42 (2907/307)

[Willow'sCat]

Nope, definitely the eyes.

Glowy eyes (even the pupils look a bit funny, as they did this time around)

Transferred through the eyes, too (methinks the kiss was just an excuse )

LOL! I could have sworn it was the mouth. Maybe her bad acting in that scene threw me off. (Sorry but I didn't like Billie in that scene) And by then I don't think they needed an excuse.

Anyway, I don't think anyone ever said the glowy eye thing was original.

Well...

2. The glowing eyes were slightly Goa'uldish but the 'living sun' idea is at least original!

I took that to mean Stargate did it (originally) and Doctor Who was ripping it off... maybe I am a little touchy when it comes to the whole Stargate v Doctor Who thing these days.

[Madeleine]

I have to say I did keep thinking this was too much like Impossible Planet/Satan's Pit. Even the jettisoning of the people was not new (although we were saved the music this time around).

I liked the silence in that scene. I don't think silence is used enough on television.

[Commander Ivanova]

On the sun-as-entity thing, didn't surprise me but that's possibly because I watched Solaris recently, in which a space station orbits a mysterious planet that may or may not be sentient. Anyway, that's by the by.

I noticed RTD's little 'gay agenda' as Willow puts it, dropped in quite casually, blink and you'd miss it!

This was ok as an ep. Plenty of bits bugged me, bad guys stomping around in masks gets old pretty quickly, Doc and Martha mouthing frantically at each other for ages thru' the portholes instead of getting on with the plot. At least the shipping wasn't overdone this week.

Michelle Collins was ok, but still find myself expecting to see Ian Beale trailing after her. Not her fault, poor love.

[Elinor]

Overall, Who attempts 24, comes accross as slightly cliched but still OK.

Heh! Now I was thinking that it was "Stargatey" again! Reminded me of the title 'Thirty-eight minutes'...'42' (minutes) until they crash into the sun!

Anyway, that was such a fast paced episode I was out of breath at the end. Really fun!

The poor Dr. is getting regular amounts of a good whumping isn't he? Doesn't look like it lets up in the next story either!!

[Reefgirl]

Previously on Dr Who...

*Ahem* now I've got that out of my system

Well the writer has obviously been watching 24 (Ticking clock, Doctor being the only one who can save the day and getting whumped) X Men (Helmets protecting glowing eyes that kill people) and Alien (Sweaty women in vests and crew getting picked of one by one by things unknown) the living sun thing was a good idea but I've seen everything else before, and was it me or did the ship look like a turkey?. Overall it was a good episode, it had a few gripping moments but it was hard to lose yourself in it and willingly suspend your belief because you were waiting for either Jack Bauer, Ripley or Prof X to show up next.

A little disappointing for lack of originality, as for Mr Saxon's Person's in Black and Martha's mum, they're obviously feeding her fear about the Doctor so she's willingly helping them because she's worried about her daughter.
Next week's looks fun

[Naonak]

I thought this was a really good episode. Very fast-paced and tense.

I really liked that they'd set the security questions when they were drunk. "What's your favourite colour?"

The possessed guys were very creepy.

The scene wear the escape pod gets jettisoned was fantastic. The silence was really cool and dramatic.

I personally didn't think of Impossible Planet - I suppose there was some similarity in the "hurtling towards doom" bit, but everything else was pretty different, IMO.

8/10

(God, the season finale better be good - all this Mr Saxon stuff has been great - very mysterious)

[Pitry]

Well, I really enjoyed this one After this and Life on MArs t does kinda prove Torchwood's problem isn't Chibnall, it's Torchwood.

Yeah, it reminded a bit of the Impossible Planet/ Satan Pit, but somewhere in a way I think it was supposed to. Not ust the situation/ sets but the Doctor encountering something he has a problem dealing with (Satan in Satan Pit and here admitting he's scared) and the "losing a companion" scenario that really played at thee nd, well, that's the way I understood it.

What I am worried is the ebginning of name-dropping the regeneration. I so hope this isn't going to go in hat path.

[Alipeeps]

I liked this one. Quite strange to see the Doctor scared (frightenedas opposed to just worried that the enemy will defeat him); I can't remember that happenning before.

Michelle Collins was good, so were all the rest of the crew. Martha's Mum's a cool baddie .

For once I was less scared of the ep than were my young sons

I really enjoyed this one. I agree I don't think we've ever seen the Dr scared before, or at least not admitting to it. He thinks nothing of risking his life to save others but this really scared him.. and not just because he was losing himself but because he knew he would end up killing everyone on board. He was scared of becoming that - of killing Martha. Awesome stuff.

Have to admit I didn't recognise Michelle Collins at all until seeing her name in here.. I was like, "Oh yeah! So it was!"

Anyway, that was such a fast paced episode I was out of breath at the end. Really fun!

The poor Dr. is getting regular amounts of a good whumping isn't he? Doesn't look like it lets up in the next story either!!

I think they certainly did a good job of building up tension in this ep. I found myself almost urging the characters aloud to run faster, get a move on, you don't have *time* for this!

Oh and RTD is a whumper - and I love him for it! Seriously, this has to be the whumpiest season yet? No complaints from this quarter!

