Doctor Who - Series 4 Volume 3 [DVD]

People who gave this a 1 star obviously don't know class even if it's thrown in their face! These episodes are very good, clever and scary at the same time!
Silence in the Library: The Doctor and Donna arrive in the biggest Library in the world (called 'The Library'!) and they are given one message 'run and count the shadows'. There are no human life-forms on a scanner but there are 100,000,000 life-forms. A group of Archaeologists turn up with a strange Proffesor River Song who seems to know alot about the doctor's future and later lfe. The Doctor explains that in any shadows are the deadly Vashta Nerada, pirahnas in the air which can eat through human flesh in a second! Two people fall victim to them and one of the Archaeologists (Proper Dave) can walk and draw near the group! This is a very mysterious, clever episode which causes great tension. It loses one mark just because I personally felt that it took a bit to long for the Vashta Nerada to make a move. so... 9/10!
Forest of the Dead: Donna who appeared to be dead turns up at a hospital/hotel with the mysterious Dr Moon. Here time skips in what Donna thinks which takes a while to understand. Back at the library the Doctor and the rest are in the mist of Vashta Nerada and are being chased Proper Dave still. Another falls victim to the Vashta Nerada. It turns out that the little girl is the heart of the library and saved all of the people in previous occasions. This is a great epiode, and perfect second part to the first. I loved this episode! 10/10!
Midnight: The Doctor and Donna go to an alien spar and the doctor (on his own) goes on a trip to the planet made out of diamonds called Midnight. Strange thumping occures during the ride and whatever it is, it attacks an innocent woman named Sky. She starts copying what everybody says, then starts saying everything in sync with what everybody says, and finnaly she speaks ahead of the doctor! This is a great phsycological episode which really touches on human behaviour when scared. A great episode, possibly the best. 10/10
A great three episodes so ignore what others say, i would strongly reccommend this! Overall: 10/10

As Series Four progresses, it starts to head into much darker territory with these episodes, perhaps offering an indicator of things to come - literally so in the case of 'Silence of the Library' and 'Forest of the Dead', written by Steven Moffat, Russell T Davies' successor as head writer and driving force behind Matt Smith's 'Doctor Who'.

Steven Moffat has won acclaim and awards for his 'Doctor Who' episodes, and rightly so. Filled with twists and turns, tapping into basic human (and particularly childhood) fears and anxieties, and providing a cavalcade of memorable terrors for the Doctor to face. Remember the Clockwork Men? The Empty Child, with his haunting refrain 'Are You My Mummy'? The Weeping Angels, static statues that could pounce on you in the blink of an eye? All Steven Moffat's creations. This time, he turns his attentions to the dark. Literally, the darkness is given life and becomes a predator, stalking the Doctor and his allies through a futuristic library on an alien world, and capturing unsuspecting souls. It's a good concept, made considerably more interesting by the fact that one of these allies is a woman named River Song (Alex Kingston), who has a mysterious connection to the Doctor... in his future, but her past. At the same time, a little girl in an apparently ordinary house in the present day is haunted by strange visions of these future events, not to mention being able to view excerpts on her TV.

So far, so good. It's a typical Steven Moffat script - too clever by far, packed with iconic moments and with some truly chilling enemies. That said, I found it a little disappointing because it was exactly what I was expecting - in the same way that some feel fatigued by Russell T Davies' big, epic season finales, which all feel like variations on the same theme to an extent, so this feels a little like something we've seen before. Primed to expect surprises, that's exactly what I got. So although this is a remarkable story, it didn't quite have the impact on me I'd hoped it might, because I expected everything I got - even if I couldn't figure out the twists in the tale. It's still a cracking story, though.

'Midnight', on the other hand, genuinely surprised me. Russell T Davies' psychological thriller set in the passenger compartment of a tour bus on an alien planet takes the logistical need to produce a 'cheap' episode, runs with it, and produces something genuinely brilliant. An opportunity for David Tennant to really prove himself in the acting stakes, in a cast that also includes Lesley Sharp and David Troughton, it's like a fringe play given 45 minutes on primetime BBC One. An unlikely contender for sitting alongside the gameshows and lottery draws of Saturday nights, it has to rank amongst some of the most compelling television I've ever seen, and is undoubtedly a highlight both of this series, and of Davies' television work as a whole.

What we have here is perhaps a little more cerebral than the show's usual fare, but equally, 'Doctor Who' at its cleverest. If for some reason you haven't seen these already, you really need to, as they're perfect proof that modern mainstream TV doesn't have to be dumbed-down spectacle, all style over substance.

The third `vanilla' release of stories from the Fourth series of the BBC's revived Doctor Who opens with new Executive Producer (and most talented writer) Steven Moffat's two-hander: `Silence in the Library' and `Forest of the Dead'. The genius behind 2005's `The Empty Child' and 2007's `Blink' returns with a creepy adventure set, naturally, in a vast library, repository of the entire book collection of the universe. Moffat's skill is in his ability to take the mundane, the everyday, and make it seem sinister - when they arrive in the library - to find it completely deserted - the time-travellers are instructed to `stay out of the shadows'; there is something lurking in them and it isn't nice...The story also introduces us to Alex Kingston's intriguing `River Song'; archaeologist and future companion of The Doctor's; although he doesn't appear to recognize her at all. As the Doctor himself would say; it appears to be another of those `timey-wimey' things, and hopefully River will be back in the series in the future so we can see where she fits in. Colin Salmon appears too, as a creepy psychiatrist, whose young female patient seems to somehow be the key to the events unfolding in the library, whilst League of Gentleman's Steve Pemberton plays a typical wealthy businessman; seeking to stake a claim in whatever they unearth. `Hey who turned out the lights' didn't become as ubiquitous a catchphrase as `Are you my mummy', however the events leading to its appearance are equally disturbing and a real `behind the settee' moment.
Midnight is one of those so-called `Marmite' episodes. Personally I landed on the `love it' side of the argument; a claustrophobic, tense and tautly-acted 40 minutes, that left me wanting more. Lesley Sharp is superb as the possessed passenger of a shuttle that is touring the planet Midnight; a great ensemble cast including David Troughton become increasingly paranoid as they are manipulated and persuaded that The Doctor is the real threat...