Doctor Who: 3x07 "42"

[kerravonsen]

Oh my oh my oh my! Edge of my seat, yes!

Plot:
Tense, yes. I think the continual countdown helped there, kept the pressure on. The pace didn't slacken. The technobabble was technobabbly, but it seemed to be internally consistent. Then we had the "pick them off one by one" classic of many many things. I was wondering at one point if the only survivors were going to be Martha and the Doctor.

The moment the computer said "42 minutes to impact" I thought, "Oh, so that's what the title means! Good title!" I also wondered if the episode was 42 minutes long, and whether we'd be getting this in real time.

Character:
The Doctor and Martha both did well in this; I like how they're still rescuing each other.

The Doctor babbles alot, y'know...

Interesting with Martha's mother; that scene at the end made me wonder if the bugging was involuntary. But it was still a betrayal.

I liked the ship-captain; she almost fell for the "but it's really hubby, no I'm going to be in denial" that happens so often, but instead of going that route and messing up all the plans by trying to save the loved one, she did the tough-but-right thing; sacrificial honour, yes!

Style:
Anyone else got a flashback to "The Impossible Planet"? Classic grungy-spaceship feel, this.

I liked the glowing-eye stuff. (Okay, very Scott Summers from X-Men, but hey, why not steal good ideas when you can?)

I liked the "This is your fault" repeated; when the Doctor said it, I had a heart-stopping moment wondering if he'd lost his mind.

The repeated "Burn with me" was also very effective. But if one is going to go for the villainous catchphrase, one really needs to have good pacing for it, so that it doesn't get repeated so often it becomes self-parody.

Other musings:
I hate Mr. Saxon. So there.

"Frequent flyer privileges"... but we can't help noticing that it's what he did for Rose. But I think he learned his lesson with the jaunt to New Earth: "Don't tell Martha when you're repeating stuff you did with Rose."

What exactly was going on with the Doctor in the last scene? He seemed to bounce from broody to surface-babble as if the surface-babble was hiding something. Hmmm.

Overall, a good'un.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Yes, I liked it too.

I liked the ship-captain

And wasn't Michelle Collins good in the role!

Style:
Anyone else got a flashback to "The Impossible Planet"? Classic grungy-spaceship feel, this.

That reminded me of Serenity. Unfortunately they also copied the film in making some of the dialogue inaudible above the background music, but it did improve after ten minutes or so. That was my only real complaint.

[kerravonsen]

There were some points at which I did a rewind to try to decipher what they were saying. Which one can't do on live TV. (Well, not without a PVR...)

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

It reminded me of Firefly too!

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Actually, my favourite bit was the dead silence when the escape pod thingy was moving away. I kept thinking of it, nostalgically, when the music cut in again at later moments that could have been played in silence.

I do love silence.

[kerravonsen]

I think it was especially effective silence because it reminded us of the fact that sound doesn't travel in a vacuum; that they were in space.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Dr Who gets a bit of science right! That doesn't happen often. :)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely, but it was precisely the sort of moment I've become accustomed to them drowning with orchestras.

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

Definitely shades of Impossible Planet here, especially as the Doctor wore the same spacesuit.
Yes it was in real time, they said so on Confidential and I think it wasn't coincidence that 42 is 24 backwards.
Definitely one of the better eps so far.
Three weeks until Jack's back. Did anyone else see the sneak preview on Jonathon Ross? Yowser!

[kerravonsen]

and I think it wasn't coincidence that 42 is 24 backwards

No, I don't think it has anything to do with 24; 42 minutes is probably the amount of minutes they actually had to play with in the episode once they'd cut out the titles and credits. "24" isn't the only series to have done episodes in real time, though it's probably the only one to have done all its episodes in real time.

Three weeks until Jack's back.

I thought he wasn't back until episode 11?

I'm freaking over the fact that "Human Nature" is next week. I didn't realize that they were doing a two-parter based on Paul Cornell's novel. I think I'm going to have to re-read it this week.

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

I thought he wasn't back until episode 11?
He isn't, but according to RTD 42 was episode 7 so three weeks for 8,9,10 and then...hurrah!! (Okay so it's really a month, can't blame a girl for trying though. ;p)

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

When I heard the title of the episode, I immediately just thought it was a Douglas Adams homage - you know, meaning of life? Yada, yada, yada....now, where did I put that towel....

[kerravonsen]

Yes, I couldn't help thinking of that too. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be that.

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

The thought did cross my mind, and cause a giggle.

[kerravonsen]

especially as the Doctor wore the same spacesuit

I think it was meant to be set in about the same time as "The Impossible Planet".

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I figured too.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

"Frequent flyer privileges"-- Jack had a TARDIS key too, that's just practical. And as for jiggery pokerying Martha's mobile, that's practical on so many levels. (Not to mention a honking Plot Device.)

But we got through the whole episode without a mention of Rose, per se. Which is a start. ;)

I liked it too, although it was on the scary end of the spectrum. (I didn't hide behind the sofa, but I don't have a good spot for that like I did when I was small and used to hide from...I don't remember. Very possibly Jedikiah. :)

And the captain did make a nice change of pace from the cliche'. Once she snapped out of it (remember she chastised what's his face for "killing" Corwin).

And what's the tech from B5 doing in Doctor Who anyway? (-8 (Same name, different actor, silly!Tigger)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, as I just saw it tonight. Very good, very tense, and I loved the dynamic that The Doctor and Martha had going (The Doctor even tried to start explaining regeneration to Martha in case he died).

And the silence screams as the pod drifted away . . .

One of the first comments I made during the course of the ep was that it reminded me of "Impossible Planet." The look, the feel, and in many ways, the dilemma.

As you were. :-)

[kerravonsen]

They showed it in Australia last week, so I'm all refreshed on it. And thinking about it more, it's even more like Impossible Planet in another respect, and that's the being forced to more limited methods of rescue because the TARDIS is unavailable.