History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS4E8SilenceInTheLibrary

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SilenceInTheLibrary_1161.jpg]]

->'''The Doctor:''' Daleks -- [[AttackItsWeakPoint aim for the eyestalk]]. Sontarans -- [[WeaksauceWeakness back of the neck]]. Vashta Nerada... ''run''. [[DontAskJustRun Just run]].

This very scary two-part episode, written by Creator/StevenMoffat, introduces a ''tremendously'' important character to the series: Professor River Song. Moffat wrote the story after being promoted to head writer of ''Series/DoctorWho'' from series 5 onwards. An early version of the library itself was introduced by Moffat in his 1996 short story "Literature/ContinuityErrors", the first ''Doctor Who'' story he ever wrote.

True to Moffat form, the episodes were nominated for a Hugo award, but they lost out to [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog a certain sing-along blog]].

"Silence in the Library" was broadcast with a special warning to parents: don't let your kids watch it late at night.
----

Somewhere in a very ordinary house, a little girl has schizophrenic visions of a library: huge and beautiful and -- best of all -- just for her. That is, until the Doctor and Donna show up. The little girl's father and her therapist (Dr Moon) try to make sense of it all.

The Doctor's psychic paper has brought him to the biggest library in the universe, the size of a planet, and it's unsettlingly empty. Also, there's a little -x- kiss in the psychic message. But bio-scans claim that the library is not actually empty at all, so where ''is'' everyone? And where's the little girl? And why is a robot with a human face telling them to count the shadows?

The Doctor spots a security camera and uses his sonic screwdriver to scan it. The little girl screams in agony at the sound. The Doctor realises that the camera is sentient, and he and the girl have a rudimentary conversation through its display. Both are quite confused at this.

A team of 51st century archaeologists show up, one of whom, Professor River Song, knows the Doctor ''very'' well. Though what kind of connection they have is not revealed... [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone y]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler e]][[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E13TheWeddingOfRiverSong t]]. She greets him with a loving "Hello, sweetie!", then appears a bit miffed when he doesn't return the sentiment. River is mysterious, but definitely not a MysteriousWaif: she's mature, snarky and able to take care of herself.

The little girl has watched much of that on her TV, even briefly talking with River and the Doctor through her screen.

River pulls the Doctor aside to catch up and compare diaries, to see how their personal time-lines are at the moment. The Doctor just stares at her blankly. Actually, Creator/DavidTennant just stares at her blankly, because Creator/StevenMoffat [[EnforcedMethodActing refused to tell him what was going on]]. River is appropriately horrified when she realises that the Doctor has never met ''her''. To him, this is their very first meeting. To her, he looks too young, too inexperienced, too happy. He's not ''her'' Doctor yet. She also realises that, due to their time-lines, the first time the Doctor meets her will be the last time she meets him.

No time to dwell on that, though, as the library is infested with flesh-eating shadows; Vashta Nerada. They're not every shadow... [[PrimalFear but they could be any shadow]]. They live on any planet that provides meat. Yes, [[ParanoiaFuel including Earth]].

River Song turns out to have a sonic screwdriver -- but not just ''a'' sonic screwdriver, ''the'' sonic screwdriver! This upsets the Doctor quite a bit, and he asks her to give him some proof that she's not an evil lunatic. She whispers one word into his ear. He just stares at her, completely stunned, and trusts her completely from that point on.

River finds out who Donna is, and gives her a look of utmost pity. [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E13JourneysEnd Donna's future doesn't look too happy.]] But River knows that she shouldn't spoil the ending.

The shadows kill one of the party, Miss Evangelista, stripping her flesh and leaving only a skeleton. The sound system in her protective suit is linked to her neural pathways and echoes her voice long after she's died, which is appropriately terrifying. Another is killed, with the Vashta Nerada animating his suit and chasing everyone else through the blacked-out hallways.

Dr Moon asks the little girl's dad if he can talk to her alone for a moment. Because he needs to tell her something very important:
->'''Dr Moon:''' The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are '''real'''.

The Doctor tries to send Donna back to the TARDIS, using the teleporter in the library's [[RunningGag little shop]]. But she is yanked out of existence -- screaming and mid-teleport -- to take her place among the library's robot servants with real people's faces.

