42

I prefer to think of "42" as homage. The setup is rather obvious: "Alien," one of the all-time great horror films and science fiction classics, featured seven people trapped aboard a starship with a killer alien they accidentally picked up. Substitute an impending crash for the alien nasty, and what you have is a taut little thriller of the kind that "Doctor Who" has rarely done in its three-year history since the show's modern return. Which is surprising, because the one-shot episodes the show's featured have largely been there to further ongoing plotlines ("Boom Town," "The Long Game") or spirited romps that meet varying degrees of success ("Love and Monsters," "Gridlock" or "Fear Me" if you really want to get down to the "all you need is love" aspect). The homage doesn't end there, either -- forget, for a moment, the bonk-you-over-the-head dues paid to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in the title, and the play on both the name of and plotting of the series "24".

In "42" we have what may be the season's first real moments of genuine terror. (The Judoon weren't really menacing, the Macra were just a bit creepy, the Lazarus beast a bit laughable and, well, the Daleks were never scary this year.) Surprising, then, that it doesn't come from an alien menace -- instead, it's a 42-minute play on real-time as the Doctor and Martha are literally stuck beyond any hope of rescue. (It's a plot device used before, at the onset of "The Impossible Planet," but why quibble?) That leaves our heroes to become very involved, very quickly, in the story.

And there is a story, despite the fact that I've heard varying comments suggesting that there isn't. It's not a particularly complex story, granted, but "Doctor Who" doesn't need to be -- the presentation of a problem, and the Doctor's journey to the solution, is what got us through much of the show's first twenty-six years. The Doctor's problem is how to save this ship and, and the same time, retrieve his TARDIS. And, eventually, to rescue Martha, who's trapped in an escape pod with a rather nice young man she finds a few moments to flirt with. Substitute Martha for any number of companions in days long gone and it could be your standard "Doctor Who" episode.

What sets "42" apart from the others in this similar mould is that it doesn't let up; it keeps going when you'd expect to catch your breath. The reason why the ship is in this predicament is explained fully; in fact, most everything is pretty much explained to satisfaction, barring the quibble of how Martha and Riley survive the elements in your basic tin can with a window that's hovering within the corona of a star and how, oh how, they manage to be yanked back to the ship (not to mention, why the method for doing so is on the OUTSIDE!) Yes, it's a silly moment, but no "Doctor Who" serial is without its flaws...

Director Graeme Harper is unusually gifted at making a serial look 'lived in' and he is on rare form with "42". It always feels like a spaceship, hollow and booming and largely empty. Harper adds a gorgeous canvas of reds, yellows and oranges that bring the heat of the star to bear on the cast and their surroundings. While I was not a fan of some of writer Chris Chibnall's earlier work in the genre (the meat-eater episode of "Torchwood" was just plain yukky), he does a terrific job presenting a crew at the end of their ropes, and the Doctor and Martha's dialogue are by now quite familiar. I must also mention the bits with the mobile phone -- presented like Chekhov's gun, in that if it's featured at the start of the episode, it must be used in the episode. It presents a rather nice segue into the continuing storyline this year concerning Mr. Saxon...

All in all, "42" is a treat -- a moment of interstellar science fiction on a starship doomed to disaster. (Who'd have thought in this day and age of mostly Earth-bound "Doctor Who"... ?) It's nice to get David Tennant and Freema Agyeman into space, even for a brief interlude, with the kinds of stories I've been aching to see. Destined to be known as a filler, it's in fact a rare little gem.