Name: Fiona Taylor | Age: 12

     42 is an interesting and very weird episode about how everything needs love and care. The story starts with the Doctor and Martha arriving on a very hot spaceship that has 42 minutes until it crashes into the sun.  However, the captain’s husband has been taken ill with an extremely high body temperature and he seems to be incapable of opening his eyes. The Doctor sedates him and leaves him with Abi, the ship’s doctor. The Doctor goes back to the engines and is trying to work out what to do with them when he hears a scream and runs to the rescue to find that Abi has been vaporized by Orin. The Doctor looks at the test results of the bio scans on Orin and can see that his body has changed and that he still has a very high temperature.  Everyone is instructed to stay away from as he is dangerous but is this enough to protect the people on the spaceship? Will the Doctor be able to get the engines working before they crash into the Sun?

        I thought that the emotional scenes between Martha and her mum were very well written, and the mysterious people in her house, taking away her mobile phone were very interesting. The stunts were amazing and heroic) and the CGI was as believable as a spaceship hurtling towards the sun with strange monsters on board can be.  Overall, the script was well written, but in some parts it was a little      vague. I really enjoyed the part when the Doctor was being taken over by the Sun, as it was tremendously well acted and a really gripping scene. The acting from the cast was overall of a very high standard.

        The plot was very good, but did not have as much depth to it as other episodes and I think that it would have better if it had been in a two parts. It also reminded me of the impossible planet a bit too much, which was not very enjoyable, as it did not feel like another adventure. This also made me feel that this episode was slightly pointless as it was so similar to the impossible planet.  The fact that the monsters kept on saying that it was Kath’s fault seemed quite irrelevant and was never explained.

        My favourite quote was from the Doctor when he said, “Doesn’t anyone teach recreational mathematics anymore?” I absolutely hate maths and so do a lot of my friends, so I wonder why they stopped teaching it…?

        Overall, I thought that this episode was slightly unoriginal and really weird. My rating for this episode is 5/10.

Name: Brendan Kennedy | Age: 21

"Burn with me."
        Chris Chibnall- his name stirs a great, primordial fear within me when I see it attached to an episode of television. Within such an episode, you're guaranteed an inappropriately placed kiss or two (or more than a kiss) just for the sake of it, several tired and hoary old clichés and characters written wildly out of their norm. "42," is a promising premise, doubtlessly gifted to Chibnall by his better, Russell T Davies. The story revolves around a living sun, its abuse by the passengers of a mining ship and the crew's desperate attempts to escape crashing into it, before their time runs out. It's a shameless homage to hit American "drama," 24, which I have no problem with. If you're going to rip something off, you might as well rip off something incredibly successful. Everything's in place for an epic episode, and barring the curse of Episode 7 (see the dire "The Long Game," and the lacklustre "The Idiot's Lantern), it could be a really brilliant episode. It isn't.
    This is mainly Chibnall's fault. Auteur, Graeme Harper's direction is stunning and faultless. Murray Gold utilises some of the series strongest musical cues and my personal favourites from RTD classic "Gridlock." The set-work is cast in the mould of "The Impossible Planet," and "The Satan Pit." It's grimy, gritty and incredibly detailed and when combined with Harper's deft direction and the Mill's excellent CGI work, the world created looks completely believable and frequently beautiful. As the Doctor looks at the living sun while enclosed in his space-suit, the reflection of the dancing flames in his visor is absolutely gorgeous. It's a moment that should be absolutely classic, but is ruined by Chibnall's insistence to have his characters say something, even if it is utterly trite and pointless. The Doctor just repeats "it's alive," again and again, for lack of anything better or remotely interesting to say from Chibnall.
    Chibnall could have done so much better with a superb concept and everybody working around him at full pelt. He slides his own personal tropes to the script. His Doctor is frightened needlessly, behaving vastly out of character, Martha screams insanely despite having remained calm in the face of adversity throughout the rest of the season. His supporting characters are mere sketches and there are far too many of them. While we felt like the cast of the "TIP/TSP" were like family by the end of part one, at the end of 42, these people remain as unknown doodles in the margin of Chibnall's notebook. Unlike other episodes of the season, there's nothing to reach for beyond the surface text. The underlying message is blatantly obvious and neatly stated for the dimmer folks at home by the Doctor: "Treat it like a living thing, with love and affection," etc. Ghastly, jarring stuff. Even the more obvious moments of RTD's scripts follow the rule of "show don't tell," that Chibnall so effortlessly discards in favour of reams of expository dialogue.
    There were some nuggets of quality in Chibnall's script: his Doctor lamenting the death of recreational mathematics, the catchy "burn with me," and the three phone-calls between Martha and Francine. 42 is largely unengaging and neither lifts the curse of the poor episode 7 or Chris Chibnall's startling mediocrity.