----
!!Tropes

* ActionPrologue: The little girl apparently experiences an Action Prologue through her dreams, as the Doctor and Donna board themselves up in some kind of library room. Also InMediasRes, as we see the same scene again from the Doctor and Donna's point of view later in the episode.
* AdventurerArchaeologist: ''Professor'' River Song and her crew.
* ApocalypticLog: The messages on the computer at the beginning.
* BrainlessBeauty: Miss Evangelista.
* BrokenRecord: "Reminder: The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder: The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder: The library has breached. Others are coming."
** "Hey, who turned out the lights?"
* CommLinks: They happen to be capable of catching the last thoughts of their users, though they quickly turned into a BrokenRecord.
* ContinuityNod:
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E9TheEmptyChild Squareness]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E10TheDoctorDances gun]]!" Creator/StevenMoffat has confirmed that it's Jack's gun, left in the TARDIS at the end of Series 1.
** The Little Shop in the Library, which The Doctor is delighted over, is a call back to [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth "New Earth"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]].
* ConversationalTroping: The Doctor and Donna discuss how TimeTravel can lead to {{Spoiler}}s about life.
* CreepyMonotone: "[[ApocalypticLog Run. For god's sake, run. The library has sealed itself. We can't. Oh. They're here. Agh. Slaugh. Snik. Message ends.]] [[DissonantSerenity Please switch off your mobile comm units for the comfort of other readers.]]"
* CuttingTheKnot: The Doctor is trying to figure out how to get a door open with his sonic screwdriver ("It doesn't do wood?!"). Donna just slams into it, knocking it open.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Nice door skills, Donna.\\
'''Donna Noble:''' Yeah, well, you know. Boyfriends. Sometimes you need the element of surprise.
* DarknessEqualsDeath: Quite literally.
* DaylightHorror: It's a lovely day in the completely and utterly abandoned library.
* DidISayThatOutLoud: Donna is visibly bothered when she realises it sounds like she thinks the Doctor is attractive.
-->'''Doctor:''' Oh, ''I'm'' PrettyBoy!\\
'''Donna:''' YES! Oh... that came out a bit quick...\\
'''Doctor:''' Pretty?\\
'''Donna:''' Eh. (''shrugs'')
* DisposableWoman: Miss Evangelista
* DistressCall: Sent out a hundred years ago but the defenses about the planet were so good they only just were able to get through.
* TheDitz: Miss Evangelista. On the ship to the library, she mistook an escape pod for the lavatory. ''Twice''.
* DontAskJustRun: Several times.
* EnforcedMethodActing: None of the actors (except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) knew who River Song is supposed to be. Creator/DavidTennant's confusion is genuine.
* FamousLastWords: "Hey, who turned out the lights?" turn out to be Proper Dave's.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** "4022 people ''saved''."
** The Doctor makes a point of mentioning that the books are all new editions printed specially for the Library.
* TheGadfly: River, starting as she means to go on.
** The Doctor shows shades of this. He points and laughs at archaeologists.
* GetOut
-->'''River:''' Hello, sweetie. \\
'''Doctor:''' Get out. All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived. They won't believe you.
* GhostPlanet: Well, ghost planet-sized library.
* HaveWeMetYet: River appears to know the Doctor very well, but the Doctor himself doesn't know who she is (yet).
* HeelRealization: When the remnants of Miss Evangelista's consciousness request to talk to Donna because she was the only one who showed her any kindness, her fellow crew-mates are clearly reflecting on their bullying treatment of her when she was alive and guiltily coming to this uncomfortable realization.
* HypocriticalHumour: The Doctor berates Lux that he doesn't want one man's pride to kill everyone in the room. River says [[DoubleStandard "Then why don't you sign the contract?"]] Then she admits she hadn't signed hers either.
* ILied: River. "I lied. I'm always lying."
* InterfaceWithAFamiliarFace: A common habit it seems. The Doctor equates it to donating a park bench.
* TheIntern: Miss Evangelista
* LateToTheTragedy: Played both straight and subverted. The Doctor arrives 100 years too late to the Library, but also arrives too early, since River had expected a later incarnation of the Doctor to show up.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Spoilers!
* LivingShadow: TropeNamer!
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Steven Moffat didn't tell any of the actors (except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) just who River Song is. Creator/DavidTennant had ''no'' idea how to act opposite her, to great effect. On the DVD commentary, he says that he had the Doctor assume she's a future regeneration of him, because even though that made no sense, it made more sense than anything else he could come up with.
* MadnessMantra:
** "Hey, who turned out the lights?"
** "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."
* MindScrew: The whole girl in therapy / Doctor in the library flip-flopping.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Vashta Nerada" sounds threatening even before it's translated as "The Shadows That Melt the Flesh".
* NoNameGiven: "The girl" and "Dad".
* NothingIsScarier: Dammit, [[Creator/StevenMoffat Moffat...]]
* NotNowKiddo: Miss Evangelista getting blown off when the panel opens up.
* OhCrap:
** "[[{{Catchphrase}} I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry.]] But you've got two shadows."
** "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"
** "The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are real."
* OneSteveLimit: Subverted with Proper Dave and Other Dave.
* PrettyBoy: Lampshaded.
* PrimalFear: Discussed by the Doctor.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong: it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada.\\
'''Donna:''' What's Vashta Nerada?\\
'''The Doctor:''' [[LivingShadow It's what's in the dark]]. It's what's ''[[ParanoiaFuel always]]'' in the dark.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Inverted with River Song, who walks up to the Doctor and begins chatting with him as if they're old friends. The Doctor, however, has never met her before -- turns out that, thanks to the TimeyWimeyBall, he's meeting her out of sequence.
* SanDimasTime: Notably subverted, unusually enough for ''Series/DoctorWho.'' You could usually count on everyone the Doctor meets remembering events in the same order; this is one of the first episodes to play with that.
* SerialEscalation: Scaring viewers into hiding behind the sofa was no longer enough. This is the episode that decides to ''scare them out''.
* SingleBiomePlanet: {{Justified|Trope}} -- it's a purpose-built artificial planet, so the biome is "library."
* SpookySilentLibrary: Yet another trope that was [[TropeNamer inspired by this episode]].
* SuperSpeed: The Vashta Narada feed fast. Blink of an eye fast.
* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: River has a bit of this talking about her history with the Doctor.
* TitleDrop: "A million million lifeforms... and silence in the library..."
* TooDumbToLive: Miss Evangelista
* WaifProphet: The girl.
* WhamLine:
-->'''Dr Moon:''' The real world is a ''lie'' and your nightmares are ''real.''
* WholePlotReference: Moffat is a big fan of ''Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife''. River meeting the Doctor in the library ''very'' much echoes Clare meeting Henry in a library in said novel.
* TheWormThatWalks: The Vashta Nerada, with the aid of a spacesuit and a skeleton, are able to walk around like a person, albeit quite awkwardly.
* ZombieGait: A variation thereof.

