happydalek (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
happydalek) wrote2007-05-21 04:00 pm
happydalek) wrote2007-05-21 04:00 pm
Entry tags:
42
Okay, so I finally got around to watching Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who episode, and frankly, after the mess he made of Torchwood, I was not expecting much. Considering that, I have to say "42" turned out to be not all that bad, provided it was basically a rerun of last series' "The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit" two-parter.
Given the fact that this story was not only limited to a single episode, but to an actual 42 minutes, the story couldn't help but be very quickly paced with an absolute bare minimum of character development for the supporting cast. Even so, there were many times in the episode when the pacing wasn't urgent enough; this ship and everyone on it are literally minutes away from falling into a star with barely any way out, and they're constantly hesitating, bickering and speculating. The additional element of an alien intruder trying to kill them all (done very well, I might add) has the weird and unfortunate effect of rendering the larger solar problem into little more than a stopwatch. The "real time" aspect of this story, touted as a supposed first for New Who, is not even completely accurate. Russel T Davies' series one story "The End of the World" also used this format, sans the ticking digital display, and with far more dramatic effect. I think "42" should have scuppered the time factor altogether and focused on the alien intruder storyline. The last minute revelation that the sun was a living entity was a fabulous notion I would have loved to see developed in more detail.
The plot is riddled with other obvious devices, including the ludicrous bulkhead lockdown that has Martha phoning home to mum for trivia answers, and which feels very much like a desperate gimmick tacked on just to give Martha something to do. Fortunately, Freema has an opportunity to do some real acting later on in the extremely well-directed sequence when she is trapped in an escape pod, watching the Doctor silently scream "I'll save you!" across an ever-widening gap of space.
It was well-known in Classic Who that to be the Doctor's companion required a powerful set of lungs, but as Tennant demonstrates, the same should be true of the Time Lord himself. In what is becoming a theme for this series, the Tenth Doctor is again put through the physical, mental and emotional ringer, even teasing the audience with the possibility that he might end up regenerating (which sadly can't work to its full potential given the publicity of Tennant's contract with the series). Tennant plays it all to the absolute hilt, but this time it's different. He's vulnerable and in pain and too scared to hide it, at one point on his knees, reaching out blindly and crying, "Martha, where are you?" Gone is the sense of flippancy that usually accompanied the Doctor's derring-do feats of heroism. The Doctor's lifestyle has begun to exact its toll. Perhaps, in the words of one of his erstwhile companions, for the Doctor "it's stopped being fun."
The rich use of color, coupled with the strategic use of sound (or absence, as in the aforementioned escape pod sequence), plus the strong performances of both the leads and the guest cast, make "42" a treat to watch in spite of its story problems (and dodgy science). Graeme Harper showed what could be accomplished on a budget back in 1983's "Caves of Androzoni" and his directorial style is just as polished here, and does much to redeem a story that is laregly a mixture of rehashed elements and unrealized potential. What works in "42" works well, and while this episode is not the strongest of the series so far, it's hardly the worst.
The plot is riddled with other obvious devices, including the ludicrous bulkhead lockdown that has Martha phoning home to mum for trivia answers, and which feels very much like a desperate gimmick tacked on just to give Martha something to do. Fortunately, Freema has an opportunity to do some real acting later on in the extremely well-directed sequence when she is trapped in an escape pod, watching the Doctor silently scream "I'll save you!" across an ever-widening gap of space.
It was well-known in Classic Who that to be the Doctor's companion required a powerful set of lungs, but as Tennant demonstrates, the same should be true of the Time Lord himself. In what is becoming a theme for this series, the Tenth Doctor is again put through the physical, mental and emotional ringer, even teasing the audience with the possibility that he might end up regenerating (which sadly can't work to its full potential given the publicity of Tennant's contract with the series). Tennant plays it all to the absolute hilt, but this time it's different. He's vulnerable and in pain and too scared to hide it, at one point on his knees, reaching out blindly and crying, "Martha, where are you?" Gone is the sense of flippancy that usually accompanied the Doctor's derring-do feats of heroism. The Doctor's lifestyle has begun to exact its toll. Perhaps, in the words of one of his erstwhile companions, for the Doctor "it's stopped being fun."
The rich use of color, coupled with the strategic use of sound (or absence, as in the aforementioned escape pod sequence), plus the strong performances of both the leads and the guest cast, make "42" a treat to watch in spite of its story problems (and dodgy science). Graeme Harper showed what could be accomplished on a budget back in 1983's "Caves of Androzoni" and his directorial style is just as polished here, and does much to redeem a story that is laregly a mixture of rehashed elements and unrealized potential. What works in "42" works well, and while this episode is not the strongest of the series so far, it's hardly the worst.