# Doctor Who - Season 3 Episode 7 - 42, Open Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941 "2007-05-21T16:46:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/1 "2007-05-21T16:46:44Z")
Welcome to the 7th episode of Season 3: _24_! Er, I mean, _The Impossible Planet_! Um, sorry, I mean _42_! All jokes aside, this was a great episode and I enjoyed the hell out of it. The real-time factor wasn’t too distracting (although every time the computer count-down showed up onscreen I did find myself yanked out of the moment a bit. “No way, that much time has passed already?!”), and while a great deal of parallels could be drawn between this and the aforementioned Season 2 ep _The Impossible Planet_, it was easy to forget that once I got into this story. Which didn’t take long - very exciting, great acting from both David Tennant _and_ Freema Agyeman, who really seems to be growing into her role as Martha. She immediately stepped up this week, offering to go help the one guy get the doors open rather than just following the Doctor about, and the part with her calling her mother to tell her she loved her when she thought she was going to die was very real and very sad. Speaking of Martha’s mother, WTF is she up to with Saxon’s people? Were they trying to trace the call?? Yeah, good luck with that. My absolute favourite parts though were after the Doctor had become possessed, or infected, or whatever. DT did an amazing job, considering how very rarely we see the Doctor express real fear. And that would be the Doctor’s worst fear, wouldn’t it - becoming not just a killer, but the indiscriminate killer of the people he’s promised to protect. Hearing him whimper “I’m scared, I’m so scared…” was heartbreaking. And he did not seem to be dealing with the after-effects very well - looked rather upset there at the end. Could this have anything to do with why he apparently (spoiler for next week) voluntarily wipes his memory next week? And say what you will about David Tennant, but that boy can SCREAM! Next week - As stated before, the Doctor wipes his memory and becomes John Smith. Why, I haven’t the foggiest. And, killer scarecrows! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/2 "2007-05-21T17:02:12Z")
Am I the only one who needs subtitles for this show? Whether it’s the sound recordist or the mixing or the actors I don’t know, but very often I miss what they’re saying. The indistinct dialogue was particular noticeable at the start, with seemingly half a dozen characters jabbering away in quick succession, but it’s a problem at all times, particularly the muttering of David Tennant himself. I’d suspect something wrong with my ears or my TV speakers, but I don’t have this problem with other shows. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/3 "2007-05-21T17:11:32Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] Am I the only one who needs subtitles for this show? Whether it’s the sound recordist or the mixing or the actors I don’t know, but very often I miss what they’re saying. The indistinct dialogue was particular noticeable at the start, with seemingly half a dozen characters jabbering away in quick succession, but it’s a problem at all times, particularly the muttering of David Tennant himself. I’d suspect something wrong with my ears or my TV speakers, but I don’t have this problem with other shows. [/QUOTE] Hmm…I find the accents a little hard to make out from time to time, especially when David starts speaking at 800 mph as he is prone to doing, but no problems for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/4 "2007-05-21T19:31:48Z")
I have no problem when Tennant speaks but there was a lot of muddled dialog in this episode. ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/5 "2007-05-22T02:30:48Z")
I hate to break up the party, but I absolutely hated this episode… It seems that DW has been going downhill since the first episode this season… ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/6 "2007-05-22T14:59:47Z")
I loved this episode. It is one of my favorites since Doctor Who has returned to the airwaves 3 years ago… I especially loved all the emotional tension in this episode… ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/7 "2007-08-20T16:19:41Z")
Not seeing any new thread about this episode, so what the hey. One thing that completely slipped by me upon first viewing that I caught this time, was the Doctor trying to explain regeneration to Martha as he was going into the stasis chamber. A very nice touch that completely broke my heart for some reason - even in extreme agony, he’s thinking of others, of his companion and trying to warn her that he might suddenly explode into a whole new person. Actually I’m rather glad I didn’t hear it the first time; as a new _Who_ fan, I’ve developed a nervous condition worrying about companions leaving and/or the Doctor regenerating. There’s a lot of “Burn with me” talk this season, isn’t there? It doesn’t end up having anything to do with the finale of season 3, but could it end up crossing over into season 4? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/8 "2007-08-20T19:35:09Z")
I liked the ep even though it reminded me a bit too much of the last time The Doctor was trapped in deep space and met Satan, but I found the countdown very distracting. Normally countdowns are announced at a less random interval, like on the minute and half-minute. I don’t know if the “22 minutes 37 seconds” and whatever have some significance within the series but I was a little irritated. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/9 "2007-08-20T21:03:15Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Normally countdowns are announced at a less random interval, like on the minute and half-minute. I don’t know if the “22 minutes 37 seconds” and whatever have some significance within the series but I was a little irritated. [/QUOTE] I personally loved that the Disembodied Computer Voice was kind enough to tell us that the projected survival rate was zero. From crashing into a sun? Really? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/10 "2007-08-25T16:50:21Z")
Why was it called 42? I kept expecting them to end up at Milliways or something. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-season-3-episode-7-42-open-spoilers/404941/11 "2007-08-25T17:04:16Z")
[QUOTE=furryman] Why was it called 42? [/QUOTE] Because the episode was done in real time and the characters had 42 minutes before they would crash into the sun.