Doctor Who - "42"

WHOSCALE: 5.5 out of 10

The seventh episode of Series 3 was titled "42," and penned by Chris Chibnall, his first and only contribution to Doctor Who until the Eleventh Doctor two parter "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood."

This episode's plotline and story was actually nearly right on the money for a traditional Doctor Who story, but it was the manner in which the episode was set and presented that deducted the most points from its Whoscale score.

The story follows typical Who formula in which The Doctor and Martha receive a distress signal while travelling in the TARDIS. Upon arriving, they learn that a ship is rapidly hurdling towards a star, and only 42 minutes before impact - hence, the title of the episode. Martha shows traditional TARDIS companion initiative by teaming up with one of the ship's crewmembers, Riley, in order to assist in opening the deadlocked doors leading to the bridge. Meanwhile, an infected crew member is on the loose killing other members one at a time, and dons a welding helmet and gloves.

What disappointed me the most about this episode was Davies' continuing trend of setting futuristic episodes in a gritty, "down below on Babylon 5" kind of environment. Unlike the white-walled Ark in "Ark In Space," Davies tended to illustrate mankind's future as being stagnate - that although we would eventually develop space travel, we would continue to live in the gritty society we live in today. Additionally, the female Captain of the ship, McDonnell, wears a tank top throughout the entire length of the episode. Granted, it was uber hot in the ship, but all of her crew were wearing coats. To me, that was just a reflection of modern society.

The other big minus in this episode was the universal roaming trick The Doctor applies to Martha's cell, allowing her to phone anywhere in the universe at anytime, as long as she knows the area code. This sets the stage for frequent calls to Martha's mother back home, and ultimately leads to heated bickering. Even when The Doctor and Martha were far away from Earth, Davies maintained some form of link between the Doctor's companion and modern day Earth. I suppose that was for the fan girls, who were more interested in David Tennant and whether or not he would ever love Martha the way he apparently loved Rose, than being interested in adventuring through time and space, never looking back. (ahem, Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana, Tegan, Turlough, Ace...shall I go on?)

There were a few scenes that were a bit over-dramatic, and ofcourse we deal with the mandantory tear-jerker scene when Martha and Riley are trapped adrift in the escape pod. I think the title of the episode could have been chosen better, because "42" just sounds a bit too much like Star Trek: Voyager's "The 37s" or "11:59." The title of this episode has also been compared to the series "24."

This episode received the 5.5 because the plot paralleled Doctor Who well. The other 4.5 points were lost due to the gritty setting, and the overdose of 21st century society.
Luckily, Chibnall would have the chance to redeem himself under Moffat's reign in the Eleventh Doctor's first season. A two parter titled "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood" respectively reintroduced the Silurians.