Planet of the Dead

[Craig @craig Emperor]

The Doctor, Lady Christina de Souza and several other passengers find themselves transported to a barren desert planet on a double-decker bus. As the Doctor and Christina struggle to uncover the mysteries beneath the sand, the Swarm draws closer.

I have to admit that this Easter Special left me a bit underwhelmed. I know they had a ton of logistics problems and they did the best they could, but the script is just not one of Russell’s best. It’s Midnight without anything that made that story great. A bit of a misfire. But then there’s Michelle Ryan to look at… just WOW 😯 (sorry), and there’s always next week… At least this time we don’t have to wait months for another bus to come along.

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

Again, this is fun. But nothing but fun. I can see why @craig was a bit underwhelmed; the production team decided that this was the last opportunity for their Doctor to have a bit of fun, but didn’t go beyond that. So you’ve got an exciting, very enjoyable episode – which had a very high approval rating – but it didn’t carry the long term story on beyond a few lines about ‘your song is ending’. It looks great, it’s enormous fun – but it could be dropped into any series of the After Gap Who.

They did indeed have a ton of logistics problems – if you have the DVD and haven’t watched the Confidential, go watch it. It’s almost as entertaining as the episode; the production team explain about the bus (destroyed by an errant crane) and the sandstorm (David Tennant gets so much sand in his hair, he goes blond, they can’t see the scenery they’ve gone to Dubai to film, and to add insult to injury – the wind buggers up the sound). Then, back in Wales, there was the UNIT lab. Where a metre of extra in-studio space made the lab look so much bigger inside than its location outside, UNIT appeared to have found one of the Master’s old Tardii.

But the script is a bit of a mish-mash. First we have a jewel thief – crime caper? Then we have a planet (pop. 100 billion) entirely destroyed by an alien lifeform – Russell, this is your idea of a comedy? Then we have a psychic prophet who seems to be playing Greek Chorus, and finally we’ve got UNIT and an eccentric scientist. I’d ask where the kitchen sink is, but it’s almost certainly in the lab set. 🙂

I found Lee Evans one of the highlights – his Malcolm is utterly ridiculous, and utterly endearing. I gave a small cheer when Malcolm got a little shout-out in The Day of The Doctor; I hope that means they’re trying to get Lee Evans back. An Honourable Mention, for making the most of a difficult-to-act part, goes to Ellen Thomas (Carmen) for managing to inject some life into ‘I will now forbode with a side of forboding and a little extra on the forebode. Oh, and some more foreboding, please.’ 😉

But, if you haven’t seen this episode, don’t let all these caveats put you off. It’s a not-very-serious story which is simply meant to be enjoyed – and when it was first broadcast, that’s exactly what most of the audience did.

[wolfweed @wolfweed]

The Dr is that nutter who sits next to you on the bus…
Of those in peril, the only character I’m liking is Barclay.
There must be a reason they can’t ask for the TARDIS to be sent through the portal…

Nice to see Capt Magambo back (nod to Bambera?), even if she will betray the Doctor.
These Flies and their language are obviously a nod to The Leisure Hive. That’ll be Gareth Roberts then.
Cool Shipwreck.
She’s as hard as nails, but don’t put dead people in her hair…
‘The worse it gets, the more I love it!’ Good line.

An obligatory Ten-nant snog.
The Doctor is recruiting nice innocent young men for UNIT – controversial!
The TARDIS was in Buckingham Palace Gardens all along. There was no problem sending it through to rescue everybody after all then…
Good – Lady De Souza doesn’t need a man to have adventures, just a flying bus in the style of Iris Wildthyme (she might want to take it to the panel-beaters, though!)

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

I think after the mixed Next Doctor, to be presented with this was disappointing, because it follows a similar trajectory.

There is a lot to like. The beginning as we are introduced to Lady De Souza and her intersection with the Doctor on the Bus is an interesting start (definitely “nutter on the bus” territory @wolfweed :-D). Andrew Cartmel once said that the eventual replacement for Ace was intended to be a canny jewel thief, and I can’t help but think that would be an interesting dynamic.

I know a lot of people criticised Michelle Ryan/Lady De Souza, but I actually think it’s a good turn. Yes – she is overly confident and full of herself, but that’s the nature of the character. It’s a big performance, but honest I think, and the relationship with the Doctor as he tries to work her out is pretty entertaining. I actually think she may have worked as a companion for a while, and you could do something different with such a risk taker. Give her an arc the scope of Donna’s and you could have real fun and tragedy aplenty.