5/10

Name: Abbie Taylor | Age: 13

Name: Emma Jane Shepherd | Age: 34

Name: Louise Green | Age: 15

How awful was last Saturday night for you? No Doctor Who!! Fortunately, the first episode back after the break was not a disappointment. The only thing that I can honestly say that I didn’t like, was the fact that it was quite similar to the Ood episodes from last series. The space suit was the same and the voice from the living sun was similar to the voice of the beast. When he went to pull the lever from outside the ship, he left Martha behind worrying, the same as he did with Rose. Other than the similarities, it was an extremely enjoyable episode.

 The episode starts with the Doctor and Martha in the Tardis and her phone being connected so that she can phone anyone anywhere at any time. As she goes to try it, the Tardis jolts when it receives a distress signal and locks itself onto a spaceship that is hurtling towards the sun! The Doctor and Martha leave the Tardis and find themselves located in the ship which is like a sauna it’s so hot. They do not know yet that they are hurtling towards the sun and only have 42 minutes to save themselves and the ships crew.

They get greeted by the captain and her crew and are asked who they are. Everyone on the ship is panicking and trying to get to engineering before it’s too late. ‘42 minutes before we crash into the sun’ says the Captain. This makes the crew even more panicky and the Doctor and Martha start to worry. Outside of the spaceship, we see the sun, large and bright and the spaceship heading right towards it. Looks to me like it could be a scary ride!

After the introductory music, the Doctor runs around trying to figure out what’s going on. He opens a door to find that the lava in there is channelling heat and its getting hotter and hotter every second. Once they get to engineering, they find that two crew members are missing. Corbin and Ashton. The crew search for him while the Doctor tries to sort out the engine. He says that thy need to reach the front of the ship but a member of the crew, Riley, tells him that there are 29 dead lock seals between them and there. Each one has a password, which is an answer to a question, and you only get one attempt to get it right. Riley takes Martha along with him and the two of them try to get through the doors. Unfortunately, being dead lock seals, the Doctor cannot help by using his sonic screwdriver.

The captain eventually receives a call on the intercom from Ashton saying that they need to get up to the medical centre immediately. He will not say whether Corbin is with him. Up in the medical centre, Corbin is lying on a table going crazy. He is screaming and shouting but keeps his eyes closed the whole time. The captain, who is also his wife, tries to get closer to him and refuses to believe that something has happened to him. Ashton tries to tell her that he was sabotaging the ship when he went mad but the Doctor is the only one who seems to believe it. He tries to get him to open his eyes but he says that he can’t and continues screaming and shouting. The Doctor then puts a machine to his neck and makes him fall unconscious. This gives him a chance to try and work out what’s wrong with him. He says that is temperature is exceptionally high and that they will know more after tests. He tells the nurse to keep him sedated just in case anything happens, and then orders the others back downstairs. After they have gone, we see Corbin twitch but that is it for now. How can he be awakening so soon? What’s going on? Is it dangerous?

Riley and Martha have started on the doors and have to answer 29 questions set by the crew when they were drunk. The questions aren’t too hard to answer but getting to them through the screen is difficult. They get the first one right and carry on.

We see Corbin again next when the Doctor calls Abby the nurse on the intercom and she says that she cant make sense of the data. This time though, it wasn’t just a twitch, he moved his head sideways! Uh-oh, I think he’s waking up pretty fast!!

Martha and Riley need to hurry up because they are running out of time. Riley has no idea of the second answer but thankfully, the Doctor knows. The question is about numbers in the sequence and Martha has never heard of what he is talking about. Luckily, they listen to him and, after a long persuasion, the next door opens. Yes! He got it right!

Now, only 30 minutes left, they are running out of time fast. They ask the Doctor but he can’t remember. Martha rings up her mum using her new high-tech mobile and asks her for the answer. Her mum doesn’t really want to listen and just wants her to come home and talk about the Doctor but she shouts and tells her to hurry up. A side of Martha that we haven’t seen before. Her mum eventually finds her the answer and as she hangs up, we see a glimpse of a woman in black in their house. Who could she be? Why does she look so professional? Could Martha’s mum be talking to her about the Doctor? Guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Back with the Doctor and the crew, he wants to use the generator to jumpstart the ship. Hopefully, it will work. The Captain tells a crew member to make sure that it works. The Doctor also gets another call from Abby the nurse who is worried about what is happening to Corbin. She is worried because the readings are changing and becoming more critical as time goes on. When she turns round, Corbin is walking around the room. She requests urgent assistance and the Doctor goes to see her. Abby is terrified at this point because Corbin is stood right in front of her shouting ‘Burn with me’ He still has his eyes shut but when he opens them, there is a bright light which kills Abby immediately. Corbin then grabs a helmet and puts it on.

Once the Doctor and the crew arrive, they see that Corbin had vaporised Abby. The Doctor looks at his test results and sees that something, inhuman, has happened to him. His internal temperature is 100 degrees and oxygen has been replaced with hydrogen. Something very terrible is happening although we have no idea what yet. The Captain then passes a message over the intercom to stay away from him if they see him. If not, they could end up getting vaporised too.

