>компютриo I had planned to keep udating this site by discussing my thoughts on each episode of season 3, but here we are already in season 4 and I haven’t written in awhile. So I thought I would just say a few general remarks abut what I’ve thought about Season 4 as well as Torchwood and Sarah Jane.
So far for The Doctor, all I can say is God I hate Donna. I thought she was annoying for one episode last year, but I can’t imagine putting up with her for an entire series. I thought going into it, ok give it a chance maybe it won’t be bad, but I’m already wishing for her to go the way of Adric and die in a firey ball of death. Oh how I miss Martha.
As for Torchwood, I’ve generally enjoyed both Season 1 & 2. I was dissapointed to see them kill off Tosh. If they were going to kill someone, why not kill the more annoying character Gwen (someone who comes a close second to Donna in having no clue yet still trying to dictate what should be done).
Sarah Jane Adventures has been on for a few weeks now in the states and it’s definitely pretty cheesy. I know it’s geared as more of a kids show, but It could use alittle less cheese (like the music every time the computer Mr.Smith comes out of the wall). As for Sarah Jane, I think I’ve mentioned before that I never did like her, and I don’t think she’s improved much with age. I’ll continue to watch this show, however, just for the odd reference here or there to Doctor Who lore.
That’s it for now, I’ll try to get back into making some strips and making comments. We’ll see.
The first thing I thought about 42 was that it seemed too similar to The Satan Pit. Same basic setting. An isolated group of people being threatened by a malevolent force. Sure a few of the details were changed, but t was basically the same story. Were the writers burnt out and just coasting on this one? Of course the Doctor seems to be treating Martha to all the places he took Rose, so maybe the similarities were intentional.
In any case, the similarities in plot didn’t keep it from being entertaining. Plenty of running around and dying until things can be resolved. Once again Martha gets a good share of the action and eventually gets to be the one to save the day, sort of. Martha also seems to be winning over the Doctor, at least as a companion if not as a romantic interest. Martha’s mother, however, is definitely no Jackie and doesn’t seem to be a big Doctor fan.
Plenty of nice little scenes in this episode and a good deal of foreshadowing of events to come in future episodes. Though I’m still not quite sure what the title 42 refers to.
All I can say about The Lazarus Experiment is finally we get to see a little more of Martha’s family, although her mother doesn’t seem like she’s going to be as agreeable as Jackie. No come ons in her bedroom from this one (still one of the most memorable scenes in Doctor Who history). I don’t think the Doctor is going to win this mom over, especially not with someone, who I assume is from torchwood, whispering in her ear.
Martha once again gets to show what an asset she can be to the Doctor and how ell she handles herself in a crisis. This time she even did it where the Doctor had to notice how brave and resourceful she was. I don’t recall Rose ever letting a huge scorpion thing chase her. in any case, it was nice to see plenty of interaction between Martha and the Doctor in this episode, and hopefully that trend will continue. The action is fine, but it is always nice to see character development. For that matter, it’s also nice to see Martha with her hair down and in an evening dress, proving once again that she has to be the prettiest companion the Doctor has ever had.
I won’t say much aboout the story, other than it was as entertaining as ever. A few things I thought were pretty silly, however. For one thing, when a huge scorpion like thing is coming at you, why would you stand there and let it absorb you? That first woman watches the monster approach and stands there waiting for it to devour her. Run you idiot. She had plenty of time to at least attempt to run. What person wouldn’t at least try to run when faced with such a threat? The same thing occurs once Martha gets the doors open. We see people just milling about fron of the building. You’ve just been chased by the most horrifying creature you’ve ever seen, wouldn’t you think you would want to get as far away as possible from the building that the creature still occupies? I guess it’s just another example of the stupidity of people in horror shows.
The other odd thing that occured to me during the show was what’s up with Martha’s name? Her sister has a name like Latisha, a fairly modern name. Then we have Martha. Not a common name in this day and age. Kind of makes you wonder what her mother was thinking.
In the end, these minor points in The Lazarus Experiment don’t detract from the enjoyment of watching, they just make it a little more fun to talk about.
