For instance, in Part 1, a large portion of the episode is devoted to finding a power source to improve the lighting of the medical centre of the planet. This is littered with concepts that are either real scientific developments, such as phosphor lamps, or sound realistic enough that one can assume that they will be scientific developments in the far future, such as acid jars powered by wind power (I don't have as much time to research this as I'd like, but I would be curious to learn if this is a real development or something that Bidmead made up). It's stuff like this that gives the story a sense of scientific grounding that marks Bidmead's return to the series.
We can also see this in the protagonists on the planet Frontios. Almost immediately, we're being told to side with the scientists, the people who keep everyone else alive and are keen to learn the truth, while the military personnel on the planet are far more interested in keeping control of the population and jumping to conclusions when it comes to anything suspicious. It's actually something which speaks to the core of what Doctor Who is about, that scientists and the like will be better than the military any day of the week. It's an understanding of that which shows why Bidmead was a good writer for the series, and why I'm now looking forward to watching more of Frontios.
And for more discussion about science and Doctor Who, why not read the latest issue of The Terrible Zodin, where I write about the recent Brian Cox special where the Science of Doctor Who is discussed, in particular with respect to my life, which can be found here: http://doctorwhottz.blogspot.co.uk
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