Celebrating Ten (Picspam) #24: 42
I'm not sure why, but this episode doesn't actually do much for me. It might be the plot, or it might be the guest characters, who all seem flat and uninspiring to me. However, DT is excellent as usual, especially in the scenes where Ten is possessed by the sun.
I doubt I'll have a whole lot to say in the comments.
Credits:
The bulk of the images I've used are from the now-defunct time-and-space.co.uk (RIP), with a few from the following as well:
The Medusa Cascade
Sonic Biro
DT once more demonstrates his flexibility. The man must do a lot of stretching.
Plot stuff with brainy specs.
Plot stuff without brainy specs.
With.
Without. A little bit of quirky in a mostly quirkless episode.
Back to non-quirky, brainy specs-less plottiness.
Brainy specs!
No brainy specs. Have to admit, this scene is very effective, as Ten helplessly watches Martha drifting away toward the sun in an escape pod.
Back in the orange spacesuit, which we haven't seen since The Satan Pit. (Edit: OK, it's not the orange spacesuit from The Satan Pit. It's got a different neck, and it's red. Spacesuit necks are not the type of detail I tend to notice on my own, and as for the color, it's difficult to tell the difference on my TV.)
There's a reason your mother told you not to look into the sun.
Possessed!Ten.
No other Doctor in any other story has ever uttered the words, "I'm scared." Which is one thing that really sets this episode apart, IMO.
Trying to freeze the sun out of him. Poor Ten.
The moment when the sun takes over and he growls, "Burn with me" is one of the most frightening in Ten's era.
Finally the possession ends, in a way very similar to how another possession ends a season later in Midnight.
He's back! This hug reminds me of the one in The Satan Pit.
Farewells to the crew.
Ten seems a bit broody. As well he might, given what he's just been through.
And finally, in addition to her new superphone, Martha gets her own TARDIS key.
Favorite quotes:
The Doctor: Any number which reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number. Any number that doesn't, isn't. A happy prime is a number which is both happy and prime, now type it in! I dunno, talk about dumbing down. Don't they teach recreational mathematics any more?
Martha: Who had the most number ones, Elvis, or the Beatles? That's pre-download.
The Doctor: Elvis. No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Um... um... Argh! What was that remix? Um... I don't know, I am a bit busy!
Martha: Fine. I'll ask someone else!
The Doctor: Now, where was I? "Here comes the sun". No, resources.