Silence (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
The Silence is a fiction
al religious order or movement in the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who
.
Executive producer Steven Moffat
created the Silence, intending them to be "scarier" than past villains in Doctor Who. Though the phrase "Silence will fall" recurred throughout the 2010 series
of Doctor Who, the Silence were not seen until the 2011 series
' opener "The Impossible Astronaut
".
In creating the Silence shown in "The Impossible Astronaut", Moffat drew inspiration from Edvard Munch
's famous 1893 expressionist
painting The Scream
as well as the Men in Black
, figures from popular urban mythology
. The Silence continues Moffat's trend of using simple psychological conceits to make his monsters more frightening. In this case of the Silence, their existence is a secret because anyone who sees them immediately forgets about them after looking away, but retains suggestions made to them by the Silence. This allows them to have a pervasive influence across human history while being difficult to locate or resist.
Producer Steven Moffat
created the Silence, suggesting their level of scariness would compete with other Doctor Who adversaries from previous episodes. Actor Matt Smith, who portrays the Eleventh Doctor
, called these aliens "the scariest monsters in the Show's history" and Karen Gillan
, who portrays companion
character Amy Pond
, commented that the Silence could "actually rival the Weeping Angels
in terms of scariness".
The Silence shown in "The Impossible Astronaut" are depicted as tall humanoids with bulbous heads and mouthless, bony faces, partly inspired by Edvard Munch
's The Scream
. Their eyes are sunken within their sockets and the skin of their cheeks stretches to the point of their narrow chins. Their large, shriveled hands resemble a human hand except where the ring and middle fingers would be is a large flipper-like finger. They speak in low, guttural voices though they have no apparent mouths. Aliens affiliated with The Silence seen to date in the series have been dressed in black business suits with an unusual texture. According to Steven Moffat, their resemblance to Munch's The Scream is not coincidental: although humans are not consciously aware of their existence, a "subconscious awareness" of the Silence manifests in such works. They are also partly inspired by mythological figures known as "men in black
" that became popular amongst UFO conspiracy theorists during the 1950s and 60s.
Reviewers have noted that, in creating the Silence seen in "The Impossible Astronaut", Moffat again uses a psychological "gimmick". The Silence are only perceived while being viewed; they are instantly forgotten once a viewer looks away. To keep track of their encounters with the Silence, Doctor Whos characters mark tallies on their bodies or use audio-recorder devices embedded in their hands to let them know if they have seen the Silence. These Silence also use an energy discharge from their hands to displace someone, leaving behind only debris. While absorbing and discharging this energy, a depression appears where one would expect a mouth to be. The Doctor believed they had humanity go to the moon simply to create a spacesuit for their ends.
of Doctor Who, in 2010. The plot thread is left open in the series finale, "The Big Bang
", where the force responsible for the TARDIS' destruction is left unidentified. The Silence are then introduced—as a species rather than an event—in the two-part premiere for the show's sixth series
. Later in the series, the Silence is revealed to be a religious movement composed of the above species. The religion takes its name from the prophecy, that when the oldest question in the universe is asked, silence will (or must) fall. As the Doctor is predestined to answer the question, the Silence made it their goal to make his death a fixed point in time and prevent this.
The species called the Silence is formally introduced in the "The Impossible Astronaut
"/"Day of the Moon
" two-parter; one Silent observes the death of a future iteration of the Doctor (Matt Smith) in Utah. Soon after, and unaware that companions River Song
(Alex Kingston
), Amy
(Karen Gillan
), and Rory
(Arthur Darvill
) met his future self and witnessed his death, the Doctor takes them to 1969, where they confront the Silence as they manipulate the US government. By recording a Silent saying, "you should kill us all on sight," on a videophone—which the Doctor broadcasts during the Apollo 11
moonlanding—Earth's populace is conditioned to kill all Silents, though they will not remember doing so. In the process, the Doctor's group meets a mysterious girl in the same astronaut suit as the assailant who kills his future self. Later in the series, this girl is revealed to be Amy and Rory's daughter, Melody Pond, who is also a young River Song. She is kidnapped as a baby, in "A Good Man Goes to War
", by Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber
) in order to become a weapon against the Doctor—her Time Lord-like genetic traits make her an ideal candidate to kill the Doctor. "Let's Kill Hitler
" establishes that the apparent "religious order" of the Silence has brainwashed to such an end, though River goes against her programming and saves the Doctor's life. After biding their time until the conditions were right, Kovarian and the Silence kidnap River in "Closing Time
", and force her to enact her role in the Doctor's death at Lake Silencio as seen in "The Impossible Astronaut". In "The Wedding of River Song
", many Silence appear in a parallel universe caused by River not shooting the Doctor. The eyepatches worn by Madame Kovarian and others are revealed to be "Eye Drives"—external memory units—permitting associates of the Silence to perceive and remember the species. The Silence reveal however, that they have the power to remotely kill the devices' wearers — as such, they somewhat betray Kovarian by killing her. The Doctor also learns why they wanted to kill him—to prevent a predestined event where he will answer the oldest question in the universe (which turns out to be the show name itself), a terrible secret he knows, after which "Silence will [or must] fall". Though the Doctor's death is thought to be a 'fixed point' of history, it later transpires that only faking his death had been, and River goes to prison for murder so that the Silence will believe him dead.
