Dr Who: 'Planet Of The Dead' - The Verdict

Published Sunday, Apr 12 2009, 00:22 BST | By Ben Rawson-Jones | 292 comments

Dr Who: 'Planet Of The Dead' - The Verdict

As hollow as a big chocolate Easter egg, 'Planet Of The Dead' is a major disappointment from the Doctor Who camp. Lacking in the enthralling drama and compelling characterisation that has been the lynchpin of the Russell T Davies era, it says a great deal that some of the more credible dialogue comes from the mouths of creatures who can only communicate via clicks.

The pairing of David Tennant's Doctor and Michelle Ryan's Lady Christina fails to convince, with the romantic tension between the pair feeling forced. In particular, the innuendo-filled quips from Christina quickly become an earsore, especially as they're delivered with such gratingly clipped tones. Ryan's a decent enough actress, but is utterly unconvincing in the role. The script hardly helps her, with the only interesting exchange between the pair taking place when The Doctor refuses to let the eager thief join him in his travels.

This is symptomatic of the episode as a whole, leaving the best material for the end. Like the battered London bus, the plot seems trapped in the sand for the first 45 minutes and in dire need of a kickstart. There is no real sense of jeopardy or peril to the dull passengers on board the bus, despite the psychic woman's mutterings and the frying of the driver. Regular shots of an unseen Tritovore observing the humans on a monitor attempt to build tension, but fail to make any impact - rather like the first appearance of these fly-faced creatures. Not even Jeff Goldblum emerging from one of the masks would redeem proceedings.

A dramatic jolt finally arrives with the double whammy that the flying beasts are Earthbound and UNIT Captain Magambo (played impressively by Noma Dumezweni) wants the wormhole closed before The Doctor and the humans can return. From then on, the magnificently surreal imagery of the flying bus whizzing around and swatting off the stingray-like foes takes full advantage of the British iconography and provides an energetic burst of crowdpleasing material. Ken Livingstone must be up in arms that a bendy bus wasn't used.

As the over-eager scientist Malcolm, Lee Evans is superbly cast and exploits his physical and verbal quirks to fine effect. His exchanges with The Doctor can't paper over the cracks in the poorly structured plot, but they do provide occasional rays of sunshine. The fact that Malcolm names a unit of measurement after himself is both inspired and hilarious!

Although the UNIT personnel fare well and director James Strong incorporates some eye-catching visual flourishes throughout, 'Planet Of The Dead' feels too lifeless for much of the hour. The irritating and ill-conceived presence of Lady Christina certainly doesn't help, while the sandy terrains of Dubai aren't fully exploited by the incident-lacking narrative. Whoever is coming to knock four times had better hurry up...

> What do you think of 'Planet Of The Dead'? Share your views

More: TV, Doctor Who, Cult Spy

Next: 'Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth' (DS)

Previous: S04E13: 'Journey's End'

Your Views

292 Comments

Your Responses

me!, on April 15th, 2011
yup, only just got around to watching it - I lost interest in DW in series four and it's taken me 2 years to wonder if I was fair so I rented the dvds. And I was. O god I was; solid Marty Stu wish fulfilment with DW as some dsort of Messiah figure with a magic wand - it really should be renamed the sonic screwdriver show. Toe curlingly corny, cheesy predictable, I've sat here watching the whole thing getting more and more annoyed. I'm telling myself it's a childrens' series, I shouldn't judge it by adult standards, but I watched William Hartnell's An Unearthly Child and it's plausible, intelligent and interesting; everything Tennant's series 4 DW scripts aren't. And planet of the dead is rock bottom. No single part of it makes any sense at all, and that includes shipping the whole production to Dubai - we have dunes here, utter waste of license fee payers' money. Script is hackneyed, characters are silly and unbelievable, monsters are implausible and childish, the entire premise just does not make sense. And Dr Who used to; even when it was rubber and cardboard intelligence went into the scripts. Now I watch Matt Smith's dvds. Hell it can't get any worse.

phoebe birmingham age 8, on December 19th, 2009
i think that i don't want david tennant to leave doctor who a i want jakson lake to be the 11th doctor if the 10th doctor is going to leave dr.who instead

paul from middlesbrough, on December 7th, 2009
why did they send a bus to Dubai when they could have done it on a beach over here , now if it was for realism why did they have two buses and leave the number plates on each bus , watch the bus as it comes back home and you will see the number plate has changed

JackPickard,Exeter, on November 12th, 2009
I thought it was very exiting and waters of mars is going to be even better. I know what the woman means in Planet of the Dead 'he will knock four times' Here come the drums! im quite sad that tennant regenerates this year it will be verymotional Tennant will always be the best doctor in history!

Greg Long, Missouri, on October 24th, 2009
It stunk. Tennant was wonderful and the special effects were top notch but it wasn't enough. The silliness was bad enough but Lady Christina was intolerable. Never before has the series seen a smug, hateable Mary Sue and I spent the whole episode praying that that Doctor would throw her to the flying fish. She doesn't even contribute anything to the plot - she only exists for everyone to be terribly impressed by how wonderful she is.

Tizzy, Uluru NT, on October 17th, 2009
I <3 it!!!

Jack, US, on October 5th, 2009
The four knocks associated withe Master sound surprisingly similar to the four beats in the Doctor Who openning theme.