----
->"Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."\\
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"
----

* DaytimeHorror: It's a lovely day in the completely and utterly abandoned library.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: River Song and her crew.

* BrainlessBeauty: Miss Evangelista
* CommLinks

** "Hey, who turned out the light?"

** "Hey! Who turned out the light?"

* DistressCall
* TheDitz: Miss Evangelista

** There's foreshadowing of what happened to those 4022 people and of the climax of the story towards the beginning. The Doctor exclaims "Oh! I'm thick! I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!" Which is exactly the case with CAL, because she has 4022 people running around in her head, and needs more memory space to be able to remember she's a computer and teleport them out successfully.
** The Doctor makes a point of mentioning that the books are all new editions printed specially for the Library. Turns out the trees used contained the Vashta Nerada.

-->'''River:''' Hello, sweetie.
-->'''Doctor:''' Get out. All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived. They won't believe you.

* InterfaceWithAFamiliarFace

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Steven Moffat didn't tell any of the actors (except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) just who River Song is. Creator/DavidTennant had ''no'' idea how to act opposite her, to great effect. On the DVD commentary, he says that he had the Doctor assume she's a future regeneration of him, because even though that made no sense, it made more sense than anything else he could come up with. Moffat loved that idea and ran with it throughout series 6, dropping hints everywhere that she ''could'' be the future Doctor: Gallifreyan text on a cot, Creator/NeilGaiman's episode stating that Time Lords can change sex with regeneration, etc. It's all a RedHerring, though, before taking an abrupt turn left into something else ''entirely''.

