Doctor Who: The Dead Planet
Spoilers for the episode
The story
Lots of things go wrong this episode. They hang out in the jungle for a while and get freaked out by a strange alien creature. Susan runs away from a hand on her shoulder. Then the Doctor sabotages the TARDIS in the most obvious way possible, nobody believes it’s an accident, so he can go explore the city. They separate to explore the city and loose Barbara in the process. And everyone seems to be getting ill.
Thoughts
Barbara gets to ask all the stupid questions so the audience can be informed of what’s going on. That’s standard for female characters but it’s still strange that she asks Ian where they are. The Doctor hasn’t said where they are but somehow she thinks Ian will know. I know he’s a man but he’s not all knowing.
She comes across as even more useless especially as she spends most of this episode screaming. Or complaining that they’re not on earth and she doesn’t want to be an adventurer.
The other female of the group isn’t much better but at least Susan likes to explore. She tries to take a stone flower back to the TARDIS but it gets broken when Barbara is frightened of a petrified alien creature and Ian rushes to the rescue.
The dead alien that scared Barbara is made of metal and a bit silly looking but that’s probably the budget. Barbara and Ian think it’s ugly and don’t believe the Doctor when he says it used to be alive and might have attracted it’s prey with electromagnetic waves.
The Doctor makes a point about what’s normal for living beings. Not everything is going to look human or be flesh and blood. This is a good point to make considering Doctor who tends to end up with the human looking aliens being the good guys and the ugly aliens being the bad guys.
He also says this is nothing like you have on your planet. So this implies he’s an alien but I’m not sure how much the writers have thought about it. He was originally going to just be a human from the future but I can’t remember where I heard that.
They find a futuristic looking city and the binocular effect they put on the camera to see the city is funny. It doesn’t make it look like anything other than a model city.
While trying to find another flower to take back Susan gets touched on the shoulder and instead of looking to see who it is runs off in the opposite direction in hysterics. She’s not even looking where she’s going and when she runs into Ian she starts screaming. And she’s surprised when no one believes her.
The doctor says no one could live on the planet because everything is dead but he never says he’s scanned the whole planet.
Barbara goes to talk to Susan and says it’s the Doctor’s scientific facts that won’t allow him to believe her but I think it’s just poor writing. He hasn’t scanned the whole planet so he doesn’t know if the entire planet is dead or not. So it’s possible people could have survived.
Then noises outside the TARDIS door happen and Susan’s all like I told you so. Before getting really freaked out.
Everyone gets scared and the Doctor agrees to take them somewhere else but then he sabotages the ship by draining it of mercury. When the TARDIS stops working he tells them it’s an easy fix and no one suspects anything until he says they have no Mercury on board and so they’ll have to search the city. He doesn’t even care that they know he’s lying. He’s all smug because they all know it’s a con but they don’t know enough to contradict him.
I should probably be more on Ian’s side because the Doctor’s being unreasonable and putting them in danger but every time he opens his mouth it makes me dislike him. He tells the doctor they are going to the city for Mercury and that’s it. It’s the way he says ‘is that clear’ that makes me want the doctor to abandon him.
Even before that when the doctor wanted to go explore but Ian says he ‘can’t let him do that’. Ian makes me less than sympathetic to them being frightened. He’s so annoying.
But the Doctor’s sabotaging works and they all leave the TARDIS only to find a box left outside for them. Ian immediately tells them all to step back so he can have a look.
Why Ian thinks he’s the best one to investigate a strange metal box that’s just appeared I’ll never know. It’s one thing ordering people around but the Doctor has a better chance of working out what it is than he does. But we do get to see him poking it with a stick and covering his face like it’s going to explode. If only he would get blown up.
The box has metal vials and Susan’s still all ‘I told you so’ about their being someone out there. Ian at least apologises to her so he’s not completely terrible.
When they get to the city they start to feel ill. I’m guessing no one thought to look at the radiation meter after that first time. They must be going out of their way to avoid it because it’s out in the open on the TARDIS console. Surely someone would just glance at it. Maybe the TARDIS is trying to kill them. Every time someone looks at it the TARDIS lowers the radiation level or something.
Ian takes charge again but then he’s the one that suggests they separate. So I think he’s to blame for Barbara being the first one to get captured. Because sending a person out who was terrified of a stone creature that didn’t move at all is a great idea. That sounds really productive.
So when she comes across a Dalek she just stands there and screams. I know there’s no where to go but the screaming isn’t helping.
The first shot of a Dalek we ever see is the plunger. I can’t wait to see more of how they began.
This was quite a good episode despite my hating Ian and wishing Barbara would just stay in the TARDIS if she’s going to be scared of everything. I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for them but I think you’re meant to relate to them. With the tension comes from the Doctor, who’s manipulative and sabotages things to get his way regardless of consequences or safety. He also doesn’t work well with others and I’m enjoying watching him frustrate Ian.
Previous Doctor Who: The Firemaker Next Doctor Who: The Survivors
Download your free ebook
Subscribe to get our latest content by email.
