42

Dear Gary—

42 is a diverting change of pace, even if it has a familiar feel to it. Every time the Doctor leaves the confines of Earth lately it is either to arrive on New Earth or on a space station/ship. 42 is set on a spaceship.

 It is a spaceship gone mad and the frantic pace doesn’t allow for much time to think too deeply, otherwise I might start asking some questions; in particular about the outrageous security system on board; and then I might go off on a tangent about modern day corporate security and how they either make it impossible to do your job or force people to write down all of their many and assorted and convoluted passwords despite repeated warnings and threats. Thankfully the action overtakes this line of thought.

The crew doesn’t have much time to think, either. They accept the Doctor’s authority with very little question. They only have 42 minutes before plummeting into the sun and have to contend with a sabotaged power supply, a possessed crew member killing them off one by one, and a multiple choice security password system from hell.

There is just enough plot to keep us interested, just enough character development to keep us engaged, and just enough mystery to keep us guessing. That about sums it up; 42 is just enough.

The things I remember most about this episode: Martha calling her mother to find out who had the most hits, Elvis or the Beatles; Martha getting further and further away in the escape pod as she watches the Doctor mouthing, “I’ll save you,” through the window (brief moment to wonder, if it is an escape pod, can’t they, you know, escape in it?); the Doctor’s possessed eyes glowing as he tells Martha to “burn with me;” and inexplicably Korwin. From time to time, out of the blue, the name Korwin will flit into my mind; and whenever I hear a word that is similar I can hear McDonnell saying the name Korwin. I don’t know why.

Other than that, I remember lots of sweat and steam and lots of running around. With the distance of time, when I try to think of this episode I tend to get bits of it mixed with The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. In fact when I was watching those two episodes recently I kept waiting for the part where they were trying to open the dead locked doors with the convoluted password system. But no, that’s the one where they are crawling around in airless ducts with open air grate entrances.

My sense always is that this is a strong Martha story, and watching it again justifies this impression. She is proactive throughout, jumping in to aid in the maze of password quizzola ,what’s-behind-the-door, security network; reading up on how to work the stasis chamber in order to save the Doctor from his burning demon possession; and racing to the front of the ship in order to command the dumping of fuel thus saving the day. (“Do it. Now!”)

Martha has established herself as a worthy companion for the Doctor, even if she is not fully accepted by him. As it begins, the Doctor is fixing up her phone with “universal roaming” as “frequent flier’s privilege.” Even though this still tends to regard her as passenger more than friend, at least he is finally recognizing that she is in it for the long haul.

Martha proceeds to use her upgraded mobile several times to call her mother, once to get her pop quiz answer (Elvis) and then when she is in the escape pod facing death, and finally when it is all over and she is safely back in the TARDIS. These are some nice little character moments for her and also set up the Saxon references in a way that I don’t mind. In fact they are integrated nicely in the narrative and are effective in foreshadowing the menace facing the Doctor and Martha without seeming gratuitous or distracting.

I am always a little puzzled, however, by the kiss she and Riley share at the end. They were locked up in the confines of the escape pod facing immanent destruction together, but I never saw any budding relationship between the two. I suppose it is a bit more convincing than Leela and Andred but barely.

I don’t have much more to say about 42, although I do want to mention that the final acceptance of culpability by McDonnell and her ultimate self-sacrifice is touching.

It is just enough, Gary, and I suppose that is good enough  . . .