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Simon
Registered: 04/29/07
Posts: 33
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 Monday, May 21 2007 @ 05:21 AM EDT |
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Fair enough. Clearly I'm in the minority here. I just didn't like the obvious parallels with previous 10th Doctor stories - would have preferred something new.
I'm also surprised that no one has commented on the rubbish monster. Ok, a bit creepy (in a way we have seen many times before), but there wasn't any actual threat.
The possessed man could be punched in the stomach and then thrown around in one scene, and then in others his victims seemed to just strike a pose and wait for their theatrical deaths.
Surely the crew might have considered putting a bag on his head - bashing him around with a futuristic (and grimy) metal pole and then dumping him out of the airlock! I guess I just needed something more to give the plot a bit more suspense. I just found it predictable and boring.
No TARDIS groans - just one long groan  |
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whodovoodoo
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 120
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| Monday, May 21 2007 @ 10:04 AM EDT |
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Thanks to Simon for playing the devil's advocate.
But I can honestly say I've never enjoyed 45 minutes of television more than this particular episode. It blew all my past favourites out of the water with a big Solar Powered Ballistic missile.
I loved the desperation with which the Doctor went after Martha, it felt like he needed to save her, not just because she is his new companion, but because he was unable to save Rose. I liked to see the Doctor afraid too, as DT pointed out in the Confidential, it is not often we see him scared and I think it is important to know that somethings can scare him: I believe his fear was not of dying but more what kind of man he would become if the parasite remained in him. He was, my belief is, afraid of himself; and that is a very noble concept.
Some points that broke the tension for me, but in my opinion did not spoil the episode one iota:
The radiated crew members were a little comedic for my liking.
The frozen doctor, while acted with aplomb by DT, made me laugh. I have a problem with 'frozen' acting whenever I see it - mostly because it reminds me to the dire final scene to Titanic.
The forcing of the phrase 'Alons Y' into every eposiode now is getting a tad tired and undermining what was originally an excellent line in Doomsday.
Some moments I just need to see again and again:
The parasite leaving the Doctor - beautifully rendered and brilliantly performed.
The scene where Martha is jettisoned - perfectly staged, tactful, powerful and timed to a T. The lack of music in this moment was perfect and heart renting.
Overall 5 groans without even a moments thought.
My only reservation - too scary for kids? Because this is the first episode of any of the new series that has had me screwing up the furniture! |
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"Rubber Soles - Swear by them!"
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Simon
Registered: 04/29/07
Posts: 33
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| Monday, May 21 2007 @ 11:16 AM EDT |
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Thanks Whodovoodoo! I do like to keep the Simon Cowell end up!
Seriously though, you're right, this episode did have some fab moments and like many on this thread I thought the silent 2001 style moving away of Martha in the pod was breathtaking, as was the moment when the Doctor tries to explain his regeneration. Stylistically this was an excellent episode, but I guess I can't help wanting more when my expectations are being raised with each strong episode. |
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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Monday, May 21 2007 @ 07:40 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: whodovoodoo]
The forcing of the phrase 'Alons Y' into every eposiode now is getting a tad tired and undermining what was originally an excellent line in Doomsday.
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| I loved your overall assessment of the episode, but here I'm gonna take issue. I adore the Alons-y! because it quite properly recalls "The Reign of Terror", in which the Doctor's love of Revolutionary-era France is first asserted. It's interesting to note, too, that of all the traveling in the late-Tom to early Colin eras, Paris is really the only European city about which the Doctor is shown to actually wax poetic. In the long view of the programme, Tennant is merely echoing this little-known, but there--from-the-start character trait: the Doctor digs France.
Which is a cool thing, considering how generally un-British a trait that is.
In terms of the 10th Doctor's era alone, though, c'mon: it's a total tribute to a certain lady plagued by clockwork droids who literally touched his mind like no other other woman ever has.
Philosophically, I've always thought it was downright weird that the best-travelled person in the universe didn't have a few common expressions from other languages that he dropped into conversation. People who've spent significant time in other cultures often hit conversational moments in their native tongue where a phrase from the adopted language will seem more appropriate, especially if they're speaking quickly.
Far as I'm concerned, the Doctor should've been doing this kinda "language-dropping" in every incarnation. Not only is it logical, it's great for kids for their hero to occasionally expose them to common expressions from other languages.
42 may (and I do stress, may) have had comparatively bad science for kids, but it had great math and foreign language references. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." — JNT, 1986
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sstevens97
Registered: 05/06/07
Posts: 15
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| Monday, May 21 2007 @ 07:53 PM EDT |
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Well said. I'm relatively new to posting here, but I do enjoy these threads. It seems for the most part that the posts are well reasoned and raise interesting points...even when opinions differ widely. For my part, I find that the new series never fails to entertain after a long work week. I've only been bored once (Fear Her), and I've been "wowed" a couple of times (Girl in the Fireplace,Empty Child/Doctor Dances), but overall I've found resurrected Who to be great fun...harking back to the original stories in many ways.
So, to conclude by making this relevant to the thread subject....42 was entertaining with a terrific moment here and there. |
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tardisious
Registered: 12/30/05
Posts: 58
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| Monday, May 21 2007 @ 08:31 PM EDT |
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The 'Battle' For Most Number 1s
http://www.everyhit.com/mostnumber1s.html
in short, Elvis does hold the record. But its not clean cut enough to base a life and death situation over.
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http://members.cox.net/rengobnor/ ..... Yahoo messenger -- rengob_nor
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capricorn1
Registered: 04/19/06
Posts: 395
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| Tuesday, May 22 2007 @ 04:27 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: DarthSkeptical]
Which is a cool thing, considering how generally un-British a trait that is. |
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No - the British love France - it's the French we have a problem with.  |
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rocko
Registered: 07/21/06
Posts: 370
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| Tuesday, May 22 2007 @ 11:24 AM EDT |
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Coming in late as usual..
