The Impossible Planet

"Welcome to Hell."

Writer: Matt Jones

Format: TV

Broadcast: 3 June 2006

Series: 2.08

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

Rose finds herself on a desolate world, in the orbit of a black hole. Trapped with an Earth expedition and the mysterious Ood, the time-travellers face an even greater danger, as something ancient beneath the planet's surface begins to awake.

Verdict

The Impossible Planet was another superb episode to continue my way through the modern era of Doctor Who once again! Series 2 for the most part is of a really high standard and if the ratings I have given for the seven previous episodes are anything to go by then this absolutely continues the trend. It's a fantastic opener for the two-part adventure midway through the series and the tone of what's to come is set as early as the pre-titles. I love the idea of the TARDIS not being able to translate the ancient lettering that adorned the grim statement welcoming the Doctor and Rose to Hell and the impossible nature of that fact was excellent. I like how much of a mystery that is straight away for the Doctor and then the arrival of the Ood makes things threatening straight away as they must feed. The comical nature of the resolution with interference in their systems is a lot of fun and I think it's an impressive debut for the popular aliens. Their appearance is fantastic and certainly memorable as it's just a bit freaky and that's exactly what you want from Doctor Who. The setting of the Sanctuary Base is fantastic and I love how it's centred in orbit around a black hole which is of course utterly impossible. The Doctor's reaction to that is outstanding but when he has to accept it despite it defying the laws of physics, his reaction of a hug to express how amazing he believes humanity to be was wonderful. They came and explored simply because it was there. The team were really strong characters and I like the subtle transformation in Toby when he gets possessed by the ancient transcripts of the Beast. The image of him outside the airlock as he causes the death of Scooti in pretty emphatic fashion. The reaction of everyone when they see that she's floating towards the black hole is a very powerful moment. The imagery of the black hole itself worked really well throughout the episode and I thought it was good to not have a story set on any kind of Earth. It gave an eery feel which I really enjoyed. The TARDIS being lost to the earthquake was a very good move and the idea of the Doctor and Rose being stuck on a planet orbiting a black hole was pretty grim. Their speculating on what would come next if they were able to get out alive and have that lift home was a really nice moment as they had to face their future and shimmy about discussing if that was together. That was a really nice touch. I liked how the Doctor was offering his services up when the drilling had stopped to explore the power source that was impossibly keeping the planet in orbit and providing the gravity funnel because he needed to be useful. It was clear he felt guilty for the predicament he'd got Rose into and now he was doing something to action it. The ancient civilisation looked incredible and I liked the dynamic of the Doctor and Rose being separated and quite the distance away from each other. Inevitably, things went wrong for Rose with Toby revealing his possessed nature and that transferring to the Ood as they started to advance and do their work as the Legion of the Beast. That coinciding with the massive sealed door opening and the planet losing its orbit made for a stellar cliffhanger! There was a lot going on and a lot of it was impossible. That's a great combination to lead into the concluding episode. Overall, this was brilliant!

Rating: 10/10S