Quite obviously, the next thing that happens is that someone bumps into Corbin. Stupidly, before seeing him, the girl from the crew turns her intercom off so that no one hears her scream. It takes an awfully long time for people to realise that she has been vaporised.

Corbin grabs hold of Ashton when he enters the room but doesn’t vaporise him. This time, he turns him into one of him! Once Ashton gets turned into one too, he grabs a helmet and also puts it on. He starts to invade the ship just like Corbin, but Ashton is the one to find Martha and Riley. Once they see him, and realise that he is now like Corbin, they run and hide in an escape pod! Ashton bangs on the door trying to get in but is having trouble. What he did do however, was activate the escape pod using the control panel and Martha and Riley are about to head off towards the sun unless there is something the Doctor can do.

He goes off to try and save them but has to be careful not to get caught by Ashton – or Corbin. Every time Riley deactivates the escape pod, Ashton reactivates it.

Back with the generator, the captain and Corbin start talking. She tries to make him remember her and luckily for her, he does. All he says to her though is ‘It’s your fault’! Then he goes to attack her. The crew member who was helping to get the generator ready comes in and kills Corbin. The Captain, hurt and upset, eventually agrees that it was for the best.

Once the Doctor gets to Martha and Riley, he sees that Ashton is still stood there. He has to be careful that he does not vaporise him but still has to stay strong for Martha. Once Ashton realises that Corbin has been killed, he wanders off past the Doctor but does not kill him. Before going however, he smashes the control panel so that there is no way for Martha and Riley to escape the sun.

The Doctor then looks into the pod and sees Martha and Riley in there. He screams through the window to her that he will save her but she cannot hear him. Riley tells her that there is no hope and that there is no escape from the hot scorching fiery sun. Martha tells him to believe in the Doctor because he won’t let them down. They get talking for a bit and Riley says that he has never had someone to believe in. His dad had died and he had not spoken to his mum in six years. There was no girlfriend on the scene and he was lonely and upset. Martha told him that he could believe in the Doctor no matter what and that he wouldn’t let them down. Riley then asks about Martha and she realises that no one will ever know about her death. Her family will just sit there waiting and will always wonder why she never came home. She decides to call her mum to tell her that she loves her and just wants to chat for a bit but the woman from earlier in there home is still there, and wants to carry on talking to Martha’s mum. We still at this point have no idea who she is. Once Martha hangs up, she is devastated and Riley comforts her with a cuddle. The two of them just sit there for a while hugging and supporting each other. Martha is not ready to give up hope on the Doctor yet. She still believes in him and always will.

The Doctor decides to go out onto the outside of the ship to reverse what happened to Martha and Riley. The process is very dangerous and could result in the Doctor being killed. It’s a chance he’s willing to take to save Martha though. Once outside, he has to manoeuvre a lever to bring them back. It takes him an awfully long time because he can’t reach but carries on and doesn’t give up. Once he manages to get the lever, he pulls them back but not before taking a look at the sun and seeing that it’s alive!!! Once back inside, the Doctor almost collapses and light comes beaming through his eyes. Finally, we find out what is happening. The captain used the sun for cheap fuel and tore out its heart! Now – it’s screaming! It’s now living in the Doctor! The only way to get it out is to freeze it out. Turn the temperature to below minus two hundred and it will get rid of what’s inside him. He will only be able to withstand ten seconds of it though. Hopefully enough to get rid of the danger.

The Doctor is terrified at this point. Seeing him like this is heartbreaking because it’s a side that we don’t see very often. Hopefully, Martha will be able to sort him out. If not, he could end up killing everyone because the power controlling him is too strong. The Doctor tries to tell Martha about a ‘thing’ that happens if he is about to die but she refuses to listen because she believes that she will be able to save him. As Martha flicks the switch to freeze it out of the Doctor, he starts screaming!

Elsewhere, Corbin comes back to life and deactivates the machine that is keeping the Doctor alive. With hardly any time left, the captain goes down there to see what is happening and grabs hold of Corbin. She knows that the only way to save everyone is to kill in and, because she loves him so much, she throws him out of the air lock but attaches herself to him so that they will always be together.

The Doctor tells Martha to go and sort out the engine fuel and leave him lying there. Reluctantly, she goes and returns all of the fuel that they stole. 

Martha reaches the last door at the same time as the crew so they can get through together. Once there, they flick the switches and dump all of the fuel back down onto the sun.

The Doctor is running out of energy and the power controlling him is becoming too strong. With only 1 minute to spare, something needs to be done quickly. Light flashes out of the Doctors eyes but as the fuel gets dumped, he returns to normal and Martha rushes back to see him. All of the crew hold on to the ship tightly as the ship fly’s away from the sun. With everything back to normal and the Doctor still alive, the two of the hug lots and laugh at the memories of what happened.

The Doctor goes back into the Tardis as they are about to leave and Martha has another talk with Riley. He says that he has found the one person that he believed in but is really upset that he will never see her again. He and Martha share a kiss that she didn’t think the Doctor saw but inside the Tardis, he looked upset. Once in there, the two of them go off again but not before the Doctor gives her the key to the Tardis. Over the moon, they fly off to their next destination.