@bluesqueakpip s assessment on the “fun” part of the story is spot on, but I’ll agree there is something a bit jarring about some of the concepts on offer in a fun story. I starts with the fate of the Bus driver (a good effect, but there is very little consequence.

I have to admit I found the tritovore a bit ludicrous even given Russell’s stated position that “animal head on a human body makes a hilarious alien”.

I think the swarm is an interesting threat. I’ll go back to my musings on Russells love for 2000AD and point out what surely must be another influence – the Dune Sharks of Judge Dredd (inhabitants of the desert planet Hestia)

The desert setting is actually glorious really. Just because it’s unusual in who history to be given a desert planet that actually looks like a desert. It may have caused problems but the widescreen format on TV does it justice, all muted yellows and reds. Tennant and Ryan’s panicked run back to the bus is great.

I’ll echo the praise for Lee Evans. I don’t really appreciate his comedy act, but he’s turned in some good performances in movies like Fifth Element and There’s something about Mary, and this is another one. He’s obviously enjoying himself and there is something really endearing about Malcolm and his strange little world.

OK – the flying bus. We’re into the money shot. Like the big stompy robot in Next Doctor, you can imagine Russell getting really excited about this idea. Big, fun, something for the kids, etc. Thing is, it does lurch into ludicrousness with the relative ease of control and ballet like movements.

Has there ever been a pitched battle between UNIT and Monsters that has looked this good? I doubt it. There were a couple of good ones in S4 with the Sontarans, but this is genuinely well shot. As are the Dune Sharks.

And it’s just time for some flirtatious banter, and the Doctor has a “what the hell” moment as he cheekily allows De Souza to escape in her flying bus.

It is fun enough, but I think Spectacle won out on developing a bit more time on the script and story. A similar issue to The Next Doctor.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

I’ve read a lot of criticism of this story at various times, and I don’t understand the reason for it. This is actually my favourite of the Tennant specials, being tightly edited and well paced, with a lot of great moments and some nice supporting characters. Its overall lack of angst is delightful, and the fact that it feeds virtually nothing into the Doctor’s longer arc is not a problem for me; in fact, it’s actually a plus in my book. We can enjoy this without worrying about past companions or future doom. In a nice change of pace, the threat is not a malevolent being bent on domination, simply a species following its instincts.

I enjoyed Lady Christina. She’s a bit annoyingly smug, but she is meant to be.  She and the Doctor bounce off one another rather well, as they try to outdo one another while also trying to figure each other out. His look when she starts producing folding tools from her bag is priceless. And she’s refreshingly fearless. She might indeed have made a good companion, but I think she would have worn thin fairly quickly. The “dead people in my hair” line was pretty irritating. But as a one-off, she doesn’t have to have staying power, and she’s perfectly suited to this adventure.

The other bus passengers are nicely played, without a lot of depth being written in, but likably portrayed in all cases. Carmen is a bit of a “stock psychic” character but again, convincingly acted. I love her husband’s proof of her powers: they win 10 pounds on the lottery twice a week!

I love the Bond-esque theme music in the opening scenes. Shocking lack of a backup escape plan; and yet even the Doctor has an Oyster card! But the story really starts when we come through the wormhole. The scene when they exit the bus is very cool. They are not in Kansas, or indeed, London, anymore.

I like Tennant’s performance throughout most of this. I think that this Doctor is at his best when he is less emotionally engaged, a little more cool, more restrained. “Humans on buses, always blaming me.” He is having fun, despite the danger and the moments of concern. He does like these adventures, of course. That’s why he lives this way. “The worse it gets, the more I love it.”

His interactions with UNIT are great fun throughout. “Did you just salute?” “… No.”  “You named a unit of measurement after yourself?” Malcolm is delightful, he would have made a rather great companion. “Don’t be ridiculous. That’s Quatermass!”

The scene in the alien ship is really well done, it feels creepy and alarming, as we learn that the desert was recently a city. Then the bad news from the bus, and the Doctor starts to look truly alarmed for the first time. But he goes into high gear when things get really bad, and starts working things out, piece by piece. His affectionate talk about the TARDIS, where it has taken him, and the fact that he stole it, is quite lovely. He doesn’t look the remotest bit sorry, does he?

Malcolm may be the Doctor’s new best friend, but he clearly doesn’t trust Magambo one bit, as he continues to refuse to divulge the nature of the threat. Rightly, as it turns out. Malcolm’s expression when Magambo points the gun at him is wonderful: a scientist out of his depth.