* PrimalFear:

* BookEnds: When we first meet River Song, she's in a futuristic space suit. When we first meet River's first incarnation (long story), she's in an Apollo space suit.

** The [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E04TheTimeOfAngels crash of the]] ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E05FleshAndStone Byzantium]]'' is mentioned.
** Also, the Doctor warns Donna not to read the books in the Library, because they might contain [[ArcWords spoilers]] for her life. Thanks to Donna's actions in the finale, she is ''most definitely'' in those books.
** Not to mention the line: You two fight like an old married couple.

** "I love biographies!" "Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end."
** River implying that she doesn't know Donna, foreshadowing her approaching departure.
** Even the title is foreshadowing -- the Silence (or at least a former member) IS in the library.

->'''The Doctor''': Daleks -- [[AttackItsWeakPoint aim for the eyestalk]]. Sontarans -- [[WeaksauceWeakness back of the neck]]. Vashta Nerada... ''run''. [[DontAskJustRun Just run]].

''Silence In The Library'' was broadcast with a special warning to parents: don't let your kids watch it late at night.

-> "The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are '''real'''."

The Doctor tries to send Donna back to the TARDIS, using the teleporter in the library's [[RunningGag little shop]]. But she is yanked out of existence -- screaming and mid-teleport -- to take her place among the library's robot servants with real people faces.

* BrainlessBeauty: Miss Evangelista.

* ContinuityNod: "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E9TheEmptyChild Squareness]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS1E10TheDoctorDances gun]]!"
** Creator/StevenMoffat has confirmed that it's Jack's gun, left in the TARDIS at the end of Series 1.
** The Little Shop in the Library, which The Doctor is delighted over, is a call back to [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth New Earth]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E1SmithAndJones Smith and Jones]]

-->'''The Doctor''': Nice door skills, Donna.
-->'''Donna Noble''': Yeah, well, you know. Boyfriends. Sometimes you need the element of surprise.

--> '''Doctor''': Oh, ''I'm'' PrettyBoy!
--> '''Donna''': YES! Oh... that came out a bit quick...
--> '''Doctor''': Pretty?
--> '''Donna''': Eh. [''shrugs'']
* DisposableWoman: Miss Evangelista.

* TheDitz: Miss Evangelista.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E04TheTimeOfAngels crash of the]] ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E05FleshAndStone Byzantium]]'' is mentioned.

*** The Doctor makes a point of mentioning that the books are all new editions printed specially for the Library. Turns out the trees used contained the Vashta Nerada.

** Even the title is foreshadowing - the Silence (or at least a former member) IS in the library.

* HypocriticalHumour: The Doctor berates Lux that he doesn't want one man's pride to kill everyone in the room. River says [[DoubleStandard "Then why don't you sign the contract?"]]. Then she admits she hadn't signed hers either.
* TheIntern: Miss Evangelista.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Steven Moffat didn't tell any of the actors (except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) just who River Song is. Creator/DavidTennant had ''no'' idea how to act opposite her, to great effect. On the DVD commentary, he says that he had the Doctor assume she's a future regeneration of him, because even though that made no sense, it made more sense than anything else he could come up with.
** Moffat loved that idea and ran with it throughout series 6, dropping hints everywhere that she ''could'' be the future Doctor: Gallifreyan text on a cot, NeilGaiman's episode stating that Time Lords can change sex with regeneration, etc. It's all a RedHerring, though, before taking an abrupt turn left into something else ''entirely''.
* MadnessMantra: "Hey, who turned out the light?" "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Vashta Nerada" sounds threatening even before it's translated as "The Shadows That Melt The Flesh".

* OhCrap: "[[{{Catchphrase}} I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry.]] But you've got two shadows."

* SingleBiomePlanet: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] -- it's a purpose-built artificial planet, so the biome is "library."

* TooDumbToLive: Miss Evangelista.

--> '''Doctor Moon''': "The real world is a ''lie'' and your nightmares are ''real.''"
* WholePlotReference: Moffat is a big fan of ''TheTimeTravelersWife''. River meeting the Doctor in the library ''very'' much echoes Clare meeting Henry in a library in said novel.

->---Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.
->---Hey, who turned out the lights?

