Planet of the Dead

"There's something in the clouds."

Writers: Russell T Davies & Gareth Roberts

Format: Audio

Broadcast: 11 April 2009

Series: 2009 Easter Special

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Lady Christina

Synopsis 

A London bus takes a detour to an alien world and the Doctor attempts to defeat the terrifying Swarm by joining forces with the charismatic Lady Christina de Souza.

Verdict 

Planet of the Dead was a great episode to continue my way through the modern era rewatch! I’ve not got any kind of consistency lately which is quite fine when I’ve got to the Specials and it’s quite good to actually be treating this episode in isolation and not judging it alongside the other Specials as I might have done if I kept up with the rewatch any kind of way. It’s actually rather painful to think that this episode was broadcast fourteen years ago and I remember exactly where I was when watching it and it makes me feel rather old! It’s a fun episode and rather chilled despite the stakes. It really is Lady Christina’s story and she doesn’t waste time in stealing the show, almost literally! The fact she stole the gift to the King was terrific and her escape route being on a London bus is spectacular in its simplicity. The directing for the Doctor getting on the bus by shooting those famous converse (whatever happened to them?) from underneath was brilliant and having him there with an Easter Egg was a lot of fun. The journey through the wormhole was great and it always baffles me that the damage clearly evident on the bus was not supposed to happen! It’s so much better this way around and it wouldn’t have been believable if the bus was completely intact, especially once the driver walked through and instantly became a smoking skeleton. That was rather brutal. I liked the setting of San Helios with the desert looking rather impressive and on a massive scale. The Doctor immediately setting in motion the idea of the sand not being ordinary sand was good as we’d later learn that it was an entire civilisation reduced to rubble. Metallic cities, oceans and a hundred billion people all wrapped into one. It was essentially the dust left behind which was almost unfathomable in scale. I liked how Christina tried to take charge of those that were also on the bus as they tried to free it from the sand, and the Doctor’s reaction when he found out it was out of petrol was outstanding. He did feel helpless for a moment. Tennant sold it so well. I thought the relationship between the Doctor and Christina was great but I was a little surprised with how flirty he was. He also didn’t resist the kiss on the bus at the end which makes it all the more confusing that he wouldn’t take her as a companion at the end. It was fun stuff for him to let her escape on the 200 bus though! That was a comical and good hearted ending. Carmen was a brilliant character with her psychic capabilities, and the foreshadowing of events to come for the Doctor was superb as he was warned of four knocks. The Tritovores were decent but like the Hath in The Doctor’s Daughter I would have much preferred if we could actually understand them. The one way translation didn’t cut it for me. Their makeup as humanoid insects was good and nicely unique though! Malcom as UNIT’s scientific advisor was just tremendous and whilst it may go overboard by the end as we close the wormhole, he’s so much and injects a lot of comedy. It’s a shame we didn’t get more face to face moments between him and the Doctor. Erisa as the UNIT Captain was good too although I don’t think she should have pointed the gun at Malcolm when he refused to carry out her order and leave the Doctor stranded on the wrong side of the wormhole. That was great defiance. The Stingrays are a strong threat and I liked seeing them in action. Their metallic exoskeleton was good although I think it would have been better if none of them made it through the wormhole. They seemed slightly weak to then be defeated. Overall though, a very strong episode that was a lot of fun!

Rating: 8/10