The music during the crisis scene adds loads of excitement and atmosphere, as does the editing, cutting between the bus and UNIT, with the Doctor trying to get the bus aloft, and Malcolm making his brave stand against the Captain. The passengers’ joy at the bus taking flight is delightful, and the swarm of flying creatures is very effective. And it’s through the looking glass, back to earth.

A few dialogue gems: “I said gold.” “It is gold.” “Oh, they saw you coming.” And Malcolm turning the tables on the Doctor: “Not now, I’m busy!” “500 hundred bernards! Do it now!!” And the Doctor to the police: “I’ll just step inside this police box… and arrest myself.”

The kiss was unnecessary but didn’t bother me. Malcolm’s hug, on the other hand, was great. I think it sums up my feelings about Lady Christina that, while I enjoyed her character and her interactions with the Doctor, a part of me was satisfied when he wouldn’t take her in the TARDIS. She was great in many ways, but somehow, not really worthy. On the other hand, it would have been pretty cool for Malcolm to get a trip!

On the whole, I think this is what a holiday special actually should be all about: fun to watch and you feel good at the end.

[Oochillyo @oochillyo]

@arbutus I totally agree with the majority of what you said and I love this episode, you have made some really good points like Malcolm being wonderful and the episode is lovely espically to watch with the family therefore I will point out some other aspects I liked about the episode, I love the flying aliens and even though I dont like flys cause they are a bit gross the episode makes you feel bad for the 2 fly survivors and what happened to their city and it was a shame they are probs extinct cause they didnt want to leave the ship (which is honorable) however it didnt give them enough time to flee, the flying bus was great, and the people on the bus felt genuine actually the show could actually have the flying rays back again cause the Doctor didnt really stop them he just closed off the wormhole to London so they would likely show up on other planets which would be kinda interesting but it could be hard to pull off the atmosphere and originally of the episode without ripping it off and I dont actually think the Doctor could stop billions of them unless he blows up the whole planet which I dont think he would do unless there is another city in danger that he could actually save this time

[Rewvian @rewvian]

I’m not sure why this was called Planet of the Dead.  Planet of the Swarm probably would have been a better title.  The monster in this episode looked like a cross between a manta ray and a shark, and there were “billions” of them.  Despite the CGI, something like that would be quite frightening in reality.

The episode features guest appearances by Michelle Ryan and Lee Evans, as Lady Christina de Souza and Malcolm, respectively.

The Doctor and Christina wind up on a double-decker bus, being pursued by police cars as Christina has just stolen a museum artifact.  While going through a tunnel, the bus vanishes through a worm hole.  On the other side the people on the bus arrive on a desert planet, with the bus smashed at the top and the engine unable to start.

Nobody can go back through the worm hole without being protected in the bus, or else they turn into a pile of bones.

I liked the part where the Doctor referenced Midnight and people on buses after the passenger accused him of causing the crash by using his device with the spinning dish.

The passengers see that a storm is coming from off in the distance.  The Doctor decides to investigate the land and Christina comes along.  They bump into a crashed space ship and two fly people.  The fly people were also kind of a monster in this episode, but by this point the standard alien head and hands with a jumpsuit does seem a little overdone.  It was interesting how they used a device to understand other people, but kind of ironic (and probably saved a bunch of time) how it didn’t work the other way around.  The fly people send a drone to investigate the storm and learn it’s actually the swarm of manta ray sharks.

Meanwhile good old UNIT is screwing things up, ordering soldiers to fire on sight if anyone comes through the worm hole.  The Doctor works towards a solution, and the commanding officer still orders the scientist Malcom to close the worm hole before the Doctor is even back through it.  The Doctor has to communicate with a lot of people over the phone in this one.

Half of the episode felt like it was an adrenaline junkie’s dream, with Christina showing off her skills as a thief, sliding down cords and retrieving the spoils.  (She also talks about liking things extreme.)  This happens first when she steals the golden chalice, and again when she gets the gravity device from the fly person ship.  Ironically she would use the chalice with the gravity clamps to make the double-decker bus fly.

The concept of putting the gravity clamps on the tires and steering wheel looks fun, but there is no way a flying vehicle could be controlled that way, to account for ascending and descending.  But like so many similar instances in DW, this was one where the image of a flying double-decker bus just screams “Eff yeah, Great Britain!”, and simply had to happen for that reason alone.