** There's foreshadowing of what happened to those 4022 people and of the climax of the story towards the beginning. The Doctor exclaims "Oh! I'm thick! I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!" [[spoiler: Which is exactly the case with CAL, because she has 4022 people running around in her head, and needs more memory space to be able to remember she's a computer and teleport them out successfully.]]
*** The Doctor makes a point of mentioning that the books are all new editions printed specially for the Library. Turns out [[spoiler:the trees used contained the Vashta Nerada]].

** There's foreshadowing of what happened to those 4022 people and of the climax of the story towards the beginning. The Doctor exclaims "Oh! I'm thick! I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!" Which is exactly the case with CAL, because she has 4022 people running around in her head, and needs more memory space to be able to remember she's a computer and teleport them out successfully.]]

This very scary two-part episode, written by StevenMoffat, introduces a ''tremendously'' important character to the series: Professor River Song. Moffat wrote the story after being promoted to head writer of ''Series/DoctorWho'' from series 5 onwards. An early version of the library itself was introduced by Moffat in his 1996 short story "Literature/ContinuityErrors", the first ''Doctor Who'' story he ever wrote.

River pulls the Doctor aside to catch up and compare diaries, to see how their personal time-lines are at the moment. The Doctor just stares at her blankly. Actually, DavidTennant just stares at her blankly, because StevenMoffat [[EnforcedMethodActing refused to tell him what was going on]]. River is appropriately horrified when she realises that the Doctor has never met ''her''. To him, this is their very first meeting. To her, he looks too young, too inexperienced, too happy. He's not ''her'' Doctor yet. She also realises that, due to their time-lines, the first time the Doctor meets her will be the last time she meets him.

** StevenMoffat has confirmed that it's Jack's gun, left in the TARDIS at the end of Series 1.

* EnforcedMethodActing: None of the actors (Except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) knew who River Song is supposed to be. DavidTennant's confusion is genuine.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Steven Moffat didn't tell any of the actors (Except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) just who River Song is. DavidTennant had ''no'' idea how to act opposite her, to great effect. On the DVD commentary, he says that he had the Doctor assume she's a future regeneration of him, because even though that made no sense, it made more sense than anything else he could come up with.

* NothingIsScarier: Dammit, [[StevenMoffat Moffat...]]

*** The Doctor makes a point of mentioning that the books are all new editions printed specially for the Library. Turns out [[spoiler:the trees used contained the Vastha Nerada]].

* MagicalDatabase

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Steven Moffat didn't tell any of the actors (and only very few of the crew) just who River Song is. DavidTennant had ''no'' idea how to act opposite her, to great effect. On the DVD commentary, he says that he had the Doctor assume she's a future regeneration of him, because even though that made no sense, it made more sense than anything else he could come up with.

* BookEnds: When we first meet River Song, she's in a futuristic space suit. When we first meet (series six spoilers) [[spoiler: River's first regeneration, she's in an Apollo Space Suit]].

* [[spoiler:DisposableWoman]]: Miss Evangelista.

** Also, the Doctor warns Donna not to read the books in the Library, because they might contain [[ArcWords spoilers]] for her life. [[spoiler:Thanks to Donna's actions in the finale, she is ''most definitely'' in those books.]]
** Not to mention the line: [[spoiler:You two fight like an old married couple.]]
** There's foreshadowing of what happened to those 4022 people and of the climax of the story towards the beginning [[spoiler: The Doctor exclaims "Oh! I'm thick! I'm old and thick! Head's too full of stuff, I need a bigger head!" Which is exactly the case with CAL, because she has 4022 people running around in her head, and needs more memory space to be able to remember she's a computer and teleport them out successfully.]]
** "I love biographies!" "Yeah, very you. [[spoiler: Always a death at the end.]]"
** River implying that she doesn't know Donna, foreshadowing [[spoiler:her approaching departure.]]

** Moffat loved that idea and ran with it throughout season 6, dropping hints everywhere that she ''could'' be the future Doctor: [[spoiler: Gallifreyan text on a cot, NeilGaiman's episode stating that Time Lords can change sex with regeneration, etc. It's all a RedHerring, though, before taking an abrupt turn left into something else ''entirely''.]]