DT does whump ever so well, both physically and emotionally. One moment I adored was in the medlab when Martha was trying to look through the instructions for the stasis chamber and the Dr, not daring to open his eyes, reached out for her blindly, calling her name. That was a lovely moment.. whether you're into shipping or not. She was his only connection, the only thing groudning him and he was trying so hard to hold on.. just fab!

What I am worried is the ebginning of name-dropping the regeneration. I so hope this isn't going to go in hat path.

I actually rather liked that.. I think it shows how the Dr has grown and learnt from his time with Rose etc... his regeneration freaked Rose out and when he thought he might be dying again, he didn't want to put another companion through that, he tried to warn Martha. I thought that was a nice touch.

All in all.. a very enjoyable ep. Good guest cast and some real tension and atmosphere.

[Reefgirl]

The scene wear the escape pod gets jettisoned was fantastic. The silence was really cool and dramatic.

That was very well done, the silence added a little something else to the whole essence of it, dramatic music would have ruined that scene

[ShadowMaat]

I took that to mean Stargate did it (originally) and Doctor Who was ripping it off... maybe I am a little touchy when it comes to the whole Stargate v Doctor Who thing these days.

Could be. I just took it to mean that the glowy eyes thing had been done before whereas the "living sun" was a bit more original. Or at least it hadn't been done on Stargate.

I know what you mean about the Stargate/Doctor Who thing, though. I get a bit tired of people trying to find connections and saying that such-and-such is a reference to Stargate and something-or-other was done on Stargate first and Stargate this and Stargate that and blah blah blah Stargate. Of course, this folder is on a Stargate forum so I suppose it's only natural that everything gets compared to it, but sometimes the "connections" seem like such a stretch I wonder why people bother. "OMG! He arched his eyebrow! Just like Teal'c!"

I personally don't see the glowing eyes as remotely Goa'uld-like because a host's eyes only glow for a second or two whereas those infected by the sun had eyes that glowed constantly and the light was so fierce that it not only obscured the iris completely but also seemed to be leaking out. Which is also how it looked when Rose absorbed the heart of the TARDIS. Haven't seen Children of the Damned, so I can't compare, but I think I've probably seen the glowy eye effect elsewhere, too, Parting of the Ways is simply the one that springs immediately to my mind and seems the most relevant. I actually wondered if there was some connection between the sun (or suns, I suppose) and the TARDIS.

And since the solar scoops (whatever they were called) were eventually outlawed, did it have anything to do with the discovery that some(?) suns were alive, or was it more of a health factor thing? Although I should think that being hunted down by an angry sun-being would be pretty hazardous to your health.

Although... for all that I'm whinging about drawing too many comparisons between shows, there was one point towards the end where I thought the musical score sounded a bit Robin Hoody. Made me wonder if one of the guest actors was from that show. After che4cking IMDB, though, I decided it was just generic actiony music and if it sounded like Robin Hood it was only because that show also uses generic actiony music.

[pbellosom]

I liked this one. Quite strange to see the Doctor scared (frightenedas opposed to just worried that the enemy will defeat him); I can't remember that happenning before.

I was thinking that, David Tennant did really good acting in that scene.

I actually rather liked that.. I think it shows how the Dr has grown and learnt from his time with Rose etc... his regeneration freaked Rose out and when he thought he might be dying again, he didn't want to put another companion through that, he tried to warn Martha. I thought that was a nice touch.

Wasn't what he using the same words he used when he tried to teach Rose about regeneration?

The science geek in me is pulling her hair out over the niggly little things that couldn't/shouldn't have happened and it was a little overly reminiscent of Impossible Planet/Satan Pit at times (especially The Voice), but I still liked more than I hated.

Yeah, I felt that too not due to sound and plot but visually it looked very similar.

Still bugging me that in neither of those episodes the people don't explode when exposed to te vacuum of space but then Red Dwarf is the only incident I remember when they actually showed that, man it was a good effect.

I noticed RTD's little 'gay agenda' as Willow puts it, dropped in quite casually, blink and you'd miss it!

I did. Could someone explain it please.

In the scenes with Martha's mum, was that the daughter from My Family working for Saxon.
Spoilers for season finale,

Spoiler:

I now think its pretty much definate that telling Mrs Jones about the Doctor last episode was the settting of the trap.

[Missster.Freeman]

I noticed RTD's little 'gay agenda' as Willow puts it, dropped in quite casually, blink and you'd miss it!

I missed that bit as well. Unless, it was when Martha and Riley were trapped in the escape capsule and she asked him if he had a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Was that it? Maybe it was something even more subtle than that.

[beale947]

Very good, fast paced episode.

The silence, where the escape pod was jetisonned was perfect for that scene.

8/10

P.S. Now Mr Saxon is starting to close the trap. But how was tracing the call suppost to help when your in the future on the other side of the universe

[ShadowMaat]

I wouldn't have called the "Or boyfriend?" thing part of any "gay agenda." In this day and age I think it'd be part of a standard line of inquiry, generally of the friendly, half-kidding variety.

[Hulabaloo]

But how was tracing the call suppost to help when your in the future on the other side of the universe

Lol, I thought that. I sat there thinking, Hah! When you can't trace that call, you'll realise that..., Hmmm. What would they realise?