the Library" were filmed at Swansea's Brangwyn Hall. These include the library reception area where the TARDIS arrives, and the staircase where the Doctor and Donna look out over the empty library. The climactic scenes of the episode (in the library core) were filmed in an electrical substation of a disused Alcoa factory in Waunarlwydd, Swansea.[9]

Reception

Forest of the Dead was watched by 7.1 million viewers, giving it a 40.0% audience share; the highest in Series Four and the highest in its timeslot.[10] The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 89 (considered "Excellent"), the joint highest score the programme has achieved alongside "The Parting of the Ways", "Doomsday" and the preceding episode "Silence in the Library".[11]

References

  1. ^ "Doctor Who - Episodes - Series Four - Forest of the Dead - Credits". BBC.
  2. ^ "Dr Who takes on Forest Of The Dead". CBBC Newsround. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  3. ^ "The Stars are Coming Out". Radio Times (5-11 April 2008). BBC: pp 14-24. 2008. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "Steven Moffat Takes Charge". BBC. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  5. ^ "Podcast commentary for Forest of the Dead". BBC. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  6. ^ River Runs Deep. Doctor Who Confidential. BBC. BBC3. {{cite serial}}: Unknown parameter |began= ignored (|date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |ended= ignored (|date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Writer John Lucarotti, Director John Crockett, Producers Verity Lambert, Mervyn Pinfield. The Aztecs. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC1. {{cite serial}}: Unknown parameter |began= ignored (|date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |city= ignored (|location= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |ended= ignored (|date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b ""Forest of the Dead" Fact File". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  9. ^ "Podcast commentary for Forest of the Dead". BBC. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  10. ^ "Forest of the Dead - Overnight Ratings". Outpost Gallifrey. 2008-06-08.
  11. ^ "Forest of the Dead - AI and Digital Ratings". Outpost Gallifrey. 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-09. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
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