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

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!

I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed when I initially watched the latest of this year's Doctor Who `Specials' on Easter Sunday. Perhaps the hype and anticipation were just too much but it just seemed to lack substance.

The problem for me was that the story just wasn't `special' enough. As the first in a new series it would have been okay, but the basic plot just didn't go anywhere, the CGI monsters were disappointing, the alien Tritovores whilst superbly realized were woefully underused, and one-off companion Lady Christina de Souza didn't have nearly enough to do. I can hardly bring myself to mention the flying bus - making this more and more like Mary Poppins in space, hackneyed UNIT soldiers, yet another kiss for The Doctor, and actors so wooden they'd put Pinnochio to shame.

I so wanted to love this, but apart from the entertaining UNIT scientist Malcolm played by Lee Evans, there was precious little to love. As for the psychic woman who foretold The Doctor's future in cryptic fashion "he will knock four times", this was just another well-worn modern Doctor Who get-out clause and just made the whole thing even more silly. However, watching this DVD some time later, I actually enjoyed the whole thing a lot more. David Tennant's now well-worn mannerisms aside, there are some great flashes of humour and the underused Tritovores looked brilliant.

The taster for the upcoming `Waters of Mars' looks like taking things up a notch, and as The Tenth Doctor moves inexorably towards his final curtain it seems that an old foe will reappear in the not-too-distant future...

A London bus takes a detour to an alien world, but can the Doctor defeat the Swarm?

11 Apr 2009

Includes:

Doctor Who Confidential