Back at Martha’s house, we find out who that woman was. It was someone from the election in voting for Mr. Saxon!! Another ending involving him…Can’t wait to find out who he really is!!

Episode Rating: 6/10 If the episode was not so much like the Ood episode, I would have given it a higher rating. I really enjoyed the episode and, because they were all rushing around to save everyone, I found myself rushing through the review because I felt like I was being timed as I watched it again. So…Sorry if there are mistakes in it. I only had 42 minutes to write it. No, only joking. Took me three and a half hours really! A very enjoyable episode. As I said at the start, my only complaint was the similarities but other than that, the acting was fantastic, the CI moments looked so realistic and everything else was just incredible! Thank you for another great episode! 

Name: Julie Bayman | Age: 52

In 42 minutes the SS Pentallian will collide with a boiling Sun.  Captain
McDonnell and her crew have broken the law by taking energy scoops (to use for fuel) from the sun without first scanning for life forms.  And now, one by one, they are being taken over by a strange, burning force, which takes possession of their bodies.  Their eyes are closed and if they open them a burning light comes flooding out and they speak in a deep voice.  “Burn with me”.

All this takes place in the Torajii system and it happens in 42 minutes real time, a clock counts down the minutes to the time of impact and the whole of the episode is set inside the spaceship. When the Doctor and Martha land, they have no idea what is happening, but they soon realize that they are trapped along with the rest of the crew.  The Doctor takes charge in his usual fashion and seems remarkably laid back about the fact that they are all going to burn in 42 minutes unless they do something pretty quickly.  Of course the Doctor comes up with a solution and Martha and Riley, who is one of the crew members, set off to open a series of doors which lead to the auxiliary engines. To do this they bizarrely have to answer quiz-type questions that have been set by the crew.  But some of the crew have changed since the questions were set. The Doctor is in fine form as he speedily
explains the principles of  “happy prime numbers” to Martha and Riley who are unable to answer one of the questions. “Talk about dumbing down, don’t they teach recreational mathematics any more?” the Doctor says in amazement.
The first to be possessed by the burning creature are Korwin, Captain
McDonnell’s husband and Ashton.  They both wear helmets to cover their faces. This makes them slightly scary and they set off to stalk the rest of the crew with the aim of killing them.  One of them finds Martha and Riley who run and hide in an escape pod; but they are unable to stop it disengaging and after Martha has called the Doctor for help, he appears at a porthole looking out, shouting, “I’ll save you”.  Martha, looking very frightened, looks back but she can’t hear what he is saying and we see the pod floating away in an eerie silence, leaving the Doctor’s face mouthing the words as it gets smaller and smaller.  Inside the pod she tells Riley that she trusts the Doctor to save her but she is still very scared.

In order to save Martha the Doctor has to don his spacesuit once again:  He last wore it in series two, The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, and then he has to venture outside the spaceship into the boiling atmosphere and pull a lever to reverse the magnetism and bring the pod back.  This he manages to do with great difficulty and he is seen staring into the burning Sun “ It’s alive” he murmurs.  Unfortunately, he ends up being possessed by the burning creature.  Back inside the ship the Doctor is rolling around in pain as he tries to control the creature inside him.  Martha and McDonnell help him to get to the stasis machine where they are going to try to freeze the creature out.  The Doctor, now blinded by the burning creature, calls out “ Martha - where are you?”  He now trusts her completely.  She helps him into the stasis machine and sends McDonnell away. “You’ve done enough damage,” she tells her. There is then a rather harrowing scene as the Doctor shouts out in pain as he tries to control the creature. He confesses to
Martha “I’m scared, I’m so scared, it’s trying to kill me!”.  Martha fights back the tears as she sets the controls on the machine and then pulls the lever. We then hear the Doctor again screaming out in pain.  The power is then cut off before the freezing process is complete. The Doctor, still in agony, instructs Martha to go and dump the fuel and give the Sun particles in the fuel back to the Sun. Martha won’t leave him but he pleads with her to go.  It’s all very moving as we don’t very often see the Doctor admitting that he is frightened or being totally reliant on his companion.  It is a
wonderful piece of acting from both of them.

Captain McDonnell manages to kill Ashton and then, sacrificing herself,
ejects herself and Korwin out into space and we see them floating towards the Sun.  Riley and Scannel manage to dump all the fuel and just as the Doctor tells Martha that he can no longer control the creature within him the spaceship gets its power back and the creature leaves the craft and returns to the Sun.