s Dan Martin responded favourably to the Silence. Though he described them as "a standard Moffat psychological trick", he commended it as the "most refined to date" and praised an introductory scene that was reminiscent of the unsettling directorial work of David Lynch
. Alan Sepinwall (HitFix.com) wrote that though the Silence's central gimmick felt similar to previous ones, Moffat "continues to use those same tricks in such clever combinations, and with such technical flair, that I'm not tired of most of them yet."
The A.V. Club
's Keith Phipps wrote favourably of Moffat's handling of the species in "Day of the Moon". In particular, the introduction of a hand audio-recorder conceit as particularly clever, as it allowed for developments in Rory's paranoia concerning Amy's feelings for the Doctor, although Phipps reflected that he was confused by the montage that connected the Silence to other mentions of "silence" in previous episodes.
Following concerns being raised about whether the Silence had made Doctor Who too scary for children, Moffat responded by saying, "I emphatically think that's not the case," adding, "children like to be scared—like on a ghost train or a rollercoaster."
Some reviewers noted favourable comparisons with monsters from American fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "the Gentlemen" from its critically acclaimed fourth series episode "Hush" (1999). Mike Moody for AOL TV
wrote of the Silence, "They're pretty damn scary, and they remind me of The Gentleman from Buffy. (Anything that recalls Buffy is a plus for me.)" A Television Without Pity reviewer described the Silence as monsters which "look essentially identical to the Gentlemen from Buffy.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al religious order or movement in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
Executive producer Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
created the Silence, intending them to be "scarier" than past villains in Doctor Who. Though the phrase "Silence will fall" recurred throughout the 2010 series
Doctor Who (series 5)
The fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 April 2010 with "The Eleventh Hour" and ended with "The Big Bang" on 26 June 2010. The series was led by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, who took over after the departure of Russell T Davies. The...
of Doctor Who, the Silence were not seen until the 2011 series
Doctor Who (series 6)
The sixth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who was shown in two parts. The first seven episodes were broadcast from April to June 2011 and the final six episodes from August to October. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill continued their roles as The Doctor, Amy...
' opener "The Impossible Astronaut
The Impossible Astronaut
"The Impossible Astronaut" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 23 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States...
".
In creating the Silence shown in "The Impossible Astronaut", Moffat drew inspiration from Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
's famous 1893 expressionist
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
painting The Scream
The Scream
Scream is the title of Expressionist paintings and prints in a series by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, showing an agonized figure against a blood red sky...
as well as the Men in Black
Men in Black
Men in Black , in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves...
, figures from popular urban mythology
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
. The Silence continues Moffat's trend of using simple psychological conceits to make his monsters more frightening. In this case of the Silence, their existence is a secret because anyone who sees them immediately forgets about them after looking away, but retains suggestions made to them by the Silence. This allows them to have a pervasive influence across human history while being difficult to locate or resist.