I enjoyed "42", but I was a little disappointed as I was expecting "42" to refer to Douglas Adams (given his past contributions to Doctor Who).
Maybe it's just so obvious that it needn't be pointed out, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned in this forum that the title "42" is actually a reference to the Fox TV series "24". (42 minutes until impact, shown in real time, just like 24 hours shown over 24 episodes, one hour each on "24").
For the first few minutes I honestly thought this would be the same crew from "Impossible Planet/Satan Pit", but at some earlier time period. So many similarities, most of which have already been pointed out by others: including the doors, the cell phone calls to Earth, the possession of crew members, etc.
If I recall correctly, the idea of lifeforms in the magnetic fields of the sun (or actually being composed of the magnetic fields of the sun) is a reference to older sci-fi of Asimov or Clarke.
The science gaffs are OK with me, as long as they are consistent. I think DarthSkeptical or Taras has already expressed this point of view. I am a physicist, so these things can really bother me if the science is the focus of the plot but is done with no attention to the details (e.g., the film "Event Horizon", or "Armageddon" just to name two). Somehow this is OK in Doctor Who, because the science is not really the point (as someone pointed out in another forum thread recently). I always felt like the science in Doctor Who, especially the science of the Timelords, was supposed to be so "way out there" that it would appear ridiculous to us, and so I accept it.
My biggest problem with this episode is that I don't know why the Doctor didn't just put on the space suit to walk through the vent chamber and get to the TARDIS when Martha's pod was released. |
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Did you say "74,384,338 to 1 against"? That's my lucky number!
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theoncomingstorm
Registered: 04/02/07
Posts: 5
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| Tuesday, May 22 2007 @ 11:46 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: daveac] And it looks like their messing with the start time again!!
7.15 instead of the 'regular' 7.00pm
Cheers, daveac
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I blame the FA Cup Final .... |
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daveac
Registered: 04/12/06
Posts: 2636
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| Tuesday, May 22 2007 @ 01:21 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: theoncomingstorm] [Quote by: daveac] And it looks like their messing with the start time again!!
7.15 instead of the 'regular' 7.00pm
Cheers, daveac
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I blame the FA Cup Final .... |
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Welcome as a poster.
And again this week - 26th May - the start time is changed yet again.
This time it's 7.10pm.
Cheers, daveac |
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daveac on blip.tv, TalkShoe, iTunes, LiveVideo, uStream, GE, Sci-Fi, DWO, DS & WTA, Dave C on WLP,
cooperda on AVF, dac100 on YouTube & PB, dac on Tiscali
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gwensdad2003
Registered: 05/02/06
Posts: 104
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| Tuesday, May 22 2007 @ 01:32 PM EDT |
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One thing nagged me during this episode (apologies if someone else already said this)-
Did that ship look a bit too much like a Nebulon-B frigate (from Star Wars)? That's all I could think of every time it was on screen.
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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Wednesday, May 23 2007 @ 02:43 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: gwensdad2003] One thing nagged me during this episode (apologies if someone else already said this)-
Did that ship look a bit too much like a Nebulon-B frigate (from Star Wars)? That's all I could think of every time it was on screen.
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| In a word, yes.
But, as might be expected of someone with my nick, I personally wasn't so much bothered as delighted. Of course, I don't think it was actually all that intentional. The attendant Confidential makes it clear that the design was story driven. They needed an exterior which suggested a long corridor which separated the bridge from the engine room, and that's what they came up with. If in the process we got a nod to the last five minutes of Empire, so much the better.
From a purely functional standpoint, though, the design, as James pointed out on our weekly conversation, doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a cargo vessel. At least, inasmuch as any of us early 21st century types can surmise with our present, infant-like understanding of space travel. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." — JNT, 1986
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seanhuxter
Registered: 08/27/05
Posts: 825
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| Wednesday, May 23 2007 @ 08:45 AM EDT |
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| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]From a purely functional standpoint, though, the design, as James pointed out on our weekly conversation, doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a cargo vessel. At least, inasmuch as any of us early 21st century types can surmise with our present, infant-like understanding of space travel. |
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I dunno... it looked a bit like the Discovery One from 2001: A Space Odyssey
Sean.
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One solid hope is worth a cartload of uncertainties.
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old china
Registered: 06/07/06
Posts: 178
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| Wednesday, May 23 2007 @ 09:52 AM EDT |
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As already stated elsewhere, I also feel that nothing new was said with this episode. I felt like I'd seen it all before, especially in last seasons superb The Impossible Planet.
The best bit for me was the slience (that actually went on for what seemed like quite a while) when Martha was ejected into space. Most modern tv seems scared of silence, as if the program makers are afraid that the viewer is going to suddenly get bored. I saw an old episode of The Avengers recently where Emma Peel is trapped in a house that had been specifically engineered to ensnare her. There was no talking for about ten minutes, only Mrs Peel trying to escape from the house.
It was magical television, totally enthralling and engaged me thoroughly. It was only when someone finally spoke that I realised I was on the edge of my seat.
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If half the art of survival is running away, the other half is knowing when to keep a straight face.
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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Thursday, June 28 2007 @ 05:06 AM EDT |
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And from the "Murray Gold is a genius" desk—
Just rewatched this episode and noticed the Master's theme/drums/theme tune baseline right at the very end, when the Sinister Woman confisgates Francine's phone. Very subtle prior to seeing Episode 12, but after watching "The Sound of Drums", ya really can't miss it here in episode 7. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." — JNT, 1986
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