This episode had too many scenes reminiscent of Series Two’s The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit.  The bodies floating towards the Sun (or black hole), the spaceship, the deep voice of the possessed people and, as I have already said, the spacesuit; even some of the music was the same. However, some of the music was very atmospheric and I liked the way the clock ticked away counting down the minutes to the time of impact, giving a sense of urgency especially towards the end.  (I’m sure a lot of you will compare this to TV’s 24, but I liked it all the same.)  The scene inside the escape pod with Martha and Riley was very moving especially when Martha phoned her Mother. And the Doctor’s screaming from inside the stasis chamber made me feel very uncomfortable, even though I knew it wasn’t real.  I really felt for Martha when she was desperately trying to fight back the tears and keep control of the situation.  At the start the Doctor was in control and saved Martha; towards the end Martha had to take control and save the Doctor.
Michele Collins as Captain McDonnell was very good; she clearly had
something to hide.  Two things happened at the end: the Doctor finally gives Martha a key to the TARDIS; and we saw Martha’s mother talking to somedubious looking characters who are working for the mysterious Mr. Saxon.
(At the start of the episode The Doctor had modified Martha’s mobile phone so she could ring home.)We also learn that it is election day.
(Interesting.)

Marks 8/10

Name: Rosie Carlisle | Age: 18

I found it hard to write a review this week. I’m not entirely sure why – writers block, maybe? I think one reason could be that episode seven, ‘42’, didn’t feel like an episode of Doctor Who to me – it felt like real life. I know, I know, that sounds corny, but it’s not supposed to. It pulled me in, and it didn’t feel like I was watching a bunch of actors smeared in baby oil (as they apparently were). I think I may have reached the turning point with this series – the point at which I no longer need to make an effort to like the programme, and to see the good things within it. A nice place to be!

Basically what I’m trying to say is, it’s weird reviewing something when it didn’t feel like a programme. I’m not making a lot of sense, really. How about I shut up and get on with it as best I can…

OK, so the actors were great – Michelle Collins playing an excellent lead role, and the other actors very strong. I especially liked the performance of the man who was trapped in the capsule with Martha – and I think Martha quite liked him too! What was that big smooch at the end of the episode, eh?

This episode seemed to take a dramatic step up when it came to creepiness – on the most part this made for an extremely adrenalin-packed episode. However, when we saw the Doctor at his weakest, moaning to Martha how terrified he was, I almost felt this was too soon – we don’t want to see the Doctor stripped of all his defences too often. I think that needs to be saved, and then when it does occur, it’s all that more dramatic. Just my opinion, though.

I loved the fact that the episode was set in real time – it didn’t make that daft mistake that other programmes make, where it says ‘thirty seconds until detonation’ and it is clearly at least three minutes! The suspense was held because of the choice to set this episode in real time, and I think it was a great decision.

The Doctor and Martha are gradually getting closer, aren’t they? Poor Doctor, he just needs a friend. Pick me, Doctor…

Name: Zoe Brown | Age: 27

Halfway through the series, and Martha has now officially reached ‘companion status’ – the Doctor even enables her mobile with ‘Universal Roaming’ so she can make calls from anywhere in the universe (just as the Ninth Doctor did with Rose in ‘The End Of The World’).  However, they are interrupted when the TARDIS picks up a distress signal and lands on board a cargo ship – which is 42 minutes away from falling into a sun.  It’s a race against time as the Doctor and Martha try to save the ship.

The episode is a first for the programme, as it takes place in ‘real time’ – everything is filmed ‘as it happens’ (as in the US programme ‘24’, where each episode represents an hour in a day).  Consequently, the action never lets up for a moment – writer Chris Chibnall has previously written for ‘Torchwood’, but this is his first ‘Doctor Who’ episode, and it has a more adult, futuristic tone, which is also reflected in Murray Gold’s score.  Numbers are very important in the episode – 42, as well as being the number of minutes left until the spaceship falls into the sun, is also, according to ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’, the answer to life, the universe and everything (its writer, Douglas Adams, also worked on ‘Doctor Who’ as a scriptwriter during the early years of the show).  There were originally 7 crew members on board the ship, and 29 deadlock-sealed doors to be opened before the crew can find their way back to the control room.  The name of the ship, ‘SS Pentallian’, sounds similar to ‘pentagon’, or even ‘pentagram’. 

There are many similarities with last season’s two-parter ‘The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit’: the episodes take place on board a spacecraft; the Doctor is separated from the TARDIS for the duration; the Doctor has to wear a spacesuit and venture outside the craft; there is dissent amongst the crew members, who are picked off one-by-one; the alien threat possesses and/or takes control of their victims’ bodies; and the Doctor and Martha grow closer, just as he did with Rose.  (However, unlike Martha, Rose was unable to phone home, even with the added benefit of Universal Roaming.)

