"Count the shadows."

[locker_monster]

Whenever Steven Moffat writes an episode, I always get a little excited. His episodes, on average, will be pretty good and memorable, especially the dialogue. Seems each time he writes one we end up with a new quote we can repeat. "Count the shadows" can now join "Are you my mummy?" and "Don't blink".

I felt the episode was a little slow though. Obviously there's this huge mystery going on and that has to be set up, but basically all the Doctor and Donna do in this episode is stand around in a big room with a bunch of red shirts people. Sure you've got River Song and her mysteriousness and the crazy little girl, but so far it's all unfolding at a snail's pace. Maybe there'll be more running in the next episode. The Library is supposed to be the size of a planet so there's potential for corridor running.

For right now, I'm enjoying the character of River. Heck, with a name like that you can't go wrong. :-) And it's Dr. Corday! Her whole "I know the Doctor in the future and call him 'Pretty Boy'" is intriguing. It's not often we meet companions, if River is that, before (or is that after?) they've met the Doctor. The Doctor is just as confused as us every time River does something weird, like brandish her own sonic screwdriver or predict a potentially sad ending for Donna (Do we really need someone predicting the impending doom of the companion again?). The only other person who had a sonic screwdriver of their own was Romana but I doubt River and Romana are related. The reveal better be good. I mean, if you're setting up River to be someone close to the Doctor, it better be good. And River Song? Steven Moffat might as well have named her River Tam. ;-)

The swarm of shadow things, I didn't quite catch what the Doctor called them, really don't seem as scary as some of Steven Moffat's other monsters. Kid in gas mask saying the same thing over and over? Scary as heck. Stone angels that can zap you into another time when you blink? Frightening. Shadow creatures that strip you to the bone? We'll see how that plays out next episode. Sure, being a shadow they can be anywhere, but you turn on a bright light and the shadows disappear. I think maybe it's because the shadow things don't have a human form. They had to hijack Proper Dave and eat him before that happens. The imagery of the skull in the helmet reminded me of the Doctor Who cartoon from last year, "The Infinite Quest". They had the walking skeletons in that, too.

So the big mystery of the episode revolves around the silence of The Library, "CAL", and the little girl.


I wonder if CAL is like a HAL thing. Cool thing about this symbol though...


It's on the floor of the little girl's living room. This is right before the collapses, when the Doctor is tinkering with the security camera droid thing. Obviously the girl and The Library are connected. But I did notice one more thing...


It says CAL on Dr. Moon's briefcase. Right there in the right hand corner, in bold. So is Dr. Moon CAL? Is he somehow connected to the computer core. Or is the little girl the computer core? Maybe Moon and the little girl created The Library together and it only exists because they willing it into existence.

I'll decide if I like or dislike the episode after I see the second part. It's kind of hard to judge two parters. Sometimes you're better off seeing them as a whole. Though, I find second parts are generally better; less set-up and more action. And are we really on episode eight? Jeez, the season's almost done.

Comments

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing everybody in the little girl's world are people who have been "saved". The girl just happens to be the only one who's storage site is connected to the interface with the real systems like the security drone, so she can interact with it. The Doc knows enough to know that their real world is the faketrix, but can't communicate with the actual real world.

As to River, I actually do think it'd be cool to see a young River show up at some point in Moffat's run and join as a companion for a short time, and then leave but still run into him now and again, sort of like Martha (since she asked him various questions about where he was in their mutual timestream, that means they knew each other for quite a while while _not_ travelling together). Or maybe she's more of a Brigadier character who never actually travels with him, just interacts with him on a regular basis.

Or, maybe she's a Time Lord but, once she realizes he doesn't know her, she can't reveal it because he's not supposed to know there are others yet.

Or, it's possible this is all a big setup, that the Doctor will change history and thus potentially screw up any potential to meet River, in order to save Donna or something.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

The changing history and missing meeting River might be a good bet. Either that or River dies next week. This is the first time (on the new series) that we've met someone who knows the Doctor very personally and out of order. She has importance and that immediately puts River in the crosshairs. Or perhaps Steven Moffat will be kind and let River live, leaving it open for more adventures, either with current River or with a young River as you suggested. Though, another companion from the 51st century? Does Steven Moffat have a crush on the 51st century? Jack's from that time and the ship in "The Girl in the Fireplace" was also from the same century.

Did River comment on the Doctor's face? I can't recall if she mentions if he has a different face from the one she knows. Could be the Doctor River knows is a future incarnation or just a really old Ten.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

She didn't mention a different face, just that he's younger than he ever knew her. Of course, this doesn't _necessarily_ mean she met him as Ten - maybe she met him as eleven and twelve but, because she met him at different times in different incarnations rather than witnessing regenerations, didn't know whether Ten was between eleven and twelve, after twelve, or before eleven, and maybe she's just surprised because Ten is younger that she's ever seen him - which would fit with the rumors that the next Doctor candidate's going to be a little older.

Another possibility I thought of since you brought up Jack - maybe she's not strictly a companion, but a (past?) member of the Time Police and either went into Archaeology after she got out or is only pretending to be an archaeologist much like Jack pretended to be a soldier. As such, she might have met him many times, _in_ many different times, but not as a companion.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Time Agent. That's something I hadn't considered. Could be River's one of the surviving Time Agents. Can't recall what they said on Torchwood, but only a few of them are still around.

An older Doctor would be a nice change. Maybe we'll even see a non-contemporary companion.

[browncoat2x2]

Nice catch on the CAL on the briefcase! I didn't see that at the time!

Lots to think about, but yeah, I'm looking forward to the next episode to see what comes of it all. I do hope for more running next week too, and more scary.

My hubby has a theory that Donna has been sent into Rose's universe, and that's how we'll get the Donna - Rose interaction we've seen glimpses of in the previews (and why there's no Donna in next week's preview) and since the Rose episodes are coming up (and I've heard that they are 'Doctor Lite, episdoes) it could be a pretty sound theory *G*

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's amazing what you see and don't see. I saw the CAL on the briefcase but totally missed the symbol on the carpet until I was looking for stills. And the symbol was fairly obvious, seeing how there was a match cut with the roundness of the symbol with the roundness of the security droid.

It felt like there was barely any Donna in this week's episode. Hopefully no Donna in the trailer just means they didn't want to ruin the surprise of how Donna is saved. But good theory, Donna with Rose. The little girl's world seems to be contemporary, not 51st century, so that world could be Rose's world.