42 by: Chris Chibnall and directed by: Graeme Harper

 

“42” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones with Adjoa Andoh as Francine Jones, Michelle Collins as Kath McDonnell, William Ash as Riley Vashtee, and Vinette Robinson as Abi Lerner.  It was written by: Chris Chibnall and directed by: Graeme Harper with Simon Winstone as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Saturday 19 May 2007 on BBC One.

 

Chris Chibnall’s first association with Doctor Who came as head writer of the spin-off Torchwood, Russell T. Davies being impressed with his work on the first series of that show.  As such, Davies asked Chibnall to submit a script for the third series of Doctor Who, pitching a far future adventure sequel to “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit”.  Chibnall was still head writer of Torchwood and as a result Davies slotted it into the seventh production block, the penultimate block with the eleventh episode under the direction of Graeme Harper, despite airing as the seventh episode of the series.  Davies also requested Chibnall pair down his narrative when it became clear that the budget of the series needed at least one more episode limited to a few sets and minimal special effects, suggesting Chibnall change the premise of a crew stationed around and in a sun to a spaceship that is being pulled towards the sun, also proposing the episode take place in real time across forty-two minutes, hence the title “42”.  With these changes the explicit elements of “42” as a sequel to “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit” would be dropped, however the production design of the SS Pentallion, named after a drive from Revenge of the Cybermen, would skew close to that earlier story in terms of style.  Scheduling production for “42” was also hectic as the other episode placed in the seventh block, “Utopia”, suffered revisions due to a guest star’s availability.  Much of production was filmed in studio with only one major location, St. Regis Paper Company, being used.  A central corridor of the spaceship was redressed several times through production to make efficient use of the sets.

 

Graeme Harper as director is no stranger to directing tense disaster stories, The Caves of Androzani was his first Doctor Who assignment in 1984 and “42” is an episode whose major strengths should be the tension of the spaceship getting ever closer to the sun and its inevitable destruction.  There’s even a sequence where companion Martha Jones is separated from the Doctor and hurtling towards the sun which should be peak tension, however, “42” ultimately falls flat due to a couple of key factors.  First, there is this inconsistency in the tone of the script that undercuts much of the urgency.  Chris Chibnall devised the idea that the switch to get power back to the ship is behind a series of locked doors whose passwords are all trivia questions that must be answered, and if we’re being honest a potentially deadly trivia game should be an excellent idea.  It’s one that “Bad Wolf” used in an explicitly game show style format, but using it to progress through a series of doors could be great used in a different story, a story where that is the central thrust and not just one idea fighting for attention.  “42” also has the drama aspect of the crew of this spaceship being revealed to have illegally drawn energy from the sun for fuel and the sun infecting the crew as it is alive, turning them into killers that burn their compatriots.  While the sun being alive is an interesting concept, the budget of the episode really doesn’t do it justice and the monster element feels added at the last minute in classic Doctor Who fashion, something that is surprising since Chibnall included the idea in his original pitch for the episode.

 

The episode also just suffers greatly with the characterization of the supporting cast, while being portrayed by a great cast, there really isn’t much to distinguish much of the crew.  This is just a paint by numbers crew, several of which are meant to be killed to prove the danger which is a shame.  Stories where a human is turned into a creature often play around with the body horror aspect, and due to the more limited budget this is paired down to effects on the eyes and sweat which is at least effective.  The Doctor is infected at the climax of the episode and David Tennant does give a chilling performance even if the villainy is just lashing out in brutal anger and not a more complex evil, but that’s okay, the sun is just trying to survive after all.  “42” is notable for furthering “The Lazarus Experiment” setting up Martha Jones as a full time companion and a small sequence featuring Adjoa Andoh as Francine Jones does some excellent setup about the politician Mr. Saxon and her maternal instincts, but it also interrupts the episode in general.

 

Overall, “42” is the definition of an episode that’s perfectly fine on its own.  It does a couple of things to further the arc of the third series and there’s a very interesting idea at the core of the episode, but Chris Chibnall’s script is split as to what the tone is supposed to be.  It does not work at being a thriller despite a director who can certainly direct a thriller, and there is an underlying comedy that just feels a bit out of place, while the supporting characters are especially let down by the material.  It’s a middle of the road episode in the exact middle of the series.  5/10.