JJ WORCESTER, on October 2nd, 2009
I have been a fan of doctor who since i was a kid back in the eighties, and love the new stories, i think RTDs dialogue and characters are great.. but in his episodes i always find the storylines to be lame or rushed( with the exception of midnight and gridlock). and i feel this ruins potentially great stories... planet of the dead is only beaten in awfulness by partners in crime.. roll on moffat and his excellent storytelling ability

amy clarke, south east , on September 18th, 2009
I found it fine for easter only was angered by Dr who refusing to travel with Lady Christina , she was the bright spark in it , lee evans was good but I felt he was doing a stand up routine ax

Ian, London, on August 19th, 2009
I just think it's brilliant (and breathtaking) that people are saying Doctor Who ripped of Primeval. People really ought to learn a bit of 'history' so to speak...This episode was average at best. Which is still about 10 times better than the lame, godawful (and now thankfully axed) Primeval..

Brendan in Attleboro, MA, USA, on August 2nd, 2009
Agreed, as much as I look forward to every Doctor Who episode, this one was really weak.

amy clarke, south east , on July 31st, 2009
I found it brill , not as good as others but fun the bit at the end with the bus was ace and the ladys prediction is scary but ont he whole very sweet pity he didnt take Christina on , she was ace and Malcolm too

Will LaDuke Milwaukee (USA), on July 29th, 2009
Having watched PLANET OF THE DEAD right proper (Online just doesn't seem the same), I have to say that whilst I don't completely disagree with Mr. Rawson-Jones' review. It was lightweight adventure, to be sure, but not nearly as horrendous as the reviewer would have you believe. I enjoyed the repartee/banter between the two leads, and would have welcomed Michelle Ryan as a regular - if circumstances would have allowed. David Tennnant goes from strength to strength and will be sorely missed when he exits the TARDIS this Christmas...a vast improvement over THE NEXT DOCTOR, and a story that has me eagerly anticipating THE WATERS OF MARS

Jon Bowen Wirral, on June 23rd, 2009
Gotta admit, the plot came at an unfortunate time, with the third series of Primeval underway when it aired I couldn't help thinking the plot was just a little too similar to the ITV show. Bus goes through wormhole in tunnel in modern day London and comes out in futuristic alien world? Yep, that could be Primeval. I half expected Douglas Henshall and Hannah Sperrit to turn up at anytime. Primeval comparisons aside I don't think the episode was as bad as the review says. Okay, it didn't stand up to previous Doctor Who classics like "Doomsday" or "Voyage of the Damned" but to be honest, it was right slap bang in the middle of a Doctor Who void. The hype around "Journey's End" was long forgotten and it was far too early to look forward to David Tennant's epic (well it better be) finale, so this episode is sort of like a nice bridge between the series 4 aftermath and the storm that is to hit our screens at Christmas, it's a simple, stand alone plot which reminds us that Doctor Who is still in top form without being too mind boggling. After the slightly over-complicated "The Next Doctor" the simple story was a bit of light relief, that could just be enjoyed casually without having to think too much. Ok, so it move a little slow. We where all waiting for something to pop out of the sand, and the wait dragged horribly, only to find our reward as two very badly designed aliens with cliched ray guns, and some totally uninteresting sting rays that where "just behaving naturally" or whatever. An hour-long episode does need an evil villain at it's head who we can cheer at the death of, and the lack of one made the whole thing seem as dry and the desert it was filmed in. The disappointing ending was saved by "He will knock four times" (a lot of fans have probably worked out who this is, but I won't ruin it here in case you haven't) which assured us that the simple episode formula was not here to stay, and made the whole episode seem like just a breath of fresh air before being plunged back into the furnace, and thankfully that one line saved the entire episode from being forgotten. After "Voyage of the Damned" which had a completely new team of characters behind the Doctor who where all well characterized, the bus passengers where disappointing, with only Carmen being vaguely memorable because of her final lines. Everyone else was forgotten about instantly when the credits rolled. They where hardly characterized and the story would have been no different if the bus had been empty save The Doctor, Christina, the driver and Carmen, the others just seemed to be making a crowd. Ryan and Evans made spectacular supporting characters, and it's just a shame Christina was not built upon more as she had great potential. Overall though, this episode was a nice break from the usual "end of the world" nature of the other specials, and allowed us to re-enter the Doctor Who world without having to drop our Easter Eggs over it. It's just a shame it's going to be November before we can do so again, and any suspense caused by this installment is going to wear off fast. Good while it lasted however.

ellie london, on June 21st, 2009
i thought it was really good. i am an avid doctor who fan and cant wait for the next one- the gap is too long

emmyb norway, on June 8th, 2009
it was briliant

Keith Brisbane Australia, on May 31st, 2009
A good, fun episode. Ryan was wonderful as Christina, someone who could well have been the best companion since... well... a long time, if she'd stayed with the Doctor, and that Welsh scientist... delightful. It's true the story was slow, but the witty script (no-one seems to be mentioning some of the great lines - are people not picking them?) kept things moving along.

Andrew B, Carlisle, on May 10th, 2009
I thought the special wasn't anything special, but still it was entertaining. I am a Doctor Who fan, and I don't mind Torchwood, but I think Primeval is awful, I have watched a couple of episodes before anyone says that I judge it by its advertising...

Luke Wibberley Derby, on May 2nd, 2009
I love Primeval so much, but hate Doctor Who. I haven't seen the special properly but from the highlights I saw it was bloody rubbish, as usual. Having an anomaly leading to another world was a complete rip off from Primeval. Doctor Who Planet of the Dead was awful, crapper than usual. Primeval all the way!

emily stratford upon avon, on April 30th, 2009
what is all the fuss about? the program is as brilliant as ever and everyone seems to think it was crap, just becuase there is revealings of davids death as the doctor people dont have to keep moaning about it, get over yourselves. if you doint like it dont watch it in future

Next 20 Responses

Tube Talk