I liked how the Doctor kind of bonded with Christina over his decision to steal the TARDIS when he was younger.  Though the Doctor doesn’t consider himself to be a thief in that same way, he can still relate based off of that one major decision from his life.  It was sad finding out that his reason for turning down Christina as a companion was because he simply didn’t want to lose any more people.  I’m happy he freed her from the handcuffs, and I’d like to think he had been planning her escape the whole time.

Now wait a minute though.  Did that double-decker bus just go into space?  Because Lady Christina de Souza most likely wouldn’t be surviving that.

It was an alright episode, and in a way sort of the antithesis to the previous one with the snow and olden times.  Filming for the episode took place in Dubai.  They call the double-decker bus the “200 Bus”, and this was (by some counts) the 200th episode of DW.  The bus in the episode was accidentally damaged by a crane during production, but they decided to just keep it and run with it.

When I was younger I remember I didn’t like this one as much, but it was fine.  I think I appreciate it more now.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian    I liked this episode.  Planet of the Dead because everybody who ever lived there – was dead.   Eaten by the Swarm.  For some reason I’m reminded of the exchange between Lister and Holly at the start of Red Dwarf –

“Where is everybody, Hol?”     “They’re dead, Dave.”   “Who is?” “Everybody, Dave.”    “What, Captain Hollister?”  “Everybody’s dead, Dave.”   “What, Todhunter?” “Everybody’s dead, Dave.”  ?What, Selby?”    “They’re all dead. Everybody’s dead, Dave.”   “Peterson isn’t, is he?”  “Everybody is dead, Dave.”  “Not Chen?”   “Gordon Bennett! Yes, Chen, everybody, everybody’s dead, Dave!”    “Rimmer?”    “He’s dead, Dave, everybody is dead, everybody is dead, Dave.”     “Wait. Are you trying to tell me everybody’s dead?”  “I wish I’d never let him out in the first place.”

I thought Lady Christina de Souza was great, I would have loved to see her as a regular Companion.    But I was notably pleased that at least  the Doctor connived at Lady Christina’s escape at the last minute.

I felt sad for the fly people, they acted honourably and deserved a better fate than to be eaten by the monsters.   And those monsters were horrific, probably the nastiest ones RTD ever conjured up.

I actually liked this one better than The Waters of Mars which followed.    It was lighter in tone (hard to credit when faced with a deadly enemy like the Swarm, but yes it was).

[VickyMallard @vickymallard]

Not quite sure what to make of this episode – the setup reminded me of “Midnight”, which was probably intentional as the Doctor made a similar comment at one point. I liked how they played around with the giant fly aliens, which initially appear to be the bad guys but actually aren’t. What I absolutely loved here was that the Doctor was without the Tardis, and thus without the automatic translator. Which is no problem for him, of course, but we as the audience get the undubbed version of clicks and hisses, which sounds pretty creepy to human ears. Except when spoken by a Timelord, of course. Brilliant.

For some reason this Kristina lady was not really my cup of tea, but as I knew she wouldn’t end up as the next companion, I wasn’t too bothered either. She was good fun and brought lots of nice energy to it, but somehow we didn’t click. Although initially I thought that this grail she stole contained some mysterious aliens who were behind all the trouble. But apparently it was really just a historical artefact. What I found a bit confusing in the first place is that after the robbery, wouldn’t she be on the roof of the museum? Why was she suddenly next door when the alarm went off? And why did no one stop her from getting onto the bus, and even more: why didn’t the bus pull over when chased by a fleet of police cars?

The swarm aliens were nice. I loved how the Doctor admires their perfection irrespective of the fact that they are about to kill him. Or at least the people on the bus, or the bus itself (which would have the same effect). I also think this is the first time I’ve come across metal-devouring aliens. Very interesting concept! I was wondering to what extent the Unit weapons would actually affect them, or whether they would simply digest the bullets. But apparently it worked. And I liked that the Doctor recruited two of the passengers for Unit right away 😉

What else was there… the Doctor stole the Tardis? I’ll put that on my “things to find out more about” list, I thought every Timelord had one. The psychic lady (whose name I forgot) tells the Doctor that his song is ending and that “he will knock four times”. Well, not just yet.

My favourite quote of the episode was “I’m charging you too! Aiding and abetting!” – “Yes, I’ll just step inside this police box and arrest myself.”

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@vickymallard I really liked this one. And I too, liked that the giant fly aliens were not the enemy (and in fact, acted very honourably. I felt quite sorry for them).