The main similarity is in terms of the plot – humans exploiting natural resources or energy sources for their own material gain.  In ‘The Impossible Planet’, the crew of Sanctuary Base 6 were drawn to the power source buried deep underground and were trying to drill down and find it, whilst the crew of the SS Pentallian have been scooping the heart out of the sun for fusion, a practice which has apparently been outlawed.  The captain, McDonnell, doesn’t seem to realise the trouble she’s caused by doing this, but her remark to the Doctor that her husband, Korwin, “keeps her honest”, seems to suggest otherwise.  The plot also reflects earlier episodes this series, in that it warns of the dangers of interfering with nature – the sun, as a living organism, takes its revenge on the crew for draining it for fuel.  In ‘The Lazarus Experiment’, Professor Lazarus paid the price for trying to reverse the aging process and is transformed by his own DNA into a monster; and in ‘Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution Of The Daleks’, the Daleks tried to create their own species, but this ultimately failed because they had done so outside of the natural order.  Therefore, it is only when the heart of the sun has been returned that its power over the crew can be stopped.  There seems to be a recurring theme of the environment taking its revenge on humanity in some way – this episode could be viewed as a cautionary tale about the way we treat the environment, particularly as fossil fuels start to run out and we start to look elsewhere for alternatives. 

The idea of self-sacrifice is also explored – McDonnell, accepting ultimate responsibility for events, lures the possessed Korwin to the airlock, pulling him out of the ship with her as they both fall into the sun.  The Doctor, not for the first time this series, risks his own life by locating the controls on the outside of the ship which will remagnitise the pod and bring Martha and Riley back, but this then allows him to be taken over by the sun’s power.  As in earlier episodes, the Doctor and Martha once again take it in turns to save each other – once the pod has docked with the ship again, Martha returns the favour and takes the Doctor to the stasis chamber to try and freeze the sun particles inside him, just as she revived him in ‘Smith And Jones’, which once again made use of a stasis chamber, although this time it was an MRI scanner.  The scenes involving the Doctor’s ‘possession’ are quite frightening to watch, as for the first time since the show returned, we are seeing the Doctor at his most vulnerable, and probably most human.  He admits to Martha that he is scared, not only about what the sun particles will do to him, but also about whether freezing will actually stop it.  He even starts to explain to Martha about the regeneration process, in case the freezing doesn’t work.  Because the threat is actually inside the Doctor’s own body, this seems to scare him more than if it had been an alien being.  However, his body seems to be amazingly robust – already this series he has absorbed x-ray radiation, gamma radiation, and now sun particles, not to mention being drained of blood by a Plasmavore, having one of his hearts stopped by a Carrionite, and almost choking to death on exhaust fumes in New New York.  It remains to be seen whether all this punishment will have any lasting physical effects, although his brief pensiveness in the final scene suggests that the mental effects will last for quite some time yet.

Meanwhile, it looks like Martha’s mother has been keeping Mr Saxon’s people informed – unbeknownst to Martha, they have been listening in to her mother’s phone calls, trying to ascertain the Doctor’s whereabouts.  Luckily, knowing that her mother doesn’t approve of the Doctor, Martha didn’t let on where she was.  Tellingly, it was election day in London , with Mr Saxon’s ‘men (and women) in black’ keen to make sure that he was getting plenty of votes, which doesn’t really sound like democracy, as we understand it.  We are still no nearer to finding out any more about Mr Saxon, his plans, or why he is so interested in the Doctor, but black clouds are starting to gather, in the lead-up to the series finale.

The Doctor and Martha’s relationship is stronger than ever, with the Doctor bestowing “frequent flyer privileges”, the most significant of all being a key to the TARDIS.  I can’t remember whether Rose ever had one of these (presumably she must have done), but I can’t recall seeing it on-screen.  While Martha’s faith in the Doctor has never wavered, he finally realises in this episode that he can trust her, and that he does need her around after all.  There is an interesting development, in the form of Martha’s relationship with Riley – they become close during their incarceration in the pod, and when Martha kisses him goodbye, before almost skipping back into the TARDIS and declaring to the Doctor that they didn’t really need him after all, this doesn’t really sit well with her obvious feelings for the Doctor and her sadness that he doesn’t seem to feel the same way.  However, the brief look of sadness on the Doctor’s face, before suddenly snapping out of it and returning to normal, makes Martha realise that her joke was inappropriate, although once again the Doctor keeps his feelings hidden.

This must have been one of the most physically-demanding episodes of the series in terms of filming – the energy in David’s performance is always brilliant viewing, but the scene where the Doctor is straining to reach the controls on the outside of the ship was quite exhausting to watch, and I’m sure the audience was sharing in his frustration and were cheering him on to stretch just a bit further.  Similarly, the scenes where the Doctor was possessed by the sun were very difficult to watch – the Doctor’s pain and anguish were incredibly convincing, and at the risk of repeating myself, this was another of David’s best performances of the series.  There surely can’t be anyone out there who doesn’t think that Martha is one of the Doctor’s best companions ever, and Freema’s performance, particularly in quieter scenes (like those inside the pod), was even more assured.  Because of the nature of the episode, we didn’t really get a chance to engage very much with the supporting cast, but Michelle Collins gave a great performance as McDonnell.