Creation
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer.Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his...
created the Silence, suggesting their level of scariness would compete with other Doctor Who adversaries from previous episodes. Actor Matt Smith, who portrays the Eleventh Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
, called these aliens "the scariest monsters in the Show's history" and Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan is a Scottish actress and former model who is best known for her current portrayal of Amy Pond in the British science fiction series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
, who portrays companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
character Amy Pond
Amy Pond
Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, commented that the Silence could "actually rival the Weeping Angels
Weeping Angels
The Weeping Angels are a fictional ancient race of aliens from the Doctor Who television series, featured in the Tenth Doctor episode "Blink", and the Eleventh Doctor episodes "The Time of Angels", "Flesh and Stone" and in a cameo appearance in Series 6's "The God Complex"...
in terms of scariness".
The Silence shown in "The Impossible Astronaut" are depicted as tall humanoids with bulbous heads and mouthless, bony faces, partly inspired by Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
's The Scream
The Scream
Scream is the title of Expressionist paintings and prints in a series by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, showing an agonized figure against a blood red sky...
. Their eyes are sunken within their sockets and the skin of their cheeks stretches to the point of their narrow chins. Their large, shriveled hands resemble a human hand except where the ring and middle fingers would be is a large flipper-like finger. They speak in low, guttural voices though they have no apparent mouths. Aliens affiliated with The Silence seen to date in the series have been dressed in black business suits with an unusual texture. According to Steven Moffat, their resemblance to Munch's The Scream is not coincidental: although humans are not consciously aware of their existence, a "subconscious awareness" of the Silence manifests in such works. They are also partly inspired by mythological figures known as "men in black
Men in Black
Men in Black , in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves...
" that became popular amongst UFO conspiracy theorists during the 1950s and 60s.
Reviewers have noted that, in creating the Silence seen in "The Impossible Astronaut", Moffat again uses a psychological "gimmick". The Silence are only perceived while being viewed; they are instantly forgotten once a viewer looks away. To keep track of their encounters with the Silence, Doctor Whos characters mark tallies on their bodies or use audio-recorder devices embedded in their hands to let them know if they have seen the Silence. These Silence also use an energy discharge from their hands to displace someone, leaving behind only debris. While absorbing and discharging this energy, a depression appears where one would expect a mouth to be. The Doctor believed they had humanity go to the moon simply to create a spacesuit for their ends.
Appearances
The unexplained ominous phrase "Silence will fall" recurs throughout the fifth seriesDoctor Who (series 5)
The fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 3 April 2010 with "The Eleventh Hour" and ended with "The Big Bang" on 26 June 2010. The series was led by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, who took over after the departure of Russell T Davies. The...
of Doctor Who, in 2010. The plot thread is left open in the series finale, "The Big Bang
The Big Bang (Doctor Who)
"The Big Bang" is the 13th and final episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part season finale started with "The Pandorica Opens", at the end of which The Doctor is trapped, the TARDIS destroyed, and Amy Pond has been shot...
", where the force responsible for the TARDIS' destruction is left unidentified. The Silence are then introduced—as a species rather than an event—in the two-part premiere for the show's sixth series
Doctor Who (series 6)
The sixth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who was shown in two parts. The first seven episodes were broadcast from April to June 2011 and the final six episodes from August to October. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill continued their roles as The Doctor, Amy...
. Later in the series, the Silence is revealed to be a religious movement composed of the above species. The religion takes its name from the prophecy, that when the oldest question in the universe is asked, silence will (or must) fall. As the Doctor is predestined to answer the question, the Silence made it their goal to make his death a fixed point in time and prevent this.
The species called the Silence is formally introduced in the "The Impossible Astronaut
The Impossible Astronaut
"The Impossible Astronaut" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 23 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States...
"/"Day of the Moon
Day of the Moon
"Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the...
" two-parter; one Silent observes the death of a future iteration of the Doctor (Matt Smith) in Utah. Soon after, and unaware that companions River Song
River Song (Doctor Who)
River Song is a fictional character played primarily by Alex Kingston in the British science-fiction series Doctor Who. River Song was introduced to the series as an experienced future companion of series protagonist the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time in his TARDIS...
(Alex Kingston
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth "Alex" Kingston is an English actress. She is most widely known for her roles as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER and as River Song in Doctor Who.-Early life and education:...
), Amy
Amy Pond
Amelia Jessica 'Amy' Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan
Karen Sheila Gillan is a Scottish actress and former model who is best known for her current portrayal of Amy Pond in the British science fiction series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
), and Rory
Rory Williams
Rory Williams is a fictional character portrayed by Arthur Darvill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Having been introduced at the start of the 5th series, Rory joins the Eleventh Doctor as a companion in the middle of Series 5...
