Planet of Evil

"The end of the universe..."

Writer: Louis Marks

Format: TV

Broadcast: 27th September - 18th October 1975

Season: 13.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah 

Synopsis 

The Doctor and Sarah answer an intergalactic distress call that takes them to a far-flung planet at the edge of the known universe - Zeta Minor. Arriving at the same time as a rescue team, they search for survivors of an earlier expedition. But will anyone be allowed to leave the planet alive?

Verdict 

Planet of Evil was a very good Doctor Who story! This was only my second time watching the serial and to be honest it felt brand new to me as it has been nearly four years since my first and only previous viewing and I do not own the Target novelisation. I think it definitely helped that I didn't know what was going to happen and although there were elements that I did recall, it was almost like watching the story for the first time. The thing that shocked me most about this story was the amount of death that occurred! It really did seem endless as it really felt that at least two or three people were dying in each part. That's a very large amount but it absolutely worked in establishing the threat that anti-matter brought. This was the first story to experiment with the concept of anti-matter since the acclaimed The Three Doctors and I think it definitely deserved a revisit as there really is a lot you can do with it. The setting of Zeta Minor was really good and I liked how it was situated on the edge of the universe, right on the brink of the known universe and the universe of anti-matter. That offered quite a lot and the bridge that the Doctor fell down at the end of part two was a good focal point to establish where the connection between the two universes was. The anti-matter creature which served as the main enemy of the story had a fantastic concept of being a personification of pure energy but sadly the special effects of the mid 1970s take a little away from this story. Let's be honest, I know the story was broadcast four decades ago but the effects weren't very good at all. They did look rather silly and they can't help but take away from the serial as a whole which is actually a great shame. I compliment the production team for attempting to create a being of pure energy but I'd have to say they didn't succeed. They weren't helped by the multiplication of the creatures in the final part and this is where I'm now interested to find the novelisation of this story as I think I'll enjoy that more as a whole. I'll now have visuals from rewatching here but I won't be actually seeing the poor effects. I loved Sarah in this story I must say. Lis Sladen looked delightful here and she was as brilliant as always alongside Tom Baker's fantastic Fourth Doctor who unthinkably wasn't wearing his iconic scarf for much of this part! There wasn't a lot for this Doctor to characteristically make a joke about but he was sure to put it right. He'd made a deal with the creature and ended up just about keeping it. The contrasting relationship between Vishinsky and Salamar was excellent and I liked how they had differing opinions on the Doctor and Sarah's involvement in the killings. Sorenson was a brilliant character too and I liked how committed he was to his cause. He was bordering insanity though due to the anti-matter. The jungle set for this story rightly received praise from the BBC because it was indeed brilliant in capturing both a jungle and an alien planet. It was extremely alien which I think was important in establishing the Zeta Minor and distant future setting. I really liked it. The debut of a new TARDIS interior was done really well and I liked how the fact it was new and had been unseen for some time was simply ignored. That ensured the storytelling continued very well. It really did look impressive I must say and I can't think why it had been so long since we saw it! The part three cliffhanger was outstanding and overall this was a great little story! A nice reference to Terror of the Zygons along the way, this was really good. 

Rating: 8/10