I am – Hercules!!
While we here in America are watching the 27th season of “Doctor Who” on the SciFi Channel, the wily Brits have already seen “Doctor Who” 28.8 on the BBC. The verdict …
“Doctor Dan” says:
DOCTOR WHO 2.8 - "The Impossible Planet" (Part 1 of 2)
WRITER: Matt Jones DIRECTOR: James Strong
CAST: The Doctor (David Tennant), Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Mr Jefferson (Danny Webb), Zachary Cross Flane (Shaun Parkes), Toby Zed (Will Thorp), Ida Scott (Claire Rushbrook), Danny Bartock (Ronny Jhutti), Scooti Manista (Myanna Buring), The Ood (Paul Kasey), Voice of The Beast (Gabriel Woolf) & Voice of the Ood (Silas Carson)
The TARDIS arrives on a remote alien planet somehow locked in orbit around a Black Hole, where a crew of humans are drilling to the planet's centre...
This is more like it. The Impossible Planet is definite highlight of the new series so far, with new writer Matt Jones fashioning an engaging and genuinely frightening episode that gradually builds to a spine-tingling conclusion.
In many ways this is Event Horizon for kids, with a similar tale of a crew apparently getting more than they bargained for when they disturb a demonic entity beneath them. Jones' script is full of pace and cohesion, toning down the occassionally frivolous nature of the show and targeting the adults for once. The story isn't totally original and clearly has many influences, but it's just so refreshing to see a scary story treated with respect, and not undermined by poor performance, bad production or the usual decision to tone down the scares for any children watching.
David Tennant actually returns to an embarassing level of fake enthusiasm that I'd hoped we'd seen the last of (possibly a result of a new writer failing to grasp the nuances of the character, and just going for general eccentric behaviour). However, by the end Tennant's Doctor once again becomes more of an action hero with his descent into the planet's core.
Billie Piper continues along much the same lines as always, although there are a few early moments when Roses' chirpy demeanour sucks all sense of foreboding away from the show. I get a little frustrated with how Rose seems to greet everything with wide-eyed optimism and pat one-liners when it's clearly uncalled for.
The supporting cast are very good, although their characters are a little underserviced. However, everyone makes an impression and it's good to see a believable crew of people for once without a falseness to everything they say.
The real star of the show here is perhaps the wonderful production desing. I've been a critic of Doctor Who's generic sets in the past, but for The Impossible Planet they get everything right. The dirty, claustrophobic sets, with strong parallels to engineering spaces such as oil rigs, are excellent. For once you can believe in the surroundings and truly enter into another world, which only heightens the sense of excitement throughout the shoe.
Special-effects are used to good effect, particularly exterior shots of the drilling complex on the planet with the huge Black Hole in the background. Towards the end there are also some absolutely superb underground sequences that are an undoubted highlight for the series. The make-up for the Ood (a race of telepathic aliens that enjoy serving the human crew) is also very good, with full-head prosthetics that prove very effective. In fact, together with the cat-creatures in New Earth, the make-up people have really stepped up their game this year.
Even the music seems to be better this time, with a total absence of manipulative pap and irritating ditties that typically plague the show. The music this time lent weight to events and pushed the right emotional cues at the exact right times. I sincerely hope this level of success continues into future episodes.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode a great deal and can't wait for part two. There was an old-fashioned vibe to the show that reminded me of classic Jon Pertwee episodes, but with much better production levels and script. Fans will be pleased to see a Doctor Who episode actually achieve success and dare to go into darker territory, particularly after the family-friendly excesses of previous weeks. A major highlight and significant episode of the show. Let's just hope part two doesn't unravel all the good work achieved here!
THE GOOD:
a) Production design: expansive, detailed, believable.
b) Creature design: the Ood are another fine addition to the series.
c) Plot: nothing startlingly original, but good old-fashioned hokum delivered well.
d) CGI: not overused and occassionally very impressive (particularly in the underground scenes)
THE BAD:
a) Characters: Rose wasn't terrible here, but she sank a few tense scenes with misplaced gags.
THE GEEKY:
a) The Voice of the Beast is provided by Gabriel Woolf, best known in Doctor Who for playing Sutekh the Destroyer (aka the "Typhonian Beast") in the Fourth Doctor serial Pyramids of Mars (1975). The Fourth Doctor also states that Sutekh has been known by many aliases, including Satan.
b) Writer Matt Jones also wrote, as Matthew Jones, the Virgin New Adventures novel Bad Therapy, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Chris Cwej. He was script editor on Russell T. Davies's Channel 4 series, Queer as Folk.
c) The Doctor encountered adversaries that used a black hole in The Horns of Nimon and The Three Doctors.
d) In the preview and TARDISODE the human government is "the Empire". This may be any one of several human Empires mentioned previously in the series, depending on the era in which the episode is set.
e) This episode has numerous references to hell, and the Number of the Beast, as well as taking part either side of June 6, 2006 (06/06/06)
f) Rose refers to the dinner lady job she had in School Reunion when talking to an Ood serving food.
g) This episode sees Rose's phone lose its signal for the first time.
h) This episode is full of religious quotations, most of which are fragmented. The most used is "He is awake" and "We are Legion", the latter being a reference to Mark 5:9.
i) After finding Scooti's body, the Doctor repeats the phrase, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He has used these words many times before in this series, for example when discovering a "New Human" in New Earth and when examining a dying Cyberman in The Age of Steel. Mr Magpie also said this to Rose in The Idiot's Lantern.
j) On the accompanying episode of Doctor Who Confidential, Russell T. Davies revealed that he likes to think that the Ood come from a planet near to that of the Sensorites, as seen in The Sensorites.
