42

Since 1963, Doctor Who has been a survivor because of one elemental strength. The series, it characters, and its premise has always embraced change rather than resist it. Change has enabled the series to continually regenerate itself over the years and has been it's elemental strength and protocol since its inception.

"42" by Chris Chibnall is on the surface a tightly written, suspense action thriller set against a backdrop of a burning sun and a spaceship that has 42 minutes to clear itself of its freefall, or burn up in its fireball. In the hands of the extremely capable Graeme Harper, this story comes to life and sparkles, each scene beautifully framed and plotted, every scene acted with believability on an Adult level. Harper has always directed DOCTOR WHO for its adult audience. He understands the art and employs it once again to the highest level a skilled director can give a television show. His resume speaks for itself and "42' can certainly be added to that curriculum vitae with all the pride of a well tooled and crafted work of art. The episode showcases one of the absolute best opening sequences in DOCTOR WHO history as the Doctor and Martha discover they have 42 minutes to save a spaceship from a freefall orbit into a burning fireball. The sight of the Doctor and Martha looking into the glare of a burning sun as the ship drifts by, closer every second to the sun is perhaps one of the most powerfully, and unexpected scenes ever realized in DOCTOR WHO. A harbinger of a great episode surely!

If "42' had been an episode in the first season of the newly realized DOCTOR WHO, I am certain it would have been a strong candidate for one of the best episodes of the season. The script does deliver a somewhat disappointing and predictable ending and is tied up in an unimaginative fashion with its explanation of the sun being a living entity. This is itself a retread of the ideas employed in 'Planet of Evil" and when you think about it, the episode probably has borrowed a lot from that famous Tom Baker serial which dealt with a Science ship scooping the heart out of a living planet and then is forced to return what it took, and to much better effect than a special effects laden "42" could ever have given us.

Having said this, in reference to the PLANET OF EVIL, I must say"42" suffers mostly because we have already seen this episode not ONCE as PLANET OF EVIL ... but actually TWICE, and as recently as last season with THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET and THE SATAN PIT. Oh, its lost a character here or two in the translation, and is a more concise, lower budget treatment of its concepts, but the episode almost totally plagiarizes the concepts in these two episodes in a fast paced summarization that hardly attempts to disguise itself beyond changing the names to protect the innocent . While there is an understanding that drama and science fiction often have formulaic structures that are reused time and time again, ?the antagonist, and protagonist and the mandatory love interest, the planet, the evil alien, and so on, you rarely see it as obvious and transparent as "42" apparently is. Consider the claustrophobic spaceship, the infected crewmember, the evil baritone voice, and the spaceship falling into the sun, instead of a black hole. You have to wonder at what desperate level does a producer and his production teams decide to con its very loyal audience into accepting such a recycled unoriginal idea as entertaining? One thing that Russell T Davies must understand is that there are only 13 or 14 episodes produced yearly that must satisfy fans of this series; why not give the fans originality and quality throughout? The hardcore fan is certainly going to see the masquerade and even the casual viewer may say, " now wait a minute " and then dismiss it, but may never return again as a viewer after being duped so imperiously. This is something that would concern me if I were Mr. Davies, probably biting his nails because the workload of having to oversee the all these Doctor Who spin offs, as well as the original series is so great. Last season, there seemed to be a better quality of script and story, more attention to details of story and characters. This year it is obvious the rubber band continues to stretch and test the quality levels of the series, and I think it really is beginning to show and split apart at the seams. Again, you have to wonder how the Production executives could not have seen this, unless of course that team has reached a level of desperation or frustration or exhaustion.

This season had begun if not brilliantly, then certainly with a spark of promise and who could not help fall in love with Martha Jones and Freema's sparkling portrayal of her, of course, except for the Doctor who at season's start is still struggling with Rose's loss. In past reviews I expressed some concern about certain parallels between the relationship of the Doctor and Martha and Rose. The Doctor takes Martha to all the same places he did Rose, but Martha calls him on it, and its still okay. Once again we were introduced to the loving and dysfunctional soap opera family of Martha, and you can still step back and say, "Ok". Finally, Martha's mother is concerned for her safety and in "Lazarus Experiment" slaps the Doctor in the face, and finally, in "42" we are reintroduced to the Universal Roaming feature on Martha's cell phone and now we are one kiss away from the total transformation of Martha into Rose. Just One Kiss, and maybe a blonde wig away from total repetition.

This is so disappointing because the new series helmed by Russell T. Davies has been always imaginative, groundbreaking and anything but repetitive and its hard to imagine why a skilled and experienced production team is falling back on vehicles that worked for the series once before and are attempting to perpetuate clones rather than pursue originality. There seems to be little faith in trying to navigate new territory with Martha's character. This, as a long time fan concerns me, since DOCTOR WHO is all about change. Romana would never have slipped into Leela's warrior skins. One would argue even each successive new series seem to follow a formulaic pattern - space adventure, historical adventure, space opera with a space ship on the far side of the universe, linking arcs to be resolved in the final episodes, and finally once again we have mom on the cell phone with suspicions of the Doctor's identity that will no doubt be resolved in the series finale.

Doctor Who is all about change, movement and progression. Its existence and reintroduction to a modern audience is owed to this. Uncle Russell please take note. It's time to pay off those high universal roaming charges and find new sources of wonder in new ORIGINAL ideas.