Lady Christina was great (in my view). A sort of female James Bond (or Emma Peel?) I would have liked to see a lot more of her. Maybe not workable as a Companion, simply because she would have upstaged the Doctor without even trying, they would have had to have dumbed her down a lot and that would have upset me. But a recurrent ally/adversary, like River Song or Captain Jack, would have been fine. In a way it’s her bad luck that she appeared right at the end of RTD’s stint, because successive showrunners tend to not have used previous associates much.

As for how she appeared next door to the museum instead of on the roof when the alarm went off – this bit is essentially a ‘heist’ movie, they often play a bit loose with the nuts-and-bolts stuff. I’m often a bit obsessive about the practicality of things but this bit didn’t worry me unduly. Nor the fact that the bus didn’t pull over – heist movie 🙂

The Swarm absolutely gave me the creeps. Vicious little things.

The Doctor stole the Tardis? Yes, was that a ‘new’ fact in this episode? That was elaborated on considerably by Moffat with the 11th Doctor episodes. (Another take is that the Tardis ‘chose’ (influenced) the Doctor to steal it). I won’t say more because spoilers. But see The Name of the Doctor (“Don’t steal that one, steal this one. The navigation system’s knackered, but you’ll have much more fun”) and The Doctor’s Wife for more.
It appears that Tardises were controlled by Gallifrey authorities (maybe a bit like ‘company cars’) and presumably Timelords required authorisation to take one out. He stole another, much much later. I think it likely that the Doctor’s Tardis was under maintenance when he nicked it – hence the faults of the stuck Chameleon circuit, and its notoriously erratic navigation.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@vickymallard  @dentarthurdent

Planet of The Dead got a lot of stick when it came out. Cracking adventure, I thought, with lots of interesting angles: no Tardis; interesting alien species – maybe reminiscent of the swarm in Invisible Enemy and the Formasi in Leisure Hive – but there a finite number of tropes; antagonistic prospective companion; proto fam on the bus even?? The fact that the double decker bus was dropped in transit to north africa (hence the damage to the top deck) sold it to me.

I’m interested in the stolen tardis origin. Was it hinted at in The War Games?? It certainly became a big thing in The Doctor’s Wife (Thief! Where’s my thief??) Did Moffat discuss that with Gaiman? He had a big hand in writing the dialogue apparently.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Observation… did the Doctor steal a tardis twice, or did he steal the same one twice over? Or rather was the original stolen tardis donated to the doctor by Clara and Ashildr after they’d got bored with it?</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>And when will we see The Diner again??</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>How common are faulty chameleon circuits? Everyone assumes the Clara shown at the beginning of Name of the Doctor is ‘Clara in the Doctor’s Timestream’ but that was lampshaded by Clara’s impossible girl soliloquy.</p>
 

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@ps1l0v3y0u This is spoiler territory so – if you don’t mind – I’ll answer this (as far as I can) in the ‘Hell Bent’ thread where it fits best.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@vickymallard Sorry, forgot to include you in my note to ps1l0v3y0u. It’s spoilery but I gave my account of what I understand of the Tardis in the Hell Bent thread.

[VickyMallard @vickymallard]

@dentarthurdent : thanks, I’ll go and find out more there. Regaring the bus not pulling over etc.: well, I wasn’t really unduly worried either – it IS a heist movie and if he does pull over it would be a very short and rather boring episode – but I can’t help wondering about such little “errors”.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@vickymallard

sorry for the spoilery… in fact, although some sources quote The War Games (1969!) as the origin of the idea of the stolen tardis, I can’t find a single mention. The doctor admits to being a renegade and at that point his navigation is hopeless so you might infer that he shouldn’t be left in charge of a tardis.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@vickymallard Viewer’s varying tolerance for ‘errors’ always fascinates me. I will happily accept a time-travelling Tardis that can materialise anywhere it wants, but I get highly tetchy if the Space Shuttle lands on the Moon because (1) it was never designed to go beyond Earth orbit and (2) it’s actually a glider (if a rather brick-like one), that’s how it lands, and there’s no air on the Moon. (Don’t get me started on the rest of Kill the Moon :). I tend to give a free pass to anything that’s ‘alien tech’ (i.e. ‘magic’) but very little to physical impossibilities in mundane reality.

Other people obviously have their own limits on what they will accept and what ‘errors’ really bug them. For some people, it’s what is ‘in character’ or ‘out of character’ that matters most, never mind the nuts and bolts.

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