Doctor Who - Planet of the Dead: 2009 Easter Special [DVD]

'Planet of the Dead' is the first of 2009's 'Doctor Who' specials, the first episode shot in HD, and the beginning of the end for David Tennant's Tenth Doctor. It's perhaps not the strongest episode the series has had of late, but it's undeniably spectacular with its location filming in Dubai (doubling for the planet of the title). This makes an even greater impact in HD, with director James Strong lending the episode an epic cinematic feel that belies its television origins. Watching it in HD gives it a whole new lease of life, and I certainly enjoyed watching the Blu Ray more than I did the original transmission on BBC One.

If you're Blu Ray capable, 'Planet of the Dead' is well worth your money - picture and sound (5.1 DTS) are excellent, and although the main feature is only an hour long, this release comes bundled with an hour long 'Doctor Who Confidential' special charting the making of the story, also in HD. As usual for the 'Who' releases, a boxset with added extra features will no doubt follow, but for now, this is a worthwhile release that I'd definitely recommend.

While this Blu-Ray disc is light on the extras (would a commentary have been too much to ask for?), what is there is good.

But first, what about the episode?

Away from the hype and expectation, this episode is actually a nice little gem: it's a relatively small story, with no evil bad guys and actually manages to fill its running time without needless padding.

Perhaps its biggest fault is the more blatant than usual cribbing (or outright theft?): The Doctor's 'nutter on the bus' piece is remarkably similar to a DWM comic strip, while Lady Christina de Souza is so obviously a Lara Croft clone, even eight-year-olds can spot it!

With that said, there is a sparkling chemistry between the Doctor and Christina, which lifts the story above the mundane, making it a thoroughly enjoyable, light-hearted, Saturday-night romp, what Doctor Who is ultimately all about. It may not be 'Blink' or 'Human Nature', but it's not 'The Krotons' either.

Now, onto the disc...

The transfer is consistently good, with the episode being at least as good as the BBC HD transmission, with the slight brightness/shadow issues that seem prevalent on ordinary broadcast HD cameras. This manifests itself as slight colour-bleed on extremely bright white spots (check out the brief highlights on the museum right at the beginning) and noise in some of the deeper shadows during gloomy sections (particularly on the alien spaceship). But these were present in the original broadcast, so are not a fault of the disc.

The real bonus is the Confidential (making of) that's included on the disc. Quite apart from being the full-length version (as opposed to the 'cutdowns' included in the box-sets), the program has been provided in HD, which BBC3 do not currently broadcast. This means the behind-the-scenes footage, particularly in Dubai, looks much better and mostly makes up for the lack of anything else (except for a detailed guide to setting up your HD system).

The sleeve states the whole disc is in 1080i and the two hours of material has been allowed to breathe properly on a BD-50; and watching the material seems to confirm this. Oh, and as usual, the disc has optional English subtitles for the HoH.

It would be nice to know what 2|Entertain are planning to do with these specials (I'm guessing a 'Season four Specials' box-set in both DVD and Blu-Ray, with the Christmas Special on DVD in the latter) and whether we'll get an extras-laden set or not, but based on this disc, those of us too impatient to wait will not be too badly let down. And for under a tenner, it's pretty darn good value!

Note for the moaners as misinformation peddlers:
This is the first DW Blu-Ray as it is the first DW to be made in HD, it's as simple as that. All the previous stories (barring 'Spearhead from Space') were made at least partially on video, meaning there is nothing that can be done, barring upscaling, to make them suitable for Blu-Ray release. While the earliest stuff tends to exist as 16mm film copies, these were virtually all taken from video recordings/broadcasts and the quality simply ISN'T THERE to make a HD transfer worthwhile.

We have all been spoiled rotten by the incredible work done by the 'Doctor Who Restoration Team' and some people seem to have forgotten that while the work they do is frankly magical, they cannot (and should not) do the impossible or the completely pointless. And yes, putting non-HD content on a Blu-Ray would mean releasing entire series on one disc, but as this would likely be identical to what is already on the DVDs, what would be the incentive for the vast majority of the target market to buy it all over again? At least the VHS-DVD move was a spectacular triumph of making a silk purse out of a pig's ear, I even made it through the 'Web Planet' with the help of the DVD!

So, stop griping about what either can't be done (or pointless to do) and enjoy your DVDs through your Blu-Ray or upscaling DVD player, they're as good as you're going to get.

And in the meantime, enjoy the Planet of the Dead on Blu-Ray, it's actually rather good!

I approached this 'special' episode with trepidation because I hadn't been too keen on the last one, and felt that the sense of character continuity and chemistry the Doctor had built up in the last full series of Doctor Who had been lost. However the bond between the Doctor and his one-off companion Lady Christina (played so saucily by Michelle Ryan) is very swiftly established and keeps going throughout the story.

The story rattles along at a fair pace, the Doctor making us laugh while staying serious, and entertaining us throughout. The plot is clearly a rip-off of an old James Stewart film, Flight Of The Phoenix, and principal writer Russell T. Davies admitted this, however at least it was a good idea he copied, and the story fits the new, slightly lonely Doctor well. Tennant's portrayal is up to his usual standards, and there is a small ensemble of supporting actors to move the drama a long.

The alien races encountered here are not very original (insect-people and flying manta rays), as is often the case they are just adapted from animals we already know (like so many in the last four years). However this doesn't detract from the drama of the story; the bad aliens are very well-realised by computer graphic effects and the sheer speed at which they move makes them frightening. The good aliens are also brought to screen believably, and made me feel like we were dealing with real alien people, rather than just a 'monster'.

Supporting all this back on earth are UNIT, a reassuring presence in the form of Captain Magambo, and her dead-pan practical nature are a welcome foik for Lee Evans's manic scientist Malcolm.

Framing all of this is the brilliant cinematography. The sight of the Doctor and Christina strolling out on miles and miles of untrodden sand will long live in my memory, as much as the images of the London bus stranded in the desert.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Doctor Who, it's a good one!