This episode was a real departure from the usual format, but was all the better for it – the action never let up for a second, there was real tension (I was on the edge of my seat for the last 20 minutes), and it had a much more ‘adult’ feel.  Having said that, all the episodes so far this series have been consistently brilliant, which makes the lack of BAFTA nominations even more of a mystery.  I can’t recall ever seeing the Doctor in so vulnerable a position before, but to actually hear him admit to Martha that he was scared was a landmark moment, as he would normally keep his feelings inside, but it is probably also testament to his trust in Martha – I don’t think he was ever as honest with Rose.  Their relationship will face a new test next week, when the Doctor decides to become human, and it’s up to Martha to persuade him to become a Time Lord again.

Zoë’s Rating:     9/10

Name: Emily Cook | Age: 13

I couldn’t wait for Doctor Who this week. A whole week with out it. It was tourture, so I was so gald when we could all sit down and watch it.

I think it was quite a good episode. Not one of the best, but in my book all Doctor Who episodes are good. More than good. I did see, as was pointed out, may simalarities between this weeks episode and the impossible Planet and Satan Pit, which were great episodes. For example when Martha was on her phone with Riley it connected and she heard ‘Burn with me’ just as Rose heard ‘he is awake’. Other obvious similarities are that there is a crew of roughly the same size as list time, getting paid to be on a spce ship.And the TARDIS almost getting burnt, just as they nearly lost in last time, and Martha pointing out that they are ‘stuck here’ as before when they were traped. I surprisingly got know who was who very quick because normaly with other films etc with lots of characters intorduced all at once, I get confused, but Doctor Who is a different story.

The first thing that sood out for me was when Abi Lerner was talking to the Doctor and he asks ‘any questions’ and say yeah, ‘who are you?’ he reply ‘the Doctor’. The Doctor oh that just says it all doesn’t it.

Seeing the S.S Pentallian hurtling toward that sun was such amazing special effects and after this week I have come to decision about what makes Doctor Who, Doctor Who. David Tennant and the Special effects people are just so amazing and I think that’s what makes the show so brilliantly amazing.

David Tennant is just superb. The best actor in the whole world. He had some very difficult secenes to do and he does them so well. Aslo the secen where whe was tryign to tell Martha that he would save her was just amazignly acted, by him and Freema.

There are several more highlights of the episode for me. Kath McDonnell was a great female captin. She had all the qualities, before the episode some people were saying that she acted it badlt,b ut it hink that she did a brilliant job (especialy having to act all hot in cold conditions. When she shoved ashton into the stasis chamber, all I could say to myself, was ‘you go girl’ she was really good, and I felt sorry for her and her fate. She lost her husbund and everything went wrong and she didn’t intend for any of it to happen. It was such a beautiful scene when kath and korwin were just floating together. It was true love. I also really like it when Martha and riley had to unlock to doors by answering pub questions and how Riley couldn’t pronounce The Beatles or Elvis Presly. I twas like phone a friend when martha asked the Doctor who got mixed up then her mum who went to check it on line. Martha’s relationship with her mum has changed since she met the doctor. And she’s working for Mr Saxon. I noticed that she told martha it was election day, and she gave the phone, which she had been having al her conversations with Martha on to this sinister looking lady. I wonder what that was al about? Marha’s scene on the phone to her mum when she though she was going to die was very emotional, although, that was the second time that Martha has said she might die her and her family will never know. I hope they don’t over do that.

What I liked about the episode was that it wasn’t just a monster, and ugly monster, it was the sun livng inside people which made it different. David tenant’s wonderful acting (although I really don’t’ like it when my future husbund’s life keeps on being put at risk. I so wanted to be there and hug him forever, and when he said he was scared, well that was something knew and unusual for the doctor to say). I like more of the myster of Harolds Saxon. I loved the girl power of Kath and whenit was down to Martha, but most of all, I don’t know why, but I loved it when the Doctor explains to Kath what they can do with the engines she says ‘that is brilliant’ and the Doctor says ‘I know’ I really love the way he said that and then when he says ‘That told him’ I have watched that bit so many times. I love david tennant’s doctor’s energy. It’s what gives me energy!

The Doctor gave Martha a TARDIS key which he was bound to do sooner or later, and she took it very emotionaly.

I think the story line was quite weak, but different, but really it’s being held together by the acting. David Tennant in particular!!!

I rate it 6/10 (next week looks better, and a really scary, and in the trailer in looks like once again my future husband’s life will be put at risk!!!Oh David!!)

 

 

 

Name: Alex Werra | Age: 14

Okay, so this week I'm just going to be blunt, brutal, and, as always, honest. I wasn't impressed. "42" just seemed to lack a bit of imagination. I mean, surely others must feel it was remarkably similar to "The Satan Pit" episodes from last series. Same kind of set, same space suit for David, (although it was a slightly deeper red this time) similar music, the loss of the Tardis, the loss of the crew. I had serious deja vu.