RATING: 4.5 / 5.0
NEXT WEEK: The Doctor and Rose continue their adventure now the "Satan Pit" has been opened...
“Kelvington” says:
Doctor Who – The Impossible Planet – A Recap and Review (Major Spoilers)
For only the second time this season, the TARDIS goes off world to somewhere in outer space. Where it lands in a sort of a sickly fashion on some kind of moon base type structure, where Rose and The Doctor try to figure out where they are.
After a bit of chatter between the two, they come across some writing that the TARDIS can’t translate. And going places beyond the TARDIS’ knowledge is never a good idea. As the Doctor comes to this realization he starts to get a tad paniced, and opens a door were we get our first look at some very strange aliens, whom look like they have living calamari where their mouths should be.
Just before the opening credits roll the calamari faces come in from all sides saying “We must feed” over and over.
Turns out in a hilarious bit, there was a problem with their translator, and they were trying to say, “We must feed you, if you are hungry.”. Not since “To Serve Man” has a nice little plot twist been so funny. Seems the squid faces are pretty friendly beings. Just then some bloke runs in, and are shocked to see real live people here. Rose is curious about this, being a space base and all, surely they must have some people show up from time to time.
Just as the explanations are about to begin, all hell breaks loose due to an incoming quake. We get to see some shaky camera moments, and after the dust settles we have introductions all around. The Doctor and Rose have landed on a lump of rock that’s in stationary orbit around a black hole. Just as point of order here, if you are not actually moving, your not really in orbit. But I’ll save my quibbles for later.
After we hear the fifth grade explanation of what a black hole is, we find out the planet’s nick named is “The Bitter Pill”, which has a gravity funnel, leading out to normal space that draws things in, like the people here on the base and the TARDIS. The beings encounter earlier are called the “Ood” and they work the mine shaft and get the odd drink or two. The Ood crave only to help people and be slaves. This tends to bother Rose a bit and she tries and understand why they are like this in a nice conversation with one, that harkens back to her own life before she met the Doctor.
We discover the reason the group is here, is because of the enormous power source that is deep in the planet, ten miles below the surface to be exact. They hope to use it as a power source for the empire. The Doctor is impressed with the pure science of it all, and that these people are here for the same reason people on Earth climb Mount Everest, because it’s there.
Much to the Doctor’s dismay, it seems in the last quake, the area holding the TARDIS was destroyed and Rose and the Doctor run to see if it’s really true. And indeed the TARDIS has fallen down towards the center of the planet and is gone. The Doctor implores Zack, the leader of the group, to send robots after it, but he refuses.
As the transition to night occurs, to the strains of “Ravel's Bolero” we see what life is really like for the people here, and we get the first hint that something is a miss, when one of the crew members start to hear voices calling to him. Rose interacts with one of the Ood who is serving meals, like a lunch lady in a school room cafeteria, when it says something odd about the beast rising to do battle. At the same time, Zack sees the flicker of a devil like creature from any number of horror movies, appear on his screen. This bit made me start to think this was going to be a lot like “Star Trek V”, with a lot of very “Bring The Ship Closer” moments.
Toby hears the voice again, telling him not to turn around, he eventually does and discovers there’s nothing there, except for the new marks of the alien writing all over his body, he quickly collapses.
The Doctor and group watch as an entire solar system get pulled into the black hole and they reflect on what it was, and all those who were in it. Rose and The Doctor discuss what will happen to them, including the idea of building another TARDIS. Rose even tries to call home, but finds she’s out of range. We discover TARIDS’ were grown and not built. They also talk about leaving with the group, and finding a proper job and settling down in a house. It’s a very well done moment, and the Doctor isn’t often caught with his guard so completely down.
Just as the talk turns to sharing a flat, Rose’s phone rings with an ominous message, and Toby, now covered in writing and red of eye, wakes up. They start to ask questions about how the Ood communicate and live, and are informed they are mostly a herd race with some low level telepathic ability. As this talk goes on, it seems the Ood are shouting inside their heads and things start to go from bad to down right odd from here on out.
In the meantime it seems that someone has gone walkies out the air lock and without a suit. It appears that Toby has the ability to survive out there. This is a very bad sign, as he beckons someone else to join him, she wisely refuses and Toby breaks the glass and sucks her out.
A mad scramble to get back to a habitable part of the compound starts, and oddly Toby reappears without all his markings. They find their missing crewman floating towards the black hole in a nice underwater type effect. The drill stops at it’s final point and the Doctor volunteers to go down the shaft with Ida, one of the crew members.
The elevator stops and open into a huge quarry… I mean a huge dead civilization cavern. The Ood in the meantime are standing as one, and staring and acting, well, a bit odd. The Doctor and Ida come to a huge man hole cover, that the Doctor thinks it’s a trap door. Just then Toby’s affliction seems to return as they ask him, did he work out the translation of the lettering, and he goes all nutter on them. He sets the Ood against everyone, as the legion of the beast. The seal in the quarry starts to open and all hell literally starts to break loose.
End Of Part 1
Being the first part of two parter, they do a great job of building suspense for what’s to come. We all know at some point he will get out of this, but it’s still fun. While borrowing heavily from “Star Trek V” this episode muddles along from time to time, and the loss of the TARDIS was a rather weak ploy, but overall I would give this episode a passing grade. The only bad bit is seeing a taste of what’s to come next week, something they didn’t do with the Cybermen.
Just my 2¢,
Kelvington
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