I have a real taste for good base under siege type stories and, unlike a lot of fans who dismiss 42 as a filler, I rate it as a superb episode that remains one of Chibnall's very best efforts.
After receiving a distress call the Doctor and Martha arrive on a spaceship in the future. It is an industrial ship with a small crew and is plunging towards a sun. The ship has 42 minutes until it is destroyed, hence the episode title, and the episode runs in real time which adds a great element to the story.
A member of the crew is taken over by a 'parasite' which then endangers the whole crew even further. The ship is obviously getting very hot and the atmosphere of the heat, claustrophobia, time limitations and fear of the crew are all brilliantly depicted. There is a gritty realism and tension as well as realistic feeling ship and crew. The crew are all acted really well, managing to quickly establish characters as believable and sympathetic. Michelle Collins and William Ash are particularly excellent and are emotionally engaging.
This episode is written by Chris Chibnall who later went on to become Doctor Who Showrunner in 2018. Here, under the leadership of Russell T. Davies he created a tense, exciting and authentic episode with moments of humour and of touching drama in amongst great action. There really are no drawbacks I can see in this episode and I wonder why it is so under-rated by many viewers.
I think small scale episodes where the Doctor is simply trying to rescue a small number of people from an isolated incident are seen by some to be unimpressive and even 'boring'. Personally I love that kind of story. I think constant universe threatening epics or huge overarching complicated storylines have their place when used well and used sparingly but episodes of one off interventions in small, tense situations are extremely important and thoroughly enjoyable. This is the kind of story you would get in the classic series where the Doctor arrives, tries to save people, then leaves. I love it.
Everything in this episode in done to high standard and David Tennant and Freema Agyeman are given great material to show dramatic and emotional depth. They are superb.
I cannot really think of anything to criticise and even the outlandish idea of a sentient life form within a sun is fine within the Doctor Who universe (far crazier ideas were presented before and since). I am a stickler for logic and I did not see any problems which spoil my enjoyment of this in my many viewings of it.
It may not be the most ambitious plot but it delivers in terms of action, drama, script, acting and production. Therefore, whilst it may not quite rival the greatest 10/10 classics, I rate it 9.5/10.
After receiving a distress call the Doctor and Martha arrive on a spaceship in the future. It is an industrial ship with a small crew and is plunging towards a sun. The ship has 42 minutes until it is destroyed, hence the episode title, and the episode runs in real time which adds a great element to the story.
A member of the crew is taken over by a 'parasite' which then endangers the whole crew even further. The ship is obviously getting very hot and the atmosphere of the heat, claustrophobia, time limitations and fear of the crew are all brilliantly depicted. There is a gritty realism and tension as well as realistic feeling ship and crew. The crew are all acted really well, managing to quickly establish characters as believable and sympathetic. Michelle Collins and William Ash are particularly excellent and are emotionally engaging.
This episode is written by Chris Chibnall who later went on to become Doctor Who Showrunner in 2018. Here, under the leadership of Russell T. Davies he created a tense, exciting and authentic episode with moments of humour and of touching drama in amongst great action. There really are no drawbacks I can see in this episode and I wonder why it is so under-rated by many viewers.
I think small scale episodes where the Doctor is simply trying to rescue a small number of people from an isolated incident are seen by some to be unimpressive and even 'boring'. Personally I love that kind of story. I think constant universe threatening epics or huge overarching complicated storylines have their place when used well and used sparingly but episodes of one off interventions in small, tense situations are extremely important and thoroughly enjoyable. This is the kind of story you would get in the classic series where the Doctor arrives, tries to save people, then leaves. I love it.
Everything in this episode in done to high standard and David Tennant and Freema Agyeman are given great material to show dramatic and emotional depth. They are superb.
I cannot really think of anything to criticise and even the outlandish idea of a sentient life form within a sun is fine within the Doctor Who universe (far crazier ideas were presented before and since). I am a stickler for logic and I did not see any problems which spoil my enjoyment of this in my many viewings of it.
It may not be the most ambitious plot but it delivers in terms of action, drama, script, acting and production. Therefore, whilst it may not quite rival the greatest 10/10 classics, I rate it 9.5/10.