I still enjoyed the episode, obviously, but I really am annoyed at the writers, and the BBC! We're deprived for a week so we can watch the likes of Scooch, and then end up with all this unoriginality. I mean I'm fourteen, and have no writing experience whatsoever, but I could still think of plenty of things that could have happened in that episode that were not basically copying others. Even the people who had been possessed were reminiscent of Darth Vader, but that's alright because it made me chuckle. :)

On the subject of those characters, can I say that "Burn With Me" was quite a good catchphrase. I watched this weeks episode with my friend and we were both quite scared, especially when they came back to life. I liked how they didn't really say much and were basically silent as they moved; this really added to the atmosphere. Also, the whole thing with their eyes burning was rather cool. The little helmets were rather snazzy.

I did think that the plot was reasonably enyoyable. But whilst watching I found myself more interested in what Martha and Riley were doing (three guesses why girls) than what the rest of the crew were up to. The idea that the Sun was a living organism that was reaking its revenge was very creative. The race against time in the episode was also an excellent way to build up the tension. I got a bit upset when McDonnell killed herself and Korwin after telling him that she loved him. Thought it was quite a moving moment.

My main interest in this episode was the relationship between Martha and Riley. It was incredibly sweet. It's about time she got appreciated properly, and lets face it William Ash is a tiny bit pretty! I just thought it was a really nice scene when they were in the Jettison Pod, he was really comforting to her, and just a generally nice person/character. I gasped when she kissed him at the end, even though I felt it was well deserved, I thought she liked the Doctor! I can't work out whether he was annoyed at Martha for kissing Riley, or for saying "Didn't need you in the end". I, as a complete and utter supporter of the Martha/Doctor relationship, hope it was my first idea. For me, this episode really showed of Martha's strengths/assets on many levels:) She seriously kicks booty! And YAY.. she got her Tardis key.

I didn't think this was David's best episode, but I thought it was quite haunting when he also became possessed. When he said "Burn with me, Martha" I was a little bit freaked out. He had to pull quite a lot of faces in this one... which are not so attractive. But hey... it's Doctor Who. I was happy that he was going to try and explain Regeneration to Martha as well.

I do not like Martha's mum.. can she not see that Mr Saxon is the evil one?!

Favourite quote: This is something I said to my friend whilst watching not an actual quote but never mind:P "Can't he just Tardis in the Pod and Tardis out again?".. Like "Tardis" is a verb:)

I give this episode 6/10

Name: Annette Bean | Age: 37

A new concept for this week’s episode as it’s filmed in real time with the Doctor and Martha having only minutes to save the crew of a failing and rapidly overheating spaceship from plunging into a furiously burning sun. 42 minutes to be precise, and from the moment the clock starts ticking when the Tardis lands onboard in answer to the ship’s distress signal the pace never eases up and it’s a frantic and nail biting race to the end credits.

The spaceship is a cargo vessel captained by McDonnell a woman whose husband, Korwin, is also a member of the small crew. The engines have failed, the rest of the ship appears to have been sabotaged, and Korwin appears to have been possessed by some alien form making his eyes as bright as the approaching sun and is incinerating the crew one by one by mere touch accompanied the menacing words "Burn with me". With the Tardis out of reach as the ship locks down the only hope is to reach the engines at the front by re-opening the 29 locked doors in between which are all protected by obscure passwords resembling a pub quiz question sheet. With Martha phoning her Mum for one of the answers on her newly zapped mobile and the Doctor giving a quick maths lesson the doors gradually open as time marches relentlessly on, accompanied by the most unhelpful and irritating computer voice ever heard. More crew members become infected resulting in Martha and chief door man Riley becoming trapped in an escape pod and jettisoned towards the incoming sun. The Doctor, after donning his familiar orange spacesuit hangs out the side of the ship to successfully recall the pod but on doing so he looks directly at the sun and realises it is a living organism. The alien force now inhabits him but he can just control its power by keeping his eyes firmly shut. The cargo ship has illegally been scooping energy from the sun and now it’s after revenge. If they do not manage to remove it from the Doctor it will make him kill everyone including Martha. The old stalwart of sci-fi dramas, a Stasis Chamber happens to be on board and Martha bundles the Doctor into it to freeze the alien possession out of him. In the most pivotal scene so far this series, the Doctor, in agony and completely helpless admits he is scared and Martha knows it is up her to save him, herself, the crew and the ship. Even when the power fails and the Doctor starts "defrosting" too soon she manages to reach the engine room just in time and help return some of the sun particles back to their rightful owner and they escape. The invader leaves the Doctor but he is shaken by the experience and he honours Martha with a key to the Tardis. But behind all of this Martha’s telephone conversations with her Mum are been monitored by Mr Saxon’s people and it looks like a trap is been set.

This real time episode was a wonderful way to showcase the talents of all the cast and crew, it kept the viewer on the edge of their seat, looked beautiful and provided a definite shift in the Doctor and Martha’s relationship. The actual story however does not stand up to close scrutiny, why were some vital controls placed on the outside of the ship, why did no one question the Doctor’s authority, and why did that computer voice sound so indignant when informing the crew that there was a "fuel dump in progress"?

Marks out of ten

If I was marking purely on the performances of David and Freema, 10 would not be enough – they were both at the top of their game, and that does nearly balance out my doubts about the story, so

9/10.