(Arthur Darvill
Arthur Darvill
Thomas Arthur Darvill is an English actor, known professionally as Arthur Darvill. He is noted for his work in the plays Terre Haute and Swimming with Sharks , but is probably best known for his role as the Eleventh Doctor's Companion Rory Williams in the television series Doctor Who.-Early and...
) met his future self and witnessed his death, the Doctor takes them to 1969, where they confront the Silence as they manipulate the US government. By recording a Silent saying, "you should kill us all on sight," on a videophone—which the Doctor broadcasts during the Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
moonlanding—Earth's populace is conditioned to kill all Silents, though they will not remember doing so. In the process, the Doctor's group meets a mysterious girl in the same astronaut suit as the assailant who kills his future self. Later in the series, this girl is revealed to be Amy and Rory's daughter, Melody Pond, who is also a young River Song. She is kidnapped as a baby, in "A Good Man Goes to War
A Good Man Goes to War
"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011...
", by Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber
Frances Barber
Frances Barber is an Olivier Award-nominated English actress with a long and distinguished stage career. She has also appeared in numerous television productions...
) in order to become a weapon against the Doctor—her Time Lord-like genetic traits make her an ideal candidate to kill the Doctor. "Let's Kill Hitler
Let's Kill Hitler
"Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story, continuing stories from "A Good Man Goes to War"...
" establishes that the apparent "religious order" of the Silence has brainwashed to such an end, though River goes against her programming and saves the Doctor's life. After biding their time until the conditions were right, Kovarian and the Silence kidnap River in "Closing Time
Closing Time (Doctor Who)
"Closing Time" is the twelfth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 24 September 2011.-Plot summary:...
", and force her to enact her role in the Doctor's death at Lake Silencio as seen in "The Impossible Astronaut". In "The Wedding of River Song
The Wedding of River Song
"The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 1 October 2011.-Plot:...
", many Silence appear in a parallel universe caused by River not shooting the Doctor. The eyepatches worn by Madame Kovarian and others are revealed to be "Eye Drives"—external memory units—permitting associates of the Silence to perceive and remember the species. The Silence reveal however, that they have the power to remotely kill the devices' wearers — as such, they somewhat betray Kovarian by killing her. The Doctor also learns why they wanted to kill him—to prevent a predestined event where he will answer the oldest question in the universe (which turns out to be the show name itself), a terrible secret he knows, after which "Silence will [or must] fall". Though the Doctor's death is thought to be a 'fixed point' of history, it later transpires that only faking his death had been, and River goes to prison for murder so that the Silence will believe him dead.
Reception
The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Dan Martin responded favourably to the Silence. Though he described them as "a standard Moffat psychological trick", he commended it as the "most refined to date" and praised an introductory scene that was reminiscent of the unsettling directorial work of David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
. Alan Sepinwall (HitFix.com) wrote that though the Silence's central gimmick felt similar to previous ones, Moffat "continues to use those same tricks in such clever combinations, and with such technical flair, that I'm not tired of most of them yet."
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
's Keith Phipps wrote favourably of Moffat's handling of the species in "Day of the Moon". In particular, the introduction of a hand audio-recorder conceit as particularly clever, as it allowed for developments in Rory's paranoia concerning Amy's feelings for the Doctor, although Phipps reflected that he was confused by the montage that connected the Silence to other mentions of "silence" in previous episodes.
Following concerns being raised about whether the Silence had made Doctor Who too scary for children, Moffat responded by saying, "I emphatically think that's not the case," adding, "children like to be scared—like on a ghost train or a rollercoaster."
Some reviewers noted favourable comparisons with monsters from American fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "the Gentlemen" from its critically acclaimed fourth series episode "Hush" (1999). Mike Moody for AOL TV
AOL TV
AOL TV was the name of both a thin client which uses a television for display , and the online service that supports it, both of which were launched in June 2000 to compete with WebTV....
wrote of the Silence, "They're pretty damn scary, and they remind me of The Gentleman from Buffy. (Anything that recalls Buffy is a plus for me.)" A Television Without Pity reviewer described the Silence as monsters which "look essentially identical to the Gentlemen from Buffy.