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Series 4 Episode 9: “Forest Of The Dead” (Part 2 of 2)Broadcast on BBC1, Saturday June 7th, 2008 As premiered ondanowen.blogspot.com
Series 4 Boxset:
Series 4 Part 1:
Series 3 Boxset:
Director:
- Euros Lyn
(TV: The End of The World, The Unquiet Dead, Tooth and Claw, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Idiot’s Lantern, Fear Her, The Runaway Bride, Silence in the Library, Forest of the Dead)
Screenplay:
- Steven Moffat
(TV: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink)
Cast:
- The Doctor: David Tennant
Donna Noble: Catherine Tate
Dr. Moon: Colin Salmon
Professor River Song: Alex Kingston
The Girl: Eve Newton
Strackman Lux: Steve Pemberton
The Dad: Mark Dexter
Anita: Jessika Williams
Miss Evangelista: Talulah Riley
Proper Dave: Harry Peacock
Other Dave: O-T Fagbenle
Lee: Jason Pitt
Ella: Eloise Rakic-Platt
Joshua: Alex Midwood
Synopsis: The Doctor continues to fight the shadows in The Library, as Donna finds herself transported to a strange new reality…
Well. It’s already a cliché to praise Steven Moffat’s work on Doctor Who, butis there anyone else who has the imagination and skill to rival him?
“Forest Of The Dead” is a superlative conclusion of last week’s “Silence InThe Library”, with The Doctor (David Tennant) trying to stave off theVashta Nerada’s shadow attacks with the help of Professor River Song (Alex Kingston),while Donna (Catherine Tate) finds herself waking up in a strange reality where the mysterious Dr. Moon (Colin Salmon) guides her through adream-like life of marriage and kids…
The best thing about this conclusion was how well it explained relativelyminor plot-points from part 1, while developing the concept into more interestingterritory. Donna was essentially stuck in a Matrix-like utopia of maritalbliss, and the true nature of Dr. Moon and The Girl (Eve Newton) had realpunch to it. Even the return of Miss Evangelista (Talulah Riley), asthe Morpheus to Donna’s Neo, worked very well and the sight of her warped facialfeatures the kind of jolting horror to make kids turn their heads away.Indeed, Moffat was canny enough to have The Girl’s reaction (watching Donnaand The Doctor’s escapades on her television) echo the real reactions of Who’syoung audience as she buried her head in a pillow.
Once again, Catherine Tate did fine work as Donna making the most of a subplotthat remained powerful and emotional despite chronological jumps. Despite not beingthe focus of the episode, Donna’s realization that her children aren’t realwas still poignantly handled, and the loss of her “husband” Lee (Jason Pitt)also struck a chord. Great call-back to Lee’s stammer in the heartbreakingclimax, which seemed like a pointless flourish when introduced, but was shown tohave some significance.
David Tennant did sterling work, as usual, helped enormously by Alex Kingstonas River Song. One of the best aspects of this episode was how it revealed thedepth of their relationship as she knows secret knowledge about him he’donly share with someone very special. So, is she a future companion with evenmore resonance than Rose? Or, as strongly inferred, a time-traveller’s wife?It’s all kept a little vague, wisely but I certainly hope this is somethingMoffat will return to once he takes over Doctor Who in 2010. It’s certainlysomething that can’t be ignored, so I hope Alex Kingston has agreed to make areturn (probably for a long time) in some future season of the show. Shecertainly proved herself in this adventure, so fingers crossed for more RiverSong some day…
There was an echo of The Doctor’s situation in season 3’s “Human Nature”/”Family Of Blood”,in how Donna’s memory loss prevented her from realizing she was living a “fantasy”,but everything else was pushing into relatively fresh territory. The central”virtual reality” idea may be in vogue because of The Matrix, but it workedvery well and wasn’t a straight copy of that idea. The added complexitysurrounding River Song and the mystery of what “CAL” was also helped keep thingsunpredictable, even after you’d quickly worked out what Donna’s situation was.
Overall, Steven Moffat really knows how to end a story. The closing 10 minuteswere stunning as the emphasis shifted onto The Doctor, as he realized who RiverSong must be, and the foreshadowing of The Doctor’s far-future “spoilers” nodoubt made many fans giddy with joy. It really did seem like Steven Moffat usedthese episodes to give is a taste of the complexity, emotional highs, andresonance he’ll hopefully be enforcing in season 5. I still doubt episodeslike “Silence In The Library”/”Forest Of The Dead” will become the normin season 5 (as they fly over the heads of very young audiences), but if thespirit of them can be maintained it’s going to be an extraordinary time.
A fantastic episode on every level, and minor complaints (more sonic screwdriveroveruse, the Suit Monsters becoming too sympathetic) pale into insignificancewhen weighed against everything this episode got right. Kudos to the FX team,too — whose Library cityscapes were twice as impressive here, and reminded meof those inspiring vistas you see on the front cover of pulp sci-fi novels.The shot of The Doctor in a tubular walkthrough, with skscrapers beyond theglass, was superb — if far too brief.
It was just great to watch a Doctor Who story and be genuinely swept along withthe story, as the situation and revelations became increasingly more significantand achingly emotional. And I defy anyone not to feel jazzed about Moffat becomingshowrunner when The Doctor snaps his fingers to open his TARDIS door… nowthat’s cool!
Join in the discussion about this episode atDan’s Media Digest
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.