Somewhere in a very ordinary house, a little girl has schizophrenic visions of a library: huge and beautiful and -- best of all -- just for her. That is, until the Doctor and Donna show up. The little girl's father and her therapist (Dr. Moon) try to make sense of it all.

The Doctor spots a security camera, and uses his sonic screwdriver to scan it. The little girl screams in agony at the sound. The Doctor realizes that the camera is sentient, and he and the girl have a rudimentary conversation through its display. Both are quite confused at this.

River pulls the Doctor aside to catch up and compare diaries, to see how their personal timelines are at the moment. The Doctor just stares at her blankly. Actually, DavidTennant just stares at her blankly, because StevenMoffat [[EnforcedMethodActing refused to tell him what was going on]]. River is appropriately horrified when she realizes that the Doctor has never met ''her''. To him, this is their very first meeting. To her, he looks too young, too inexperienced, too happy. He's not ''her'' Doctor yet. She also realizes that due to their timelines, the first time the Doctor meets her will be the last time she meets him.

No time to dwell on that, though, as the library is infested with flesh-eating shadows. Vashta Nerada. They're not every shadow... [[PrimalFear but they're any shadow]]. They live on any planet that provides meat. Yes, [[ParanoiaFuel including Earth]].

River Song turns out to have a sonic screwdriver -- but not just ''a'' sonic screwdriver, ''the'' sonic screwdriver! This upsets the Doctor quite a bit, and he asks her to give him some proof that she's not an evil lunatic. She whispers one word into his ear. He just stares at her, completely stunned, and trusts her completely from that point on. Donna's a bit jealous.

The shadows kill one archaeologist, Evangelista, stripping her flesh and leaving only a skeleton. The sound system in her protective suit is linked to her neural pathways and echoes her voice long after she's died, which is appropriately terrifying. Another is killed, with the Vashta Nerada animating his suit and chasing everyone else through the blacked-out hallways.

Dr. Moon asks the little girl's dad if he can talk to her alone for a moment. Because he needs to tell her something very important:

The Doctor tries to teleport Donna back to the TARDIS, using the teleporter in the library's [[RunningGag little shop]]. But she is yanked out of existence -- screaming and mid-teleport -- to take her place among the library's robot servants with real people faces.

* BrainlessBeauty: Evangelista.

* CuttingTheKnot: The Doctor is trying to figure out how to get a door open with his sonic screwdriver ("It doesn't ''do'' wood!"). Donna just slams into it, knocking it open.

* DidISayThatOutLoud: Donna is visibly bothered when she realises she thinks the Doctor is attractive.

* [[spoiler:DisposableWoman]]: Evangelista.

** "I love biographies !" "Yeah, very you. [[spoiler: Always a death at the end.]] "
** River mentioning that she doesn't know Donna, foreshadowing [[spoiler:her approaching departure.]]

* HypocriticalHumour: The Doctor berates Lux that he doesn't want one man's pride to kill everyone in the room. River points out [[DoubleStandard "Then why don't you sign the contract?"]]. Then she admits she hadn't signed hers either.
* TheIntern: Evangelista.
* LateToTheTragedy: Both played straight and subverted. The Doctor arrives 100 years too late to the Library, but also arrives too early, since River had expected a later incarnation of the Doctor to show up.

* MadnessMantra: "Hey, who turned out the lights?" "Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved."

* TitleDrop: "A million million lifeforms...and silence in the library..."

* EnforcedMethodActing: None of the actors (Except Alex Kingston and only very few of the crew) knew who River Song is supposed to be. DavidTennant's confusion is genuine.

** StevenMoffat has confirmed that it's Jack's gun, left in the TARDIS at the end of Series 2.

* WholePlotReference: Moffat is a big fan of ''TheTimeTravelersWife''. River meeting the Doctor in the library ''very'' much echoes Clare meeting Henry in a library in said novel.

----

The Doctor's psychic paper has brought him to the biggest library in the universe, the size of a planet, and it's unsettlingly empty. Also, there's a little -x- kiss in the psychic message. But bio-scans claim that the library is [[NightmareFuel not actually empty at all,]] so where ''is'' everyone? And where's the little girl? And why is a robot with a human face telling them to count the shadows?

* EnforcedMethodActing: None of the actors (and only very few of the crew) knew who River Song is supposed to be. DavidTennant's confusion is genuine.